(If you’re new to real food, you may want to check out real food 101.)

The grocery store is a new way of shopping for food. The first grocery store was launched in 1916, but even then, most folks still had local food connections. People didn’t rely on the grocery store to meet their every food need. They relied on butchers, local produce farms, backyard gardens and hens, and bakeries. The grocery store was a new way to shop. It was a way to gather everything needed in one location. It was the ultimate convenience experience.

I’m not saying the introduction of the grocery store was a bad thing. I love a grocery store and shop at one regularly. But the dominance of the grocery store was a pivotal moment in the food culture of America. People traded personal face-to-face food connections for a one-stop shopping experience. A middle man now existed between people and food, which meant that people no longer got to experience the community aspect of food, have the knowledge of where their food comes from, or shake the hand that feeds them (as Michael Pollan suggests).

In 2020, grocery stores experienced consumer demand like never before. Pair that with meat packing plants shutting down, the distribution of food being disrupted, limits on grocery store items, and farms plowing fields full of crops because of hiccups in the big distribution supply chain line. All of this caused people to seek food outside of the grocery store, turning to local farms and butchers and mills.

By tapping into these resources, you’ll literally shake the hand that feeds you (as Michael Pollan famously states). There is transparency in buying your food this way. You’ll get to know where your food comes from, the people that raise and grow your food, how the animals are treated, and how the vegetables are grown and harvested.

Not only will this food be nutrient-dense, but there’s also a sense of community that comes from shopping this way. There’s a sense of pride (in the very best way) in supporting the small farmer, the family owned mill or fishery, the hard-working baker, and the local butcher.

Below, you’ll find resources for finding everything from flour to meat to beans. The following resources aren’t some random finds that I’ve pulled together; instead, these are companies that I love and will happily put my dollars and voice behind. You can see my weekly grocery hauls using these very sources on my Instagram.

Where to Find Flour

Small, family-run mills are one of the best sources for sourcing flour, and yes they still exist today. My favorite flours to keep on hand, include: einkorn, spelt, all-purpose flour, whole wheat, bread flour, and cornmeal. Here are my favorite sources for buying flour without ever needing to step foot in the grocery store.

Sunrise Flour Mill: This is where I’m currently ordering my flour from. The flour is milled from organic, heritage grains, making it easier to digest for many people. For $8.99 (shipping price), I get freshly-milled heritage grains shipped directly from this family-owned Minnesota mill to my home in Florida. I order whole wheat flour, red heritage white flour, and bread flour.

Hayden Flour Mills: This mill is devoted to milling heritage and ancient grains. The family-owned mill is located on the farm where most of the grains are grown.

Central Milling: This mill offers a huge variety of flours, from traditional wheat to buckwheat and einkorn.

Jovial Foods: If you’ve been around Live Simply, you know that I love einkorn. If you’re new to this ancient grain, read more about einkorn here. Jovial Foods is my favorite way to source einkorn (and olive oil and canned tomatoes and crackers). I order a 10lb bag of einkorn flour direct from their website.

Where to Find Meat, Dairy, and Eggs

Sourcing meat, eggs, and dairy direct from a farm (or fishery, when it comes to fish) gives you 100% transparency into how your food is raised. It’s difficult to find the same transparency when shopping at the store (yes, even Whole Foods). Don’t get me wrong, I still buy chicken from Whole Foods and enjoy a burger from a restaurant. The goal isn’t perfection here. Instead, the goal is connect us to our food, to shorten the supply chain, and to shake the hand that feeds us. All of this leads to 100% transparency in our food system, which leads to healthier meals and families and sustainable animal practices.

By connecting to farms directly, you’re able to be an informed consumer and put your hard-earned money directly into a farmer’s pocket (versus big companies that control small farms and dictate their move and practices). For our family, I buy my meat and eggs from a local farm, source fish from a boat-to-doorstep share program (because fish is hard to find my area), and then source most of my dairy from the grocery store (supporting companies that are more transparent in their practices, like Vital Farms).

When looking for meat, dairy, and eggs, I recommend asking farms about their practices: How are the animals raised? What happens if/when an animal becomes sick? How big is the farm? What do the animals eat? Are the animals processed (killed) on site, at a butcher? How long have they been raising animals? Ask questions! Most farmers are very transparent and proud of their practices, just be patient if you reach out via phone or email and remember they are busy tending farm animals. Learn more about what to look for when buying meat and eggs here. And learn about what to look for when buying dairy here.

Local Farms for Meat, Dairy, and Eggs 

Eatwild.com: This site features a database of local farms across the country that offer farm-to-consumer meat, dairy, and eggs. This isn’t an exhaustive list, so think of this website as just a starting place to explore the options in your area.

Health Food Stores: Yes, this post is about options beyond the grocery store, but small, locally-owned health food stores can be a great place to find local farm products. Nature’s Food Patch is a small health food store in our area that pulls from local bakeries, dairy farms, and ranches.

Google Search: Simply using the search bar to search your area and “local farms” or “local dairy farms” or “eggs for sale” or “grass-fed meat” can turn up good results. I googled my area, “Tampa Bay Local Farms” and found a number of options pop up.

Ask on Social Media: Ask your friends on Instagram, ask the parenting Facebook group you joined a few years ago, or just post a random social media blast, “Anyone know of farms in the area for meat, dairy, or eggs?” You might be surprised by the number of responses.

Farm to Door Delivery Services for Meat, Dairy, and Eggs 

Online meat services have becomes quite popular lately, like Butcher Box. I’m personally not a fan of many of these options because they lack transparency in their sourcing. I reached out to Butcher Box last year and was told that they wouldn’t share their sourcing. <–I had asked for a list of the farms they pull from. For a company that claims to be delivering grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, I figured they would be proud to showcase their farms. Nope. That raises a serious red flag for me. What do they have to hide? That said, there are delivery services that offer complete transparency. I’ve highlighted these companies below.

Sitka Salmon Shares: This is a fisherman owned small company out of Sitka, Alaska. They are transparent about where the fish is caught, how it’s caught, and even the boats and fishermen who catch the fish that’s delivered to your door. I get the 5lb box, delivered monthly. The fish is always frozen (and I live in HOT Florida) and is the freshest fish I’ve had outside of visiting Alaska myself and eating freshly-caught salmon on the shores of the Aleutian Islands (a trip we took a few years ago). You can sign up for a 3-month share or a 7-month share. If you want to try Sitka Salmon Shares, I have a coupon code you can use for $25 off a premium share. Use code: LiveSimply

Crowd Cow: This is like Butcher Box, except they are 100% transparent about where their meat comes from. You’ll find a list of farms based on your delivery location on their website.

Moink: This is another direct-to-consumer option offering grass-fed and finished beef, pastured chicken and lamb, and wild-caught salmon. This company also discloses the farms they pull from on their website.

Primal Pastures: This California based farm offers different cuts and meat selections. They deliver nationwide.

Grassroots Farmer’s Cooperative: Another option with pastured chicken, pork, and grass-fed beef with transparency about farm sources. This company offers free shipping on orders over a certain dollar amount.

Five Mary’s Farm: This family-owned, California-based farm is highly regarded for their transparency and delicious meats. They ship direct to homes throughout the US.

Where to Find Fruits and Veggies

Farmer’s markets and local farms are the best way to source the most nutrient-rich, seasonal produce in your area. By supporting these farms, you’re directly supporting the local economy in your area and food diversity in our agriculture system.

Find a local farm to buy direct from or support farms at the farmer’s market. You don’t have to buy all your produce from these farms. Start small and gradually increase how much you source from these farms. It’s taken me years to learn how to shop and eat seasonally, sourcing mainly from local farms in our area during the growing season. Once the season ends, I end up back in the grocery store produce section and find myself longing for the just-picked tomatoes and kohlrabi and radishes and strawberries grown by local farms. The taste just doesn’t compare!

Here are the best sources for finding local options your area.

localharvest.org: Similar to eatwild.com, this website features a database of farms. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but a good place to search and find local farms in your area.

Modern Farmer CSA List: Modern Farmer is currently creating a nationwide list of CSA programs (farm to consumer programs). This is a great resource for finding local farms, but keep in mind this list is currently a work in progress, so if you don’t see anything for your area try the other options I’ve suggested.

Google Search: Simply using the search bar to search your area and “local farms” or “local vegetable farms” or “local produce farms” or “local farmer’s market” can turn up good results. I googled my area, “Tampa Bay Local Farms” and found a number of options pop up.

Ask on Social Media: Ask your friends on Instagram, ask the parenting Facebook group you joined a few years ago, or just post a random social media blast, “Anyone know of farms in the area for produce?” You might be surprised by the number of responses.

Where to Find Beans

Beans may seem like a strange item to include on this list, but during the coronavirus quarantine, dry beans have been hard to come by in the grocery store. Aside from this, it’s best to source fresh beans. Beans sitting on grocery store shelves can be quite old, which means they may not cook very well and leave you feeling frustrated with the results of your bean soup. If you are going to buy beans from the store, go for the bulk bins. The bins usually have a high turnover rate which means the beans are likely fresher than the ones sitting on the shelf.

I love to cook dry beans in the Instant Pot and use them to make soups, hummus, crispy chickpeas, or tacos.

Rancho Gordo: This company sells heirloom beans from farms in Mexico. The beans are always fresh and they offer a wide selection.

Palouse Brand: I purchase this brand off Amazon frequently. The chickpeas are amazing and affordable, along with the other bean selections.

Shopping Options for General Pantry Goods

There are quite a few options for purchasing pantry staples online or direct from local vendors. Here are a few resources to get you started with sourcing pantry items beyond the grocery store.

Vitacost: An online “health food store” that offers free shipping over $49. I’ve ordered from this website many times with a great experience each time. If you join their email list, they send out coupon deals regularly so you can save 10-20% off your entire order.

Thrive Market: This is an online health food store that requires a paid membership. I haven’t tried Thrive Market, but I know many people love this option.

Azure Standard: Azure Standard is like an online health food store, but instead of delivering goods to your door, you’ll need to pick up from a designated location in your area. I haven’t tried this program, but reader friends regularly recommend this shopping option.

Farmer’s Markets: The farmer’s market is a great resource for finding vendors who specialize in making fermented foods, kombucha, yogurt, granola, soap, bread, etc. Many markets offer online shopping at the moment (due to coronavirus), so you can begin checking out the options now versus having to wait for the market to reopen. Search “farmer’s market” and your area via the Google Search Bar.

How to Stock a Real Food Pantry and Fridge

Check out what I stock in my real food pantry in this post and how I store real food in my fridge in this post.

Do you have a favorite beyond-the-grocery store farm, online shop, butcher, or mill? Share your favorite resources below in the comments.

The post Where to Find Local Real Food appeared first on Live Simply.

In today’s episode, Travis shares what to look for when purchasing meat, the biggest misconception he hears about pastured meat and eggs (hint: it has to do with money and the real cost of pastured meat versus conventional meat), how to find local sources for meat and eggs, and he answers your questions.

