Grocery list

Since starting Woyra, we have spent a lot of time trying to find preservative-free, chemical-free, non-processed items at the grocery store. We have also tested out as many brands of paleo-foods that we could to find. And, as you can see from our blog, we've spent lots of time experimenting with Paleo recipes in the kitchen. 🙂

After a lot of trial and error, using certain non-processed products and brands in the kitchen has become second nature to us. But it wasn’t always that way.

When we began following the Paleo lifestyle, we realized how hard it could be to find products without chemicals, dyes, preservatives, GMOs, and other random unhealthy ingredients. We spent hours trying to find tomato paste with only tomatoes in it or coconut milk with only coconut and water in it.

Tomato paste with “natural flavors”

Tomato paste made of ONLY “tomatoes” (Cento brand).

We realized that the “health” section of the store didn’t always have the healthiest options and if they did have what we were looking for, it was quite expensive. So we started searching for our favorite deals and the cleanest products. Little by little, we found our favorite items and brands and have stuck with them.

We've been asked questions concerning what food brands we use, as well as what food items are essential to starting a Paleo diet. So, we decided to make a “Paleo grocery list” in the hopes that this will be a valuable tool for those of you searching for non-processed grocery items.

We'd love love love to hear your favorite Paleo food items and brands. We'd also love hearing about any items that you have found at a better price. We're all about updating and adding more products to this list so we can all benefit!

Cooking:

This could be a never ending list, but we find these items essential for Paleo cooking:

• Poultry, Meat, Fish– a well-balanced rotation of hormone-free, organic meat is key to staying full and getting the protein you need. Using spices and experimenting with fun recipes keeps things fresh (starter recipes below). We buy our ground bison, ground beef, pork loin, and chicken from Costco. We buy our fish and ground turkey from the local grocery store.

  

• All Fruit- Organic is best. We buy ours from Costco, Trader Joes or the local grocery store.
• All Vegetables- Organic is best. We buy our fresh veggies from Costco, Trader Joes or the local grocery store. The items below are some of our favorites:
  • Pomi Chopped Tomatoes and Pomi Strained Tomatoes– this company uses ONLY tomatoes in its products and we are a huge fan of the fact that they come in cardboard boxes.

    

  • Tomato paste– make sure it’s made only of tomatoes. We like the Cento brand.
  • Onions and garlic– these two are HUGE for adding flavor. We've grown a new appreciation for onions and garlic since going Paleo.
  • Spaghetti squash- We use this as a pasta replacement. You can make chicken casseroles, or pesto bowls. Yum!
  • Sweet Potatoes- Mash them, bake them, turn them into fries. The possibilities are endless! Sweet potatoes are a great source of energy too. We love seasoning them with rosemary and a little salt.
• Spices– salt, pepper, oregano, basil, nutmeg, chili powder, paprika…the more the merrier! We get ours from the grocery store, Costco, and online.
• Almond flour– we use it to bread chicken. We get ours from Nuts.com.
• Coconut flour– we use coconut flour to thicken sauces.
• Coconut milk and coconut cream- these are great to make creamy sauces. We normally buy ours in the international section of our grocery store, with the Asian goods. We like Golden Star Coconut Milk because it is made of only coconut and water. We also like Savoy Coconut Cream because it is made of only coconut extract and water.
• Olive oil– we buy the big 2L size from Costco.
• Apple Cider Vinegar– This is great to make dressings and home-made condiments with. We get ours from the grocery store.

• Condiments- most are not Paleo, but here are some that are:
  • Kroger Horseradish Mustard– the ingredients are vinegar,water,mustard seed, salt, horseradish powder, and red pepper.
  • Frank’s Hot Sauce– the ingredients are aged cayenne red peppers, vinegar, water, salt and garlic powder. This makes great buffalo chicken!
  • Make your own… like this Paleo Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce.

Baking:

If you are planning on doing some Paleo baking, which you should :), these are some of the things that we consider to be essentials:

• Almond flour– we buy the 5lb bag from Nuts.com. It turns out to be way cheaper than buying the smaller bags from the grocery store. You also run out less often.

  

• Coconut flour– we buy a 3lb Nutiva bag. A little coconut flour goes a long way and we find that we use way less of it than almond flour. The Nutiva brand has been our favorite quality at our favorite price that we've found.

