Category Archives: shopping guides

Cooking For Two

by grocery, health, shopping guides, ,

Part of the difficulty is the lack of recipes for two.  Usually, there’s a recipe you’d love to try, but it's for 4-6 servings.  Or you need to buy groceries and succumb to the fact that the family packs are less expensive   Realistically, however, when you are a family of two you simply cannot eat all that. 

Unless you throw a neighborhood-wide dinner party, you’re looking at either an awful lot of leftovers (which can get boring if you’re not sure how to mix it up) or food goes bad and then you throw it out.  Given the amount of food that’s wasted in this country anything that contributes to food waste is a shame.  So here are a few quick tips on cooking for two.

Have a plan

While not always “fun”, planning is a good way to ensure you have the amount of food you need without wasting food, money, or energy.  When you plan your meals ahead of time (and make a shopping list that shows portion sizes), you’ll be more on top of your grocery game. 

Before you go to the grocery store, be sure to check your pantry, fridge and freezer.  This helps you avoid buying extras of things you already have.  It also helps you plan for what you already have on hand that can be incorporated into your meal plan. For example, if you’ve got some leftover chicken maybe it’s time to make a pot pie.  Or if you have extra eggs, you may want to make a quiche or a frittata.

Talk to the butcher

Often when you buy the larger package, it has a lower cost.  But that’s not always efficient or reasonable for a smaller size family. Fortunately, there is an option.  If the roast, or some other portion is too big you can ask the people at the meat counter to cut it down for you.  I’ve often used this tip to purchase post-Thanksgiving turkeys.  I get them to cut it in half for me which is much easier for us to handle once we’re not hosting a crowd for the holidays.  In my experience, many grocer stores are willing to do this.  

If you are purchasing a large package of already cut-up meats, such as chicken parts, simply repackage it into smaller portions and freeze the extra for another meal.  Or use the Fast Fun Freezer meal strategy and prep the extra portions to have a ready-to-cook meal in the freezer. 

Making adjustments

Although many recipes are written for a larger number of servings, it’s fairly easy to adjust it for a smaller number.  If it’s for six servings you can divide by three to get two servings.  While it may not be easy to divide some recipes, especially baked goods, you can always plan ahead and freeze for future use.

Making a meal for six that is too difficult to scale to size can actually be a meal-prep strategy.  Simply package up the extra into two-portion servings and freeze.  That way you’ll have meals ready for those nights when you don’t feel like cooking. 

Freezing tips:  

  1. Make sure everything is cool before you freeze it.  This is to avoid extra heat and moisture which can contribute to freezer burn.  It is especially important for baked goods.
  2. Use freezer-safe storage containers, I prefer glass or silicon.  Make sure to fill the container full enough that there is no extra space. This also helps prevent freezer burn. 
  3. Label everything before you put it in the freezer.  You may think you’ll know what it is.  But when that lumpy, unclear container resurfaces months later you may be looking at a case of Mystery Meal Dinner Theater. Write down what it is, when you made it, and how many servings are in the container.
  4. Most frozen dinners will thaw reasonably well if put into the fridge the night before you want to reheat and serve them.

Leftover creativity

Creative use of leftovers is one of the best ways to use what you’ve got, stretch your food budget, and reduce food fatigue

  • Leftovers can be a great way to have a delicious, money saving lunch
  • Have dinner for breakfast, nothing says breakfast has to come from a box, be a high carb meal, or always be eggs and bacon
  • Instead of putting individual leftovers in individual containers make your own “TV” dinner by packing a meal in a container and then freezing that
  • Consider becoming “leftover buddies” with a friend
  • Make a plan for sequential meals, ideas include:
    • Cook a chicken and then use the leftover meat for pot pie, enchiladas, chicken salad, etc
    • Cook a roast and use the leftover meat to make hash, tacos, or stew, etc
    • Combine different leftovers to make soup (be mindful of seasoning and how well they will or won’t go together)

Review and re-evaluate

As you build your grocery list take time to look back at your last menu plan.  What recipes worked?  Which ones didn’t?  Were there some you really liked or that need to be adjusted further?  When you put time and effort into being mindful about your meal planning it becomes easier to downshift to a more comfortable strategy that will work for a smaller household. 

Cooking for two doesn’t have to cost a lot and doesn’t need to be complicated.  A little creativity, combined with some organization can help you continue to have delicious meals without worry about the number of portions or food waste.