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Show Notes

• Episode 20 with Trailbale Farm: The Environmentally-Beneficial, Natural Way to Consume Meat and How to Decode Confusing Egg Labels
• Trailbale Farm’s website: Trailbale Farm
• Little Pond Farm podcast episode
• White Oaks Farm: Pastured meat and eggs found in many conventional stores (talked about in previous podcast episode, also sells grass-fed beef)
• Agrilicious.org–currently under construction for updates  
• Localharvest.org –my favorite resource for finding local meat, eggs, produce, and CSA programs 
• APPPA.org–click on “View Consumer’s Guide” on the homepage 
• My favorite way to cook a whole chicken
• How to make homemade chicken broth (stretch a whole chicken)–slow-cooker method, Instant Pot method 
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan 

If you missed my first conversation with Travis, I recommend going back and listening to that episode.  In the first episode, we talk about what it means to raise animals in the most natural, humane, and environmentally-beneficial manner. Travis also shares why it’s important to raise animals this way, and why as consumers we should be concerned about and aware of where our meat and eggs come from and how the animals are raised. Travis also shares what exactly to look for when purchasing eggs and also explains what all those egg labels really mean– cage-free, free range, vegetarian-fed, etc.

Q1: What should people be looking for when purchasing meat–chicken, beef, and pork?

Q2: What’s one of the biggest misconceptions you see (or hear) today about pasture-raised meat or eggs, or purchasing from local farms?

Q3: You all have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. What does your CSA look like? How does your CSA work?

Q4: What’s the advantage of joining your CSA? 

Q5: What are your tips for people who want to find a CSA program, or local farm to purchase meat and eggs from, but don’t know where to find something in their area?

Q6: What’s your favorite cut of meat, and your favorite way to prepare it?

Q7: Why are some pastured eggs from the store more orange and some farm egg yolks are pale yellow?

Q8: If you can’t afford free range and organic, should you not eat the eggs?

Q9: Nutritional benefits, especially vitamins in grass-fed versus traditional?

The post Podcast 021: What to Look for When Purchasing Meat with Travis from Trailbale Farm appeared first on Live Simply.

The film touches on the many aspects of growing and eating real food, from the importance of sourcing local food to the rebirth of ancient grains in modern society (think: einkorn, spelt, kamut). The in-depth discussion about sourcing local food compelled us to get out of the grocery store and find a local source for produce.

Up until this time, most of our produce came from Whole Foods or big grocery stores. Let me just pause for a second and say: There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. If you’re reading this post and that’s how you currently shop for produce, please don’t feel like that’s “not good enough.” The goal of this chat isn’t to make you feel overwhelmed or as though you’re not meeting some kind of food standard; rather, my goal is to share about one more way to source real food. 

After watching Sustainable, we both agreed that supporting local farms, in particular through Community Supported Agriculture, was a new priority for us. I already knew about a farm, Little Pond, that sold produce at the market via a CSA program. The next day, I found the farm’s contact via Google and sent an email asking for information about the CSA program. The farm replied with a cost sheet, as well details about what to expect and how the CSA works.

Within a couple of weeks, we sent a check to the farm. Within a couple of months, we were picking up produce shares from the farm.

We’ve been receiving produce shares from Little Pond for over 7 months now. I usually share my harvest goodies on Instagram Story. The stories have garnered a lot of interest and curiosity from reader friends with questions like…

What is a CSA? 

What’s the advantage of joining a CSA versus just shopping at the grocery store or going to the market? 

How much does it cost to be part of a CSA? 

Does the farm choose what produce you receive, or do you get a choice? 

Will you join a CSA again next year? 

How do you find a CSA? 

Let’s chat about each of these questions.

What is a CSA?

CSA is short for Community Supported/Sustained Agriculture. Crop Share is another common term for this.

A CSA allows consumers to support local, small farms and provides these farms with the assurance (through an upfront financial commitment) that consumers are invested in their hard work and future harvest. The consumer (that’s you and me) pledges to pay a farm upfront for future harvest shares provided by the farm. The farm pledges to grow, tend to, and deliver the harvest to the customer over a certain period of time. A CSA can be strictly for produce, while others may include meat, eggs, milk, and even cheese. Of course, this depends on what the farm grows or raises, or if the farm partners with another farm in the area (think: a veggie farm partners with a dairy farm).

What’s the advantage of joining a CSA versus just shopping at the grocery store or going to the market?

I’ll admit, when I first wrote the check to cover eight month’s worth of produce I was intimidated. Financially committing to that much produce (that was our CSA program, every program differs) was a new experience for me. After two months of harvest boxes, I fell in love with being part of a CSA and realized the many advantages of purchasing food this way.

First, joining a CSA provides the local farm with upfront finances to begin a growing season. Farming isn’t cheap. I learned that from having a backyard garden. You need tools to garden. And when your garden is big enough to feed hundreds of people (or more) each week, you need some major tools, seeds, seedlings, labor, and more to get the job done. Paying a farm upfront for the future harvest, via a CSA, provides the farm with assurance that they can financially sustain themselves. Along with supporting a local farm financially, a CSA is a way of supporting the local community.

Second, joining a CSA provides the customer with the freshest, most seasonal food. By joining a CSA, you’ll be enjoying food that’s essentially grown in your backyard. Talk about fresh!

Third, a CSA is the best way to get out of a food-buying rut, particularly when it comes to produce.  Joining a CSA has challenged me to find creative ways to prepare and enjoy new veggies. After all, I don’t want to waste my money or disrespect the farm’s time and effort. Thanks to our produce CSA, I’ve fallen in love with veggies that I would have passed up if the shopping was up to me. If I don’t know how to use something (like kholrabi), I can always find helpful tips and recipe suggestions from the farm and Google.

Fourth, a CSA actually simplifies my life. On CSA weeks, I pick up my share from the CSA pick up location, and then come home and Instacart the rest of my groceries. The farm picks the produce; I just have to show up and pick up the harvest. I love not having to think about what veggies I need to purchase from the store that week.

Fifth, a CSA is budget-friendly. I know, joining a CSA feels expensive but it’s not. If you breakdown the amount, the price per harvest share is incredibly inexpensive when the quality (super fresh and nutrient dense) is considered. With that said, let’s talk about the cost…

How much does it cost to be part of a CSA?

The produce CSA we joined consists of a 34-week growing season. For a full share (weekly harvest) the cost is $1,190. And for a half share (every other week harvest, 17-week share) the cost is $595. I know, that’s a lot. But let’s breakdown the cost per share.

The total cost per produce share/box is $35. That’s $35 for 2-3 full bags of organic, locally-grown, seasonal produce. This is just an example since every CSA is different. Most CSA programs are incredibly affordable when the actual cost per share is considered. Some farms require a deposit, allowing the customer to pay the rest of the money at a later time. Other farms require a one-time, full payment.

Does the farm choose what produce you receive, or do you get a choice? 

Some farms allow the customer to pick the veggies and fruit (for a CSA share) before or at share pick up time. Other farms choose the produce for the customer, based on the current harvest. With our produce CSA, the farm picks the goodies. With our meat and egg CSA, I choose in advance (there’s a four month commitment for this CSA) what I want in my bi-monthly box: 2 dozen eggs, a whole chicken, chicken breasts (1lb), and ground beef (1lb). I absolutely love the surprise of the produce CSA.

Will you join a CSA again next year? 

A big ol’, YES! Absoutely. No doubt about it. I will sign up for the half share again with Little Pond Farm since the pick up spot is about 25 minutes from our home (pick up is actually at the farmer’s market since the farm also sells produce at the market). On the off weeks, we usually have some leftover produce from the last share (thanks to good storage containers and super fresh produce) and we purchase any extra produce needed from the grocery store.

How do you find a CSA? 

I hope you’re feeling inspired to check out CSA options in your area. There are a few ways to find CSA programs:

1. Visit a farmer’s market. Ask around at the farm booths. Plus, a farmer’s market is a good way to acquaint yourself with the produce sold by various farms. I chose Little Pond Farm after purchasing produce from their stand for over a year.
2. Ask a (local) health food store. Smaller health food stores or food cooperatives may know about local farms and programs.
3. Search the Local Harvest online database.  I just searched my area on Local Harvest and was shocked to find 16 CSA programs. That’s incredible. I had no idea that many CSA programs existed in my local community. You may be surprised at how many options are in your area, too.

Remember, every farm and CSA program is different. So shop around. Ask about cost, what to expect (some will offer photo examples on the farm’s website), how long the growing season lasts, how often a share will be received, how long the farm has been growing/raising food, and if anything other than picking up food is expected from the customer.

The post Community Supported Agriculture 101: The Local Way to Source Real Food appeared first on Live Simply.

Over the last few months we’ve spent much of our time together talking about shopping and stocking real food. In order to live a real food lifestyle, it’s critical to change our buying habits, exchanging the packaged food for fresh ingredients. I know this information can feel overwhelming. Trust me, I’ve been there and I’m here to help.

Once you’ve learned the basics of real food (basically saying no to overly processed “food” and saying yes to real ingredients) you can begin stocking your pantry, fridge, and freezer for real food success. The stocking part takes time, so be patient! The goal is progress, not perfection.

Shopping for real food looks different for each family. For some, this may mean “shopping” from a backyard garden and supplementing from a market or store. For others, this may look like a trip to the only store in town. And for others, this may look like a trip to Costco and then visiting smaller stores. Finding a routine that’s doable, within your budget, and works for your real food lifestyle is important.

Today, I’m going to get really personal and share what a real food shopping trip looks like for me. My goal in sharing my shopping trip haul is to provide a real life example of what I purchase each week and how I use this food to nourish my family.

This week, I’m sharing my shopping trip haul. Next week, I’m going to share what a prep time looks like with the food I purchased.

A Few Notes About My Real Food Shopping Routine

My Meal Plan

Shopping for Real Food: Resources

Stocking Real Food: Resources

The post A Week of Real Food Shopping: Video Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first step in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

Note: Picture from our Target shopping trip.

Today is the last day in the real food shopping series! Over the last ten weeks we’ve spent almost every Monday visiting a new store in the United States with the goal of finding real food.

When we first started talking about the idea of a shopping series consisting of many conventional stores, I was a bit concerned about the food options available. I thought the weekly posts would be rather short and sweet, consisting of some oats and nuts, but nothing more than that. To my surprise, over the last ten weeks, I’ve found a multitude of real food options even at places I least expected like Walmart and Target.

Today’s store highlight was requested by many readers. When I asked in the weekly newsletter (via email) for store suggestions a huge response came back for one particular store…Aldi.

I’ve never actually stepped foot into an Aldi, but I’ve read many blogposts over the years about this miracle store. Aldi shoppers certainly have a deep love for the store and regularly sing praises about the large selection of great food at low prices. I was eager to finally visit the Aldi in our area and take a look at the options available.

I originally intended to share this Aldi post much earlier in the series, since it was such a requested store. After weeks and weeks of communication back and forth with multiple Aldi representatives, we were never granted permission to take photos within a store. As it turns out, Aldi maintains a very closed-door policy when it comes to media within stores. We have a full respect for the stores we visit, so we were compliant with Aldi’s policy. The pictures in today’s post will look different than the normal store photos you’re used to seeing in this series. Instead, we visited a store and purchased the real food options.

As usual, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selections highlighted in this post include my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to Aldi. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s the Live Simply definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Be Prepared

Shopping at Aldi is like visiting another planet, seriously!

