A Shopping Trip

Today I had a different experience whilst doing our regular weekly grocery shop.
I wasn't alone.
Its nice to have some social time at the end of a week working at home!
No, I wasn't shopping with a friend or family member!
I was shopping with someone who works for Woolworths & was getting some customer feedback!
Although there are a few products that I particularly like at other grocery stores, I do prefer to shop at Woolworths and so most weeks I drive that little bit further out of my way to shop there (and no I wasn't paid by Woolies to say that!).

I never knew it could be so fun to explain what you buy & why, what you like about a shop & what you'd improve!

After explaining my preferences to this ever so tolerant man (believe me I did a LOT of talking!) I thought it might be a fun blog post... something a bit different!

Our grocery shopping is not always the same week in and week out. I tend to buy certain foods when they are on special & 'stock up'. I largely stick to a shopping list & I check what we already have at home prior to shopping in order to not over-buy too much.
I have our budget for shopping & I try to keep within those limits.
I aim for each weeks grocery bill to be under $150 for our family.

So here's what ended up in our trolley this week:

Freezer section

I couldn't live without frozen spinach. It makes its way into many of our family meals. I find that some brands of chopped spinach are in tiny little pieces and I don't particularly like that. So Homebrand gets my tick of approval for its pieces that are cut into strips rather than little tiny flakes! We regularly make red lentil sauce for dinner served over potatoes or pasta. Its my husband's favourite meal actually - only now we also add frozen corn to the recipe & often use frozen spinach in place of fresh.
Frozen broad beans - so wonderful, so versatile. They make great dips & are also a fantastic addition to meals. I love using them in my Asian lunch salad.

Bakery items

Pita bread makes for great pizza bases. My daughter loves these flavoured wraps for lunch. And our home in not complete without a loaf of bread for the week. We don't eat a lot of bread - about one loaf a week, but I do like it to be a nice bread, and always wholemeal of course!

Cold section

I don't buy a lot of products from the cold section but I never leave without milk. When we were shopping I was asked if I am brand loyal and at the time I couldn't think of any brands that I am loyal to. However driving home I realised that yes I am brand loyal - to Vitasoy :-) Its the only type of plant milk that I'll buy.
I also buy tofu regularly. I love to make tofu nuggets with the organic firm tofu shown. It really holds its shape well. And soft tofu makes a lovely mousse.
I also reallllllllllllllllllllllllly love the new range of Macro Vegetarian products. They have such a wonderful variety of tofu available and as all vego's will know, not all tofu is the same! For an occasional treat I enjoy their new burgers, sausages and meatless balls too. I have tried many of the flavours available and so far LOVE them all.

Canned goods

We use quite a lot of canned food - particularly legumes. I love that Woolworths Select beans come in a "No Added Salt" variety. And also they don't add their own flavour (tomato paste etc) which is a big issue for me because I like to add my own flavours when cooking with legumes.

Sauces and other

We regularly use passata and tomato paste. We use red lentils every week without fail. I love that they don't need to be soaked prior to cooking. 
Cinnamon is added to most bowl of oats & cookies. 
St. Dalfour is the only variety of jam that I'll buy because it is sweetened only with grape juice concentrate. Yep another product I'm brand loyal to! 
These Heinz beans are a new product. I usually prefer to make my own sauces/flavours to accompany beans but I'm also a big fan of trying new products at least once! We regularly have mexican meals in our home so I'm looking forward to trying this bag of mexican beans.

Baking and other

Oats for breakfast mean we go through quite a lot of them. They also regularly end up in our baked goods. Talking of baked goods, wholemeal flour ends up in our trolley every week! And every week that these Macro Raw Food Bars are on special they end up in our trolley too!!! 
My daughter makes random comments that everyone takes packaged food to school except her so she gets an occasional treat of muesli bars or rice crackers when she isn't enjoying treats from the kids lunchbox club section!
And today I also bought some containers that are clear because my husband commented just last week that when leftovers are put into containers that aren't see through he never knows they are in the fridge!!!

Produce - last but not least!

I don't have an issue buying produce from regular grocery stores. However, I will not buy produce that comes from overseas EVER. I always make sure that what I'm buying comes from Australia. I buy some produce organic and other things not. I like the idea of the dirty dozen/clean fifteen list however I can't always find everything organic that I would like to. I have however made a regular habit of vinegar washing our produce.    
The produce I bought today is smaller than I usually buy, however I was mindful of what was not consumed last week that is still in the fridge! No use over buying items that will not keep! I always buy lots of bananas to make sure we have enough not only for snacking but also for ice-cream and baking with.


