Trade It Tuesday

Being on vacation I have had the chance to go into different grocery stores than my normal two or three.  This week I've gone into Albertson's and realized that making all natural choices can be more difficult depending on where you shop.  I would not recommend Albertson's if you are trying to maximize your all natural choices.  In any case, it was an indication to me that if you are trying to get your family to weed out the preservatives and artificials, you may need to try a few different grocery stores to make your life easier. 

Some grocery stores have a natural foods section (like Bel Air or Yoke's) and some mix in the natural foods in the aisle where the unnatural foods are (like in Nugget or Albertson's).  Over time you will know exactly where to find the stuff you need. 

For Trade It Tuesday I want to talk lunch meat and bacon.  You really have to look at labels here.  A lot are all natural but add nitrates.  Some nitrates are normal, but you want to beware of ADDED nitrates.  So look for labels that say ALL NATURAL, NO PRESERVATIVES, NO ADDED NITRATES. 

I really like the Hormel Natural Choice line of lunch meats and bacon.  They are more expensive, but they are all delicious.  They even make salami and peperoni.  And I've found them at almost every grocery store I've stepped into.  Dietz and Watson brand is also all natural, and a good choice for lunch meats. 

Or, to save money, we've started buying our bacon at a local butcher shop. We buy ten pounds at a time and have them wrap it in one pound packages.  It's delicious and costs about the same as the bad bacon in the grocery store.

So. . . instead of the normal bacon, buy some with no added stuff!

The other thing I want to discuss is yogurt.  I see kids all the time with neon blue yogurt and it makes me squirm.  Yogurt should not be neon!  Why should I even have to say that?!?  Anyway, the Gogurts are super easy and I understand the draw to them, but they say right on the box that they contain artificial colors.  Instead, try Tuberz from Horizon.  Same convenience, no artificials. 

Now, we actually make our own yogurt with our Yolife Yogurt Maker.  Any store bought vanilla yogurt contains pectin and for some reason, this triggers behavior in Ben if he has it too many days in a row.  So I bought a $40 yogurt maker from target.com and I love it!  I just mix milk, all natural vanilla (if you haven't already eliminated your imitation vanilla then I will come over and throw it away for you! and watch out for McCormick All Natural Vanilla that contains corn syrup!) and a little sugar and in 12 hours we have yogurt.  Yum! 

Be aware, buyers!  Stay away from anything with artificial colors and flavors!