My second step in this process was to do my grocery shopping a little bit differently (ok, a lot differently!). First off, I left the kids at home. Grocery shopping with a 2 year old and a 6 month old is already stressful enough with my usual shopping list. I knew this trip was going to take me longer (having no idea what I was going to buy), so I went on a solo mission. Whew! Thank God for hubbies at home on the weekends!
My plan of attack was to read every label on every food item that went into my cart. First stop was the produce section....easy! Then again, fresh fruits and veggies don't have labels. Alright, moving on...the healthy food section. Our local grocery store actually has a pretty good and diversified section of organic cereals, snacks, yogurts, soups, etc. The only problem with this section of the store, though, is that it's super expensive! Multiple times, I had to put things back on the shelf when I remembered to look at the price. Four dollars for a bag of chips? Eight dollars for cereal? Yeah, not on my budget! I decided this section of healthy foods was definitely not economical and not even practical for my family. After picking up only a box of quinoa (which I've heard amazing things about) and 3 boxes of organic popcorn (buttered, of course, but it's organic and the ingredients are all real! Plus, it was on closeout, so I decided to stock up seeing as though it was only a fraction of the usual price...ok enough justifying my buying 3 boxes of buttered popcorn!), I moved on to the rest of the grocery store.
As I continued throughout the rest of the grocery store, I was quite happy to see that some (not many, but some) things I had previously been buying were actually unprocessed. I picked up some new things like whole wheat tortillas for tacos. (Side note: I learned that just because a package says "Whole Wheat" does not mean that it is only made up of whole wheat. I read ingredient lists on literally 6 different packages of whole wheat tortillas before I found one that didn't have a hundred different ingredients in them!) I was super excited to get some pure cane sugar in the baking section for a really good price, as it was also on closeout. Cha-ching! I was pumped! I also grabbed some whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose flour, both of which I am still trying to figure out the uses for ;) I ended getting ingredients to make three different dinners for my family this week (if you're interested in what those dinners will be: tacos, quinoa with black beans and chicken, and salmon with roasted vegetables). The other nights we will eat leftovers or eat more of the "bad" stuff we still have at home.
The total amount of money that I spent on groceries was a little bit more than I usually spend, but only by about $35. I felt ok about this, though, because I bought quite a few things (like flours, sugar, coconut oil, etc.) that I won't have to buy everytime I go to the store. The whole trip did take about a half hour longer than it usually takes me, but it was well worth it! I feel really good about doing something good like this for my family and I'm excited to try out old recipes with new ingredients and new foods altogether. The only thing I am realizing I didn't really buy was snacks. My 2 year old has been asking me for snacks during the past 2 days, and besides fresh fruit & veggies I'm not sure what else to give her. I did pick up some cheese and some unprocessed crackers, but she's already getting sick of that. If anyone knows of any good snacks, please let me know! All in all, I think the shopping trip was a success and I'm looking forward to my next baby step already!
And that is one step in my process of going unprocessed.
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