First, most of us just grab a shopping cart and walk into a store. At Aldi you must “rent” a shopping cart. It’s only $.25 and you get your money back when you return the cart to its original location near the entrance, but this can be quite the surprise for someone who never carries cash in her purse. Good thing I found some change in my car.

Aldi doesn’t provide bags or boxes (at least my store didn’t offer any boxes). A shopper should be prepared with reusable bags or boxes. Aldi sells paper and plastic bags at checkout for $.10, hence the bag in the photo above :).

Aldi doesn’t actually bag your groceries, even if you bring bags. Maybe this is unique to the store near me. The cashier who checked me out placed the bags I purchased inside the cart with my products. I had to bag my groceries once I got to  my car. This means you’ll need to spend a few extra minutes during your shopping trip bagging groceries.

2. Scout the Store:

Finding real food at Aldi isn’t easy. Yes, real food options can be found, but you really need to read labels and inspect products. I highly recommend visiting a store without kids or time limits. Walk down each aisle and scan the shelves, taking note of the real food options available.

Since the real options are often “buried” in the processed food, a scouting trip with your real food guidelines in mind is the best way to get a feel for how and what to shop for at Aldi. If you don’t have time to visit a store you can take a look at the Aldi website where you’ll find a list of products offered. You can also use the website to make a shopping list. Note: Aldi doesn’t list the ingredients in products on the website, so take precaution to read the ingredient lists in the store.

3. Shop Simply Nature:

Simply Nature is the in-house organic brand at Aldi. I was pleasantly surprised at the prices, clean ingredient list, and large selection of many products in this line. Aldi highlights the products found in the Simply Nature line on Aldi.com.

4. Pay Attention to Sales and Price Signs:

Aldi offers special seasonal items. These items are clearly marked on the price signs hanging above the food item. These items are only available for a limited time and will soon be replaced with new seasonal items.

Aldi’s produce is incredibly inexpensive. You can find the weekly produce sales in the weekly sales flyer. If you live near an Aldi this flyer is probably delivered to your home. If not, you can use the Aldi website to find the weekly sales flyer for the store near you.

Aldi also sells non-food items, such as: bedding, gardening supplies, lamps, food storage, and more. These items can be found in the weekly sales flyer. Last week I noticed Aldi highlighted a juicer for $59.

5. Shop the “Buy Organic” List:

Aldi offers organic produce; however, the selection is very limited. If you plan to shop for produce at Aldi, I recommend shopping according to the “Buy Organic” list (based on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen). This list includes the top fruits and veggies to prioritize when making the decision to purchase organic produce.

Shopping for Real Food at ALDI: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

Aldi offers both organic and conventional produce options.  The organic selection at the Aldi I visited was very limited. If organic produce is a priority, shopping from the Buy Organic list (see above) is the best option. If organic produce isn’t a priority, a customer could find enough produce at Aldi to feed a family without the need to visit another store.

2. Frozen Produce:

Aldi offers a selection of frozen produce. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.”

3. Meat: 

The meat selection at the Aldi I visited was limited. After glancing at the small meat section I didn’t think finding pastured or grass-fed meat was a reasonable expectation, but I was wrong. Aldi sells grass-fed ground beef. This beef isn’t from one particular farm, rather multiple countries: Australia, Uruguay, and the United States.

Aldi also sells Nature Raised Farms whole chickens, along with breasts and thighs. This chicken is 100% vegetarian fed, which is red flag for me since that phrase usually means the hens spend zero time outside eating bugs. Chickens aren’t vegetarians! This is a common label on chicken packages in conventional stores, and unless you have a good source for pastured chickens, the vegetarian status can be a hard one to get away from. This doesn’t just apply to Aldi.

I didn’t see any wild-caught seafood at the store I visited.

4. Dairy:

My recommendation for purchasing dairy from Aldi is to read the labels! The best dairy options I found were: block cheese, organic cheese slices, imported parmesan cheese blocks, and salted butter (this isn’t organic, but it’s the best butter option I could find). Just because one product has a clean ingredient list doesn’t mean a similar product under the same name will be just as clean. Reading labels is crucial in the dairy department. According to blogger friends, some stores offer a larger organic dairy department, including organic raw milk cheese.

This was the first store in this series that doesn’t sell grass-fed or organic butter.

Aldi sells low-fat organic yogurt in tubs. Both yogurt selections I looked at contained concerning ingredients, one of which was aspartame.

This department may vary with stores and regions. This observation is based off my shopping experience at the Aldi in my area.

5. Drinks: 

If you need to purchase milk from Aldi I recommend purchasing nuts (a great product to buy from Aldi!) to make homemade nut milk. The milk selection is either ultra-pasteurized or filled with carrageenan (dairy-free alternatives).

While most of the time my kids drink water, Aldi sells juice boxes (and large containers) that contain real juice. These come in handy for classroom parties or events where juice is requested. Of course, these are a treat and, in my opinion, should be treated as treats–used for special occasions.

A real food drink option at Aldi is the sparkling water. Sparkling water can be expensive, but Aldi offers a very affordable price! When I need something fizzy (other than kombucha), this is my go-to drink. Aldi also sells coffee, even a fair-trade option.

PS: Sour cream isn’t a drink. It just needed a good photo spot ;). This sour cream only contains two ingredients. 

6. Dry Goods:

Yes, you’ll find junk food at Aldi, but real food options abound throughout the store. I was impressed with the real food pantry selections. Again, it’s important to read the labels!

The selection of dry goods I found at Aldi includes: organic tomatoes (canned), virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, dried herbs, organic sugar, rice, dry beans, canned beans, pure maple syrup, gluten-free pasta, raw nuts (my favorite find) and dried fruit (the dried fruit contains added sugar), rolled oats, steel cut oats, salsa, organic applesauce, jam, pure vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, flax and chia seeds, organic honey, 100% pumpkin puree, and active dry yeast. I’ve listed my favorite items in the printable shopping guide.

7. Beauty and Health Products: 

Aldi doesn’t have a large selection of DIY ingredients. I only found vinegar and baking soda.

The bottle pictured on the right was my favorite DIY find. It’s not an ingredient, but the bottle caught my eye! While the ingredients aren’t horrible and the soda could be enjoyed as a treat, my goal is to use the bottle for making kombucha or storing liquid DIY projects. At only $2, this bottle was quite the find!

8. Treats and Convenience Foods:

Finally, let’s talk about the “better” processed food options. Here are a few options I found for treats/convenience foods at Aldi: Squeeze fruit pouches, Fit & Active Fruit Strips, Simply Nature Lightly Salted popcorn (Non-GMO), Simply Nature Blue Corn Tortilla Chips (Non-GMO), salsa, and Go Raw Trail Mix.

My Aldi Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me for this shopping series! Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide.

More Real Food You May Like:

Shopping for Real Food at Costco: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Target: My Top Picks

The post Shopping for Real Food at Aldi: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Contributor post written by Rachel.

A Quick Note from Kristin: Rachel is a vital part of Live Simply. While you may not see her name in print, you’ve probably enjoyed her work on the blog and social media. Rachel keeps the Live Simply social media channels buzzing with amazing content, the weekly newsletter void of editorial mistakes, and the weekly blogposts grammatically-acceptable. Rachel also owns a fantastic Etsy shop which I highly recommend checking out after today’s shopping trip–you may have noticed her work in our recent remodel post…look for the black “Marr” sign. 

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

Hi everyone, it’s Rachel, Kristin’s Social Media Manager. Since there isn’t a Kroger anywhere near her, Kristin asked me if I would write this post for her. Now, there’s something you need to know about me… I was born and raised in Central Florida up until 2 1/2 years ago. If you know anything about Florida, you’ll know that Publix pretty much dominates the scene down there. So my growing up years as well as early married years have been dominated by the friendly stores of Publix.

So when we moved to Georgia 2 1/2 years ago, I was introduced to other grocery stores, including Kroger. Unfortunately, I haven’t been completely won over by Kroger yet, but writing this post is helping. Now my sister, who has been out of Florida longer than I have swears by her local Kroger in Tennessee, so it might be a personal preference unique to each person and even to each Kroger store.

I will, however, say that I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of real food options available in the Kroger store that I visited. So without further ado, I present to you those real food options that I found at my local Kroger.

As usual, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selections highlighted in this post include my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to Kroger. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s the Live Simply definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Start at their website:

There you will find many options to make your shopping trip easier. You can create an online shopping list sorted by either category or by aisle. They also have an app for you to download so you can make sure to have that shopping list handy when you’re at the store.

Also at the website, you’ll find more information about paperless coupons that can be downloaded to your Plus Card. At the time of writing this post, there are no coupons for real food items, but I can’t say for sure that they never have those type of coupons. You can also view their weekly sales flyers which frequently spotlight produce, including organic, on sale each week.

2. Earn Fuel Points:

For every $1 you spend at Kroger, you’ll earn 1 fuel point. You can then use your accumulated fuel points at Kroger Fuel Centers to get a discount on your fuel purchase. Depending upon how many points you have accumulated, you could get $.10, $.20 up to $1 off per gallon! Pretty sweet deal. If you want more info on the fuel points, check here.

3. Request Items:

The manager of the store I visited mentioned that not every store carries every item. Some stores might only have space for 4 feet of a particular type of food while another might have 6 feet of space.

You can ask for a particular brand at the customer service desk. They will then add your request to their “request book.” Kroger will take a look at their regional warehouse to see if they have the item there. If they do, they will send it to your store and the store will call you when they get it.

4. Shop the Simple Truth Organic line of Foods:

This line is not exclusive to Kroger, but there seems to be a large selection of this “generic” line of food. Just from looking at a small sample of these items, the ingredients seem to be mostly clean. But as with pretty much everything else, always make sure you read the labels.

One nice thing about their selection of real foods is that they have an entire section of the store dedicated to better choices in an area using the words, “Live Naturally.” This area has refrigerated and frozen sections along with about 4-5 small aisles of dry goods. Many of the items in each section aren’t the best you could choose, which is again why it’s important to read those labels. The Simple Truth Organic foods are also sprinkled throughout the rest of the store right next to their less attractive counterparts.

5. Look for Local Companies:

Within the produce department, especially, Kroger has many signs with pictures of local farmers and what fruits & vegetables they provide to the store. Most likely they won’t be organic, but if they aren’t on the list below, they might be better options than something from Mexico.

6. Shop the “Buy Organic” List:

Remember how I said I was pleasantly surprised when I visited and took a good hard look at Kroger? The thing I was most surprised about was the big selection of organic produce they had. They group their organic produce together so it’s easier to find and I would say their selection rivals our local Whole Foods. Whole Foods mixes their organic produce and conventional produce together, but overall I would venture to say that Kroger probably has about the same amount of organic produce as Whole Foods does.

Also, the prices on their organic produce are quite reasonable, especially compared to the pricier Whole Foods. If cost is still a factor, try to prioritize your organic purchases based on the list below.

Shopping for Real Food at Kroger: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

As with other grocery stores, Kroger offers both conventional & organic options, along with the local choices mentioned above. Using the Buy Organic list can help you prioritize which produce choices to buy organic. However, just from taking a quick look at the Kroger organic produce prices, buying even more of the organic produce might be possible since their organic prices are pretty low.

2. Frozen Produce:

As with all grocery stores, Kroger offers a selection of frozen produce. The Simple Truth Organic has a good selection of frozen fruits & veggies at reasonable prices.

