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buying paleo in coles woolworths

Paleo food shopping in Coles

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Don’t judge me – sometimes I buy my paleo food from Coles, my local grocery store. I live near a great greengrocer, butcher and an Aldi – and have a twice monthly farmers market a few suburbs away – but sometimes time and budget make paleo shopping in Coles the best option.

buying paleo in coles woolworths

So can you buy paleo in Coles?

A few years ago Coles lacked so many paleo staples – but now I see more and more paleo friendly lines appearing by the week. The fat-is-good-for-you and it-matters-where-your-meat-comes-from messages seem to finally be going mainstream.

This week I saw a whole new line in grass-fed beef at my local coles – so thought it’s a good time to assess the store for their paleoness.

I'm not going to go into fresh produce too much, but they do have a range of organic fruit and veggies.

Meat

This is the new range of grass-fed meat I found, Graze. It’s also hormone free and comes from 180 NSW and Victoria cattle farms. So far they have porterhouse, scotch fillet, rib-eye, eye fillet, rump, schnitzel, lean mince, roasts, stir fry, casserole and ribs. So if you buy from Coles – support this range – we want more of it!

Graze Grass-fed beef meat Paleo Coles Supermarket shopping list primal

In terms of chicken, Coles offer the Inglewood Farms brand of organic chicken. I always get a whole chicken ($11.90 a kilo) instead of chicken breasts ($31.40 a kilo) – you literally get the rest of the bird free that way – and who doesn't love a roast chicken?

How about kangaroo? One of the great things about kangaroo is that they aren't farmed – so you know you’re getting naturally reared meat. Buy the plain steaks though, and avoid the pre-marinated or processed kangaroo products.

Kangaroo-Steak-Meat-Paleo-Coles-Supermarket-shopping-list-primal-min

Eggs

Eggs are easy as most people seem to be on-board with free-range eggs now. Unfortunately Coles don’t offer Omega-3 enriched eggs (get these from Woolworths). And my other gripe is that eggs aren’t stamped in Australia.

Fats

Coconut oil used to be a foreign concept to the big supermarkets. Now Coles offer two Melrose Organic jars ($8.75 or $11.72 for 300ml – good for an emergency) and also the Prochef coconut oil spray I wrote about before.

Coconut-Oil-Melrose-Organic-Paleo-Coles-Supermarket-shopping-list-primal-min

Coles also sell a jar of Naturals by Melrose Almond Butter Spread ($8.03 for 250g) or Cashew Spread Butter ($8.42).

Luckily olive oil has always been abundant. There are loads of brands. Which is your favourite?

If you’re looking for more animal fats, you can also get a rendered duck fat from Coles.

Rendered duck fat animal Paleo Coles Supermarket shopping list primal

Canned paleo

A few brands of coconut milk are available including TCC, Trident and Ayam. I always buy Ayam as it has the best ingredients. Also, never buy the light versions (you can always add water yourself).

The other tinned ingredient I buy is tomatoes (here’s why). There are loads available, but I find a brand like Mutti has the best ingredients.

Canned tinner diced chopped whole tomatoes Paleo Coles Supermarket shopping list primal

Paleo baking

You’ll find several brands of almond meal/ almond flour including Freshlife and the Lucky brand, but with prices upwards of $22 a kilo, they aren’t cheap. Bob’s Red Mill organic coconut flour is available as about $26 a kilo too.

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Other things in Coles

You can also find Melrose Apple Cider Vinegar (see what you can do with it here) and several types of Pink Himalayan Salt

If you’re looking for a bread alternative, you’ll be please to find nori seaweed wraps.

Nori sushi rolls wraps sheet Paleo Coles Supermarket shopping list primal

So over to you – what paleo friendly items have you found in Coles that we should know about? Which of the big supermarkets do you think is the most paleo friendly?

How far can $50 a week go – cheap veggies

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I told you about my $50 weekly food budget and I thought I'd share with you how I've been achieving it. As I mentioned, I shop around between my local independent green grocers, Aldi and Coles supermarket. Whilst I find some good specials in Coles and Aldi, I almost always find the green grocers to be the best bet for cheap veggies.

