Do you have a love or hate relationship with grocery shopping?
Did we really just ask that question?!
Most people will probably tell you they DREAD grocery shopping! For some, it is the time involved. For others, it is the hassle of dragging kids to the store. And, for just about everyone, even if you are shopping and ordering online, navigating through the massive universe of choices can be extremely overwhelming and confusing...in most grocery stores there are over 30,000 products!
To help you more easily navigate the aisles and the shelves, we have been tossing around the idea of doing a series of videos...hitting each section of the store.
In last week's coaching tip, we talked about nuts, including their nutritional benefits, how to select them, store them and use them in a wide variety of recipes. So, this week, we decided to take you on a virtual trip to the store to help you sort through the many, many choices that are available.
When did buying something as simple as nuts become so confusing?
Now you know that not all roasted nuts are created equal. And, not all natural peanut butters and almond butters are the same. Yes, the fronts of the packages may look the same but the ingredients often are not.
You also saw that you often have to look up or look down to find the healthiest options (and the less healthy options are typically the ones staring right at you).
And, the most important secret to success?
Read the ingredient labels!
If you are using nuts for flavor and texture, we recommend buying raw nuts and toasting them for a few minutes in a skillet or in the oven. And, if you are interested in learning more about the oils that are used in roasting nuts (or in foods generally), check out our coaching tip Oils...They are Not Created Equal!
And, we would love to know what you think about the video!
Was it helpful?
Would you like to see more and, if so, what are the sections of the store you want us to tackle?
As always, we appreciate your feedback!
I love this trip through the grocery store!!! Please keep doing this! I have been shopping for over 50 years, but not really keeping up. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you did this video and hope you do many more because labels are so confusing. And since I order online and pickup my groceries, I kind of have to know what are the best brands and types to choose from before I order. The almond butter I bought most recently brags that it only has two ingredients which turn out to be: Dry Roasted Almonds, Palm Fruit Oil. What the heck is palm fruit oil and is it bad for us? Are there brands with just almonds or is that pretty tasteless? Is a little salt necessary or is that just adding to too much sodium in our diet? Help!
I just checked our favorite natural peanut butter and it says it’s just peanuts and 1% or less of salt. Now 1% sounds like it must be very little but it is really or is that misleading? The sodium is 110mg per 2 Tbsps an I’m wondering again, is salt necessary at all?
I am so glad you are checking your labels! The natural peanut butter that we use most frequently has the same ingredients, just peanuts and salt. Remember, if your overall diet is not loaded with sodium, then a small amount of sodium in some foods should be fine. The next time you pick up natural peanut butter, you can try another version and see what you think…maybe this is experiment time?!
I am on a mission now, haha. I did find a brand online that has nothing but nuts in its peanut butters and almond butters (Crazy Richard’s–a B corporation out of Ohio). But their cashew butter still has sunflower oil in it, as does another ‘natural’ brand I already have in my refrigerator. From what I read in your article on oils, sunflower oil contains 65% omega 6 fat. I shot off an email to the company asking the purpose of the oil in their cashew butter. I am wondering if it’s used for consistency or shelf life or what? I’ll let you know if I hear back. Next question for you, Krista: How hard is it to make cashew butter from scratch at home??
I LOVE that you are on a mission! From what I can tell from researching it, oils used in nut butters help them maintain consistency and shelf life (so they don’t have to be stirred). I will be anxious to hear what you find out. We have made cashew cream in a couple of our recipes, like the Slow Cooker Vegetable Chili with Cashew Cream and a Honey Mustard Cashew Cream in the Sweet Potato Collard Green Wraps, and then we have a cashew frosting in the Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake. We have not yet made Cashew Butter, so thanks to your inspiration, consider it on the list! Please let me know if you beat us to it! Thank you!
I did get a prompt answer from the company about why they use sunflower oil in their cashew butter: the ground cashews are too dry on their own and they don’t want to use peanut oil because of allergies. She did say they are phasing out cashew butter because of low interest.
Very interesting…thank you!
