Thrive Market Haul | How I Saved Over $60 on Healthy Groceries

Recently I heard of an online discount shop that specializes in healthy, non-perishable foods: Thrive Market. I signed up under a free trial to see how good their prices really are, and I found that they do have some great deals. Plus, you get free shipping on orders over $49. 

I decided to stock up on some of my favorite staples, and try out some new things. Let me show you what I got!

SNACK FOOD

Kettle Chips: Honey Dijon | Jackon's potato chips | Nature's All freeze dried blueberries and raspberries | SeaSnax | GimMe seaweed snacks | Go Raw Ginger Snaps Super Cookies

The Kettle Chips aren't the healthiest, but we buy them occasionally and they were a very good price. They were 17 cents cheaper than on Amazon, but if you bump up to the 8.5 ounce bags on Amazon, it's a better price per ounce. But you have to buy a 12-pack.

These potato chips were pretty expensive, but they were fried in coconut oil! In fact, they're only three ingredients: organic potatoes, organic coconut oil and sea salt. I felt good about giving them to Helen. She loved them. They were $5.53 cheaper than a stand-alone bag on Amazon.

These freeze dried berries are another favorite with Helen. I like to keep some in my purse for emergency situations. They were $1.24 cheaper each than on Amazon.

I love that these "cookies" are made with sprouted sesame seeds (read more about the importance of sprouting nuts HERE). Helen asks for these often when we're out. These were only 3 cents cheaper than Amazon, but on Amazon you have to buy a 6-pack for that price.

These are my favorite seaweed snacks that I've find so far because they're made with extra virgin olive oil instead of sunflower oil. I need to order some more. 45 cents cheaper per package than on Amazon. 

You can actually get the GimMe seaweed snacks 57 cents cheaper on Amazon if you buy a pack of 12.

PANTRY STAPLES

Vital Proteins collagen peptides | Bonito Flakes | Real Salt | Pacific Bone Broth | Bar Harbor Fish Stock | Native Forest Coconut Milk | Simply Organic Peppercorns | Bionaturae Tomato Paste | Unbleached Parchment Paper

While I don't think this is a replacement for quality Homemade Chicken Stock, it's nice to have some of this "Pacific Bone Stock" on hand for emergencies. Plus, there's only three ingredients! It's the best store-bought broth that's widely available that I've found. However, I found that this particular item wasn't the best deal on Thrive. I found it cheaper at my local health food store. But it's still $1.78 cheaper than on Amazon (where you have to buy a 12-pack).

I'm somewhat of a salt hoarder. When I find a good deal on salt, I stock up. This was a great deal on Thrive, so of course it went into my shopping cart. $3.15 cheaper than Amazon.

I've heard that Vital Proteins is a really good quality "gelatin." I got the collagen peptides because they dissolve in cold water. This was a whopping $14 cheaper than on Amazon!

I have yet to use these Bonito Flakes, but I plan on making fish stock. $1.38 cheaper than Amazon (where you have to buy a 6-pack)

As I've mentioned before, I really like Bionaturae tomato paste. It comes in glass bottles, and it's easy to store leftovers in the fridge! Amazon savings: $1.68 (and you have to buy 12 bottles to get that price!)

I had never seen this Bar Harbor Fish Stock before, but the ingredients looked good (wild-caught haddock!), so I got some. I have yet to try it out. Amazon savings: 38 cents (and you have to buy a case of 12 on Amazon to get that price). 

I also got a can of Native Forest Coconut Milk. I like that the packaging is BPA-free. This was actually 36 cents more expensive than Amazon, but you have to buy a case of 12 to get the deal on Amazon.

CONDIMENTS AND MISCELLANEOUS

Dr. Bronners Citrus Castile Soap | Coconut Aminos | Primal Mayo | Kalamata Olives | Capers | Sardines | Herring Fillets | Pickled Sushi Ginger | Fermented Cod Liver Oil | Water Kefir Grains

I am a huge fan of capers. They are delicious with shrimp scampi or on a roast chicken. This jar was $2.56 cheaper than on Amazon. Helen loves olives - she would probably polish off half a jar if I let her. $5.33 cheaper than on Amazon. 