My other reason for liking the greengrocer as well as it being cheap, is that almost everything is from local farms – and it's pretty much all seasonal, rather than expensive imported produce.

I eat a lot of veg and use it to bulk out all of my meals. I pick veggies roughly based on their nutrient density – I'm going to buy kale and spinach over iceberg lettuce.

So, here's what I selected the other day at my greengrocers….

Greengrocers-50-Paleo-Diet-Primal-Challenge-Frugal-Vegetables-Veggies-min
Spinach (silverbeet) $0.99
Kale $2.00
Butternut Squash $3.00
Brussels Sprouts $2.49
Broccoli $1.97
Onions $1.49
Cauliflower $2.49

Total Veg Spend $14.34

I compared the cost to what I would have paid in my local Coles supermarket (see below)

Greengrocers-Coles-Woolworths-Shopping-50-Paleo-Diet-Primal-Challenge-Frugal-Vegetables-Veggies-min

Buying the exact same produce would have cost over double in the supermarket – $31.07, leaving less than $20 for meat for the week!

What did I do with the produce?

I made a huge batch of butternut squash and carrot soup (I had a few carrots left over from my previous shot)

I used the cauliflower to make an experimental new pizza base

I made a greens & beef stir fry with the silverbeet, kale, sprouts and broccoli

It's cheap – but is it organic?

Unfortunately it's not all organic. Of course I'd love to eat everything organic, but on a tight budget it's just not feasible. However – one good trick I've found, is that not may people seem to buy organic where I live. This means the organic produce is quite often reduced to less than the conventional produce, as it approaches it's use by date. So keep a look out.

I'd love to hear your tips for eating well on a budget – how do you do it? Share in the comments below!

Can you eat paleo healthily on a budget finances-min

Can you eat healthily on a budget?

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I wrote the other day about my $50 weekly food budget – and how hyper aware I've become about how much food costs.  I'm only shopping for one, I work from home, love cooking and have time to shop around. How hard must if be for families on tight budgets to eat well?

Can you eat paleo healthily on a budget finances-min

I really struck me how difficult it must be for families when I saw this in my local Aldi store:

Aldi-cheap-pizza-paleo-network-food
That's just $3 for a big pizza. Assuming you'd need two to feed a family of four that's $1.50 per person for dinner. Preparation time is zero and cooking time less than 20 minutes.

Contrast this with a healthy paleo meal? Let's say a large free range chicken: $12, some steamed kale $5 and spinach $3 and some $4 cauliflower made into rice. That's $24 – so $6 a head. For families living on tight budgets there's a huge difference between spending $6 on dinner and spending $24.

And how about lunch? You can buy an entire loaf of bread for about 85 cents and some cheap processed meat for about $3. That's a cheap lunch, well under a dollar a head. Contrast that with a typical paleo lunch – that wouldn't even cover a decent cut of meat, never mind salad or veggies.

As for breakfast I doubt anyone could make an free-range egg and veggie omelette for less than the $2.2o an entire box of cornflakes costs.

So what's the answer?

Wouldn't it be good if fresh whole food could be subsidised? Unfortunately I can't see how that could ever be implemented, since everyone has such wildly different ideas about exactly what is healthy and what isn't.

Do you think families struggling to make ends meet are priced out of eating healthily? What do you think the answer is?

Paleo diet primal weekly planning meal planning recipes-min

What Sundays Are All About

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With a bit of planning and organisation at the weekend, the entire week of Paleo meals can be planned, ingredients bought and almost all of the cooking done, leaving your weekdays easy and stress free.

Being organised like this is not only a far cheaper way of following your Paleo diet, but it also ensures you won’t come unstuck in the week – when a lack of time and imagination would otherwise make it far harder to make the right food choices.

Step One: The Weekly Planner

Are you going to be home every evening? Do you have friends over? Have you been invited out to dinner? Write out a plan of the upcoming week and work out how many breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks you will need.

