New Favorite Food Products

[ReneeW]

Hi Ladies. I've recently discovered a few new food products (at least they're new to me!) that I LOVE. So I thought it'd be nice to hear if you have any new favorites that you want to share as well.

Here are two of my new favorite finds:

Alive and Radiant Kale Crunch (flavor - Cheezy) -- These kale chips are gluten free, dairy free, and so SO yummy. I could eat a bag without even noticing! I'm not vegan but I like kale and these chips are really delicious. LOVE 'em!

Blue Diamond Almond Nut-Thins -- These are also gluten-free (I'm not but my SIL was recently in town and she is, that's how I discovered these yummy items!). I love the Cheddar Cheese flavor and have also tried the "Nut and Rice" crackers which are plain but would great with hummus. They're so light, crispy, tasty, mmmmm.

The down side is that these are small boxes and they aren't cheap to buy. But they are really delicious!

[sharon]

We love the cheddar cheese almond crackers too! Mmmm. But yes, not cheap so we don't always buy them.

It's not new, but we love the Just Tomatoes products. Their dried tomato slices and dried peas are a staple at our house.

[sarahisis]

what are the prices like at trader joes and whole foods? Is it typically expensive?

[jrose]

Not really new or exciting but I just tried yellow zuchinni for the first time this summer! Super yum.

Trader Joes isnt that bad..their chili and lime chicken burgers are delicious. I heard Whole Foods is super expensive.

[sharon]

Whole Foods was insanely expensive and unimpressive the two times I have been there.

[sharon]

Tofurky slices are a new discovery. Ian and I both go crazy for them!

[sarahisis]

I thought you went there a lot for some reason... just looking for some different food things and more GF stuff.

[ReneeW]

I went to Whole Foods for the first time in a long time recently and WOW I too thought it was really expensive. The kale chips that I like were much more expensive there than they were the first time I bought them (at a Hy-Vee in southern MN when we were on a road trip--they were like $2 less at Hy-Vee than they were at Whole Foods). I found the Blue Diamond crackers at Super Target and they were of course much less than at Whole Foods too.

Trader Joe's has good prices for some items. For example, my kids like Gorilla Munch cereal, and it's $2.99 there versus like $4.29 at co-ops. I feel like a lot of their prices are very reasonable, it depends on what you're buying of course. I feel like there are good deals at Trader Joe's on Almond Milk, pine nuts/ various nut blends, certain fruits and veggies, dairy-free "ice cream" and desserts for DD 1 ... and I have staples I buy there like edamame that seem to be of higher quality than you sometimes find elsewhere.

[sharon]

I mostly shop at co-ops. The other thing about Whole Foods was I felt like i had to work harder to find what I wanted. A lot of it was processed, junky stuff and I'd have to wade through a lot of that to find the one organic, more healthy product on the shelf. At the co-op there is certainly junk food to be found, but a lot less of it, and they are pretty careful about what they stock the shelves with, so it's more likely to be local companies and/or companies with ethical practices. I still read the labels when buying packaged foods of course, but I feel like it's quicker and easier to find what I am looking for.

I buy some things at Super Target sometimes, but try to stay away from their produce which I've found to be pretty low quality. It's not a savings if the organic avocados are a dollar less but all go right from hard to rotten without ever ripening.

For packaged foods the co-op and Target are usually about the same unless something is on sale. Occasionally one or the other will have a better price on something and then I try to remember to get it accordingly. And Target carries Horizon for Organic dairy and we try to avoid them, although sometimes we buy it just because we are there and really need milk. Much to Ian's chagrin.

[sharon]

And yes, I agree, Trader Joe's has great prices on some things. For me, though, it's a whole separate trip for just a few things because they don't have most of what I need. Their organic produce department is not very big and that's usually the majority of what I am buying. So I don't go there often, but when I do I stock up as much as I can on the things they have good prices on - organic white grape juice (used for religious ceremonies, so we always have to have some), organic dried cranberries, etc.