NDIS Dietitians work closely with participants and their support services to achieve the participant health and nutrition goals. This includes arranging supermarket tours with both participants and their carers, and providing education to participants, carers and SIL team leaders on cooking and meal planning for medical conditions like diabetes. Building capacity with participants and their service providers ensures successful implementation of dietary recommendations, so a participant is more likely to achieve their NDIS goals.
Savvy shopping is a great skill for participants to have to improve their overall health and wellbeing, so the team of Accredited Practising Dietitians at Hunter Primary Care have developed the following five tips for smart shopping.
- Take a shopping list
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- You are less likely to impulse buy, saving you money
- Group items on your list into sections such as fresh produce, bread, pantry, freezer – this will save you time
2. Plan your meals
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- First, check what you already have in the fridge and pantry that can be used
- Next, think about ingredients that can be used in more than one meal such as mince for spaghetti bowl one night and cottage pie another
- You will save money and reduce food waste
- Choose frozen and canned veggies & fruit
- Frozen veggies are fantastic to bulk up pastas, stews and stir-frys
- Frozen berries are a great alterative to fresh
- Canned legumes like lentils and chickpeas are cheap alternatives to meat and can be added to dishes such as lentils in bolognaise, black beans in tacos
- Never shop when you’re hungry
- It’s much harder to resist impulse buys when you haven’t eaten before you shop
- You will often purchase things that may solve your hungry cravings in the short term rather than what your body actually needs
- Include versatile pantry staples
- Such as wholegrain crackers, tinned salmon and tuna – these are ideal for lunches
- Definitely cheese, yoghurt or fruit make for filling snacks
- Other cheap and versatile staples include passata, long life milk, tinned tomatoes and eggs
Hunter Primary Care offers NDIS Dietitian services, so if you need help with your health and nutrition goals, contact Hunter Primary Care on (02) 4925 2259 or email ndis@hunterprimarycare.com.au. You can find more information on our website www.hunterprimarycare.com.au/health-services/disability-services/ndis-allied-health
Written by Kate Wood, Accredited Practising Dietitian.