  

• Coconut Milk– our all time favorite coconut milk is Golden Star. It is made of ONLY coconut and water and we love the creamy texture. It also tastes much better than the brands with preservatives. We find ours in the international section of our grocery store, with the Asian goods. But we have noticed that it’s not available everywhere.
• Coconut Cream– we prefer Savoy Coconut Cream. We have read some reviews on Amazon complaining that it is made with preservatives, but the cans that we buy say that there is only coconut extract and water inside. We also buy ours in the international section of our grocery store, with the Asian goods.

  

  

• Maple Syrup– we buy the 1L Kirkland brand from Costco. Make sure that the ingredients only say “maple syrup”.
• Honey– we buy the 5lb Kirkland brand from Costco. Make sure that the ingredients only say “honey”.
• Coconut Oil– we like the Carrington Farms brand, and we get ours at Costco or online.

  

• Bananas– these provide great texture in cakes/muffins
• Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips– dairy free, gluten-free, nut-free, and soy-free chocolate. These are kind of a lifesaver. We buy these online. (In the stores, they can be over $5.00 a bag, if you buy the pack of 6 online, it turns out to be $3.30 a bag)
• All Natural Cocoa powder- We like Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. It can be found in the baking isle at the grocery store.
• The usual baking essentials- eggs, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, spices..etc

Snacking:

• Crunchy Apple Chips– From the Barefruit company. We found these at Costco. The only ingredients in these chips are APPLES. They are a crunchy, satisfying treat that can be used to dip into sauces or can be eaten plain.
• Plantain Chips– Trader Joes sells a great Paleo option of plantain chips. The ingredients are plantains, sunflower oil, and salt! These are awesome with chili and to dip into any paleo sauce that your heart desires.
• ALL Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
• Dried Fruit– It was rather difficult for us to find dried fruit without added sugar, sulfates, or preservatives. We were about to give up until we found the Made in Nature Brand at Costco and several awesome dried and freeze-dried fruits at Trader Joes. No matter what, you have to always check the label to make sure the ingredients are Paleo. These are some of our favorites:

  

  

  

  • Calimyrna Figs– we like the Made in Nature Brand from Costco. These figs are organic and have no preservatives. Ingredients: dried Calimyrna Figs.
  • Antioxidant Fusion- This is a Made in Nature mixture that we found at Costco. It has dried cranberries, raisins, cherries, pepita seeds, blueerries, and goji berries in it. It is organic, unsulfured, and has no GMOs.
  • Tropical Fusion-This is another Made in Nature mixture that we found at Costco. It has dried banana, dried mango, cocao nibs, and ground ginger inside. It is organic and has no preservatives.

    

  • Dried Pineapple from Trader Joes– This has no preservatives. In fact the only ingredient is pineapple.
  • Trader Joes Freeze dried fruit– This is a fun, tasty way to eat fruit! There are so many types– from strawberry, to raspberry, cranberry and peaches. We love how crunchy freeze dried fruit is and we often eat them as a snack or add them to desserts.

    

    

• Paleo Muffins- Check out our Paleo recipe section for a full list of Paleo muffins.

  

• Smoked Salmon– Costco has a great Paleo version. You can easily throw this smoked salmon on eggs, veggies, or Paleo bread.
• Almonds and Other Nuts– we buy ours in bulk at Costco. These really help curb hunger and we like to keep a bag of nuts in our purse in case of hunger emergencies.

Starter Recipes:

Try some of these simple and satisfying recipes to see how tasty Paleo can be!

• Chicken Fingers + Sweet Potato Fries + Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce
• Creamy Spagetti Squash Chicken Casserole
• Crispy Lemon-Thyme Fish Cakes
• Key Lime Pie Pulled Chicken
• Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Cookies
• Fudgy Paleo Brownies
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Tips:

On Sundays, we meal prep! Which means:

• We make a LARGE amount of one dish, usually using a slow cooker, and then this dish is our lunch or dinner for the week.
• We set up bags of snacks that we can quickly grab. For example, dried fruit and nuts or fresh fruit and vegetables.
• We plan our breakfasts- we either make muffins, or a pulled meat to eat with eggs. We also make Paleo Rosemary Garlic Bread and then make an egg sandwich with it. We also have been really into making quiche with a sweet potato crust!
• We try to alternate between poultry, meat, and fish as often as we can.
• Slow cookers are a lifesaver! So is a juicer.
  • We love the Crockpot brand and have used it without a problem for years.
  • We've used a Waring Pro juicer for years and years. It’s simple to clean, which means we make fresh juice much more often.
• A food processor doesn’t hurt either.