What is on my grocery list? My list usually has some kind of spices, cheese, eggs, dried beans, chicken Breast, other meats, and baking ingredients. I shop at grocery stores that have fresh products. I like to be able to talk with the produce people and the butcher. They are the ones who can tell me where they get their food from and how they prepare it. If the employees tell me their products come in already packaged then I don’t buy it. Some meats have “broth” injected into it. For me this means carrots. I can’t eat carrots. The meats for me have to be packaged in the store not elsewhere.
- Cheeses that are shredded may contain other foods other then cheese. Some brands of shredded cheese contain potato starch and that would be no good for me. Always buy the block cheese and shred it yourself. It really is easy and quick. You will need to grate your cheese when needed otherwise it will clump together. You can save time by cleaning the grater immediately after you use it. Once you start doing this you will not buy shredded again.
- Dried beans are easy to prepare. The hardest part is sorting the beans. You WILL HAVE TO DO THIS: open beans and check for small stones or anything that looks foreign. Remove and discard those items. You will probally only find 1 or 2. You do not want to be the one to bite into a pebble. They hurt. Put one bag of dried beans into a large pot of water. Add taco seasoning, if you plan to use it for taco night or just beef or chicken stock for a more versatile flavor. Bring the water to a boil and continue boiling for 2.5 hours. Shut the heat off and cover the pot for 1 hour. Walk away and leave it alone. Once the beans are done you can freeze then or refrigerate them. Prepare them further when needed.
- Shop the outer perimeter of the store. This is where your fresh ingredients are going to be. Most everything you will need will be located there. The items located here are vegetables, fruits, diary, eggs, meats, cheese, nuts, and butter. You will need oils, pasta, rice, flour, spices, sugar and other baking items but they are located down one of the inside isles.
- Tuna fish in water. Hahaha, this is not always true so read your labels. I learned it is very hard to find tuna that is packed is water and ONLY water. Soy and/or vegetable broth may be contained in your tuna.
Soy, broths, and nuts are in quite a few items so read your labels unless you don’t want to know. I guess you want to know because you are reading my stuff. I have learned a lot about things in store-bought products by reading labels and I think it’s an important starting point to get control over what I eat.