This mayo was from another brand that I had never seen before. I was excited to see that they used avocado oil instead of cheap "vegetable" oils. Plus they used organic cage-free eggs. We have tried it and it's awesome. Though it is quite expensive. You can't find it as a stand-alone item on Amazon.

For my Asian cravings: Pickled Sushi Ginger ($1.31 cheaper than on Amazon, where you have to buy a 12-pack) and Coconut Aminos ($6.29 cheaper than Amazon, where you have to buy a 3-pack).

I bought these Cod Liver Oil Capsules for my sister. I personally take the liquid form, but these are great if you can't stand the taste of cod liver oil. They were $8 cheaper than on Amazon!

Reuben likes to have canned herring in his lunches sometimes, and these looked like good ones (ingredients: herring fillets, cracked pepper, salt). 35 cents cheaper than on Amazon, and again, you have to buy a 12-pack on Amazon. These wild sardines were also 35 cents cheaper than on Amazon.

I've been wanting to try water kefir for a while, and this was a good excuse to get a good price on the grains. I'm still learning the process, but I have high hopes of making delicious water kefir! You can't find this product on Amazon.

Lastly, I got a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Organic Citrus Orange Soap. Reuben uses this as his shampoo and body wash. It was $5.50 cheaper than Amazon.

TOTAL SAVINGS OVER AMAZON

While I was calculating this, to make it even, I didn't subtract the price if I could find it cheaper on Amazon if you had to buy a pack of multiples to get that good price. Make sense?

Total Savings: $64.02

Even if I subtracted the difference of the items that were more expensive on thrive, the total savings would still be  $62.52! Plus when you take into consideration that I calculated the prices on Amazon from packs of multiples, my savings are even greater. AND I received 20% off my first order, which saved me another $34.02. Pretty awesome. 

Now, the one annoying thing about Thrive is that you have to pay a yearly member fee, which is $59.95. However, seeing how much I saved on one order, I think it's worth the price. I personally won't be subscribing this year once my free membership expires because we're already Amazon Prime members. It's something to think about for next year, though!

Also, make sure to look at the size of the package before you determine whether or not it's a good deal. Thrive lists the sizes for their items, which is really handy.

If you would like a 2-month free trial of Thrive Market (and $10 off your first order!) you can sign up under my link HERE. If you choose to pay for a subscription, I'll get a commission! Also, for every subscription, Thrive donates a subscription to an individual in need.

Whew. That was a long post. I hope you found this helpful! 

Do you enjoy hunting for good deals online? 

Note: some links are affiliate. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Buttered Side Up!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Thrive Market Haul | How I Saved Over $60 on Healthy Groceries

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How to Make Chicken Broth in a Crockpot/Slow Cooker

Homemade chicken broth can be so easy when you use a crockpot/slow cooker!

One of my scariest kitchen mishaps actually involved homemade bone broth.

I had a pot bubbling away on the stove. Suddenly, we had to leave the house for an hour or so. You guessed it: I left the stove on by mistake. While we were headed back home, I remembered that I had left the broth simmering. I wondered if we would return to a house of cinders.

"Well, at least the house didn't burn down," I said as we pulled in the driveway. But when we opened the front door, we were met with an acrid smoke. The broth had boiled completely away, leaving a charred chicken carcass. I felt so stupid. Our house stank for days. My poor pot still bears the marks.

Needless to say, I was a bit paranoid about making broth after that incident. 

Then, I saw Mommypotamus making broth in her crockpot. Brilliant, I thought! I tried it for myself, and I fell in love. 

You see, broth is super easy to make, but it takes a LONG time to cook. It can be difficult to find a good block of time to simmer it to perfection. With the slow cooker, I can throw everything together in the evening, set it to low and simmer it all through the night and the next day.

