HelenLA

I know the topic is "sourcing good food "and for me "good" food means compliant plus affordable. today I found prosciutto at Aldi Appleton Farm brand. 3 ounces for $2.99 and the ingredients are pork and salt. I also found chorizo mild or hot 12 ounces Pueblo Lindo brand for $1.99 each. the ingredients are pork, water, Chili Peppers, less than 2% of salt, flavorings, paprika, vinegar, spice extracts (including paprika and annatto) and sodium nitrite.

I had to eat out at Steak N Shake - don't ask it was a work thing. I knew this was going to happen so I researched them online. I was thinking I could have grilled chicken breast on salad. Boy was I wrong! Their chicken breast has so much crap on it. however their ground beef patties are 100% ground beef. I ended up ordering a guacamole Burger minus the bun minus the cheese minus the mayonnaise extra tomatoes extra onions extra lettuce extra guacamole. the guacamole ingredients listed on their website was avocado, jalapeno, onion and spices. I called the restaurant to find out what kind of cooking fat they used on the grill for the beef and they said none because it's a nonstick surface. They also told me if I let them know about allergies they would clean off a fresh space on the grill and use a clean spatula. I didn't ask them to do that because I don't want to lie and say I have allergies out of respect for people who actually do. they did not charge me for the extra guacamole or veggies. They did bring my plate out with fries on it though. I told them I didn't order the fries and I can't eat them. I asked for a separate plate and scooped all of the fries off and offered it to my tablemates. I sprinkled some salt on the dish that I had after chopping everything up and it was delicious. I had an RX bar and Larabar in my purse just in case but they were not needed. this eating out thing gets a little easier all the time.

this advice may be a little late but my recommendation is to look at the menu and find the items or dishes that look most Whole30 compliant already and sound good to you. Then I would call the restaurant in advance and ask specifics about food preparation - oils or fats that food is cooked on, what may be added onto the food after. That way you don't have to ask quite as many questions once you arrive at the restaurant. Definitely try to call when it's not a busy time. I also like to take a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil in a tiny tupperware container because I don't trust what restaurants a is olive oil. I usually use that along with fresh-squeezed lemon slices as a salad dressing with salt and pepper and it tastes great.

you might want to check online for the sale ads in your area before you make the trip. I don't know how they divide up their sales by region or state or whatever.

I have to make a correction on my post. The ingredient is sodium lactate and not lactic acid. but they are both compliant.

I just wanted to share that I found smoked salmon at Aldi. It is a special this week so I'm not sure if they will have it for more than one week. It is a 3 ounce package for $3.49. The salmon is from Norway. The ingredients are: salmon, salt, lactic acid, and Beechwood smoke. I have never had smoked salmon but was wanting to try something new for my mini meal between breakfast and lunch as a protein source. No it's not a great bargain at over $3 an ounce but I think it's a good deal on smoked salmon although I really have no idea. FYI I live in Indiana, USA.

yes it was a typo. I think I will use one third cup because I don't want it to be too sweet I'm not sure if I would like it that way. After the chicken is done cooking you take it out of the slow cooker and cut it up but you also remove the liquid and reduce it on the stove and re-add it so it's not soupy. I hope it turns out well.

ArtFossil it was a typo. As I said previously this is my third Whole30 and I know that honey is out. I am thinking of substituting orange juice concentrate. I think I am going to make a triple batch but only use one third cup of the orange juice concentrate in place of a whole cup of honey. I'm not going for sweetness as much as flavor and I think more than one third cup would be too sweet. I just wanted to get input on weather this seemed if he as far as the rules to anyone or if anyone had any input on substitution amounts from their own experience. sorry about the typo

thanks for all of your replies! I used the stick blender in a wide mouth glass jar this weekend and it turned out perfectly in 30 seconds. I kept it going for about fifteen more seconds just to make sure I had all the oil from the top mixed in. I'm going to try to attach a picture so you can see my success.