Now it’s time to hit the recipe books for inspiration and decide what you would like to eat everyday! Bear in mind if you cook a large portion of a dinner recipe, you can either freeze the remainder to enjoy another day, or you can use it for lunch, or breakfast the following day.

If you have cooking facilities at lunchtimes, it’s a great idea to do some batch cooking, so you can have a quick, hot Paleo meal every lunchtime – with no cooking required

Paleo diet primal weekly planning meal planning recipes-min

Step Two: The Ingredients

Once you’ve decided on your weekly Paleo meal planner, you can make a list of all of the ingredients you need to buy and head to your local farmers market, butchers and grocery store/ supermarket to buy everything you need. No more shopping required for another week or two! It’s good to be flexible and prepared to swap ingredients, for example where certain vegetables are in season or on sale.

Step Three: Cooking & Preparation

Once you have your Paleo ingredients, recipes and weekly planner on hand, it’s time to get cooking! You can cook up big batches of one-pot recipes, such as soups, stews, casseroles and curries as these will freeze easily, ready to be reheated when you need them for lunches or dinners.

Many breakfasts, such as egg muffins can be cooked in advance and stored in the fridge for a quick grab and go breakfast.

You can also prepare vegetables in advance, ready to blanch, eat raw or throw in the steamer for the week’s dinners.

Step Four: Overcoming Potential Difficulties

This is also a good opportunity to call ahead any restaurants you may be visiting next week – or looking up their menu online. This way you can work out which Paleo options are available, or contact the restaurant directly and see how they can help.

What is your weekly routine? Do you spend time at the weekend planning for the week ahead?

319 Paleo Foods – The Definitive Paleo Food List diet free ebook pdf download-min

319 Paleo Foods – The Definitive Paleo Food List

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I created this Paleo Food List after getting fed up with people commenting on how restrictive they think my Paleo diet must be. Especially when you consider that the bulk of a SAD diet seems to contain just one ingredient: Wheat.

Bread, pasta, pizza, cakes, cookies, pretzels, muffins, scones, breakfast cereals, donuts, waffles and crackers – they are all made with wheat. Hardly variety.

I’ve put this post together to try to demonstrate just how much variety a Paleo diet includes. All it omits is grains, legumes and (for some) dairy. Which means it includes literally hundreds of completely different types of foods.

The basic “Paleo Food List” contains Meat, Fish, Eggs, Nuts, Seeds, Vegetables and Fruit – which I’ve listed 319 different examples of; both different varieties – and in the case of meats different cuts.

Paleo-Carrots-Paleo-Food-List 319-min

Leafy & Salad Vegetables

Amaranth, Arugula, Beet greens, Bok choy, Broccoli Rabe, Borage greens, Brussels sprout, Cabbage, Catsear, Celery, Celtuce, Ceylon spinach, Chaya, Chickweed, Chicory, Chinese Mallow, Chrysanthemum leaves, Collard greens, Corn salad, Cress, Dandelion, Endive, Fat hen, Fiddlehead, Fluted pumpkin, Garden Rocket, Kale, Komatsuna, Kuka, Lagos bologi, Lamb's lettuce, Land cress, Lettuce, Lizard's tail, Melokhia, Miner's Lettuce, Mizuna greens, Mustard, Napa cabbage, New Zealand Spinach, Orache, Pak choy, Paracress, Poke, Radicchio, Sea beet, Sea kale, Sierra Leone bologi, Soko, Sorrel, Spinach, Summer purslane, Swiss chard, Tatsoi, Turnip greens, Watercress, Water spinach, Winter purslane and Yarrow

Flowers and flower buds

Artichoke, Broccoli, Caper, Cauliflower, Courgette flowers and Squash blossoms

Bulb and stem vegetables

Asparagus, Cardoon, Celeriac, Celery, Elephant Garlic, Florence fennel, Garlic, Kohlrabi, Leek, Kurrat, Lotus root, Nopal, Onion, Pearl onion, Prussian asparagus, Spring Onion/Scallion, Shallot, Welsh onion and Wild leek

