Paleo food shopping in Coles
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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Good to know!
I used to work long hours and spent a lot of time travelling to work.
For the last few months I’ve taken a local job, I get less in salary, so go to the cheaper supermarkets like Aldi. (good for my Paleo meals)
I am quite surprised, as I have in fact changed my diet for the better and am spending less.
This is because I am eating out less and not buying, ready made meals. Also buy more thoughtfully.
Apparently, unlike our poor American cousins most of our beef is pasture raised anyway. So it’s typical marketing to say “pasture fed”! (“180 NSW and Victoria cattle farms” kinda gives it away as being pretty common). I see to have trouble buying lard but that may because our local C*les is pretty small) I think buying from small producers is a little more Paleo so I try and get Banaban coconut products which supports some Fijian people trying to get their life back after their land was plundered. I don’t know where Melrose coconut comes from but there is no comparison 🙂
The duck fat concerns me as it doesn’t say it’s grain free. I’ll also only ever buy organic eggs which I can now get from Coles again. Free range isn’t exactly free range these days and they are still fed grain. I actually find that Woolworths has a much larger range of organic everything. I also never buy tinned foods and especially not tomatoes as cans are BPA lined and combined with the acid in tomatoes, it’s a recipe for unhealthiness
I’m looking for Paleo crackers?
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. http://urbangroundmarket.com/
Where can I buy coconut bread Fivedock area thanks.
Thanks for the post – often us folks in small country towns don’t have a choice of where to shop (and speciality websites are so bloody expensive!).
We are in the midst of a Whole30 and I’ve been loving on the preprepared cauliflower rice and veggie noodles from Coles – aren’t as good as if you make them yourself but sure are convenient!