Had to direct your attention to another excellent post from Jenny at Nourished Kitchen.
The Cheater’s Guide to Real Food has a handful of great and easy tips for the super-busy and non-cooks to eat better.
I’ll list them here with some West Georgia notes, where applicable But be sure to hit her site for more info.
1. “Buy a rotisserie chicken once a week (and make broth)”. Sam’s has delicious rotisserie chickens for about $6. Kroger (at least in Carrollton) slashes the price on theirs at 7 am Thursday morning.
2. “Ditch the multigrain and go for true sourdough.” Farmers’ Fresh has Georgia Sourdough available through the online store. Kroger sometimes has La Brea Bakery’s sourdough loaves in their deli bread sections. Avoid sourdough-ish breads. These will have vinegar in their ingredients as a shortcut to get the sourdough taste without the nutritional benefits.
3. “Skip salad dressing and use oil and vinegar (or oil and lemon juice).” If you’re eating fresh local lettuce, try it with nothing. You’ll be amazed how quickly you lose your taste for salad dressing when the lettuce and any tossed in vegetables are so delicious.
4. “Skip the margarine and use butter (or ghee).” You can get butter made from pastured cows’ milk from Farmers’ Fresh most of the year. You can freeze butter for months, too, so stock up. I’ve just started using ghee and really like it. It’s a good substitute for oil for higher heat cooking. Very easy to work with! I’ve been ordering this ghee off of Amazon.
5. “Pick up some yogurt or raw milk cheese.” Farmers’ Fresh has these, too. The cheeses are expensive but delicious. Most often, we get Stoneyfield Farm yogurt at Kroger, but we’re looking forward to making our own again. We go through it so fast that we end up with a stack of yogurt containers. (Anyone want a bunch of 32 oz plastic yogurt containers?)
6. “Sardines, anchovies and mackerel are awesome.” Okay, so I haven’t come over to this side yet. I keep trying. So far we rely with omega-3 supplements (from Sam’s) instead of these foods. Probably won’t be able to find a local source for these, either.
7. “Boil a few eggs.” In my house, we scramble instead of boil. Either way, it’s a quick meal, and local eggs are a million times better. Try Farmers’ Fresh, hit a local farmers market, or keep an eye out for farm signs.
8. “Add fermented foods to your grocery list.” Farmers’ Fresh has pickles! And chow-chow (spicy relish)! I wonder if bottle-conditioned beer counts…
9. “Skip the multivitamin and use whole food supplements.”
10. “Read labels and learn to navigate ingredient lists.”