3. Meat and Seafood:

There was quite a selection of wild caught seafood in the frozen section. Included in that selection are the following: pollock, flounder, ocean perch, sea scallops, sockeye salmon, orange roughy, yellow fin tuna, halibut and Key West pink shrimp.

Most of the fresh seafood was farm raised, with only a few items labeled as wild caught: cooked whole Dungeness crabs, lobster claws and southern kind crab legs.

At first I was very disappointed in the meat selections at Kroger. All I could find at the first store I visited were products labeled as “natural” chicken and beef. But the next day, I visited a different store and found the Simple Truth Organic free range whole chickens and chicken breasts. Both stores carried the same White Oak Pastures grass-fed beef that Publix carries.

4. Bulk Bins:

I don’t think I audibly gasped out loud, but I came pretty close when I turned the corner and found these lovely bulk bins awaiting me! Now not everything in them is ideal, but quite a few of the options were definitely real food approved. And at the second store I visited, I found peanut butter making machines, although it’s pretty easy to make it yourself.

5. Dry Goods:

Even within the “Live Naturally” section of foods, you’ll find a junky and less than desirable selection of items. But you’ll also find some hidden gems in there as well.

Now while I know how easy it is to pop your own popcorn, there are some days when you.just.can’t!! Can I get an amen?! The Buddha Bowl popcorn above really does only have those ingredients that are listed on the front of the bag. And the only ingredients in the potato chips were potatoes, coconut oil & sea salt. What a novel idea! Now the other versions of that brand of potato chips had some less than desirable ingredients, so like I’ve said, read your labels.

Also the raw honey above had a $.50 coupon on it. It’s not much, but it’s a start!

6. Drinks: 

There was a decent selection of drink options available at Kroger. The Arden brand of juices is local to me here in Georgia, so search your store to see if there are any juices local to you.

7. Dairy and Eggs:

Yes, I know that eggs aren’t dairy. This is often a point of confusion for many people, so while I’m lumping them into one category in this post to maximize space, please remember eggs aren’t a member of the dairy family.

Kroger carries Kerrygold butter which is what I prefer to use in my house. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe this butter is the best store-bought option in my opinion.

As per usual, the only dairy milk carried by Kroger is ultra-pasteurized, a practice not endorsed here at Live Simply. Make sure you check around in your area for a local farmer where you can find some deliciously creamy raw milk.

Many Krogers boast a wide selection of cheeses in their Murray’s cheese section. I didn’t look terribly closely, but I’m pretty sure none are raw. There were several brands of local cheese, though. I did, however, find Organic Valley raw cheese in the refrigerated section.

I was quite disappointed in the egg selection at Kroger. The only ones I saw in the “Live Naturally” section were the ones above that are “natural,” “cage-free,” and “grain-fed.” None of which are very good adjectives in my opinion. I’d definitely suggest you try sourcing free-range eggs in your area. You never know where you might find them. One day I was driving along a fairly suburban section of town and noticed a sign in someone’s yard selling local honey. So I stopped by and low and behold she has a bunch of free-range chickens in her backyard and sells eggs as well!

8. Health and Beauty Products: 

Of course there was some Dr. Bronner’s soap at Kroger and the sale price was so good a bottle might have found its way into my cart that day. But besides that and a couple of other random items, I was a bit disappointed in their health and beauty section.

My Kroger Shopping Guide

I had a lot of fun filling in for Kristin on this expedition and I appreciate your joining me for another shopping trip! Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift–a printable shopping guide! Next week we will visit the final store in this series.

Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide.

Special Note: Thank you to the Kroger marketing department and for the store manager for granting me permission to come in and take photos at the Kroger in my area. 

The post Shopping for Real Food at Kroger: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

We are in the final stretch of the shopping series. So far we have visited seven different stores, from Walmart and Target to Whole Foods and a local health food store.

I hope this series has been a huge encouragement to you, as it has been to me. This series has confirmed my belief and hope: real food is accessible no matter where you live or shop! Switching to a real food lifestyle is really as simple as looking past the junk and finding the bag or box of rolled oats versus the packages of flavored microwave oatmeal packs.

This week’s highlight store is Publix. If you live in the Southeast you know all about Publix. In fact, Publix is so popular in Florida alone, I have three stores within a few miles from my home. Since Publix is so close to home, I have personally been able to watch the stores in my area embrace more and more of the real food movement: stocking a wider selection of organic produce, offering organic and less processed packaged foods, and expanding the meat department to include grass-fed options.

If you live in the Southeast, I think you’ll be pleased with the growing selection of real food you will find at Publix. The stock at your Publix may differ from what I’ve listed below. If you plan to shop at Publix I highly recommend visiting one or multiple stores in your area to get a feel for the real food selection offered.

Remember, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selections highlighted in this post include my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to Publix. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s my definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Shop the Weekly Ad:

Publix offers the weekly sales flyer online and in the store. The online version is particularly helpful if you meal plan before shopping.

For example: In this week’s sales flyer Publix is offering a sale on raspberries in my area. Raspberries aren’t on the Buy Organic list, so the conventional berries are okay to purchase. Since the berries are such a great deal, I could plan to use the raspberries for breakfast or as an afternoon snack.

You can check the weekly sales flyer for your area on the Publix website–look in the top right hand corner for the “Weekly Ad.”

2. Get to Know the Coupon Policies:

When you walk into a Publix store the coupon policy is usually visible. It’s important to get to know the coupon policy for your region since Publix usually, from my experience, accepts competitor’s coupons. While most coupons don’t apply to real food, you may find some coupons that work. Publix also offers BOGOs–the one thing I believe most of my family and friends love most about Publix. Yes, most of the BOGO items are processed products, but sometimes you may find real food options like produce. When a real food option goes BOGO, stock up!!

Another sale opportunity the Publix in my area offers is the 10 for $10 deals. I recently stocked up on a mangoes for the freezer and future smoothies thanks to one of these sales.

3. Shop Greenwise:

Publix offers an exclusive line of organic products under the brand name, Greenwise. I’m often surprised by the high-quality and clean ingredients found in many Greenwise foods.

4. Shop the “Buy Organic” List:

Publix offers a large selection of produce. No matter where you purchase food, I recommend shopping according to the “Buy Organic” list (based on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen). This list includes the top fruits and veggies to prioritize when making the decision to purchase organic produce. Most of the produce at my local Publix store is conventional (although the organic list continues to grow!), so I use this list to help prioritize produce choices.

Shopping for Real Food at Publix: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

Publix offers a wide variety of produce, from seasonal finds to regularly stocked fruits and vegetables. If organic produce isn’t a priority, a customer could easily find enough produce at Publix to feed a family without the need to visit another store. If organic produce is a priority, shopping from the Buy Organic list (see above) is the best option–although the organic produce selection continues to grow and expand!

2. Frozen Produce:

Publix also offers frozen fruits and veggies, including organic options. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.” Also, remember to watch the Weekly Ad and 10 for 10 deals for fresh produce finds you can freeze for later use.

3. Meat and Seafood:

Publix sells “better” meat options: organic chicken and organic ground beef. While these choices aren’t pastured or grass-fed (at least the label doesn’t claim to be from animals living in these conditions), I would recommend both options over conventional meat. Publix also offers grass-fed beef options. The stores in my area sell the brands Strauss and White Oak Pastures, both of which are known for excellent grass-fed beef.

Along with a good selection of canned fish (tuna and salmon), I also found some wild-caught frozen and fresh fish: salmon, grouper, and snapper. Publix also sells the Applegate brand lunchmeat and pepperoni.

4. Dairy and Eggs:

Eggs aren’t considered dairy. I know this is often a point of confusion for many people, so while I’m lumping them into one category in this post to maximize space, please remember eggs aren’t a member of the dairy family.

Publix sells my favorite store-bought butter: Kerrygold. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe this butter is the best store-bought option, and the one I purchase and use in my home. Publix sells Kerrygold Dubliner cheese along with other imported cheese selections–a few even claim to be grass-fed! Publix also sells Cabot and Tillamook cheese.

The best find for eggs at Publix is the Greenwise brand. These eggs are organic. Yes, organic really doesn’t mean much when it comes to eggs, but if you need to purchase eggs from the store, and you don’t have a local farmer in your area who sells pastured eggs, these are a better option than the conventional brands..hopefully.

Publix sells Stonyfield Yogurt. I recommend purchasing the plain whole milk variety, and then adding your own fruit and/or honey and maple syrup to flavor the yogurt.

Finally, let’s talk about milk. As we’ve seen from visiting other stores, good dairy milk can be really hard to find in conventional stores. Most organic dairy milk is ultra-pasteurized, a practice I can’t endorse. Once again, finding a local farm or visiting a local health food store is going to be your best option for finding high-quality dairy milk.

Publix sells Silk Almond Milk (this brand doesn’t contain carrageenan), So Delicious Coconut Beverage, and canned coconut milk.  If you need milk from Publix, both these milk alternatives are your best buy.

5. Drinks: 

If you need to purchase milk from Publix I recommend either purchasing nuts to make homemade nut milk, or purchasing Silk Almond Milk, So Delicious Coconut Beverage, or canned coconut milk. All three have minimal ingredients.

While most of the time my kids drink water, Publix sells the Apple & Eve Organics Juice boxes for special occasions.

Publix also sells Pellegrino Sparkling Water, GT’s Kombucha, Suja Juice, and several organic orange juice options.

PS: Avocados aren’t a drink. They just needed a good photo spot ;).

6. Dry Goods:

Yes, you’ll find junk food at Publix, but real food options are starting to pop up all over. In some stores the dry organic options can be found in a special Greenwise section, while other stores mix the organic and less processed options within the aisles.

The selection of dry goods I found at Publix recently includes: organic tomatoes (canned and carton), virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil (a few varieties), apple cider vinegar, dried herbs (a big selection-both organic and conventional), coconut sugar, rice, dry beans, canned beans, pure maple syrup, almond butter, nut and seed butter, Bob’s Red Mill products, quinoa, quinoa pasta, raw nuts and dried fruit, organic imported whole wheat pasta, rolled oats, organic ketchup, salsa, canned coconut milk, organic applesauce, Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, Ezekiel Bread, and organic jam. I’ve listed my favorite items and some brands in the printable shopping guide.

7. Beauty and Health Products: 

Publix offers a few DIY ingredients: hydrogen peroxide (stain remover, toilet bowl cleaner, soft scrub), rubbing alcohol (glass/window cleaner), white vinegar (surface cleaner and just about everything else!), baking soda (so many uses), vitamin E oil capsules (you’ll need to puncture a whole in the capsules for DIY recipes), castile soap (so many uses), and epsom salts (bath salts).

If you want to skip the DIYs and purchase cleaner store-bought products, Publix offers a great selection of natural options. Always remember to read the ingredient labels!

8. Treats and Convenience Foods:

Finally, let’s talk about the “better” processed food options. Here are a few options I found for treats/convenience foods at Publix: Squeeze fruit pouches, Stonyfield Drinkable Yogurts (these have lots of sugar so treat them as a dessert), Lara Bars, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Lundberg Rice Chips and Rice Cakes, organic corn tortilla chips, Annie’s Bunny Snacks, and Nature’s Path Granola/Cereal and Barbara’s Cereal.

