I have had quite a few people request that I do a series on items in my fridge, freezer and pantry. Starting Paleo can seem soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo overwhelming…I know, I’ve been there. My BIGGEST piece of advice I could ever give you is, START SMALL. You don’t need it all at once. I also am not a big fan of Paleo baked goods. I make them because my kids love them, but I suck at baking! And let’s face it, Paleo or “gluten-free” items for baking is not cheap and it HURTS when you pour your money and time into a cupcake and it’s comes out of the oven looking and tasting like a nasty mess.
So, I’m going to share with you what I use and where I buy it. Please know, I do not ever recommend an item unless I use it and can testify to it’s quality. Everything on this list is used by me and LOVED by me!
You will notice I get a lot of stuff from Cosco. If you have a local Cosco, then go read my article on “50 Paleo Foods Found at Cosco for Cheap“!
20 Paleo Foods In My Freezer:
1. Tropical Tradition Coconut Chips: We love these chips. My favorite thing to do with them is to toast them and add salt and cinnamon. Check out this recipe from the Well Fed Cookbook. We also use them in baking Paleo Comfort Food’s Morning Glory Muffins!
2. Tropical Traditions Coconut Flakes: I use the flakes to make my Fishy Bites or chicken nuggets. I, also, have made the Fishy Bites and the Chicken Nuggets and frozen them for an easy lunch for the kids. They freeze great after you cook them!
3. Tropical Traditions Coconut Flour
4. Cosco Flax Seed
5. Grassfed Ground Meat: I buy this locally at a Farmer’s Market.
6. Cosco’s “low sodium” Bacon: it’s sugar-free but still has nitrates if you are worried about that.
7. Homemade Popsicles: I buy these silicone molds and make popsicles for my kids (and me!).
8. Whole Chickens: this is another thing I buy from our local Farmer’s Market. I get 2 pastured chickens for only $15!!
9. Homemade Chicken Stock: this is so easy to make and so delicious. Check out this post I wrote for Paleo Parents on how to stretch ONE chicken into 4-6 meals!
10. Cosco’s Whole Bean Coffee: I use an organic coffee bean from Cosco to make my morning Bulletproof Coffee. Have you ever tried putting butter in your coffee? Well you should!
11. Cosco’s Adells Chicken Sausage: these come in a 3 pack from Cosco for $15, so I throw 2 packs in the freezer.
12. Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour: I prefer baking with almond flour when I do bake, and Honeyville is the best. In fact there is a 20% off coupon floating around right now! Use coupon code: spring13 to get 20% off your order. Shipping is only $5 anywhere in the US!
12. Butter: I either buy unsalted Kerrygold Butter from Cosco or I get it locally from my Farmer’s Market. I use this in cooking and my Bulletproof Coffee.
13. Strawberries, Blueberries, and Raspberries: I live in Florida and when berries are in season, you can find them really cheap at a local market or a You-Pick Farm! I stock up and freeze them for smoothies and homemade popsicles for the kids!
14. Cosco’s Frozen Organic Green Beans
15. Cosco’s Frozen Organic Broccoli
16. Random pieces of meat: I like to stock up on certain cuts of meat when they go on sale. We REALLY like to buy 1/4th cow and stock it in the freezer. However, this is a big chunk of change up front, and we are currently doing the Dave Ramsey thing, so we are choosing to pay down debt instead of buying bulk meat.
17. Milk: I stock up on almond milk or coconut milk when it goes on sale and freeze it. I’m cheap, have you noticed?
18. Leftovers: I have random leftover foods in my freezer. I love doubling a recipe and freezing it. This makes my busy days tolerable since I can just grab a homemade, frozen, Paleo meal!
19. My Ice Cream Maker: We make delicious coconut milk ice cream with it and I don’t have to worry about the weird ingredients!
20. Marrow Bones, Chicken Feet, and Chicken giblets: I get marrow bones from a local farmer to make beef stock with. Chicken feet and giblets are for my homemade chicken stock to make it more gelatinous.
What’s in your freezer? Am I missing anything? Hope this list helps you! I would suggest finding a deep freezer! We have saved so much money stocking our foods and freezing them! We found our freezer off Craigslist!
Where the hail do you live that your pastured chickens are 2/$15!! Where I’m at, Primal Pastures has them for $25 each. My Costco only has the salted Kerrygold and I cannot do that in my BP coffee LOL You are so lucky. BTW, I had a nice email conversation with San Francisco Bay coffee (I buy at Costco) and they test for mycotoxins.
I live in Orlando, Fl!!! Nice to know about the SF Bay coffee!!!
Great Article Jackie!! Thank you!
I live in Orlando also… where do you get the chickens? I have not been able to find a price that good! Thanks!
Try the Lake Mary Farmer’s market!!!
Great Article that you, I also buy a lot from costco. And Thanks Rosann I also buy that coffee!