Root and tuberous vegetables

Bamboo shoot, Beetroot, Burdock, Broadleaf arrowhead, Camas, Canna, Carrot, Cassava, Chinese artichoke, Daikon, Elephant Foot yam, Ensete, Ginger, Hamburg parsley, Horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, Jícama, Mashua, Parsnip, Pignut, Prairie turnip, Radish, Rutabaga, Salsify, Scorzonera, Skirret, Swede, Sweet Potato or Kumara, Taro, Ti, Tigernut, Turnip, Ulluco, Water chestnut, Yacón and Yam

Sea vegetables

Aonori, Carola, Dabberlocks or badderlocks, Dulse or dillisk, Hijiki, Kombu, Laver, Mozuku, Nori, Ogonori, Sea grape, Sea kale, Sea lettuce and Wakame

Other Vegetables/ Fruits

Bell pepper, Bitter melon/Bitter gourd, Chayote, Courgette, Cucumber, Ivy Gourd, Eggplant/Aubergine/Brinjal, Luffa, Pumpkin, Squash, Sweet pepper (Capsicum), Tinda, Tomatillo, Tomato and Winter melon

Paleo-Fruit-Paleo-Food-List 319-min

Fruits

Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Bilberry, Blackberry, Blackcurrant, Blueberry, Currant, Cherry, Cherimoya, Clementine, Date, Damson, Dragonfruit, Durian, Eggplant, Elderberry, Gooseberry, Grape, Grapefruit, Guava, Huckleberry, Jackfruit, Jambul, Kiwi fruit, Kumquat, Lemon, Lime, Lychee, Mandarine, Mango, Cantaloupe melon, Honeydew melon, Watermelon, Rock melon, Nectarine, Orange, Peach, Pear, Pitaya, Plum, Pomegranate, Purple Mangosteen, Raspberry, Redcurrant, Rambutan, Satsuma, Star fruit, Strawberry, Tangerine and Ugli fruit

Beef

Blade Steak, boneless, Blade Oyster Steak, Blade Roast, Chuck Steak, Chuck Roast, Rib Roast, bone in, Rib Eye Steak, Rib Eye Roast, Rib Steak, Rib Roast, Sirloin Steak, T-Bone Steak, Sirloin Steak, boneless, Sirloin Roast, boneless, Fillet Steak, Fillet, Rump Steak, Topside Steak, Topside Roast, Silverside, Round Steak, Brisket and Skirt Steak

Lamb

Neck rosettes, Shoulder roast, Shoulder roast, boneless, Forequarter roast of chops, bone-in, Forequarter chops, Best neck cutlets, Rib loin cutlets, Rib loin (rack) roast, Rib loin chops, Rib loin roast, Mid loin chops, Mid loin roast, Chump chops, Chump roast, Leg roast, bone-in, Leg steak, Leg chops, Shank, bone-in and Lamb Breast

Pork

Foreloin roast, Foreloin chop, Loin roast, bone in, Loin chops, Rump chop, Rump steak, Leg chop, Leg steak, Leg, Hock, Trotter, Hand, Belly, Bacon and Ham

Chicken

Whole Chicken, Halves, Breast Quarters, Split Breast, Split Breast without Back, Boneless, Skinless Breast, 8-Piece Cut, Whole Chicken Wing, Wing Drummettes, Wing Mid Section with Tip, Wing Mid Section, Whole Chicken Leg, Boneless, Skinless Leg, Thigh, Boneless, Skinless Thigh, Drumsticks and Giblets

Other Meats

Alligator, Bear, Bison, Crocodile, Duck, Elk, Emu, Goat, Goose, Kangaroo, Ostrich, Pheasant, Quail, Rabbit, Rattlesnake, Reindeer and Venison

Offal/ Organ Meats

Liver, kidney, heart, sweetbread, brain and tripe

Fish

Bass, Dogfish , Eel, Flounder, Haddock, Hake, Halibut, Herring, Hoki, Krill, Lobster, Mackerel, Mackerel icefish, Monkfish, Mullet, Mulloway, Mussels, Nephrops, Oysters, Perch, Pikeperch, Plaice, Pollock, Prawn, Red Snapper, Rock lobster, Sablefish, Saithe, Salmon, Sardines, Scallops, Sea bass, Shark, Shellfish, Shrimp, Sole, Sunfish, Swordfish, Toothfish, Trout and Tuna