Today's total came to $137.
That's a fairly big shop for us. Most weeks we're under $120 with some weeks not even making it over $100. But I'm pleased that I was still under our limit!
Don't get me wrong - I'm not against spending money on quality food, and in particular some items - but largely speaking I don't think the cost of good food is a lot. I just know that if I'm coming close to our limit then I have purchased an oversupply for the week and that is not necessary.
So to be honest when I hear people comment on how expensive groceries are these days - I really can't relate! 

And don't forget to take your green bags when you shop too! 
I recently purchased an "Animals Australia Make It Possible" one.

Items that didn't make it into this week's trolley but that I buy as needed:
--> Dates (both medjool and dried) - my favourite food and as such I have a BIG tub in the fridge!
--> Brown rice - currently still working our way through a 5kg bag
--> Wholemeal pasta - I buy a few packets when its on special
--> Other grains - quinoa, couscous, barley, polenta
--> Spelt flour, oat bran, baking soda, coconut & other baking goods
--> Nuts, seeds, nuts spreads & dried fruit
--> Tomato sauce, salsa, herbs & spices, vinegars (for cleaning as well as eating)
--> Frozen berries (anyone know where you can source Australian ones???) and other frozen vegetables

Questions of the day:
Do you have a particular store that you prefer to shop at?
Does your grocery list vary from week to week or look relatively the same?
Do you feel like groceries are expensive these days?
Have you tried any new products lately that you really enjoyed?

WIAW and a Product Review

Happy Wednesday to all my readers :-)

Today I'm not only going to share with you What-I-Ate but also one of my favourite products.

Recipe links:
Lunch - Cabbage Shiitake Stirfry
Dessert - Chocolate ice cream

Now let me share with you a product that I totally LOVE:

Lowan Rice Porridge

This is such a great alternative to oats for breakfast. Don't get me wrong, I do love my oats but sometimes I like something different. 

This porridge is just brown rice (in flake form) with dried fruit. No added nasties. 

Its cooks really quickly and tastes delicious (even when cooked just with water).  It totally ticks all the boxes - low fat, high fibre, low salt, no additives, and made in Australia by an Australian owned company. Its also gluten free for those who need that option. Its readily available in the health food section of grocery stores & is very reasonably priced.

Put it in your grocery trolley this week and I promise you won't be disappointed! :-)

I first tried this porridge when I initially went vegan. I was won over straight away, however I did used to put quite a bit of brown sugar on it - which I realise now was my massive sweet tooth that I previously had! I still LOVE this porridge but I am now pleased to say that I am perfectly satisfied with the sweetness coming just from the dried fruit!

Isn't it amazing how our taste buds can change over time?!?

 

Question of the day: 

Have you noticed that your taste buds have changed over time? 

Did you do something to help that process or did it just occur naturally?

Product Review: Macro Raw Food Bars

These are a fairly new product to come into Woolworths stores under the Macro Wholefoods Market brand.

They come in 2 flavours - Chocolate, and Chocolate & Mint.
Ingredients: Dates, Almonds, Cashews, Walnuts, Cocoa Liquor, Cocoa Powder (and Peppermint oil in the Mint flavour).

I LOVE these bars.
What I love about them:

• They taste absolutely DIVINE! (both flavours!)
• They are inexpensive.
• They are a great size for a snack/treat.
• Easy to transport in kids lunchbox or for keeping in the work snack drawer ;-) 
• Contains minimal ingredients & no added nasties (no sugar, preservatives, artificial colours or flavours).
• A money back guarantee is offered too - not that you'll need it!

There is only one downfall that I need to state - occasionally I get a bar that has a really hard bit in it. It must be part of the date pits, because its so hard that I can't even bite through it, it feels like I have bitten a piece of rock. It is only a tiny piece though so I just remove it. 

I make sure that I always have at least one in the cupboard for when a chocolate craving hits. I always beat my chocolate cravings with date products & this is great way of doing just that!
Seriously - it looks like a chocolate bar:

Available at Woolworths, Safeway, Food for Less and Thomas Dux Grocer stores - I definitely recommend adding these to your shopping list!

Product Review: Coles Simply Less Bars

Coles have bought out a new range of products to be healthier choices and named them Simply Less.

I picked up 2 of the 'bars' the other day.

There was also a 3 nut flavour in the range but I didn't get that one to try.

I was very excited to see that they were labeled as 'suitable for vegans'.
Some in the range were also gluten free for those who need that.