My Publix Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me for another shopping trip! Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift–a printable shopping guide!

Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide.

Special Note: Thank you to Publix for granting us permission to come in and take photos at the Publix in our area. 

More Real Food You May Like:

Shopping for Real Food at Costco: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Target: My Top Picks

The post Shopping for Real Food at Publix: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

Gone are days of only finding real food at specialty stores. Today, real food options abound in stores most of us would least expect. I find the idea of accessible real food to be incredibly encouraging. No matter where you live, what your food budget may be, or which stores/farms are available in your area, real food is an option.

Today, let’s continue our shopping series. So far we have visited five stores in this series: Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Meijer. Last week we took a break from the big chain stores to talk about the importance of sourcing local food. This week, we’re going to visit Costco.

To be fully honest, I am a member of the local Costco in my area. In fact, while I try to remain as neutral as possible in this series, I must say: I really love Costco!

For many years, before becoming a member at Costco, friends would rave about the member-only store. At that time, we were members at Sam’s Club (thanks to Dustin’s employer). I rarely visited Sam’s so I figured Costco was probably not worth my time or money. Finally, I took a friend up on her Costco tour offer and visited a store. As we walked down each aisle, I noticed junk food along with quite a few real food options: Kerrygold Butter at an AMAZING price (3 bars for $6.99), produce sold in bulk, and well-priced healthy pantry items. I’ve been a member ever since that day.

The food selection at your regional Costco may vary from the food I highlight below. I know my friends in California often find pantry staples–like almond and coconut flour– that I can’t find at my local Costco. Keep this in mind as you read through this post and print the shopping guide. I highly recommend visiting the Costco in your area and asking to tour the store so you can get a feel for the food selection. Also, if you’re a member at Costco and you find real food options not listed here, please share in the comment section below.

Remember, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selections highlighted in this post include my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to Costco. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s my definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Make a List:

Costco is one of those places where I can easily overspend! I can visit the store for six items and easily walk out with a full cart. Costco is constantly bringing in new items, both food and household related, so the lure of “Ooo, I need that!” is always just an aisle away. My best advice for maintaining a food budget and shopping at Costco is to never enter the front doors without a shopping list! And remember, stick to the list!

2. Stock Up On Asterisk* Foods:

I haven’t confirmed this statement with a Costco representative, but from my experience, when a price sign at Costco includes an asterisk* in the top corner the item is only available temporarily in the store, meaning it’s a one-time product. This is important to note since some real food options may include an asterisk on the price sign. This means it’s time to stock up on that particular item. While I don’t normally recommend wavering from a shopping list, now is the perfect time to do just that. Waver, my friend! Fill that freezer or pantry.

3. Buy Foods You’ll Actually Use:

This tip applies to just about any store, but at Costco it’s important to keep in mind since stores bring in some unique real food options (for example: organic black rice). If you find a new real food and you’re thinking about adding it to your cart ask yourself, “How will I use this?” If you can answer this question, buy the black rice!

4.  Shop Kirkland:

Costco offers an exclusive line of products under the brand name, Kirkland. I’m often surprised by the high-quality and clean ingredients found in many Kirkland packaged foods.

5. No-Risk Membership:

Costco is a member-only store. This means you must pay an annual fee to shop in the store. My initial concern about joining Costco and paying the annual $55 membership fee was the fact that I never used our Sam’s Club membership. Would my $55 go to waste?

The no-risk membership sold me! According to Costco.com: “We will refund your membership fee in full at any time if you are dissatisfied.” It’s been three years since I became a Costco member, and so far I haven’t found a reason to ask for my annual membership payment back.

6. Shop the “Buy Organic” List:

Costco offers a large selection of bulk produce. No matter where you purchase food, I recommend shopping according to the “Buy Organic” list (based on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen). This list includes the top fruits and veggies to prioritize when making the decision to purchase organic produce. Most of the produce at my local Costco store is conventional (not certified organic), so I use this list to help prioritize produce choices.

For example: My local Costco sells lots of berries. Strawberries are on the Buy Organic list, so I avoid purchasing the conventional bulk strawberries from Costco. Raspberries and blackberries aren’t on the list which means I can safely purchase them and save a significant amount of money compared to purchasing berries from another store. With my savings I can purchase the organic strawberries from the market or local health food store.

Shopping for Real Food at Costco: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

Costco offers a lot of produce, from seasonal finds to regularly stocked fruits and vegetables. If organic produce isn’t a priority, a customer could easily find enough produce at Costco to feed a family without the need to visit another store. If organic produce is a priority, shopping from the Buy Organic list (see above) is the best option.

Remember most of the produce from Costco is sold in bulk (melons are usually an exception).

2. Frozen Produce:

Costco also offers frozen fruits and veggies in bulk. I regularly purchase berries and fruit for smoothies and smoothie packs. The frozen broccoli is handy to keep in the freezer for soups and casseroles. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.”

I recently found Froozer fruit pops (pictured above). This product is an example of some of the amazingly clean real food convenience foods you can find at Costco these days. The product contains: mangoes, bananas, pineapple, and a small amount of guar gum.

3. Meat and Seafood:

Costco sells “better” meat options: organic chicken and organic ground beef. While these choices aren’t pastured or grass-fed (at least the label doesn’t claim to be from animals living in these conditions), I would recommend both options over conventional meat. Pastured chicken can be really expensive and hard to find my area, so a whole organic chicken from Costco is often my best option. As Costco expands the real food found in stores, I hope we will soon see grass-fed beef selections.

Along with a good selection of canned fish (sustainably sourced tuna and salmon), I also found wild-caught frozen fish: snapper, salmon, shrimp, and mahi-mahi. Fresh sustainably-source seafood can also be hard to find my area (which is crazy since I live in Florida), so I’m thankful Costco sells these options. The countries of origin are usually printed on the bags.

I haven’t been able to jump on the sardine food train yet (yuck!), but I know many real foodies love a healthy sardine. If you have an appetite for sardines, Costco is your store!

4. Dairy and Eggs:

Eggs aren’t considered dairy. I know this is often a point of confusion for many people, so while I’m lumping them into one category in this post to maximize space, please remember eggs aren’t a member of the dairy family.

Costco sells my favorite store-bought butter: Kerrygold. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe this butter is the best store-bought option, and the one I purchase and use in my home. Costco also sells Kerrygold Dubliner cheese for $13 per 2 pound block. This same cheese sells at other stores in my area for $6.00 per 8-ounce block. Talk about a nice savings!

Costco also sells Cabot cheese (a brand I purchase when I don’t trust other brands), along with lots of imported cheeses (European countries often have higher standards for food production). As always, read the label before purchasing dairy products.

The best find for eggs at Costco is the Kirkland brand. These eggs are cage-free and organic. Granted, cage-free doesn’t mean free-range. If you need to purchase eggs from the store, and you don’t have a local farmer in your area who sells pastured eggs, these are a decent option.

Finally, let’s talk about milk. As we’ve seen from visiting other stores, good dairy milk can be really hard to find in conventional stores. Most organic dairy milk is ultra-pasteurized, a practice I can’t endorse. Once again, finding a local farm or visiting a local health food store is going to be your best option for finding high-quality dairy milk.

Costco sells Silk Almond Milk (this brand doesn’t contain carrageenan) and So Delicious Coconut Beverage.  If you need milk from Costco, both these milk alternatives are your best buy. Another option for a dairy-free alternative milk is to purchase the large bags of nuts from Costco and make your own nut milk.

5. Drinks: 

As mentioned above, if you need to purchase milk from Costco I recommend either purchasing nuts to make homemade nut milk, or purchasing Silk Almond Milk or So Delicious Coconut Beverage. Both have minimal ingredients.

While most of the time my kids drink water, the Apple & Eve Organics Juice comes in handy for classroom parties or events where juice is requested. Of course, these are a treat and, in my opinion, should be treated as treats–used for special occasions.

Another great real food drink option at Costco is Pellegrino Sparkling Water. This brand of sparkling water can be expensive when purchased individually from a food store, but Costco offers a very affordable price! When I need something fizzy (other than kombucha), this is my go-to drink.

PS: It would be amazing if Costco started selling kombucha in bulk–hint hint, Costco! 

6. Dry Goods:

Yes, you’ll find junk food at Costco, but real food options are starting to fill the aisles more and more. The manager at my local Costco estimated that 19% of his store consists of organic foods.

Costco sells a large selection of products I already purchase from other stores, at a bulk rate. For example: Maple syrup from Costco costs $14! The same size and grade maple syrup from other stores costs $20-25. It’s little savings like maple syrup that make the annual $55 membership fee (FYI: that’s a standard membership) worth the expense. 

The selection of dry goods I found at Costco recently includes: organic tomatoes (canned–not sure about the BPA), virgin coconut oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil (a few varieties), dried herbs (a few organic selections), sea salt (just like Real Salt), organic white sugar (perfect for kombucha), rice, raw honey, almond butter, nut and seed butter, dried fruit (read the ingredient lists), quinoa, quinoa pasta, raw nuts, dry beans, rolled oats, organic ketchup, salsa, and organic jam. I’ve listed my favorite items and some brands in the printable shopping guide.

There are also a few items pictured above which I consider to be more convenience foods. These foods come in handy when I really need some extra help in the kitchen: spaghetti sauce (a very clean ingredient list) and organic mac and cheese.

7. Beauty/Health Products and Books:

Costco sells some of the best new cookbooks on the market. And guess what?? Most of these books are real food cookbooks.

Costco offers a few DIY ingredients: hydrogen peroxide (stain remover, toilet bowl cleaner, soft scrub), rubbing alcohol (glass/window cleaner), white vinegar (surface cleaner and just about everything else!), baking soda (so many uses) and epsom salts (bath salts). You can also find some products from The Honest Co.

8. Treats and Convenience Foods:

Finally, let’s talk about the “better” processed food options. Here are a few options I found for treats/convenience foods at Costco: Squeeze fruit pouches, Stonyfield Drinkable Yogurts (these have lots of sugar so treat them as a dessert), fruit leather/strips, Lara Bars, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Kirkland’s Organic Corn Tortilla Chips, and Nature’s Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Granola. Raisins are more of a pantry item, but I’ve also included them here as a treat/snack.

My Costco Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me for another shopping trip! Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift–a printable shopping guide!

Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide. I’ve found some of the brands at Costco can change frequently, so I’ve only included the brands I regularly find stocked.

Special Note: Thank you to Costco for granting us permission to come in and take photos at the Costco in our area. 

The post Shopping for Real Food at Costco: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Congrats! We have made it to the halfway point in the real food shopping series. So far we have visited five stores,and we have five more left to go. The halfway mark is a good time to slow down for a minute and talk about sourcing local food.

My goal in writing this series is to empower you to find real food anywhere! No excuses! And while I have found that it really is possible to find real food in just about any store, there are a few foods that are very limited in most conventional stores: meat, dairy, and sometimes eggs and produce. Inappropriately raised meat, dairy, and eggs can’t be washed like produce. This means it’s particularly important to find better sources for these foods, and if you can’t find them in the grocery store it’s time start exploring local sources.

