Thursday, June 12, 2014

Shopping Trip to Chuck's Produce

I apologize in advance to any readers outside of the Vancouver, Washington area.  This post will specifically focus on a local store which provides some good prices on many "healthy" items we are looking for.  However, you may see items in this post that can be found locally for you as well!

Items I found at Chuck's:

Rumiano Organic Cheese

This is good cheese, and it's made with sea salt.  I first found this at Whole Foods, but it was $6.99 there and at Chuck's you can get it for $4.99!


Organic high quality unsalted butter

I like good butter for spreading on bread.  I buy regular organic unsalted for baking!

Alpenrose organic milk

Their milk is not ultra-pasturized (high heat treatment which damages proteins) and the whole milk does not have Vitamin A palmitate added (potato derivative).

Salsa

Both of these salsas have no sugar added and use sea salt.

Organic hummus

This hummus is made with sea salt.

Sprouted Wheat Tortillas

Finding a "healthy" tortilla was not an easy job, but this one is it!

Coconut sugar (bulk)

Coconut sugar is not cheap.  Buying it in bulk makes the price more reasonable.

White Pine Granola

I love granola!  Finding a granola made without any sugar (just honey) was a huge discovery!

Sparkling water

Remember the Izze "soda" they sell at Costco?  Make your own with sparkling water and juice!  I prefer sparkling mineral water myself, but this will do too.

I hope this helps you!
Lisa



Healthy Shopping at Costco

Costco has quite a few things to buy that are good for our "healthy" (no potato - including dextrose or table salt, no corn, no cane or beet sugar, organic when possible) shopping list!  The selection varies by store and season, but here is what I found on my most recent trip there.

Natural Peanut Butter (organic or regular, both are made with sea salt, YEAH! No more buying separate peanut butters just for me!)

Organic Ground Beef

I would prefer it be grass-fed, but organic is much better than non-organic, and $4.49 per pound is a very good price.

Organic Chicken

In this case I would prefer the chicken to be free range, but again this is better than non-organic.

Organic Eggs

Free range also would be much better for us, but this is a good price for organic eggs if free range is not an option.

Organic Produce
This all depends on how much your family will eat (will you finish it before it goes bad?) and what they have in this season.  You can shop for the "Clean 15" non-organic produce here too (such as avocados, mangoes, asparagus, etc.)  Check out the frozen section for fruits and vegetables that you don't have to worry about going bad!

Almond Flour

If you do any cooking with Almond Flour this is a great place to pick some up!

Organic canned goods: beans, chicken broth, and so on.

This may be a lot of beans, but at least they stay good for a few years so you have time to get through them!


I love raisins & grapes are one of the most heavily sprayed crops- go organic!

Organic Honey & Maple Syrup

A recent investigation found that many stores sell honey of unknown origin & unverifiable ingredients (not really 100% honey)!  Many of those honeys could contain added sugars.  Kirkland honey says it has been verified at the source and is 100% honey.


This is the lowest price on real maple syrup for sure!  And it is organic too!

Need a snack?  I did find a soda and some crackers that fit our definition of "healthy"!

Dr. Kracker's Organic Klassic Kracker 

There are 2 bags in each box, but I just wasn't ready to spend that much on crackers...

Izze Sparkling Juice 

This is as close to soda as you're going to get- no sugars here though.

There are other organic finds at Costco, but here is a sample of things to look for next time you are shopping.

Just hang onto your heart when you get to the check out stand- you know it's going to stop for a minute when you hear the total!

Until next time,
Lisa