Food shopping

A couple of times a year I decide that I should try some new things food wise. The result? A massive food haul that I thought I’d share. I don’t do this too often as I need to give myself time to try out the new things but also because there is only so much food one person can eat. In case you don’t know, I’ve been on a wheat/ gluten free diet for almost 3 years now. Most of the meals I eat are also low carb. Not because I’m trying to follow a certain diet, but because I have found I feel better when I cut out certain foods. Doesn’t mean I completely forgo them either. I just stick to what I know works for me so that I can go on a food bender from time to time.

To set the record straight: I’m dealing with wheat intolerance. I have been tested, but not shown signs of a gluten allergy. All I know is that if I eat too much wheat, I’ll be in discomfort for at least 1 – 2 weeks and in the worse case I get sick. I don’t do Paleo, I’m not vegan or vegetarian, and I don’t eat a fully gluten free diet. My meals however can fall in one or all of those categories from time to time. I try to properly combine my meals too, but I am not that strenuous about that either. I go by what tickles my fancy and that I know won’t get me sick. You’ll see below that my diet is very colorful and based mostly on fruits and vegs with a bit of dairy, few grains and nuts and seeds. I also try to stay away from most processed foods.

Vegetables:
Celery, kale, mini tomatoes, carrot juice, chickpeas, broccoli, cucumber

This was a week where I didn’t have to cook much and decided not to have salads for lunch. If those two things were included, the amount of vegetables would easily have doubled and included mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini/ courgette, carrots, fresh or frozen spinach, lettuce and sprouts. Instead, I opted for smoothies for lunch and relied mostly on eggs with spinach or leftovers from my freezer for dinner. I have tomatoes and cucumbers as mid afternoon snacks on most days. The kale was for the smoothie. And I wanted to make some hummus again, so I bought some celery to cut into stick and the chickpeas to make the dish. I have some carrot juice pretty much every morning and the broccoli was for the one dinner I did have to cook from scratch.

Fruit:
Bananas, kiwi fruit, cranberries, pineapple, strawberries, honey crunch apples

I have fruit at least twice a day. I have at least a kiwi fruit and a banana every work day. I wanted to use the cranberries to chuck into a banana bread I wanted to make. The pineapple was for smoothie making. The apples serve as a great post work out snack (with some peanut or almond butter!) and come winter time, apples are always the best fruit around in my opinion. I found some strawberries, that I’m thinking will be the last ones I’ll be having before winter kicks in. I used them in my morning porridge.

Meat & dairy:
Organic skim milk, organic goat milk yoghurt, soft goat’s cheese, organic chicken legs, coconut milk

The meat & dairy department isn’t all that big. I usually have some type of yoghurt in the mornings, but this time round I thought I’d try my hand at porridge. So I bought milk. I cannot stand nut/ soy milk (what’s up with all the sweeteners?!) as they never really taste like the real thing. I limit myself to one serving of dairy a day. Simply because I know I could live off of the stuff if i had to, but I just use it to have some protein in my day. I use coconut milk to make my smoothies and I just recently found this one which has no additives. Apart from the cheese and coconut milk all items are organic. I’m not too fussy about whether something is organic or not, but truth be told: organic dairy & meat tastes better than the standard stuff so I don’t mind spending a bit more.

Grains:
Rice cakes (no salt), multiseed crisp bread, porridge oats, spelt bread mix, chestnut meal crackers

Well I titles this grains, but when it comes to grains my intake is limited the most. Wheat is completely a no go for me, and I still have to be careful with other grains as well. Too much spelt is also not something my body tends to like too much, but not as badly as wheat for instance. Oats are what set me off in the first place and how I found out about my wheat intolerance so I’m careful with those as well. So this is a very boring category. Everything you see here is wheat free, organic and mostly also gluten and salt free. Because, well, else I can’t eat it. It’s that simple.

Nuts & seeds:
Pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs, chia seeds, pecan nuts, chocolate covered raisins

I was running low on pumpkin seeds, so I stocked up. Same goes for the nibs & chia seeds. I always make sure to have some seeds in my cupboard. I use them to replace some of the grains I used to eat. I like the cacao nibs and the seeds for my ‘overnight oats, but without the oats’ breakfast, which is still one of my favorites. I always by some dried fruit and nuts on the Saturday farmer’s market too. The nuts usually go into my breakfast, but this time I used them in the banana bread I had planned to make. Chocolate raisins (together with cinnamon/ chocolate almonds) are my favorite sweet snack and I allow myself either one (and sometimes both) as a weekend treat.

Condiments:
Maple sirup, peanut butter, wheat free soy sauce, pesto

Finally the only jars in this entire post. Like I said above, I try to eat as little processed foods as possible, but some of them are just too good not to have in your cupboards. Peanut butter and pesto are staple foods for me. Making pesto is easy breezy, but since I found this one at my supermarket (with an ingredient list identical to the one I make myself) I feel: why bother unless it’s a special occasion. I cannot get the hang of organic peanut butter (I blame childhood) and so I stick to my favorite. I’ve been meaning to try maple syrup for ages, I’ll let you know what I think when I try it. And did you know that most soy sauce contains wheat? Yep, it does, no wonder I always felt so horrible after eating sushi. I stocked up on my favorite wheat free variety: tamari sauce. Same taste, but without the nasty aftermath.

What foods can’t you live without?