Oils and Fats

Avocado oil, bacon fat, butter, coconut oil, ghee, lard, tallow, nut butters, walnut oil, macadamia oil, olive oil and coconut milk/ cream

Eggs

Hens eggs, duck eggs and goose eggs

Nuts & Seeds

Almonds, pistachios, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (pepitas), pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, cashews and hazelnuts

Quite some variety, isn't it?

When you consider the number of different ways you can prepare and cook your Paleo ingredients – the recipe potential is unlimited.

Have I missed off any of your favourite Paleo foods? Or do you disagree with some of the foods I've included? Let me know in the comments!

 

Kitchen Heaven or Kitchen Hell paleo diet-min

Kitchen Heaven or Kitchen Hell?

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As I mentioned in my Paleo Pets post, I’m currently house sitting and looking after someone’s dogs

I always look in peoples shopping trolleys with interest, but living in someone else’s house offers such a unique insight into what people really eat. The pantry in the house I'm staying in could not be any further from mine. And I find it really sad.

Paleo-v-Sad-Pantry-kitchen heaven hell-min

Obviously fresh food was used up before they left, but even so, it appears that almost all of the families meals come from tins, packets and jars, with expiry dates far into the future and lists of ingredients I don’t recognise.

The kitchen counters are full of gadgets like toasters, popcorn makers and microwaves – all absent from my kitchen. Meanwhile gadgets that I rely on in my kitchen are no where to be seen – a blender for soup and sauces; weighing scales for trying out new recipes; a big stockpot for broths and a slow cooker are very evidently missing. Instead of measuring cups and a julienne peeler I've found a pizza cutting wheel and an ice cream scoop.

The pantry is filled with a fat fearing agenda. There are all sorts of fat-free, reduced fat and low-fat instant options. Even the olive oil is “light” – but of course the fat of choice appears to be canola oil. The spread options (for bread, I presume) are low fat margarines. There is a shelf full of cereals, all boasting some amazing health benefits (and lots of mention of wholegrains) on their packaging.

I've been really surprised to find the herbs and spices (of which I have a rather large, regularly refilled collection in my own kitchen) consists of just a packet of cooking salt and an unopened jar of black peppercorns. I suppose when you reheat and eat out of packets and jars, all the taste you need is provided for, by the unrecognisable ingredients listed on the packet. With some good meat or fish, vegetables and a handful of the Paleo ingredients I can use my herbs and spices to make literally hundreds of completely different meals, with far superior tastes to anything the packets could provide.

Water doesn't appear to be the drink of choice, judging by the collection of shockingly coloured cordial bottles and shelf of soft drinks bottles.

The other interesting comparison is in the cooking materials themselves. Plastic (for use in the microwave and for storing food) is in almost exclusive use, and most of the cookware is non-stick. I used to use this type of cookware too – until I started to replace my pots and pans with safer options.

Tellingly the kitchen also houses two medicine cupboards full of all sorts of medications. My medical supplies are housed in a small container and consist of paracetamol (not used this year as I just don’t get headaches any more), some old forgotten about inhalers (my asthma disappeared without trace a couple of years ago), some out of date antihistamines (my allergies have also disappeared) and some plasters (bandaids for any Americans in the house).

I can’t accept it takes too long to bother to prepare proper food, it definitely isn't more expensive than buying everything in packet form. I think for some people opening and reheating from a packet has just become a sad habit, that is hard to break.

The effort to buy low-fat and “healthy” cereals clearly indicates an desire to be healthy – it’s just sad that the intention has failed so strongly in execution.

Have you seen such a SAD kitchen recently? Do you think this is typical?

Kitchen Heaven or Kitchen Hell paleo diet-min

Woolworths Coconut Oil-min

Woolworths Coconut Oil

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Good news if you're in Australia, Coconut Oil has just got a bit easier to find. Woolworths now stock a small jar of Spiral Coconut Oil in the Asian Foods section.