I'm currently doing my third Whole30 and wanted to try something different. I found a recipe for slow cooker orange chicken in Danielle Walker's book Against All Grain. the recipe calls for one third cup of honey which I know is out but I was thinking of using some orange juice concentrate in place of the honey. I have not decided how much to use but I think one third cup would be too much. I plan to make a triple batch of the recipe so that would be one cup of honey and I was considering using 1/3 up to 2/3 cup of honey in my substitution triple batch. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Does this still seem compliant? I'm not trying to recreate a food that is a weakness for me. In fact I never eat orange chicken when I get Chinese food but this just sounded good. Any thoughts on the amount of the substitution? Or does anyone else have a slow cooker orange chicken recipe? I found some Whole30 recipes but they weren't for the slow cooker and they also called for other ingredients that I do not currently have and did not want to buy.

I don't know where you live but I have found compliant bacon at Kroger and Walmart. they were even the store brands of bacon. Both of them were the low sodium bacon and when I read the ingredients they didn't have any sugar added. That's always the ingredient that causes problems with bacon. I have not looked for compliant turkey but Costco sounds like a good option.

Oh right! The Walmart brand is Sam's Choice not Great Value. Glad you found it!

I read a post at some point where someone was talking about how easy it is to make homemade mayonnaise in a jar. I have made my own mayonnaise many times but I'm always looking for shortcuts. This person said they just put all of the ingredients into the jar together and use a stick blender and they are done in about two minutes. If anyone has done this my questions are what size jar do you use for one recipe of mayonnaise? I'm not sure if I have one that's big enough but don't want to go out and try to find another jar to use if I don't have to. Also would you add the lemon juice at the beginning or at the end after the mayonnaise is made? Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you.

I keep reading what a hard time people have finding bacon and/or sausage for Whole30 so I thought I would share what I have found. Let me say that I live in Indiana USA. I live alone and make under $30,000 a year so budget is important. (don't think I am complaining or that I think I am poor because I know I am blessed but I still have to be smart with how I spend) My diet used to consist of rice, pasta, bread, beans, popcorn, ramen noodles... you get the idea. it was very filling and cheap. I started in January of 2016 on Whole30 and have eaten that way ever since. now my food budget is my second biggest expense every month after my mortgage. I hope that you can infer from this that I cannot afford to buy organic, grass-fed, pastured everything. I buy what I can when it's on sale and I have coupons but otherwise I have to buy mainstream products. I had no trouble whatsoever finding Whole30 compliant bacon. locally we have Kroger and Walmart. Both of them have store-brand bacon that is low sodium and neither of them have any sugar. Sugars are the only non compliant ingredient I have seen in bacon. I don't eat a lot of bacon - it takes me about 3 months to eat to pounds and I use it more as a condiment instead of as a side or a meat. The prices are reasonable on the store brands. I don't care about the sodium, just the sugar, but it just so happens that the only bacon with no sugar that I have been able to find are the low sodium types. you might want to try looking at your local store and picking up the low sodium bacon and reading the ingredients. for sausage patties I just buy plain ground pork when it is on sale. You can use any homemade ground pork sausage recipe and just omit the sugar - it's usually maple syrup. I make a batch ahead of time and freeze them. you can cook the patties before you freeze them as well and this makes for quick heat up if you're eating them for breakfast. again it's not something I eat very often but it's nice for a change. as for link sausage the only thing I have found that is Whole30 compliant in my area is the Aidells chicken apple sausage. I did recently find at Walmart their Great Value store brand chicken apple sausage and their ingredients are almost exactly the same as aidells. I found the taste very comparable. The aidells sausage cost $4.98 for four links here and the Great Value brand cost $2.98 for 4 links here. I don't just cook this sausage and eat it as a meat on its own. I either chop it up and mix it in with my egg and vegetable breakfast casserole or I slice it into coins and put it in the crock pot with fresh green beans, onion, garlic and a few baby potatoes. so many people have given me helpful tips and I hope this helps someone else out there with a successful whole30 journey.

Thanks Lizzy! There is hope. :-)