 

How To Pick Healthy Non-Perishable Snacks

by additives, artificial colors, grocery, health, ingredients, nuts, pantry, protein, shopping guides, snacks

by Mira Dessy, The Ingredient Guru

Americans have a snack habit. We've become accustomed to eating multiple times throughout the day. Sometimes we snack because we're hungry. But more often than not it's because we are bored, thirsty, or possibly responding to emotional stimuli.

Occasionally we snack because we are on-the-go and are looking for something to tide us over until we can get to mealtime.While there's nothing wrong with an occasional small bite between meals, snacking can become a problem when it fills you up with empty calories. This means things like chips, crackers, muffins, or cookies. Another problem with snacking is if you eat so much that you are no longer hungry by the time you get to the real meal.

What's a snack?

Ideally, a snack should be small, just enough to blunt your hunger without filling you up, and balanced with protein and a little healthy fat. When snacking you want to make sure that you are eating clean, nutrient-dense foods rather than high calorie, low nutrition foods, sometimes referred to as energy-dense. Here are some great, non-perishable choices for healthy snacking:

  • Nuts – choose raw nuts as your best nutritional choice. Even better is if they are sprouted.
  • Nut butter – many of these now come in squeezable tubes and can be a quick grab-and-go non-perishable snack. Be aware that there can be a lot of sugar in some of these, choose the best option possible by reading the label
  • Canned fish – such as sardines are a great choice. These can be a nourishing snack and also provide some healthy omega 3 fatty acids
  • Jerky – this can be purchased or made at home. These days there's a wide variety of jerky products made from meats such as salmon, venison, lamb, bison, pork, turkey, and more. Check the label to be sure there are no added artificial ingredients
  • Energy bars – be sure to read the label and make check that you're getting a true protein bar, not a glorified candy bar with an excessive amount of sugar. Just like with the jerky, you want to make sure there are no added artificial ingredients (sweeteners, flavors, etc)
  • Dried and seasoned chickpeas – this can be a tasty way to get a crunchy snack on-the-go without having to worry about spoilage
  • Seaweed or kale chips – okay there's no protein in this one (so you may want to pair it with a handful of nuts or some jerky), but if you're looking for a good veggie-rich crunchy snack these can really hit the spot

Snacks to avoid

When choosing snacks be sure to read the label. Don't choose one just because it says "protein" or "# grams of protein" on the front label. You need to turn the package over and read the ingredients on the label. You also want to avoid the following in your snack products:

  • excess sugar (more than 4 g per serving)
  • artificial sweeteners
  • artificial flavors
  • artificial colors
  • ingredients you don't understand
  • starchy things (tapioca, potato, rice flours, etc)

You may be wondering why things like rice cakes, popcorn, puffed quinoa, puffed chickpeas, etc are not on this list. Sure, I get that they taste good. The problem, however, is that these exploded grains are very easily converted to sugars by the body. This means they hit the blood stream relatively quickly. There's also not a lot of nutrition in those puffed grain snacks. It's better to stick with something that's going to provide more of what your body really needs, protein and healthy fat.

Shopping The Perimeter Of The Grocery Store

by food fraud, gmo, grocery, habits, health, ingredients, shopping guides, Uncategorized

Is it Safe on the Outside?

There are over 50,000 items for sale in a typical grocery store. The sad truth is that most of them are not food. They are processed conglomerations of ingredients. Because of this, there’s a common myth that if you shop the perimeter of the grocery store you’ll be “safe” from food challenges. More and more people are shopping just the “outside” of the grocery store, convinced that if they avoid what's in the middle they're only getting healthy food. Unfortunately, this is not true.

Most grocery stores are set up in a similar pattern. Walk into the produce section which is usually near the bakery or the deli. Moving around the outside edges, the perimeter, of the grocery store you'll find the fish counter, meat, poultry. The dairy section is at the back of the store. This is because the further into the store you have to walk to buy staple ingredients, such as milk, eggs, and butter, the more time you spend in the store. The longer you are there the more money you are likely to spend. On the inside aisles is where you’ll find all of the packaged, canned, and frozen foods. You often have to walk through them to get from one section to the next, increasing the possibility that you will be tempted by what is in the aisles.

Does It Belong Here?

