Navigating the supermarket used to be fun! But... now you're on AIP and the whole store is terrifying!! At least that's how I felt those first few days/weeks when I started my journey to health.
What are you supposed to do when everything you remember eating is now off limits, ie: tomatoes, potatoes, bread and cheese!?!
It is easier than you think. Grab your smart phone and download the AIP food charts, you can also print these for quick reference on paper. Then start reading. I mean reading all of the labels!
Many items in the supermarket will have ingredients listed in a plain and easy to understand way. Once you find the ingredient list, you can quickly see if A: you understand and can read all of the ingredients in the list, B: if the ingredients are listed on your compliant AIP chart, and C: there are things in things that you didn't know could even possible exist!!
My favorite example is this: If you read the label on most sandwich meat... You will find Potato Starch!! Potato Starch in meat!!?? What?? Why?? This one really baffled me when I started my AIP journey. I was a Publix, and realized that... I could eat meat, but not most of the sandwich meat because it has potato starch in it. This was shocking, but also made me sit back and think about how convoluted our food system is that things such as meat, have literal potatoes in them, and that having a nightshade allergy, I could be impacted daily by the sandwich meat that I used to love!
The Good News: there are some brands that omit the extra starch and are safe on AIP.
The Lesson is: read all the labels! Most of them don't have a long list of ingredients and most of the time, you will find it quick and easy to decipher once you get in the practice.
The Ease: Once you find brands that are safe, you will stick to those and be able to quickly navigate your local store and develop a confidence when shopping again. Practice makes perfect :)
Here is a link to a great and trusted AIP food chart. I also like to recommend for a quick reference, you can google "is ___________ AIP compliant" and generally speaking resources will appear to assist while shopping.