At some point in your real food journey–once you’ve started making the switch in your grocery cart at the store you regularly visit–you may feel the need to venture out of the four walls of the grocery store and source these harder to find foods. While it would be ideal to shop from local sources for all our food needs, this isn’t always possible. There are many factors that may limit someone from shopping local 100% of the time: time, distance, local laws (raw milk is illegal in some states), and the lack of local food in an area (my area isn’t exactly known for local food).

Despite limitations, going local is usually possible, even if it’s just for a few items you can’t source from a big store (like eggs and grass-fed meat). Today, I want to empower you to shop outside the grocery store. Think about the foods you’re having a hard time sourcing, and venture out! I know, the idea of venturing out sounds scary, but I promise to help.

Four Reasons Shopping Local Matters

1. Affordability: While it may seem like shopping at a big conventional store is the cheaper way to buy food, this isn’t always the case. Shopping local can often help your real food budget.

For example: In my area, grass-fed beef can be purchased at Target. Yes, this is amazing, but if I purchased this beef every single week I would spend $8/lb. Instead, I purchase a quarter to half a cow which comes out to $5.50/lb. Yes, buying meat in bulk requires budgeting up front, but purchasing our meat in bulk equates to a significant savings over time.

2. Support the Local Economy/Farmers: While it may appear that you don’t have many local food suppliers/farms in your area (raises hand), a bit of searching may prove just the opposite. Shopping from just one local store, produce stand/market, co-op, or farmer allows you to put money back into the “small guy”–the local unseen farmer or family-owned grocer wanting to help the local community and support his/her own family.

3. Know Your Food: Purchasing food from a local source(s) allows you to intimately know your food! While the beef from Target may claim to be grass-fed (and I believe this label is true), I don’t actually know the source of the meat. This means while I’m making a better choice than the conventional beef, I’m still “in the dark” about the actual food source and living conditions of the animal. Local stores, co-ops, and farmers should be able to disclose their practices, where they source the meat sold in the store, or how the meat is raised/slaughtered on the farm.

4. Your Voice Matters: Most big grocery stores will listen to customers and try to stock the food requested, but this may require jumping through some “chain of command” hoops. Shopping at a local store often means if you request a product, the store may be able to find a local source or a supplier much faster without obtaining corporate permission. Farmers also listen to customers. If you purchase milk from a local farm and desperately need good eggs, they may start raising a few chickens or know a fellow-farmer with egg-laying hens.

My Local Food Sources

I mainly shop for real food from five main sources: Saturday Morning Market, Whole Foods, a local co-op every two weeks (milk, eggs, and some local produce), a local farm for meat twice a year, and Nature’s Food Patch (a locally-owned natural food store). I’ll occasionally visit Publix for items like oats, raisins, a quick produce run, etc.

Below, you’ll find pictures of my favorite finds from Nature’s Food Patch and the Saturday Morning Market. I hope the photos provide you with a little glimpse into the amazing variety and unique selection of real food options you can find when you venture out of the big chain stores.

Since the point of this post is to provide you with the resources (below) for finding real food in your local area, I’m not going to provide a shopping list for my market or local health food store. The selection found in markets, farms, local stores, and co-ops will vary according to region–that’s the beauty of shopping local!

Nature’s Food Patch…

On the right: Local kombucha on the tap. It’s the BEST!

My Local Farmer’s Market…

Finding Local Food: Ten Resources You Need to Get Started + A Printable Guide

Thank you so much for joining me for another shopping trip! I can’t wait to go shopping with you again next week.  Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a resource list for finding local food in your area. This list will help you easily find real food options in your area: co-ops, local health food stores, farms, and markets.

1. Localharvest.org: Find farmer’s markets, farms, and CSA communities (community supported agriculture) in your area.

2. FoodRoutes.org: The website is still under development. You can email the contact on the site for questions about local food sources associated with Buy Fresh Buy Local in your area.

3. Eatwild.com: Find local grass-fed meat, eggs, and dairy.

4. Coopdirectory.org: Search for local co-ops (member-based real food communities) by state. Co-ops must be registered with this site to appear in searches. If a co-op isn’t found in your area, ask around at local markets and health food stores for more information.

5. Eatwellguide.org: Find restaurants serving local food, farms, and farmer’s markets.

6. Edible Magazine: Edible is a nation-wide magazine published in various cities/regions. The publications are usually available at local restaurants, markets, and health food stores. Local stores, farmers, and restaurants are featured throughout the magazine.

7. Visit a Local Health Food Store: If you have a local health food store in your area, ask the manager for local farm contacts.

8. Google: Google is your friend when it comes to finding real food. A simple Google search (for example: “Tampa Bay Grass-Fed Farms”) may yield a number of promising leads.

9. Craigslist: Yes, Craigslist can be a little creepy, but a quick farm search may lead you to possible food sources (u-pick farms, local markets, farmers). Always be cautious about spammy ads. I only investigate the ads with phone numbers and names.

10. Visit a Farmer’s Market: Once you’ve found a farmer’s market, take the time to get to know the local farmers selling produce, meat, eggs, and milk each week. Getting to know your farmers may help you source other real food options in your area. The local food community is a close network.

You can download and print this “shopping resource list” to keep in your meal planning folder/binder/workbook or fridge to help you easily source real food in your area.

The post Shopping for Real Food: Local Sources + Ten Resources You Need to Get Started appeared first on Live Simply.

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

The store we’re going to visit today is my kryptonite. I haven’t ventured into the food department of this store because, truthfully, the other 352 million items always get me. And when I say they “get me,” I mean they really seem to get me–my pocketbook, my emotions, my wants, my everything.

I’m sure from that description many of you already know the store we’re going to visit. Say it with me…

Target!

I’m very familiar with Target. Okay, almost too familiar. Despite my familiarity, the food department isn’t a “land” I’ve spent much time exploring. I’ve always pictured Target as a place to buy lots of processed food, and cute dresses and Mason jars.

Recently as I entered the Super Target in my area I noticed a case of kombucha near the dollar section. Maybe that’s just the sign of the times? Maybe stores are beginning to realize that people really want better options even at places many of us would least expect (AKA: Target and Walmart).

After talking to the manager at the Super Target in my area, I now realize that’s exactly the case. People are demanding better choices, and stores are listening! Tim, the manager, said he receives multiple requests every single day from customers looking for better alternatives. While I think this is amazing, I hope people aren’t just requesting an organic mac and cheese versus Kraft. Rather, I hope these requests are for better ingredients like grass-fed cheese, a greater selection of veggies, and better meat options. Whatever the case may be, I’m thankful to learn people are speaking up and stores are listening!

Many cities have a Target and Walmart, so finding real food options at both stores is really encouraging. While venturing out of the big stores and finding a way to support local farms is at the heart of the real food movement, starting where you’re at–in a conventional store–is where the change begins. Often times finding better food is just a matter of looking for it (it’s hard to find in the midst of hundreds and thousands of processed food choices) or asking a manager to stock better alternatives–they are listening!

With that word of encouragement, let’s get started with the Target tour. I promise not to take too many detours. Oops.

Stay on track, Kristin! You don’t need that cute scarf today.

Remember, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selections highlighted in this post include my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to a Super Target. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s my definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Master the Art of Saving Money:

Target offers customers multiple ways to save money on food. Here are a few money-saving options…

• Download the Cartwheel App: I must admit that I’ve never actually used Cartwheel (Target’s electronic coupon system), but I’m told it’s pretty amazing. And while most of the coupons are for processed food items, I’ve been told Target adds coupons for better food options (or maybe that crock-pot you’ve been eyeing) on occasion.
• Save with Reusable Bags: For every reusable bag used to carry your groceries, Target will take $.05 off your bill.
• Learn to Read Price Cuts: There are two different price cuts at Target: temporary and permanent. Temporary price cuts (indicted by a little yellow sign) mean this item is only on sale for a limited time. So if raisins go on sale with a yellow “temporary” tag, stock up! The permanent price tag sign means this is a Target low-price item (usually they beat a competitor) and the price is fixed.

2. Prioritize Food Choices and Understand the Limitations:

Target is definitely not a Whole Foods or health food store. While this may seem obvious, it’s important to remember this simple truth when shopping. Some real food options may be limited to just a handful of items. This means prioritizing or compromising in a few areas may be necessary. For example: The real food yogurt selection at Target is very limited. Stonyfield Lowfat French Vanilla Yogurt was the only option at the Target I visited. I prefer to purchase plain whole milk yogurt. If organic lowfat yogurt was my only option, and I didn’t want to or couldn’t make my own, this would be my best choice versus conventional “fruit-flavored” varieties.

4. Shop Simply Balanced:

Simply Balanced is the in-house “better” brand at Target. According to Target, “The Simply Balanced collection is crafted to be free of artificial flavors, colors and preservatives, and avoids high fructose corn syrup. The collection never uses trans fats, is mindful about the amount of sodium in each product, and forty percent of the products are organic – giving guests more of the simple, recognizable ingredients they know and want – and a food label they can understand.”

5. Shop the “Buy Organic” List:

Target offers a decent amount of produce. No matter where you purchase food, I recommend shopping according to the “Buy Organic” list (based on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen). This list includes the top fruits and veggies to prioritize when making the decision to purchase organic produce. Purchasing all of your produce at Target may be a limiting experience, so I definitely recommend finding a farmer’s market or produce stand to help supplement.

Shopping for Real Food at Target: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

Target offers both organic and conventional produce options. To help keep the budget in check and prioritize produce options, shop from the “Buy Organic” list (see above). I was impressed with the amount of loose produce sold at Target.

2. Frozen Produce:

Target also offers frozen fruits and veggies. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.”

3. Meat and Seafood:

Target stocks a nice variety of “real” meat. Along with a good selection of canned fish (sustainably sourced tuna and salmon), I also found grass-fed beef (steaks, roasts, ground beef) and chicken, Applegate lunchmeat (a very limited selection), wild salmon, and grass-fed and finished hot dogs.

4. Dairy:

Target sells my favorite store-bought butter: Kerrygold. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe this butter is the best store-bought option, and the one I purchase and use in my home.

The Target in my area only sold one yogurt product I would purchase: Stonyfield Organic Lowfat French Vanilla. Although I would prefer a whole milk plain yogurt, this was definitely a better real food choice than the “fruit-flavored” conventional options. I’ve been told the yogurt selection may vary greatly at each Target, so check your local store as they may stock a better selection. From the pictures above, you’ll notice the Yokids Squeezers by Stonyfield. Technically, I would classify these as a “treat”, not a daily yogurt option since they tend to be loaded with sugar.

Target offers a well-stocked cheese department in the produce/deli selection. This is where you’ll find Kerrygold and other less-processed options.

Target only sells ultra-pasteurized milk.

5. Eggs:

I’ve noticed several bloggers recently posting pictures on Instagram of pastured eggs from Vital Farms purchased at Target. Unfortunately my store didn’t sell Vital Farms, so I chose to highlight the Simply Balanced Cage-Free Eggs. “Cage-free” doesn’t mean the eggs come from pastured chickens, but if you’re in need of eggs from Target this is the best option available.

