Last week we talked about ingredient labels. I told you my goal was not to scare you or make you feel overwhelmed, instead bring awareness to what types of ingredients are unfortunately in our food in the United States. I didn’t want to leave you hanging, so left you with a couple of references.
- Fooducate, which allows you to scan / search products and basically does the ingredient dissection for you, giving each product a letter grade and talking about the good and bad of each product.
- List of ingredients you could print for reference, if you want to start trying to avoid some of the bad ones. The list included ones I spoke about in the post plus many more.
Since I have been talking for the last 7 months about changes you can make in your home, I thought it would only be appropriate to show you what we do at our house, with complete transparency. With that said, I promised you I would spend the next three weeks sharing what my fridge, freezer and pantry staples are. Also, each week I will share easy tips of things you can make or do at home to avoid buying products with junk in them.
For us, a well stocked pantry, fridge and freezer helps keep us on track. Also, I plan our meals to help us stay focused at the grocery store and only buy what we need, because buying higher quality food can be more expensive. Check out how we meal plan here.
Let’s get started - fridge tour today.
Organic orange juice: I was never a juice drinker, but since I have been pregnant I want a glass every morning. At the end of the day, it is still a sugary drink, so we try to limit ourselves even though it is natural sugars which is always better than added sugars. I buy Whole Foods 365 brand. Things we made sure to look for with juice are no artificial colors, flavors, fruit juice concentrate or other miscellaneous ingredients listed - you want the only ingredient to be orange juice. Remember you can read more about sweeteners here.
Organic skim milk: I never drink a glass of milk - ever. I take calcium supplements to help my lack of interest in milk. My husband will occasionally have a glass, but we always have some around for cooking or cereal for my husband. We were buying the Whole Foods 365 organic skim milk in a 2 quart container, but we ended up wasting a lot, because it would go bad before we used it up. I now am buying Organic Valley in a smaller 1 qt container. It isn’t quite as economical, but neither is throwing it away. Things we make sure are the milk comes from cows that have not been given antibiotics or hormones. As soon as our baby is of the age to drink cow’s milk, we will be switching to the Organic Valley Grassmilk, which is from cows not feed grain. Again, you have to buy a bigger container that we wouldn’t be able to consume at this point. This is the only dairy product we aren’t doing full fat, but will once the baby starts. To read more about my thoughts on dairy and why I try to do whole fat, click here.
George’s aloe vera: I only use this in my morning smoothies, but it is definitely the best one I have found. It doesn’t taste like anything, which I know sounds weird, but to me having a healthy equivalent to water for my smoothies is great.
Homemade coffee creamer: I am actually not drinking coffee right now, because I am pregnant, but excited to start back up soon. I definitely miss it! Check out a previous post for a recipe to get you started.
Organic plain whole milk yogurt: We really don’t eat yogurt out of the bowl. I still always have some around to make my morning smoothies and for sauces or dips. If there is the rare occasion that we decide to eat it by the spoonful, we sweeten it with things like maple syrup, honey or a blended fruit sauce. We buy Whole Foods 365 brand, but have also made our own many times. I actually prefer Greek yogurt, but organic greek yogurt is out of control expensive! We also try to make sure it is hormone free.
Organic unsweetened applesauce: Another weird pregnancy thing. I used to eat applesauce occasionally, but maybe my reverting to child like foods (juice and applesauce) is preparing me for the baby. We buy Whole Foods 365, which only has one ingredient - organic apples. I actually prefer the unsweetened, but if you wanted something more, consider adding your own sweetener or some cinnamon.
Eggs: We always have a least one dozen, if not two (one regular and one hard boiled). We buy eggs from Whole Foods, but they actually come from a local farm (Campo Lindo). Their eggs are cage free, pasture raised and antibiotic free. It is illegal to use hormones in chickens, pigs, turkeys, so don’t let a hormone free label trick you into buying a more expensive brand.
Organic cheese: We usually have a variety in our fridge, because we love to snack on cheese. We usually buy Whole Foods 365 brand, which is antibiotic and hormone free and always buy slices or a block. I don’t find it too cumbersome to shred myself and find it beneficial to avoid the powdered cellulose (pieces of wood pulp) that are used in pre-shredded bags to prevent clumping.
Organic cream cheese: I have been craving toasted bagels while pregnant so this is a new staple for us. We buy the full fat Horizon brand, which is antibiotic and hormone free.