While the fresh food is usually found on the perimeter of the grocery store it's important to be aware of two big issues that impact that section of the grocery store. The first is something called product placement or product creep. Grocery stores and food producers are well aware that consumers are purchasing more heavily from the outer edges of the store. Their job, however, is to sell as much as they can. One way they try to influence consumers is by moving in items that would not normally be in a particular section (but that go with those foods).

One example of this would be finding packaged shortcake, glaze for strawberries, and cool whip or some form of canned whipped cream in the produce section at the height of strawberry season. The grocery store may attempt to promote this as being “for your convenience” but the truth is it's there to tempt you to purchase it and to increase their sales and profits.

Unfortunately, if you don't take the time to read the labels you may get more than you bargained for. That glaze for strawberries, for example, contains genetically modified ingredients, excessive sugars, artificial colors, and possibly MSG. Rather than just getting fresh fruit, if you purchase these add-on items you're also buying a wide range of chemicals and additives which may be harmful to your health.

This happens all around the grocery store. Salad dressings by the salad, seasoning mixes and marinades by the meat, etc. Product placement is a big factor for grocery stores. As a matter of fact, food manufacturers pay something called a slotting fee to grocery stores to determine where in the store their product will appear. This idea of manipulating the perimeter is a big reason that eggs and dairy are all the way in the back of the store. The grocery chain, and by extension the food manufacturers, are looking to get you to spend as much time in the store as possible and encourage impulse buying. They know that the longer you are there the more you will spend.

What's In What You're Eating?

Another major concern with shopping the perimeter of the grocery store is not just what the food items are, but what's in them. Unfortunately, it's things that we can't really see that pose an even bigger challenge to health.

Produce

When shopping in the produce department the second thing you need to be aware of is the Dirty Dozen. Those twelve fruits and vegetables which are highly contaminated by pesticides. Eating them increases the toxic body burden. This list changes each year as the Environmental Working Group evaluates the current state of pesticides and toxins used to grow produce. The only way to avoid the toxic burden of the Dirty Dozen is to purchase organic for those twelve fruits and vegetables. To make it easy to remember the list (and stay on top of the changes) simply download the Environmental Working Group's free app, EWG Healthy Living (ios and android).

Meat and Poultry

In the meat and poultry section buying organic is your best choice. Conventionally raised animals are given high levels of antibiotics, partially to keep them healthy in spite of the crowded conditions they are raised in. It’s also because these antibiotics act as a growth stimulator. Unfortunately, the antibiotics are passed on through the to end product when we then wind up consuming them. It’s important to note that the overuse of antibiotics in farming has led to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bugs. Conventionally raised animals are also allowed to be raised on genetically modified (GM) feed which is often heavily laden with pesticides. These items can have an impact on your body as well as affecting the environment. Note that the term “natural” is not the same as organic. Although there are some rules around the natural label when it comes to meat products, this label still allows for the use of GM/pesticide-laden feed. The only way to avoid added hormones, pesticides, and genetic modification is to choose organic.

Dairy

The dairy section is another area of concern. Not only because of the antibiotics, GM feed, and high levels of pesticides found in conventionally sourced dairy products, but also because of added hormones. rBST sometimes referred to as rBGH, is a growth hormone which causes cows to produce more milk. Studies have shown that dairy with rBGH tends to have more Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1). This, in turn, has been linked to cancer, specifically of the breast, prostate and gastrointestinal tract. Although it is possible to do the research and avoid dairy with added hormones if it is conventionally raised all of the other issues still remain. Once again, choosing organic is the best, healthiest option.

Summary

  • Be on the lookout for product creep — items that are in a category where they don't belong
  • Be mindful of the Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetable, buying organic for those choices
  • Choose organic meats to avoid added hormones and antibiotics
  • Avoid added hormones and antibiotics in dairy products by choosing organic
  • Read labels to help you avoid negative ingredients

Favorite Instant Pot Tools

by crockpot, family, Gifts, habits, health, questions, shopping guides, Uncategorized

I was a little late jumping onto the Instant Pot train, but now I really can't remember what I did without it!  It is my absolute favorite tool in the kitchen. Pressure cooking made easy-as-pie (hmmm... I haven't tried making a pie in my pot yet...)  The ease alone would be enough but Instant Pot takes it even further - a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, warmer and sauté pot, and that's just the 6-in-1 model.  The 9-in-1 model also makes yogurt, cooks eggs, sterilizes AND makes cake. All this multi-tasking, no hogging my kitchen counter space - it's a keeper. So I've given my Instant Pot it's very own drawer, to store all its handy accessories.  Here are my favorites.