Thank you so much, we are so glad this video is helpful! To answer your question about palm fruit oil, or palm oil…the information out there is a little all over the board when it comes to whether palm oil is healthy or not. It is controversial because the health effects are uncertain and there is concern about how the increased use of palm oil may be impacting the environment. The use of palm oils in products has really ramped up over the past several years as manufacturers are trying to get away from using hydrogenated oils or trans fats. In regards to taste, it depends on what you are using almond butter or peanut butter for, if using in a recipe, I don’t think it will be as tasteless, if you are spreading it on toast, then you may want a version that has a least some salt in it. Since we all have different stores and brands to choose from, just make sure you are reading those ingredient labels and I am sure you will find one you like! If it helps, here is our coaching tip on oils!
Thank you for the info! I wish I could take you shopping with me! 🙂
Absolutely love the video! Great editing w/ all the labels as well. Yes Jen dreads going to the grocery store. It’s can be a bit overwhelming or daunting if you are trying to find the healthier options. Sensory overload! lol Great job!!!
Loved the video!! I especially appreciated that you found a way to show us the label so we could read it.
We are lucky to have a local health food store that sells raw nuts in their bulk section as well as a wonderful variety of dry beans, grains, seeds, whole grain flours, spices & herbs, etc. They allow you to buy as much or as little as you like, which is helpful when you’re trying a recipe with a new spice or ingredient and you aren’t sure how you’ll like it. Since COVID, our local health dept requires them to have a store employee scoop the product into the plastic bags for the customer to keep things safer. I generally go with my list and just hand it to the employee who will put the items in the plastic bags for me. Since we started using your recipes, this has become a place we shop often. And yes, their prices in the bulk foods section are better than what we find in our grocery stores. Thank you!!
Sappho
Loved your nut and nut butter tour! Great, helpful information. Would love more mini-tours like this. Thank you!
Oh my goodness! This was so very helpful. I have complained to my husband for years that grocery shopping takes so long because we have too many choices. It’s so good to have choices but we live in a country of “overload” in choices! It’s overwhelming and at times frustrating. This video was great, informative and would love to see more. Thank you for all you, Krista, and Zonya do to educate us.
I hate grocery shopping. I do most shopping at aldi because it is small. I’d love to see a coaching tip on all the different types of milk out there and the benefits and which you prefer. Thanks!
We will add it to the list! Thank you for the idea and suggestion!
That was really good. I enjoyed it and would love to see more of these videos related to shopping
Thank you Shideh and to everyone for your feedback on our Grocery Store Tour videos! We appreciate your support and encouragement and will keep them coming!
Loved the video!
Another item I have found is sometimes hard to find or has different prices based on the section it is located in are spices. I recently needed to locate a Mediterranean type spice. I found it in the Regular spices, the European section and the Kosher section. All three had more than one choice…not knowing much about it I just got the cheaper one in the Kosher section.
Oh side note: I was also hunting Granulated Onion on that trip (for G.O.T.O.) Found the Granulated Garlic but had to order the Granulated Onion. So glad I did.. I’ve found many uses for both of them since then.
We will add it to our list to cover spices, oil and vinegars too! Thank you so much for the feedback!
Krista, thanks so much for doing this video. Such great information you gave us in a clear way. Loved how it as edited to add the label information too!
Thank you so much – we greatly appreciate the feedback! We will add more soon!
Thanks so much for the grocery tour. It was very helpful. I would love to see more!
Love the video tour. Informative in a fun way.
Thank you Lisa for letting us know!
I’m finding it hard (impossible?) to find dark chocolate Easter bunnies without alkali in the ingredients! Who knew?
It is discouraging isn’t it…I guess it’s a good thing it only comes around once a year?!
Wow! I am jealous of all the selection you have. Our store are limited but we can find the best choice. When I changed to natural peanut butter, I learned I loved the taste of peanuts more than all that other stuff in regular peanut SPREADS.
That is actually nice to hear because we can sometimes get frustrated with OUR selection. At least you are able to find the best choices! Thank you for the feedback!