Organic butter: We buy Kalona Super Natural unsalted butter which is hormone and antibiotic free and from grass fed cows. We usually only keep one stick in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.
Deli meat: We usually only buy ¼ lb per week. We always make sure it is nitrate/nitrite, hormone and antibiotic free.
Bacon: We always buy nitrate/nitrite and antibiotic free. It is illegal to use hormones in chickens, pigs, turkeys, so don’t let a hormone free label trick you into buying a more expensive brand.
Sprouted grain tortillas: We almost always have some variety of the Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas on hand - either their ‘flour’ style tortilla and / or corn tortilla. These are great for wraps, tacos, anytime burritos or pizzas. Check out more about sprouted grains here.
Organic whole wheat flour: We buy from Whole Foods bulk bins and store a large mason jar in the fridge. The remaining is stored in the freezer in a larger container. Whole wheat flours will not last as long on a pantry shelf.
Bob’s Red Mill organic 7 grain pancake / waffle mix: This is great for easy breakfasts. I like them made into waffles, better than pancakes. We also store this mix in a large mason jar to increase shelf life.
Dried cranberries and shredded coconut: The cranberries are great for snacks, trail mix or salads and we primarily use the coconut for breadings on shrimp and chicken. Also, they are both great in various energy bites and granola bar recipes I play around with and my granola. These live in small mason jars to increase shelf life. We buy them both from Whole Foods bulk bins.
Organic maple syrup: We buy the Whole Foods 365 dark amber maple syrup, which is used as a primary sweetener in our house.
Organic broth: We buy boxes of Whole Foods 365 chicken, beef and veggie broth. Once a box is opened it lives in our fridge until gone. Broth is great for adding extra flavor while cooking veggies and grains.
Natural peanut butter: Keep reading to find out how easy it is to make your own! If you decide to buy some, consider a natural brand with ingredients only being peanuts, oil, salt.
Various condiments: We are not perfect in this department. I just simply can’t make everything from scratch. We have various options including, sauerkraut, salsa, ketchup, mustard, mayo, asian sauces, hot sauces, and capers. I do try to make a lot of our salad dressings, but my husband likes having a bottle of dressing to take to work with him.
Various fresh produce: lots of fruits and veggies and herbs.
Leftovers - This is important for getting us through the work week. I always plan extra food when making dinner.
You probably noticed a trend - a lot of Whole Foods 365 brand products. This is their store brand and really helps us save money. Also, buying in bulk when we can!
So my tip for this week is try making your own peanut butter. Its so easy!! I love natural peanut butter to snack on with apples, my favorite whole wheat crackers or a piece of toast for breakfast. Its also great in energy bites and granola bars. Whole Foods has a machine that takes peanuts and blends them for you. You can buy as little or as much as you want. Its amazing! Knowing not everyone has access to Whole Foods, I wanted to teach you how easy it is to make your own. It can be much cheaper than buying conventional brands of natural peanut butter.
So my tip for this week is try making your own peanut butter. Its so easy!! I love natural peanut butter to snack on with apples, my favorite whole wheat crackers or a piece of toast for breakfast. Its also great in energy bites and granola bars. Whole Foods has a machine that takes peanuts and blends them for you. You can buy as little or as much as you want. Its amazing! Knowing not everyone has access to Whole Foods, I wanted to teach you how easy it is to make your own. It can be much cheaper than buying conventional brands of natural peanut butter.
Homemade Natural Peanut Butter
Ingredients:
Peanuts
Oil, I use peanut oil
Add peanuts to food processor. I use dry, unroasted, unsalted peanuts. On low, mix peanuts for a total of 5-10 minutes until the peanuts turn to the consistency you like. You will need to stop the processor every so often to scrap the sides. I find adding peanut oil, a tsp at a time, ends up helping the peanuts get to a smooth consistency.
Thats it! Store in a glass jar for up to one month in your fridge.
Don’t you feel better about eating peanut butter that has one (two if you had oil) ingredients. Even if you decide to add some sweetener or extra salt, you get to control how much goes in!
Better Bonus Tip: Feel free to add a little maple syrup, honey, salt or dry roast your nuts first. Even adding these ingredients, still keeps your peanut butter better and simpler than what you can get at most stores.
Until next time!
~Ashley
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