TEMPERED GLASS LID
A clear glass lid is perfect for when slow cooking, sautéing, keeping food warm, or even serving direct from the pot.
Instant Pot Tempered Glass Lid

STAINLESS STEEL INNER COOKING POT
Having a second inner pot makes it really easy to prepare multiple dishes. I find it especially handy when I’m meal-prepping. I can make a main dish, and then quickly pop in a new inner and make quinoa, rice a veggie and such. It’s almost as handy as having two Instant Pots.
Instant Pot Inner Cooking Pot

SEALING RINGS
The Instant Pot lid sealing ring is made of silicone. It’s really durable and will last you a long time. It can, however, hold onto food odor. I wash mine in my dishwasher after each use. I also periodically “steam-clean” it in the pot - toss a couple cut up lemons and a cup of water into the pot and cook on manual high pressure for fifteen minutes. I do have a second ring to use when I make a neutral or sweet dish and I really want to ensure no savory aromas are transferred.
Instant Pot Sealing Rings

STACKABLE INSERT PANS
Stackable insert pans are great when you have more than one dish you can cook at once – steaming, cooking veggies and rice. Or cooking two dozen hard-boiled eggs at a time. These make reheat leftovers in the Instant Pot so easy and fast, a much better choice than using a microwave.
Stackable Stainless-steel Insert Pans

STEAMER BASKET
A steam basket or rack is essential for Instant Pot cooking. I especially like one with moveable sides so it can adjust and accommodate food of all shapes and sizes. I like the extendable removable handle on this XOX model, it’s handy when lifting hot food from the pot.
OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Steamer with Handle

TRIVET-RACK-STAND
I use a taller trivet in addition to the trivet that comes with the Instant Pot, so I can cook in several layers. I’ll often cook things like sweet potatoes on the lower level and place an entrée in a pan above on the higher level. If you do this, take care that the height of the tallest item is not higher than the pot’s maximum fill line.
Trivet Rack Stand

HOT POT GRIPPER CLIP
Sort of like a hot pad’s much stronger studier weight-lifter cousin. Just clip the grip end onto the hot pot, or pan or basket and lift it from the Instant Pot. My friend Coleen, an Instant Pot veteran, gave me these when I first got my pot. She was absolutely right about how much I’d love them!
Hot Pot Gripper Clip

CHEESECAKE PAN
Perfect for cheesecake, tarts, quiches and more cheesecake. This pan was designed with Instant Pot cooking in mind, it has a handle for lowering into and lifting out of the pot. The only problem I have found with this pan is that it is too easy to make cheesecake. It's very tempting to have cheesecake every week. LOL
Stainless Steel Cheesecake Pan

YOGURT MAKER CUPS
My Instant Pot doesn’t have the Yogurt function (sad face) so this yogurt maker cup set is on my wishlist for now. When it’s time to give my pot an Instant Pot sister, it will be the yogurt-making 10-in-1 model.

COOKBOOKS: Now that I have an instant pot and love the versatility of this device I realized I needed a couple of cookbooks to help me find delicious recipes as well as instructions for standards like chili. Here are the ones I have: The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook  and Dinner In An Instant 

If you loved this list, be sure to check out my Favorite Kitchen Tools list. I've done the research so you don't have to!

Affiliate Disclosure: Recommendations I share on my website may contain affiliate links. If you click through my referral link, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase. I only recommend products and services I use myself and would share with friends and family. Your purchases from these companies through my links helps me continue to bring you free information on my site.

Favorite Kitchen Tools

by family, Gifts, habits, health, questions, shopping guides, Uncategorized

Good kitchen tools can help make cooking easy, delicious and fun. I've put together a list of a few of my favorites, the ones I find myself reaching for over and over again. Some are new discoveries and some are my dependable old friends.