6. Dry Goods:

I’ve come to learn from this series that real food options exist even in the places I least expect them. This again proved to be the case at Target. Yes, you’ll still find a ton of junk food at Target, but real food options are starting to fill the aisles. Target sells a large selection of products I already purchase from other stores. The selection I found includes: organic tomatoes (cartons and canned), coconut milk, almond flour ($9.95/bag!), whole wheat flour, coconut flour, rolled oats, dried/canned beans (also sold in cartons), virgin coconut oil, coconut water, dried herbs, coconut sugar, pure maple syrup, chocolate chips (they even sell the Enjoy Life Morsels), sprouted bread (I love the Silver Hills brand), rice, organic pasta, and more! I’ve listed my favorite items and some brands in the printable shopping guide.

7. Beauty and Health Products:

Target offers a nice variety of DIY ingredients: witch hazel, castile soap  (five varieties in the makeup section), epsom salt, hydrogen peroxide (remember the homemade stain remover from last week?), rubbing alcohol (homemade glass cleaner, anyone?), and vitamin E oil. Target also sells a large stock of glass bottles and jars for DIYs and food storage (check the kitchen department and dollar section). Along with ingredients to make your own products, Target also stocks Pacifica–my favorite store-bought makeup brand–and a variety of natural soap and cosmetic brands.

8. Treats and Convenience Foods:

Finally, let’s talk about the “better” processed food options. Here are a few options I found for treats/convenience foods at Target: multiple brands of ice cream, Annie’s snacks, Simply Balanced corn chips (a very clean organic list!), squeeze fruit pouches, Yokids Squeeze yogurt, Lundberg Rice Chips, freeze dried fruit (I wouldn’t call this one “processed”–it’s just fruit!), fruit leather, and more. I’ve highlighted my top picks and brands in the printable shopping guide.

My Target Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me for another shopping trip! I can’t wait to go shopping with you again next week.  Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift- a way to remember our field trip– a printable shopping guide!

Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide.

More Real Food You May Like:

Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Meijer: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Whole Foods: My Top Picks

The post Shopping for Real Food at Target: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Contributor post written by Renee from Raising Generation Nourished

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

When Kristin asked me where I shop for food “up there” I couldn’t wait to tell her about Meijer. Anyone who lives in the Midwest knows what a gem we have when it comes to a grocery store.

I don’t think Meijer has always been known as “real food friendly” as it is now, so if you live in the Midwest and haven’t shopped there in a few years, you’ll be blown away. And before you write this post off as not applicable to you if you don’t live in the Midwest, tuck this one away for later if you ever travel through or vacation here.

Not only does Meijer offer a wide variety of food, including Meijer Organics and Naturals (which boasts non-GMO labels), but the produce selection from local sources during in-season times feels just like a farmer’s market. In fact, I see the taken back look on some faces when people find out I do a bigger portion of my produce shopping even in the summer at Meijer versus our local farmer’s market.

Now before you send the real food police after me, let me give you an example. And remember, I have five very hungry mouths to feed in my house. When the price for a bunch of asparagus is $3 per pound at the farmer’s market, and $1.99 per pound at Meijer (still from a local source), I have to take that savings every time. Don’t get me wrong, I do hit the farmer’s market for pastured chickens, and our raw dairy farmer provides us with cheese, eggs, and beef. But I definitely price shop when it comes to local produce – and if Meijer has a better price, I am not ashamed to shop there – especially when they are using local farmers anyway.

And let’s not forget about the winter! From November until April in the Midwest, next to nothing is grown or offered as far as local produce. Greens and squash are about it. And yet Meijer still has a wide selection of produce to choose from all over the country.

I am so excited to share our little Midwest secret with you all today!

I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selection highlighted in this post includes my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to the Meijer near me. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s the Live Simply definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Shop the “Meijer Organics” brand. Some items are labeled “True Goodness Meijer Organic.”

The labels are easy to spot all over the store –a very simple light brown top with a USDA organic certification. Yes, there are some junkier things like boxed cookies, but for the most part they have taken every day pantry staples under the organics brand name and made it pretty affordable compared to big name organics. Everything from ketchup to rice and beans!

2. Shop the “Meijer Naturals” brand

Not certified organic, but this brand does boast on every product a non-GMO label. That is huge. So their brand of beans, oats, etc may not be organic but they are at least non-GMO. The ingredients won’t be crazy long with a bunch of unidentifiable products either. And again, since this is the in-store brand the price is definitely right!

3. Use M-Perks

Don’t shy away from couponing like I have in the past because coupons are usually for the “junk food.” Meijer has a fantastic online/mobile program that comes right to your phone that you can “clip” on your mobile device and enter your perks number to get your savings. This is a big time saver! They even throw produce and real food items in there sometimes. They will also send you special weekly savings before every weekend that usually includes at least $5 off your entire grocery purchase and sometimes $10 or $15. It is unheard of to have coupon type sales on produce at most other stores, but at Meijer, if you clip that coupon you can use it on any grocery – that includes produce!

4. Shop the “10 For 10 with 11th Free” deals

These are huge! And they have them on produce, not just the junk foods. Sure they put Mac N Cheese on the 10 for 10 sale, but you’ll also catch avocados, peppers, and even mangoes with this sale! It is the perfect time to freeze foods for quick prep (learn how to freeze avocados). They even have 10 for 10 sales on healthier convenience/snack items like Lara Bars sometimes.

5. Shop the “Buy Organic List”

Meijer offers a large selection of organic produce; however, I understand not everyone can afford to buy 100% organic all the time. If you plan to shop for produce at Meijer, I recommend shopping according to the “Buy Organic” list (based on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen). This list includes the top fruits and veggies to prioritize when making the decision to purchase organic produce.

Shopping for Real Food at Meijer: My Top Picks

1. Produce

Meijer offers both organic and conventional produce options. To help keep the budget in check and prioritize produce options, shop from the “Buy Organic” list (see above). There are usually 3-4 vegetable sections that are clearly labeled organic – kale, carrots, leeks, beets, radishes. And then lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, celery. There will be a section with organic potatoes and onions, and then another with organic tomatoes, peppers, zucchini. There is also a wide variety of fresh organic fruit, and those will be clearly labeled next to their matching conventional fruit. For instance, the organic apples will have a brown organic divider label separating them from the conventional apples.

2. Frozen Produce

Meijer also offers frozen fruits and veggies. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.” You’ll find both organic and conventional frozen produce. To help keep the budget in check and prioritize produce options, shop from the “Buy Organic” list (see above).

3. Meat & Seafood

Meat and seafood was one area I haven’t checked out at Meijer in years. Since we have a raw milk share with our local farmer, we get pretty much every animal product needed from them.

I was really surprised to find wild caught fresh fish! The fish monger said they get fresh fish delivered 6 days per week. I may be visiting this section more often as it is really hard to find wild caught seafood around these parts. Our Meijer also carries canned Wild Planet tuna fish and salmon, which surprised me as well. We typically buy our tuna from Costco, but it is good to know they have it in a pinch.

I was disappointed in the beef selection. There was only one brand of grass-fed beef and it was double in price compared to what I pay from our farmer – $10 for one pound of ground beef is really pricey! I’m thinking if you live in the Midwest where Meijer’s are, there is bound to be a local farmer and/or Amish farmer near you that you can get your beef from–we are very known for that around here! There is also ground organic bison available.

Meijer has organic whole chickens as well as chicken breasts. Whole chickens are always a better price point. (Learn how to take 2-3 whole chickens and cook them in your crock-pot or oven roaster  and store the meat away for meals, sandwiches, soups, etc!) They are antibiotic and hormone free.

4. Dairy

Meijer carries a wide variety of Kerrygold products. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe it is a great brand. Our Meijer carries 3 kinds of Kerrygold cheese along with salted and unsalted butter. This is a great option for those who don’t have access to a farm that pastures their animals near you. Meijer Organics also offers a butter option. This butter is not from grass-fed cows and you can tell in the color of the butter (and in the taste in my opinion).

Meijer also carries Heini’s Raw Cheddar Cheese. This is an Ohio-based Amish milk farm which means the cows will not have hormones or antibiotics. Check in the specialty cheese section by the deli for any local raw milk cheese. This is also where you will find the Kerrygold cheese.

The Meijer in my area carries Stonyfield Organic Whole Milk Yogurt. They do have a vanilla flavored whole milk yogurt, although the sugar content on that is shocking. I like to stir in fruit puree at my house – even a drizzle of honey if needed. There have been a couple of times when my store took away my full fat yogurt. I asked the manager to bring it back, and he did! Don’t fear the fat, people!

Daisy whole sour cream is also a good choice at Meijer. Just cream and culture on the ingredient list.

Meijer only carries ultra-pasteurized whole milk. Since this is extremely processed, even the organic ultra-pastured milk is not recommended. I would consider talking with the farmers at your markets and finding a farmer (or Amish family) that provides safe raw milk.

5. Eggs

Okay, huge kudos to Meijer! I was very shocked to find pastured eggs. Kristin did a bit of investigating and it appears The Happy Egg Co. is the real deal. Pastured eggs from Meijer cost $4.99/dozen. In my area this is at least 50 cents more than our local farmers, so be sure to compare prices and options in your area!

6. Dry Goods

Meijer carries a wide variety of popular name brands like Bob’s Red Mill and Enjoy Life. This is also where you can shop the Meijer Organics and Meijer Naturals brand. The selection I found includes: organic canned tomatoes (diced, sauce, paste, pizza and spaghetti sauce), coconut milk, whole wheat flour, variety of gluten and grain free flours, rolled oats, dry & canned beans, virgin coconut oil, coconut water, organic dried herbs, organic sugars, dried beans, coffee, tea, pure maple syrup, raw honey (I even found a local to Michigan raw honey. Local will be best!), chocolate chips, quinoa, rice, organic and brown rice pasta, and more! Our Meijer also has a small section of very “local food” — things like pickles, hot sauces, granola, etc. Just check those labels! I’ve listed my favorite items and some brands in the printable shopping guide.

7. Beauty & Health

Meijer offers a few DIY ingredients: witch hazel (Anti-Itch Cream, Hand Sanitizer, Two-Ingredient Makeup Remover, Reusable Cleaning Wipes, etc.), rubbing alcohol (DIY All-In-One Glass Cleaner, Hand Sanitizer), and epsom salt (Sleepy Time Bath Salts).

They also have a big selection of natural beauty care from the entire line of Burt’s Bees brand, Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap and Kirk’s Castile Soap. They also carry Tom’s brand for toothpaste and deodorant. FYI: Some Tom’s toothpaste options have fluoride – check the labels and avoid those!

If you hop over to the children’s medicine area in the pharmacy, look at the bottom shelves and you’ll find the Hyland’s line of herbal remedies from cough and cold syrup to teething remedies. They also carry Nature’s Way herbal/natural remedies. I was really glad to find activated charcoal, which is nice to be able to grab in a pinch for a natural remedy to stomach bugs! This is especially nice since Meijer is open 24-7 and that stomach bug hits the house in the middle of the night!

Meijer also just started carrying GT’s Kombucha which is a fantastic way to incorporate naturally-occurring probiotics for gut health in your diet when you aren’t quite ready to start making your own.

8. Household

Meijer carries Seventh Generation & Mrs. Meyers brand laundry, dish, and cleaning supplies. They also have an in-house brand called Ecowise, which is comparable to Seventh Generation. This brand is seen on laundry, dish, and household cleaning products as well.