I've also seen it in Harris Farm and some IGA stores. Hopefully Coles will get in on the act and start stocking Coconut Oil soon too.

Online suppliers definitely seem to be the cheapest way to buy Coconut Oil in Australia and New Zealand, but for all those times when being organised doesn't come together, it's great to be able to buy it in a national chain.

Woolworths-Paleo-Coconut-Oil-768x1024-min

11 Things You Should Give Up To Be Paleo diet follow list-min

11 Things You Should Give Up To Be Paleo

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Ok, so obviously grains, legumes and perhaps dairy are no longer on the agenda – but what else should you give up as you embrace a healthy Paleo lifestyle?

1. Marking Every Event With Food

Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day – it’s all become about the food! Whenever there is a celebration of any sort it is so often marked with food – and it’s very rarely grass-fed beef jerky, omega-3 enriched eggs and avocados. Instead of taking in birthday cakes to the office – how about marking your birthday with an impromptu office trip to the park or a social event?

2. Relying on Everything But Your Own Two Feet

So you've got a car and a bus pass? That doesn't mean you should use them all the time. We’re supposed to walk, it’s good to walk; find a way to incorporate it into your day!

3. Trying to Please

When all of your friends eat differently, it’s easy to feel alienated in your Paleo diet. They might suggest a pizza restaurant – or cook a non Paleo dinner for you. In the short-term the easy option is to eat the food and avoid the risk of offending them. But it’s time to think long-term; this is how you want to eat; this is important to you – so be strong and stick to your principles! Who knows, they might even respect you for it.

4. Unrealistic Expectations

If you've come to Paleo looking to lose 15kg in two weeks, think again! Paleo is not a diet, but something to follow for life. It might take a while to achieve the results you seek, but give it time and they will come.

5. Your Doctor?

If your doctor is more interested in treating your symptoms with drugs, rather than finding out the underlying issue; perhaps it’s time to look for a new doctor?

6. The Past

Perhaps you used to struggle with making good food choices, or you used to make pancakes every weekend. Just because you used to do things, maybe now is the time to let go of the past and make some changes!

7. Fears

Whether you have an irrational fear of fat lingering from your conventional wisdom, low-fat days; or a fear of getting ill – there’s no room or purpose for that fear anymore, besides positivity is far more constructive.

11 Things You Should Give Up To Be Paleo diet follow list-min

8. Excuses

It’s too easy to blame a hectic travelling schedule, long working hours or bad finances for making poor nutrition and fitness choices. If you want to make it happen, you can make it happen – drop the excuses!

9. The Middle of the Grocery Store

Unless you enjoy studying packets of junk food, to see how many ingredients you can’t pronounce – it’s time to give up the middle of the supermarket. Everything you need will be on the perimeter – or better still, outside at farmers markets!

10. Avoiding Sunshine

Another phobia it’s time to let go of! Whilst it’s not good to burn, getting some sunshine and making your own Vitamin D is a good thing!

11. Your Shock Absorbing Running Shoes with Nano Technology

How did our ancestors manage without them? Have you tried running barefoot?

What have I missed from the list? What else should you let go of as you embrace a healthy Paleo lifestyle?

Trolley spying Supermarket shopping groceries coles woolworths aldi paleo diet-min

Trolley Spying

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When I go food shopping, I'm always really interested the see what other people have in their trolleys.  Likewise, I get some funny looks, especially when I buy lots of red meat, eggs and coconut milk.  I can just see the people wondering what I'm going to do with it all.  Surely she can’t be going to eat all those foods we’re constantly told are bad, by herself?

People are generally quick to say how healthily they eat, but when you see their trolley, surely you are seeing what they actually eat, rather than what they’d like you to think they eat.

Trolleys full of processed junk food bother me far less; at least the people pushing those trolleys, on some level, know they have a bad diet.  What bothers me more is the trolleys I see full of “healthy” foods.  The type of “healthy foods” I wouldn't go near.