 

CHEF'S KNIFE
Everyone needs a good chef’s knife. With an 8” blade and perfectly balanced, this is my favorite and I use it all the time. When I was displaced by Hurricane Harvey for a few months the one thing I missed the most was my knife.
Wüsthof Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife

FLEX EDGE BEATER
I love my mixer and all of the attachments that come with it. Especially this scraper mixer blade This is an amazing mixer because it makes short work of beating, mixing, and blending. I even use it to mix my meatloaf.
KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater

IMMERSION BLENDER
This is the handiest dandiest tool in my kitchen. Perfect for making mayonnaise, blending soups and sauces, making applesauce, I also use it for making a bulletproof style boosted tea.
All-Clad Stainless Steel Immersion Blender

CUISINART
My mother bought me one years ago and I remember thinking “What the heck am I going to do with it?” Now I don’t know how I’d live without it. I use it to chop everything, including making chopped salads in the summer.
Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor

JULIENNE BLADE
Perfect for making julienned vegetables and especially for ‘zoodling’ zucchini, butternut squash. I’ve even used it to julienne apples for a shredded apple dessert.
OXO Good Grips Julienne Peeler

ECO-FRIENDLY FOOD STORAGE
I'm a big supporter of the movement to reduce plastic, especially one-time use plastic. I do my best to use eco-friendly products. In my kitchen, I’ve moved away from plastic wrap to Bee's Wrap for food storage. Made of organic cotton, naturally antibacterial sustainably harvested beeswax, and organic jojoba oil that help keep food fresh. Each cloth is washable, reusable and compostable. Even their product packaging is sustainable, made from 100% recycled paper and biodegradable cellulose.
Bee's Wrap 3-Piece Sustainable Reusable Food Storage

VITAMIX
I Iove my Vitamix. It was an investment for sure, but there's good reason that foodies, home chefs and restaurant kitchens around the world are loyal to Vitamix. Mine gets used almost every day. Sure, it’s perfect for making smoothies, but it’s also great for blending NiceCream (“ice cream” made from frozen banana), homemade almond milk, coconut whipped cream, soup, and more.
Vitamix 7500

INSTANT POT
I’ve had my Instant Pot for less than a year now, and I really can't remember what I did without it! It is my absolute favorite tool in the kitchen. Pressure cooking made easy-as-pie (hmmm… pie. I haven't tried making a pie in my pot yet…)  The ease alone would be enough but Instant Pot takes it even further – a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, warmer and sauté pot, and that's just the 6-in-1 model.  The 7-in-1  also makes yogurt, and the 9-in-1  cooks eggs, sterilizes, makes yogurt AND cake. All this multi-tasking, no hogging my kitchen counter space – it's a keeper. So I've given my Instant Pot it's very own drawer, to store all its handy accessories.  I have so many favorites I've made a favorites list for Instant Pot Tools too. You can read that list here.
Instant Pot

LE CREUSET PAN
I adore my Le Creuset pan. It’s cast iron and enameled. From eggs for breakfast to sautéing veggies for dinner, this pan practically lives on my stovetop because we use it so much.
Le Creuset Signature Iron Handle Skillet, 9-Inch

MANDOLIN SLICER
Fabulous for slicing things at any time of year it’s great for salads, frying, canning, and makes quick work of different cuts for a wide variety of foods
Mueller Austria V-Pro 5 Blade Adjustable Mandolin

SHAMELESS PLUG
If you’re giving gifts for the kitchen this holiday season why not share a copy of my book The Pantry Principle: how to read the label and understand what’s really in your food? This is a fabulous resource to help you learn more about your food, so you can make healthy choices. Available in Kindle or paperback, it’s an essential guide for anyone who eats, in other words, it's an essential guide for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Affiliate Disclosure: Recommendations I share on my website may contain affiliate links. If you click through my referral link, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase. I only recommend products and services I use myself and would share with friends and family. Your purchases from these companies through my links helps me continue to bring you free information on my site.

 

 

Food And Money

by budget, garden, grocery, pantry, preserving, produce, shopping guides, USDA
The USDA is predicting an increase in all foods for 2011; depending on the item it is expected to range from 2% for things like sugars and cereals to as high as 5.5% for dairy products.  If you are interested you can see the chart here.  Part of the increase is due to the higher costs for corn and soybeans.  Remember, it's a cycle, what we eat needs to eat.  I actually anticipate that the costs for meat will be much higher than currently predicted due to more people deciding to purchase meat and dairy that is organic to avoid the GMO contamination of corn and soy.  These are two of the most heavily GMO crops but our government doesn't identify that so the only way to avoid it is to purchase organic.
There are a number of ways that you can save money on your food bill in the upcoming year:

Plant a vegetable garden.  Using your space for edible gardening can be attractive and save you food dollar costs.  During both World Wars Victory Gardens were planted in every yard and public park all across the United States.  It's a concept that I think many people are rediscovering.
 Even if you buy a tomato plant at the garden center and plant it in a pot you will still get far more produce than if you purchase your tomatoes at the grocery store.  And believe me, they'll taste better.  We've just re-arranged our side yard and brought in a load of organic dirt, working on creating a better vegetable garden.  We've also put in herbs and a few fruits in the yard.  
Here are a couple of books that I think are great for backyard vegetable gardening
Mel Bartholomew is the authority on getting the most out of the smallest space. If you have any gardening space available, even just one square foot, you'd be amazed at what you can grow.
Rosalind Creasy shows you how to incorporate beauty and function in your garden by making your landscape edible.


If you live in an apartment or don't have access to a plot of ground you can consider container gardening.  Even one  reasonable size container can grow a lot of tomatoes and basil or peas and mint or…read the book.


And there seems to be an increase in folks growing food on rooftops and terraces.


If you shop at warehouse stores frequently the prices are good but the quantities are huge.  Don't buy more than you need, after all 50 pounds of potatoes is a lot, especially in a family like ours with just three people in the house.  Just because the price per pound is low, if you wind up throwing out rotten potatoes (or anything else) you've just lost money.  If you really want the item consider saving money by asking family, friends and/or neighbors if they want to share these items with you.  This way you'll both save money and there will be less waste.
And speaking of waste…


According to Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland, Americans, on average, throw away half of their food.  Half!  That's a mind-boggling concept.  Knowing, really knowing exactly what is in your pantry is a great start, learning how to be mindful of it is the next step.  Jonathan has a lot of great information on his blog to help you avoid food waste.  Don't want to read the book (although I highly recommend it)?  There's an app for that — yup, a company called UniByte has created an app to help you better manage your food purchases so you will waste less.
If you do wind up with food waste, and some of it is inevitable such as potato peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, and the like, consider composting.  This is also environmentally friendly in that the food scraps become usable dirt instead of going to the landfill where they cannot be used to grow more food.  

A little off the beaten path but for those who have access, inclination, and a sharp eye there is always the idea of foraging.  According to my friend Merriweather it is important to remember a couple of key points:
1.  Know what you are foraging.  Many edibles have an inedible counterpart that looks almost the same.  He points out that these inedibles wind up in either the “kill your kid dead” or “keep you on the toilet sick” category so it's important to be very sure of your identifications.
2.  Forage responsibly using appropriate tools to cut and dig rather than ripping and shredding.  This allows the plants to continue to grow and is the best way to forage.
3.  Make sure you have permission. Here in Texas, and probably elsewhere, plant rustling is against the law.  Getting a huge fine for public trespassing or theft is not going to help your grocery bill any.
While Merriweather sadly does not yet have a published book there are some great foraging books out there:


     

     

     


And last, but certainly not least, another way to save money at the grocery store is to learn to make your own.  One of my favorites is making my own granola which definitely saves money over the store-bought versions.  You can make your own pudding, soups, muffins, snacks, spice mixes, beverages, pickles, jams and much much more.  Currently I am fermenting kimchi on my kitchen counter, starting another batch of kefir and have just finished making another batch of bean sprouts.  These require very little hands on time and save quite a few dollars while providing healthful foods for my family.  Making your own has a number of benefits:

1.  It will save you money
2.  You will avoid extra packaging and commercial waste
3.  You will avoid additives, preservatives and chemicals (which you don't need in your diet anyway)
4.  Often when you make your own you make smaller batches so you are less likely to waste it
So here's to a new year, a new grocery budget, and new possibilities for your health.

Shopping Guides

by environment, gmo, health, poison, shopping guides

I just came across this detergent shopping guide from Organic Consumers and it's so important that I knew I had to pass it along.  It has a list of all of the soaps/detergents that use 1,4 dioxane, a known carcinogen that can cause a host of health problems.

This seemed like a good opportunity to pass along a couple of other good resources that are available online.

The Environmental Working Group Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

The Environmental Working Group Safety Guide to Children's Personal Care Products

The Environmental Working Group Shopper's Guide to Safer Sunscreen

The Food and Water Watch rBGH-free Dairy Guide (search by state)

The Non-GMO Shopping Guide