9. Garden and Canning

Meijer carries the entire line of Burpee organic and conventional seeds. The entire line, including the conventional, is certified non-GMO which is huge. This is one simple (frugal!) way to get fresh produce in your family. We started with digging a small garden in the back of our house. We have really enjoyed extending the garden and letting the kids see where their food comes from. Start with some easy growing things like green beans, peas and herbs!

Meijer also carries a couple brands of organic soils and organic fertilizers.

You will also find a section of Ball brand canning supplies all year round.  During the late spring/summer and early fall you will find an entire wall dedicated to canning! Even if you don’t garden at your house, you can take advantage of Meijer’s in-season local produce prices and the farmer’s markets near you and stock up for the winter.

One note about the canning section: I wasn’t a fan of the ingredients on many of the canning spices/mixes. Just read the ingredient labels. I also prefer the natural pectin from the Pomona’s pectin brand for jam making versus the SureJel they sell at Meijer. Pomona’s is very inexpensive on Amazon or your local health food store.

10. Treats & Convenience Foods

While I don’t like to purchase processed organic food, I believe these products can have a time and place in a real food lifestyle. And yes, Annie’s is now owned by General Mills, but their ingredient list (although still very processed) is much cleaner than the conventional alternatives. Here are a few options I found for treats/convenience foods at Meijer: So Delicious Coconut Ice Cream, Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks, Lara Bars, Lundberg Rice Chips along with certified non-GMO chips.

You will also find the Meijer Naturals and a few Meijer Organics here, too. They have fruit squeezes (think Go-Go squeeze), fruit snacks, crackers, and cookies. Meijer carries Alter Eco fair trade chocolate bars as well. I also found some in-store brands of 100% juice that can be enjoyed as an occasional treat.

11. Pet Food

I wanted to include that I found a pet food brand at Meijer called, Beyond. I am not really a pet person, but the ingredient label looked decent with meat being the first ingredient. It looked like they carried this brand for dogs and cats. There was a wide variety of food so be sure you look at the labels.

My Meijer’s Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me today for our field trip to the Midwest and Meijer! Be sure to stop by next week when Kristin will take you on another shopping trip to a popular nationwide store. Maybe something to do with a red bullseye? Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift- a way to remember our field trip– a printable shopping guide!
Click on the image below to download and print your shopping guide.

A Note From Kristin: A HUGE thank you to Renee for taking the time to share the real food options at Meijer! I truly appreciate your dedication to making a real food lifestyle accessible for everyone!

More Real Food You May Like:

Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Walmart: My Top Picks

Shopping for Real Food at Whole Foods: My Top Picks

The post Shopping For Real Food at Meijer: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Note: This series isn’t about endorsing any particular company or brand. My goal is to cover major stores, where most Americans shop, to show people that just making a switch in the products they purchase is a huge first start in adopting a real food lifestyle–this only requires changing what you put in your cart. Once this hurdle is conquered, other options may be explored–farms, co-ops, and local health stores. Small, but practical changes lead to a doable lifestyle! Learn more about shopping for real food under the “Shopping 101″ section on the blog.

Time for another real food field trip! Let’s go shopping at Trader Joe’s.

My first experience with Trader Joe’s came two years ago on a family vacation in Sarasota. I’d been hearing about Trader Joe’s for years from friends who lived in California, so I couldn’t wait to actually visit a store that summer. My excitement came to a screeching halt as I walked around the store. In my mind, Trader Joe’s was going to be a real food utopia–local and seasonal foods at a discounted price. I was disappointed to find rows of processed food and a limited selection of fresh produce.

Fast forward to Fall 2014. After years of speculation, a Trader Joe’s finally opened in our county. I watched the news that week as people stood in long lines, shaking my head and wondering what was so amazing about this magical store. Obviously I missed something.

Last week I finally returned to Trader Joe’s. I came prepared with lots of time (no kiddos), Dustin, and a pencil and paper. My goal: To find the best real food options at Trader Joe’s for the Live Simply Family.

Dustin and I left Trader Joe’s last Tuesday after a two hour tour. This time I didn’t leave disappointed. For the most part, Trader Joe’s offers a good selection of real food options.

Remember, I’m not affiliated with any food company. I haven’t been paid by any store or brand. The selection highlighted in this post includes my top food picks based on the Live Simply definition of real food and my visit to a Trader Joe’s. While everyone defines “real” in various ways, here’s my definition:

Practical Shopping Tips

1. Read Ingredient Lists:

Trader Joe’s is often talked about as being a health food store. While I agree that Trader Joe’s offers many real food options, automatically assuming everything in the store will fall under the “healthy” or “real food” categories is dangerous.

While we walked down the aisles with our camera, a very friendly employee shared the top five products sold at Trader Joe’s nationwide: 1) Cookie Butter 2) Mandarin Chicken (a frozen prepared meal) 3) Frozen Croissants 4) Triple Gingersnaps 5) Unexpected Cheddar Cheese. The reason I decided to include this list isn’t to put down Trader Joe’s. Rather, my point is to be cautious.  Just because something is deemed “healthy” or “natural” doesn’t mean it’s actually something you should buy! Use your real food guidelines and read labels.

For example: While exploring the nut butter section I picked up a peanut butter jar titled, Better’n Peanut Butter. The label read: all natural, low sodium (no added salt?), made with real peanuts, and NON-GMO. Impressive! I told Dustin, “This is the peanut butter I recommend.” He immediately snapped a picture of the product. As I started to put it back on the shelf I noticed the ingredient label was rather long, “What??” I flipped the jar over and couldn’t believe the number of ingredients. Peanut butter should be made with one or two ingredients: peanuts and salt.

Don’t be fooled by healthy-looking labels.

2. Prioritize Food Choices:

Some real food options may be limited to just a handful of items. This means prioritizing or compromising in a few areas may be necessary.

For example: The real food milk selection at Trader Joe’s is very limited. The only real food milk option (other than a non-dairy boxed milk with multiple ingredients) was a pasteurized and homogenized whole milk. I prefer to purchase raw or low-temp pasteurized and non-homogenized milk. If the Trader Joe’s milk was my only option, this would be my best choice versus the ultra-pasteurized milk.  Another option is making homemade nut milk.

3. Returns are A-Okay :

Trader Joe’s offers a phenomenal return policy for customers. This means if you accidentally purchase the peanut butter from above, and don’t realize just how yucky it is until you get home, Trader Joe’s will take it back without a receipt! This little tip came from a knowledgeable employee, not my experience. This return policy is possible because Trader Joe’s pretty much only sells Trader Joe’s brand products. This is also the reason Trader Joe’s can keep prices lower than competitors.

4. Sample Before You Buy:

Another cool perk of shopping at Trader Joe’s is the sample policy. Trader Joe’s is happy to offer customers a sample of just about anything, excluding frozen foods or anything that needs to be cooked (meat). If you see a bag of peaches and want a taste before adding them to your cart, ask a Trader Joe’s employee (the friendly person in the Hawaiian shirt).

Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks

1. Produce:

The produce at Trader Joe’s is fresh and inviting. Stores offer a nice variety of both organic and conventional produce options. To help keep the budget in check, shop from the “Buy Organic” list (find it here). The produce selections are very affordable.

Many of the vegetables, particularly the leafy greens, are wrapped in plastic and/or boxes.

2. Frozen Produce:

Trader Joe’s also offers frozen fruits and veggies. Purchase fruits and veggies with clean ingredient lists (just the fruit or veggie listed) versus packages containing special sauces or “smoothie blends.” Trader Joe’s offers a couple of very clean frozen veggie convenience meals. I’ve listed these meals in the printable shopping guide.

3. Meat and Seafood:

Trader Joe’s offers grass-fed ground beef, whole (and just breasts) free-range chicken, Applegate lunch meat, and frozen wild-caught fish. I was very impressed by the variety of wild-caught, affordable seafood options. Yes, many of the options are imported from other countries, but this information is clearly labeled on the packages.

Eggs aren’t included on my “top picks” list. This is because I couldn’t find any decent egg options at the Trader Joe’s in my area.

4. Dairy:

Trader Joe’s sells my favorite store-bought butter: Kerrygold. While Kerrygold has come under scrutiny in the past for not being 100% grass-fed (more like 90 something), I still believe this butter is the best store-bought option, and the one I purchase and use in my home.

The milk selection at the Trader Joe’s in my area was very limited. If you need to purchase milk from Trader Joe’s, I recommend going with the pasteurized and homogenized whole milk, not any of the ultra-pasteurized choices. Another option is to skip the dairy milk and purchase nuts (Trader Joe’s offers a large selection) to make homemade nut milk.

If you’re a cheese lover, Trader Joe’s will leave you weak at the knees. Trader Joe’s sells many specialty cheeses (imported varieties) and a good selection of grass-fed and raw cheese selections.

5. Dry Goods:

Trader Joe’s sells a large selection of boxed/canned/packaged dry goods. My favorite choices include: pure maple syrup, baking powder/soda, cocoa powder, jam, nut butter, rice, brown rice pasta, coconut oil, an okay organic mayo (although not super clean, it’s better than other store-bought options), canned tomatoes, skipjack tuna, coconut sugar, medjool dates (my favorite find for the price!), gluten-free rolled oats, almond meal ($5.99–talk about a great price!), coconut flour, whole wheat flour, breadcrumbs, dried spices, nuts and seeds, olive oil, frozen cooked quinoa (this would come in handy on busy school nights), and vinegars.

My one big pet peeve with Trader Joe’s is they don’t sell dry beans (at least I didn’t see any at my local store–no bags or bulk bins). What?!

6. Bread:

Trader Joe’s doesn’t have an in-house bakery, but even without one they offer some great bread options. My favorite finds are: Ezekial 4:9, sprouted rye, whole wheat pita, and corn tortillas (I’ve been told these are made with Non-GMO corn).

7. Convenience Foods and Treats:

Trader Joe’s lacks no shortage of convenience foods and treats. There a few very clean options: Dark Chocolate Honey Mints (three ingredients and soooo good!!), Pretzel Slims, Roasted Garlic Hummus, Organic Hummus, Trader Joe’s Fruit Bar, Nature’ Path Organic Heritage Flakes, Lundberg Brown Rice Cakes, Roasted Plantain Chips.

A note about the hummus: Most of the hummus at Trader Joe’s is made with canola oil (boo!). I recommend avoiding almost all of the ready-made dips. The only two options made without canola oil are pictured above.

8. Beauty and Health Products:

I’m always excited to find DIY ingredients at a store. Trader Joe’s sells a few of my favorites: castile soap (just peppermint), jojoba oil, vitamin E oil, and tea tree essential oil. Trader Joe’s also offers a laundry detergent that looks halfway decent for a store-bought option.

My Trader Joe’s Shopping Guide

Thank you so much for joining me today for our third field trip! I can’t wait to go shopping with you again next week. Before we part ways, I want to leave you with a special gift- a way to remember our field trip– a printable shopping guide!

Click on the image below to download and print your Trader Joe’s shopping guide.

More Real Food You May Like:

Shopping For Real Food at Whole Foods: My Top Picks

Shopping For Real Food at Walmart: My Top Picks

Homemade vs. Store-Bought: 5 Important Questions You Must Ask

The post Shopping for Real Food at Trader Joe’s: My Top Picks + Printable Shopping Guide appeared first on Live Simply.