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A very sad, un-Primal grocery trolley

I see so many trolleys full of low fat, highly processed products (I can’t bring myself to call them food).  Trolleys full of whole grains, as they are good for us, right?  Diet drinks with ingredients I can’t pronounce.  Spray on “vegetable” oils, to make sure as little fat as possible contributes to dinner.  Processed low fat sauces to smother wholegrain pasta with.  “Healthy” reduced fat chips, presumably to deal with the blood sugar crash that comes after eating the pasta.  Huge bottles of orange juice.  Skim milk to pour over the healthy low fat breakfast cereal.  Margarine instead of butter, Weight Watchers low fat processed sweets to ensure there is never any need to go over three hours without eating.

Trolley-Spying-Pasta-Sauce-1024x768-min

Pasta Sauce and Processed Sauce, yum yum.

I wonder, do people really think these “healthy” low fat processed products taste nice?  I strongly suspect they are eaten for the perceived health benefits, not because they taste nice.  My Paleo diet not only tastes amazing, but it is super healthy too.

This is my recent trolley.  I generally buy all of my meat from my wonderful local organic butcher, so I usually just buy some veggies, fruit for my house-mate to take to work (I'm only eating fruit once or twice a week at the moment), coconut milk, almond butter (for use in an occasional NoOatmeal) and I sometimes buy nuts depending on which recipes are on my menu plan that week.

Trolley-Spying-Mine-768x1024

My recent paleo groceries

Are you guilty of trolley spying too?  Are you frequently shocked by what some other shoppers fill their trolleys with?  Do you get disapproving looks at your Paleo trolley too?

Trolley spying Supermarket shopping groceries coles woolworths aldi paleo diet-min

Which coconut milk brand should you buy best ingrediants-min

Which Coconut Milk Should I Buy in NZ & Australia?

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The more I’ve got into my Paleo lifestyle, the more coconut milk I’ve been consuming.  I’ve been able to find a few different brands, which all vary in ingredients & cost.

Which coconut milk brand should you buy best ingrediants-min

This post will show you the main brands available, where to get them, and which are the most paleo friendly.  If you find any other brands, please send me the details so I can include them.

Avoid the “light” and “reduced fat” versions and go for the brand with the simplest ingredients.  Make sure there are no added sweeteners.  I always try to go for the Ayam brand as the label shows it contains just coconut and water!

You can also use Coconut cream in much the same way.  It is essentially the same as coconut milk – just without as much water, making it a lot thicker. You could always water it down yourself.

Prices seem to vary a lot, so I tend to stock up when there’s an offer on.

Ayam Coconut Milk (Available in Coles & Woolworths & smaller grocers)

Ingredients:  Coconut Kernel Extract (82%), water

Ayam Coconut Cream (Available in Coles & Woolworths & smaller grocers)

Ingredients:  Coconut Kernel Extract (100%)

Coles Smart  Buy Coconut Cream  (Available in Coles)

Ingredients: Coconut Milk (60%), Water, Thickener (466), Vegetable Gum (412)

Pandaroo Coconut Milk (Available in Woolworths)

Ingredients: Coconut Extract (45%), Water, Emulsifier, E412, E435  

TCC Coconut Milk  (Available in Coles & Woolworths & smaller grocers)

Ingredients: Coconut Extract (53%), Water, Antioxidant (Citric Acid)

 

Woolworths Select Coconut Milk (Available in Woolworths)

Ingredients: To be confirmed (it doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment)

Trident Coconut Milk (Available in Woolworths and Coles)

Ingredients: Coconut Milk (52%), Water, Stabiliser (466)

Trident Coconut Cream (Available in Woolworths and Coles)

Ingredients: Coconut Cream (52%), Water, Stabiliser (466)

Kara Coconut Milk (Available in Asian Grocers)

Ingredients:  Fresh coconut extract (55%), Water, Stabilizer E466, Thickener E415, Emulsifier E435

 

What am I missing?  Have you got some other brands in your part of Australia or NZ?

Check back tomorrow to find out more about those added ingredients and whether we should be eating them…