GAPS Diet & Nutrition,  Real Food

What I buy and where I buy it

I have to confess that we’re not buying foods exactly as I’d like to, but we’ve seen a ton of improvement over the last year or two. I buy…..

 

dairy

raw milk & cream~from a local farm

Greek yogurt (for my yogurt starter)~from Trader Joes

yogurt (when we can’t get out to the farm/don’t have time to make it, we “cheat” with Nancy’s Whole Milk Yogurt from Fred Meyer or New Seasons)

butter~I make my own (or, when I’m making a TON of recipes to test for my new cookbook (coming out soon!), I buy butter…not even Kerrygold or Organic Prairie, just the cheap butter…Bleh.

eggs~we have our own chickens, but they’re slacking, so I’ve been buying eggs from another lady in our town (and again, when I’m practicing tons of recipes–I just buy the cheapest free range ones I can find at the store, but this isn’t the norm!…) I want all of our eggs to be soy and corn free–the ones we raise are, but not the others. Someday we’ll get there!!

we get raw cheddar through Azure Standard. We would love to buy it from Morningland Dairy again if it weren’t for how terribly their company has been treated…

we supplement half of our cheese with Tillamook because we can’t afford to buy all raw, unfortunately.

I get grated parmesan cheese from Cash & Carry, in a 5 lb bag. It’s our staple “thickener” on the GAPS diet, I use it to make gravy and all kinds of sauces, so we use a lot of it. It’s not organic or raw, so not ideal.

 

produce:

our garden was pitiful this year. I blame it on the weather, and moving here in June….yeah…that’s why (and I’m sure there were good reasons the year before, too ;))

a local farmer named Bill grows most of the veggies we’ve been buying lately. πŸ™‚

whatever we can’t find from Bill, we get through Azure Standard or at New Seasons or Trader Joes

I just got membership information from an organic grocery (produce) company where I have to buy cases at a time, and at least $100 worth, but the prices are cheaper per pound. I’m doing every-other-week deliveries of organic goods to friends, so this membership will come in handy. πŸ™‚

 

meat:

we have our own chickens in our freezer! And a turkey! And 2 geese! YAY!

we get hot dogs, pepperoni, ham, sausages, etc. from New Seasons because they don’t have any fillers, nitrates or sugar.

I found prosciutto and pastrami at Trader Joes last week that were totally pure.

we get wild (not farmed) seafood when we can find it on sale at New Seasons.

we have 1/4th of a cow in our freezer from a local farmer.

we have 2 pigs in the backyard–in January they will be dinner =)

 

frozen stuff:

I like the organic frozen veggies at Trader Joes (artichoke hearts, spinach, etc.).

we get big bags of organic green beans and peas from Costco

we just bought 30 lbs of frozen blueberries from a local organic farm

this last summer the kids and I picked a TON of fruit for the freezer! YAY!

I love the Applegate Farms apple breakfast sausages, and they’re totally pure. Azure Standard has them by the case, cheaper than any other store’s price…

 

staples/pantry items:

we buy nuts, shredded coconut, cocoa powder, coconut flour , seeds and coconut oil from Azure Standard.

this summer/fall I canned my own salsa, ketchup, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes

when we run out of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, I’ll buy the cases of organic tomatoes at Costco. I would love to buy tomatoes in a glass jar instead of cans (because of the acidity combined with the bpa lining..no good!), but they’re spendy!

we get organic raisins at Costco.

we get our honey from the Canby Thriftway, because it’s the cheapest local honey per ounce that comes in a glass jar (glass is important to me). We buy $40 or $50 worth of honey at a time. πŸ™‚

when we run out of my homemade salsa, I’ll buy the freshest looking organic kind I can find at New Seasons or Trader Joes.

we get organic olive oil at Trader Joes.

when we run out of ketchup–we’re out for the year. πŸ™‚ We don’t eat sugar, so we have to stick with my homemade honey stuff.

 

household stuff:

whenever I get back into it again, I’ll be making my own laundry detergent…I used to, and when we remodeled & moved, I started buying detergent…someday I’ll get back into it! πŸ™‚ For now, I buy the Ecos laundry detergent from Costco. It’s very cheap per ounce compared to other earth-friendly kinds.

I get the “Environmentally Friendly” dishwashing soap from Costco and L-O-V-E it. It makes me love washing dishes. Seriously. It smells yummy!

my fave dishwasher detergent for having a well (with calcium deposits & hard water) is the liquid Biokleen kind, and I got it from Azure.

I love Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, lemon verbena a scent, and I use the spray when I clean…I also have the geranium kind, I think, and I like that too. I think I ordered an Amazon pack of the spray bottles one time.

just ordered a huge pack of Seventh Generation paper towels on Azure because they’re cheaper per paper towel than the cheapo ones at Costco (and I feel safer using them to de-grease my bacon, etc.).

I got a huge box of napkins (just typical napkins) at Cash & Carry (restaurant supply store).

We buy Charmin TP at Costco.

 

That’s all! Hope this helps someone! Ask questions if you have them! πŸ™‚

11 Comments

  • Jerri

    Just had to share: I recently bought 8 rolls of the 7th Generation paper towels at Fred Meyer… they were on sale and there was a fab coupon available too. Made them $0.29 per roll. Much cheaper than Costco (where we usually buy our PT’s). They work just fine, but some of my kids are a bit weirded out by their brown color. My oldest son, just arrived from Canada also said “What is up with the whole wheat paper towels?”. LOL!

    • brenda

      Jerri, I saw the brown ones at your house and thought you must get industrial rolls at Cash & Cary. πŸ™‚ The 7th Generation ones I bought through Azure are white! Weird! πŸ™‚

  • Jenni

    Wishing we had something like a New Seasons market in NH πŸ™ How does Azure work? Do you find that things are cheaper through Azure? Currently I’m buying through a health food store coop. I do get the coop price but then have to add in a % for the health food store. Don’t know if that’s the cheapest.

    Your Cosco has more items available than ours, but we also use the environmental friendly detergent and dishwashing detergent from Cosco.

    Thanks for sharing your list.
    Jenni

    • brenda

      Hi Jenni,
      I do think that Azure is cheaper for a lot of things: raw cheese, fruits, onions, garlic, beans, grains and flours (if you’re buying them :), coconut oil, dishwashing detergent, etc.! I love Azure!

  • Fonda LaShay

    I saw that you said once you freeze your greek yogurt as a starter.. I have thought about doing this before. But was worried that the batch from the frozen starter would no be able to be used as a starter..

    Also, I use a thing called soapnuts for my laundry. (you can also use the same method and drop them in the silverware holder in the dishwasher). They are a naturally soapy berry from a tree. They are great, you can buy them in bulk, and best of all there are not chemicals or excess packaging (you can get them in a large cloth bag). Here is a review and more info about them http://fondalashay.com/mintchilli/soapnuts

    • brenda

      Fonda, yes, freezing yogurt still works as a starter! πŸ™‚
      I’ve purchased soap nuts. I’ll have to look into buying them in bulk, that’s a great idea! πŸ™‚

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