Here are a few tips and tricks for making your own broth:

* Make sure you buy organic veggies that are on the "Dirty Dozen" list. Onions are on the "Clean 15," so I buy those conventional or local.

* You can use a whole, uncooked chicken as well as the carcass of a roasted chicken. The meat will fall off the bones.

* Don't boil your broth too hard - it can result in broth that doesn't gel.

* If you get enough fat in your broth, you can actually store it in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, as demonstrated by Diana of My Humble Kitchen.

* You can always add extra gelatin to your broth if you so wish. I use this brand.

* Don't be afraid to use whatever vegetables you have on hand in your broth. Some ideas: mushrooms, garlic, potatoes, various herbs, and even kombu, AKA kelp (idea from Joy the Baker).

* If your chicken comes with the giblet and liver, throw those into the pot as well!

* Don't salt your broth too heavily before it's done simmering. Taste and adjust AFTER it has reduced.

I would love to talk more about bone broth, but this post is long enough as it is. Maybe I'll have to do a follow-up post about the benefits of bone broth, how to store, and ideas for how to use it.

What was your biggest kitchen disaster? 

How to Make Chicken Broth in a Crockpot/Slow Cooker 
recipe adapted from Weston A. Price and Mommypotamus | makes about 6-8 cups of broth
Printable Page

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken carcass

• cold water

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 3-4 carrots, chopped

• 3 celery stalks, chopped

• 1/4 cup vinegar or lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons real salt

• a bunch of parsley, optional (for added minerals)

Directions:
Place the chicken carcass in your slow cooker and add enough cold water to cover. Add the onions, carrots, celery and vinegar and stir. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Add the salt and turn the crockpot to LOW. Simmer the broth for at least 6 and up to 48 hours. 10 minutes before the cooking time is up, add a bunch of parsley. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

Allow the broth to cool until warm. Strain into storage containers. Refrigerate or freeze.

Note: some links are affiliate. All opinions are my own.

Monday, February 2, 2015

How to Make Chicken Broth in a Crockpot/Slow Cooker

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How to Soak Pecans for Digestion

The first thing you might be thinking is: why would I ever want to soak my pecans?

Pecans are a great source of vitamins and minerals. They contain vitamin B1, Copper, Magnesium and Manganese, Zinc, and much more. However, like other nuts and seeds, pecans contain enzyme inhibitors, tannic acid, and phytic acid. These substances can mess with your digestion and absorption of nutrients. Thus the healthy properties in nuts are kind of negated.

What's a health-conscious girl to do?

By soaking your pecans in a briny solution you can deactivate the negative properties. The salt in the soaking water also activates enzymes in the nuts that neutralize the enzyme inhibitors.*

Once your pecans are soaked for the proper amount of time you can dehydrate them to make them a lovely, crispy texture. 

You can read more about the benefits of soaking nuts in this great blog post by Kimi of The Nourishing Gourmet. She also gives methods for soaking other nuts here.

Note: It's important to dehydrate your nuts at the proper temperature. If you go higher than 150 degrees F (65 C), the beneficial enzymes that you activated by soaking can be destroyed. My oven only goes down to 170. Next time I'll leave my oven door open a tad to lower the temperature.

Soaked and Dehydrated Pecans

adapted from The Nourishing Gourmet and Nourishing Traditions

Ingredients: (can increase amounts as needed)

• 1 cups of pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon real salt
• Filtered water to cover nuts

Directions:

Place the pecans and salt in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Add enough filtered water to cover. Stir. Place a kitchen towel on top and leave in a warm part of your kitchen for at least 7 and up to 12 hours. 

Drain in a colander, spread on a stainless steel cookie sheet (or dehydrator trays) and place in a warm oven (105 to 150 degrees) until the pecans are nice and crispy, stirring occasionally, about 12-24 hours. 

Store in an airtight container in a cool place for a few months, or longer in the refrigerator. 