I tried the Date, Sesame and Chia bar first. 

I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite the 'date' taste that I was hoping for! Perhaps I enjoy date flavours better with chocolate!
That said, I would definitely still buy this again to enjoy on another occasion.

Secondly I tried the Fruit, Oat & Quinoa flavour....

YUM! Wow - it was really tasty and not dry at all. Some oat bars can be really dry & crunchy. I enjoyed the chewy texture of this one and its definitely on my top snack list!!!!


I recommend picking yourself up some of these bars to try sometime! They were inexpensive ($1.19 each) and what a great treat to keep in the cupboard (or drawer at work for munchies!!!).

The China Study

Book Review: The China Study

I was continually blown away whilst reading this book.

I can't hep but wonder why our school system is getting children and teenagers to read books like "The Hobbit" & "Ballroom Dancing" when books like this could educate the next generation to make healthy choices that will affect their life in such a positive way!

Its amazing to see how the author had traveled to underdeveloped countries with the intention of providing better health with "high quality animal products" believeing that nutrition problems were due to lack of protein. Yet when all the research was done the evidence shows that the real dangers to do with nutrition lie within animal protein.
And yet 1st world countries are still pushing Atkins-type diets of huge protein intake??? WHY????

Also its amazing the number of diseases that are often blamed on 'genes' but yet these studies have proved that perhaps what is being passed on is not 'bad genes' but 'bad lifestyle'.
Quote from page 190: "Genes do not act in isolation; they need a trigger for their effects to be produced."
Of course the book goes into much detail as to why this is the case.

Quote from The China Study website:
The findings? "People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored," said Dr. Campbell.


Everything in this book is so researched & proven to be factual. The details of how the 'study' has been done are all given at the back of the book, so there is no secrets or misleading and sneaky ways of trying to distort the evidence, as is so often done when it comes to so-called 'scientific research' that surrounds nutrition.

Its quite scary to think of how much $$money$$ is being thrown into advertising and misleading information regarding our health & to promote products that are actually causing people more harm than good.
Not only are certain food industries responsible but also the medicine industry.
Our doctors are simply not being educated about what really improves health, but rather, how to mask problems with a pill.

Quote from page 321: "So why doesn't that medical system take nutrition seriously?
Four words: money, ego, power and control. While it is unfair to generalize about individual doctors, it is safe to say that the system they work in, the system that currently takes responsibility for promoting the health of Americans, is failing us. No one knows this better tan the tiny minority of doctors who treat their patients from a nutritional perspective."

The reader is provided with 8 principles to follow for eating right.
These are:

             #1 - Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

            #2 - Vitamin supplements are not a panacea for good health.

            #3 - There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.

            #4 - Genes do not determine disease on their own. Genes function only by being activated, or expressed, and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good or bad, are expressed.

           #5 - Nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of noxious chemicals.

           #6 - The same nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages (before diagnosis) can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages (after diagnosis).

           #7 - Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.

          #8 - Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence. All parts are interconnected.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it thoroughly!
Every person deserves to know the TRUTH about health and what we have been taught and made to believe about food. It is their choice how they respond to that information, but surely we have the right to be properly informed!

You can get the book here at fishpond. They offer free shipping - gotta love that ;-)

Click here for the official website

RATING: 5/5  Its a MUST READ for EVERYONE!

Homemaker Coffee Grinder

Product Review:

- Homemaker Coffee Grinder

I picked this up from K-mart for just $9!

Can you believe it? Just nine bucks!

I can't really vouch for the use of it with coffee...... to be honest - I haven't tried it yet with coffee. The main reason I haven't tried it for coffee is because I think it would be a pain to have to tip the coffee up-side-down into a container. I wouldn't ever just grind enough for one cup and it's obviously not big enough to grind large batches of coffee at one time.

However............. that said - the reason I bought this coffee grinder was to use with nuts and seeds.

And for that purpose it is PERFECT!

It does an amazing job.

It works really well at breaking them down, either into little pieces, or into a fine powder.

The lid has a button that you must hold down in order for the grinder to work so it stops the machine being accidently turned on if the lid is somehow left off - very safe for little fingers.

It's really easy to use & doesn't take long at all to grind the nuts. Its easy to clean just by using a cloth to wipe around the inside.

I love the small size as I find it very convenient to find a place for it in my cupboard (making more room for more kitchen gadgets - that's gotta be a good thing!).

Awesome value for money - a great investment for any nuts..... I mean nut-eaters ;-)

Rating 5/5