26 Apr Inside the Fridge: Christy Wilson

Inside the Fridge welcomes Christy Wilson. Since 1998, Christy has been teaching people the most valuable lessons anyone can learn: how to choose and prepare healthy foods. As a bi-lingual Registered Dietitian, Christy has worked in clinical, community and non-profit settings sharing her knowledge of nutrition, love of food and simple methods of applying both to one’s life. In her spare time, Christy writes a feature column for Tail Winds outdoor fitness magazine and donates her time and energy to Cooking Matters, the nutrition education outreach program of Share Our Strength. She is first and foremost a wife and a mommy of two and she shares and cherishes the time she spends in the kitchen with her family.

Below we ask her questions about her grocery shopping and food habits – with actual pictures from her fridge!

Inside the Fridge: Where do you shop for food?
Christy Wilson: I do the majority of my produce shopping at Sunflower Farmer’s Market. I like that they feature lots of local and regionally grown produce and I love their variety of organic produce. Their prices are excellent on both conventional and organic produce, especially on Wednesday’s: double-ad day! I’ll often purchase organic chicken and some bulk dry goods like oatmeal, quinoa and rice. Once or twice a month I’ll buy frozen items (veggies, fruit, fish and a few frozen prepared items), dried fruit, nuts and 72% dark chocolate (!) at Trader Joe’s. Wal-Mart and Safeway are a few miles from my house, so I’ll often head over there for groceries. Safeway is a bit closer, so I’ll buy milk, dry cereal and lots of last minute items; I especially like their Organics brand frozen wild blueberries, fresh fruit and soy milk. My favorite place to shop is my local farmer’s market. My kids and I especially love it because the vendors are friendly and we get to taste-test the food!

ITF: Do you love shopping or do you dread it?
CW: I have never minded going to the grocery store. The only time I dread the trip is when I absolutely need something by morning and I realize this at 10pm the night before.. Because of my cooking class I get to experiment with new ingredients, so I especially like shopping for those items. I honestly spend most of my time in the produce section, which is the prettiest, most colorful place to shop!

ITF: What is the single most important thing on your mind when you are shopping for food?
CW: My main priority is choosing healthy foods for my family. Nutritional quality is at the top of my list and price comes in second place. Nutritional quality is relative to the item I’m shopping for. If I’m buying fruit, I look for regionally grown rather than something that was shipped from the other end of the Earth. If it’s a produce item on the Dirty Dozen list, I’m probably going to choose an organically grown variety. When I shop for grain products (cereal, bread, pita, pasta), the most important thing is that the first ingredient is a whole grain. I’m also buying more organic meats these days, too.

ITF: How often do you shop?
CW: I go grocery shopping an average of three times a week. It seems like I always need something! I guess that is what happens when you cook often and constantly change your mind as to what you feel like making that week.

ITF: How many do you shop for?
CW: There are four of us in our home: me, my husband, my daughter (5 yrs.) and my son (7 yrs.)

ITF: Do you believe in leftovers?
CW: Absolutely! Leftovers from one meal are the starting point to a following meal. 90-percent of the time, dinner leftovers are my lunch the next day. Leftover chicken from dinner can be the chicken I use on a salad for lunch the next day or can be boiled and used for tacos the next evening. Finding creative ways to use leftovers saves me a ton of time, it saves money and it makes meal planning much easier, especially on busy days (which is pretty much everyday!).

ITF: What convenience product can you not live without?
CW: Out of all the items out there, chicken broth in a box is the convenience product I rely upon the most. I use the broth to reheat leftover chicken, to add extra flavor to pasta dishes, to make Mexican rice or calabazitas (a Mexican zucchini dish with corn and cheese) and when I make soup.

ITF: How have your cooking/shopping habits changes over the last 10 years?
CW: 10 years ago I didn’t have kids. Eating healthy has consistently been a priority to me since I learned about nutrition and earned my degree, but once I had children, eating whole, fresh foods became an even bigger priority. The thought of feeding my children jarred baby food didn’t seem right because I, personally didn’t feel this was “real” food. Why feed my children something I wouldn’t eat myself? Messy biscuits, shelf stable “meat” and bland, pale purees did not seem appealing or healthy so why feed it to my kids? I didn’t want to deprive them of enjoying the flavor, color and texture of fresh foods. I wanted to give them a positive impression of something that would be part of the rest of their lives; I wanted to be part of that process so I made all their food from scratch. If I made carrots or sweet potato for my husband and me, the kids had a soft-cooked version of it. If we ate chicken, I had a pureed version of it for my baby. If we had soup, I’d puree the same thing for my kids. To this day, I believe the reason my children love eating a variety of fruit and vegetables is because they started off eating these foods as soon as they could tolerate eating solids.

ITF: What are your go-to-food/nutrition/culinary/cooking website/s, book or cookbook?
CW: I regularly look for recipes and nutrition articles on Cooking Light, My Recipes, and Eating Well. I also turn to Ellie Krieger and Rachael Ray’s recipes on Food Network for new ideas. I have found some wonderful diabetes friendly recipes from Robyn Webb in Diabetes Forecast Magazine. Through Twitter, I’ve also been exploring recipes in various peoples’ blogs, which has been fun for me, too.

ITF: What words of wisdom or advice do you have for other folks who are doing their best every day to fill the fridge?
CW: Here is my list:

1. Make produce a priority when you go shopping. Ounce-for-ounce and pound-for-pound, these are the healthiest and least expensive foods you can buy.

2. Oats and dry beans are at the top of my low-cost, high-value list of foods.

3. Make a list, stick to it and mostly stick to the perimeter of the grocery store

4. After bypassing the table of junk placed at the front of the store (often featuring cakes, cookies and other junk), fill your cart with whole foods and buy items like frozen meats and fish in bulk—you’ll pay less per ounce this way.

5. Buy a variety of herbal spices and seasonings in baggies rather than in expensive jars; you can save up to three dollars by doing so.

6. Learn how to shop by unit price because you can save lots of money this way.

7. Don’t be fooled by flashy front-of-package claims, rather read the nutrition facts information to buy the highest quality foods for you and your family.

With a little know-how, you can fill your shopping basket and kitchen with healthy, good tasting foods.

ITF: What are you working on these days?
CW: This year I launched my website and accompanying blog. After attending the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics annual meeting in September, I got the encouragement I needed from other dietitians in the field to get my own website started. I felt I had reached the point in my career where it was time to build a “house” for my articles, food photos, recipes and new projects. The site is a work in progress, but developing it has been a fun experience so far; I’m looking forward to what it can (and will) become.

I’ve also been very active on Twitter (@christyschomp) and I anticipate learning about Pinterest…but I haven’t jumped into it yet!

Thank you Christy!

If you would like to be featured on Inside the Fridge, please email RobinsBite Intern Laura Bartee – Laura *at* robinplotkin *dot* com