Planning Ahead and Shopping with a Purpose

Mother and her son shopping

Cooking daily meals may be a challenge for most people. With the demands of work and family activities, it seems that there is no time for planning meals, shopping, and cooking. This section provides hints for making meal preparation easier.

Tips for Planning Ahead

  • Use a calendar to plan your meals for the next week or two in advance. Review the grocery store circulars to see what foods are on sale at your local grocery stores and ask family members to contribute ideas for meals. Each family member can add his or her favorite meal to the weekly food plan. Check out the CFChef recipe library for meal and snack ideas, along with the nutrient content of each recipe
  • Make sure your kitchen is stocked with the following food staples and ingredients that can make for quick and easy meals: butter, oil, sugar, milk, eggs, pasta, rice, cheese, peanut butter, canned soups, canned beans, frozen vegetable medleys and any type of frozen meat
  • Remember to keep high-caloric snacks on hand at all times. See Making a CF Diet Work for Everyone to see snack ideas

Additional Shopping Ideas

  • Before going to the grocery store, look at what you have in your refrigerator, freezer, and cupboards, then decide what you can buy that will work with the foods you already have
  • Go to the store with a list and do not shop if you are hungry, because you will buy foods you really do not need and end up spending too much money
  • Try to shop at discount supermarkets where you can buy food in bulk at a cheaper price. These stores are great for purchasing large amounts of items, like cereal, frozen foods, muffins, bagels and trail mix
  • Purchase instant foods or frozen meals that can quickly be heated or prepared before leaving the house, or at work or school using a microwave (e.g., instant oatmeal, frozen waffles, breakfast sandwiches, frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, instant soups, frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, and microwavable rice bowls). Not all frozen foods are healthy, so find meals that are high in calories and have ingredients from at least two food groups. For example, a frozen veggie pizza may be a good choice as it contains bread, dairy and vegetables

Tap on the tool below to learn more about each vitamin or mineral

CFChef Nutrition Guide tool Vitamin D Vitamin E Vitamin K Vitamin C Vitamin B Vitamin A Iron Sodium Zinc Calcium

The CFChef CF Nutrition Guide was developed with input from Registered Dietitian and CF Nutrition Specialist Suzanne Michel, MPH, RD, LDN, based on information and guidelines from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is not affiliated with, and has not endorsed, the AbbVie CFChef program. The content on Chef4CF.com is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.