The Grocery Store – Outer Ring Elitism

You are standing in the grocery store wondering “Now what?”.  Your eyes are moving through the bakery ( strategically placed just inside the door to entice you with succulent smells of sweet baked goods.) and see mounds of buttered goodness you now can’t eat.  What used to take you an hour to whip through ( for small families) now finds you an hour in holding the 5th can of tomato soup in your hand wondering why they would put Wheat Flour in tomato soup?  or Beef Broth? or one of a million other staple foods that you used to trust.

Shopping is now an adventure ( or hell, depending on the day).  This will get easier and  less discouraging.  I have  a wheat free home that houses 3 boys soon entering teenage hood!  There is hope!

Early in  highschool we were taught that the HEALTHIEST way to eat was by only shopping around the OUTTER circle of any grocery store. Why?  Less prepackaging, less additives and MORE primary food group items.  THAT is where we will fill the majority of our shopping cart.

The Outer Elites – Produce, Meats, Dairy and Baked goods.

The Bakery – These are an entire weeks worth of posts and so we will set those to the side today and consider them, for the most part, out.  So lets move on to the Produce.

The Produce – How often to you see a label on an orange saying ” may contain traces of peanuts”?  Good!  So, we get to eat a little healthier on this journey too. When I began shopping “enlightened”  I was so overwhelmed I just set aside the Organic for the time being.  I want to feel I have CHOICES first.  I do not function well on feelings of deprivation.

Tips:  Avoid packaged to start! Salads with croutons in little cello packs,  sliced fruit in syrups, and anything that has that Label of Ingredients – read!

Meat Department – Here it’s not as clear cut.  Watch out for;

• sausages, smokies, and hotdogs - toasted wheat crumbs, flour and other forms are often used as fillers, seasonings, and coatings to keep things looking fresh and enticing.  Johnsonville and Butcher’s Choice both have lines of sausages, Top Dog and President’s Choice has a line of hotdogs
• Deli Sliced meats - Ask to see the unopened package, box or tube.  If they can’t produce the packaging, smile in appreciation and decline.  All Beef” just refers to the MEAT content and not the additives.  Sobey’s has a leaflet on their counter listing ALL the wheat/gluten free options!  If you don’t see it there, ask and they are very helpful!

Dairy Department - Milks and cheeses contain just what they say.  Milk and cheese ingredients  but do not assume that MARGARINE does not!  Whey  and Casinate are two ways of saying ” Dairy”.

Dairy Free Alternatives to get you started :

• Butter - SuperStore’s Celeb Margarine,  Fleishman’s Lactose Free Margarine ( double check, there are two that say LF but one has whey!),
• Cream/ whipped cream - Nutriwhip cartoned ‘cream’ ( there is ONE!  It is a great replacement for many recipes or desserts that call for cream, including Alfredo !)
• Milk - Almond Milk.   It comes in chocolate, vanilla or original.  The Vanilla gets used in a lot of cooking and baking here as it is a very mild vanilla taste.

For the most part the Dairy, Meat and Produce aisle are not going to be the biggest challenge so start there!  Give yourself that pick me up of a GOOD cut of steak, a rosy piece of salmon or some treat of the GOOD cuts of chicken.  Plan for some lunch nibblies by  picking up some extra thick slice ham or thin sliced pure roast beef to wrap around cheeses and spreads to make ‘sandwich wraps.

You can do this.  You just need some basic items to build from.