I am very excited that so many of you are taking part in our You Can Do This! The First Five Steps To a Real Food Kitchen eCourse!
As an added bonus – for those of you who are participating in the course and for those who aren’t – each Monday for the next few weeks, I plan to share a Bonus Tip to encourage you along in your Real Food Journey. Remember though, these are just bonus tips. If you take the eCourse, you’ll get loads more information, guidance, downloads, recipes, and worksheets – all for just $5! (Click here to purchase if you are interested.)
Beginning to make a few healthy changes in your kitchen? Feeling like you don’t know where to start and how you can find the extra funds?
I dedicated an entire lesson of the eCourse to figuring out how to make a Real Food Kitchen work in your budget, so hopefully those of you taking part of the course have found some money saving and management tips that have been helpful.
In addition, I wanted to remind you all of my Whole Foods Resources page here on my blog. I have found that purchasing much of our food online has saved so much money, time, and energy. Having healthy food delivered right to my porch? It doesn’t get much better!
One of my favorite online resources is Vitacost. I buy all sorts of items from them, from vitamins to coconut oil to oats to almonds to the occasional “healthier treat”. They are constantly running sales, so if I watch for them, I can score great deals. One of my favorite deals is running right now: Receive Free Shipping when you purchase $25 or more of the VitaCost Brand items. This includes their Vitacost Brand Coconut Oil. If you’re taking the eCourse, you know that this is one of the first suggestions I make – to switch from unhealthy oils to healthy fats like Coconut Oil.
And here’s the best news: If you are a brand new customer with VitaCost, you can click here through my referral link and be rewarded with a $5 coupon code to use on your first order (which must be $30 or more). What a great way to save you money as you are getting started with switching over to some healthier items in your kitchen!
What a blessing to have such great food sources available to us online!
Share an ingredient or two in the comment section that you are planning to switch over in your Real Food Kitchen. I love hearing about healthy changes you are making! :)
Interested in learning more about our
You Can Do This! The First Five Steps To a Real Food Kitchen eCourse?
We’d love to have you join us!
I use Vitacost brand coconut oil and I LOVE it!! I am hooked and just ordered another jar. I can’t wait for it to get here on Tuesday because I am completely out of it!!
I’m curious since you mentioned you buy vitamins if you’d mind sharing what vitamins/supplements your family takes. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this topic and find it really interesting what others take, even though I definitely understand it varies for each person.
I don’t get tons of vitamins from them, but did grab a big bottle of Vitamin C, knowing we would need that this winter! And a natural doc I’m seeing put me on three different vitamins to help rid my body of heavy metals (I just had my mercury fillings removed and replaced in an effort to become healthier!).
How does the vita cost oil compare to what I have seen in the grocery store? I think the brand is Luanne and it sells at about $6. It does not say it is organic or extra virgin but wouldn’t it be better to use that than other kinds of oil. The price is so much better. Thanks.
I have tried Luanne brand of coconut oil, and I’m not terribly impressed. While I haven’t researched it, I wonder how they are processing it? The Vitacost or Tropical Traditions coconut oil I get is far superior for sure!
However, Luanne brand is STILL coconut oil, so it is much better than using unhealthy vegetable or canola oils. :)
LouAna coconut oil is made from hardened coconut by-products called Copra after all the “premium” coconut has been removed for other uses (like shredded flakes). It’s heated up, bleached, refined, deodorized and then processed with lye. It is also much less stable than cold-pressed oil. I agree, though, that it is still better than any other oil except maybe high-quality organic olive oil.
Right now Vitacost has a 12% off code “123save” on everything.
I buy the hain safflower mayo there for $4.19 and their essential oils for very good prices. They also have the Eden brand spanish evoo for $9, which is the cheapest I’ve found so far in my search.
A question though, I buy Santini Organic Sweetened Condensed Milk at VC too, any suggestions on a recipe to replace this?
I saw that code this morning too! However, for new customers who want to use their $10 referral credit, they can’t use both codes at the same time. The $10 credit is likely to give them a much better deal!
Looks like that Santini condensed milk is a pretty good option – only two ingredients!
Yeah Santini is but at $3.99/can I was hoping to make it to save some $ :)
I’m going to try the recipes and see what shakes out ^_^
Yes, very true! I’d go with that first recipe you linked to so you can avoid the powdered milk in the second recipe. I’d be real curious to see how to make it like the santini brand, with just milk and sugar. Hmmmm….
I found these two recipes:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,183,151170-244199,00.html
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,163,151185-253196,00.html
But I’m really curious what your thoughts are :) thanks!
The first recipe looks like a pretty good option!
I also love ordering from Vitacost, but will not order their almonds as I just checked, and their almonds are not raw, but pasteurized at 260 degrees….does that concern you, as it does me? Most almonds are now legally allowed to be labeled raw, when they are not. Pasteurized almonds will not even sprout. I can send you a copy of my online conversation with Vitacost about this if you’re interested.
Interesting to know, thanks!
I love Vitacost! I just ordered some probiotics (Flora- Udo’s Choice, which is crazy expensive. I’m 36 weeks with pregnant aby boy $3 and must have antibiotics during delivery, so I’m preparing with the best! I normally use a less expensive brand) and pop corn (Arrowhead Mills Organic) from them. I order about once a month (whatever the budget allows). I usally open up both Amazon and Vitacost and put the same things in my cart and see which is cheaper! Often times it’s Vitacost that wins out because of the free shipping on $49 or more.
And just because I’m here and commenting. We had your orange muffins for breakfast this morning. I used buttermilk in them instead of milk and added 1/2 cup of chopped frozen cranberries I had leftover from the holidays. They were SO good! I also have your chicken pot pie on my menu this week. Have you ever frozen it? I’m thinking I might make two and freeze one for when the baby comes.
I appreciate what you do. You make things simple and really show that you can eat real food pretty inexpensively. That’s beneficial to me. We live on a really tight budget. Last week we had about $20 left for groceries! But God always provides! Food doesn’t always have to be fancy to be real and healthy. Last night we had roast chicken in the crock pot, peas and carrot sticks with your homemade dip. The leftover chicken and peas will go in the pot pie tomorrow night! So, thanks for the work you put into sharing your recipes and tips.
That should say *with baby boy #3!