*From Nourishing Traditions, p.512

Note: Some links are affiliate. As always, all opinions are my own.

Monday, November 17, 2014

How to Soak Pecans for Digestion

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Nutrition 101: Part 2 - Five Tips for Good Nutrition

Hey everyone! Time for another Nutrition 101 post. Make sure you read Part One first if you haven't already!

As I mentioned in part one, I am not a nutritionist or expert in this area by any means. I'm also not trying to say that I eat this healthy all of the time. My philosophy is to eat right when I can and not stress about when I can't.

I suppose you could call me a "Traditional Foodie" (think Nourishing Traditions) - I believe that, as much as possible, we should cook and eat the way our great grandparents did. If a food has been "invented" in the last 50 years or so, you might wish to reconsider eating it.

Everyone has their own views on what foods are healthy and which aren't. I'm sure some people aren't concerned about the potential health benefits/risks of consuming certain foods, but most people have an inkling about good nutrition.

For example, most people would admit that fast food is not the wisest meal choice health-wise. Beyond the knowledge that junk food isn't good for you, the waters can get pretty grey

If you're just starting to try to make good food choices, it can be very overwhelming to know where to start. Here are my top five tips to begin your healthy journey.

5 Tips for Eating Well

1) Cook from scratch as much as possible.
It is my belief that even if you can't afford the best ingredients in the world, if you are cooking the majority of your food from scratch you're miles ahead of many people. Growing up we didn't eat an organic diet, but my mom cooked almost everything from scratch. We had very few health problems. I'm not saying that this was the only reason we enjoyed good health, but I'm pretty sure that not consuming tons of soda and prepackaged food helped. We definitely had junk food for special occasions, but our meals were mostly homemade.


2) Avoid highly processed oils.
Most of the "vegetable oils" on the market today are not good choices. Polyunsaturated oils (oils that are liquid when cold) go rancid easily. They are unstable when heated.
Common polyunsaturated oils include: canola, corn, soy, sunflower, and "vegetable oil". You can read more about the dangers of polyunsaturated oils HERE and HERE.
And of course everyone knows that trans fats are not good. Avoid all hydrogenated oils when possible.


3) Eat Organic/Local/Pastured When Possible
I know it's not possible for everyone to afford an all organic diet (I know I can't). I try to use the "Dirty Dozen Clean Fifteen" list, especially when shopping for Helen. A great alternative to organic is to buy local food. If you talk to farmers, they'll tell you what they used for fertilizer and if any pesticides were used.
It's also important to try to buy quality meat. Beware of labels claiming to be "all natural." Your best choice is local meat raised on pasture without the use of hormones. I can source pasture raised meat from our local farmers market and health food store. Organic would be my second choice.
The same goes for eggs and dairy products.


4) Avoid highly processed packaged food. 

This is probably the most obvious of the bunch. Everyone knows that store-bought cookies, crackers and candy are full of icky ingredients. Nearly every breakfast cereal contains extremely processed ingredients. Most chips are fried in unhealthy oils. I could write an entire post about prepackaged foods and healthy alternatives.

5) Embrace Healthy Fats

As I mentioned in Part One, as a teenager I followed the low-fat craze. It definitely made me skinny, but it didn't make me healthy.

Please don't be scared to consume plenty of healthy fats: butter, coconut oil, olive oil, etc. And by plenty, I don't mean a thin scraping of butter across your toast. I make to sure add loads to oatmeal, rice dishes, pasta, and basically anything we eat. Yeah, you can call me the butter lady. Make sure to buy the highest quality butter you can afford (I really like Organic Valley Pasture Butter, Kerrygold, Rumiano, and Kalona Supernatural). Even if you can only afford conventional butter, it's better than eating margarine or "vegetable oils."

So those are my top five tips for eating well!

Let me know what you would like to see next in this series. 

I could do a Q&A, address individual food groups, etc.

Note: some links are affiliate. All opinions are my own. I wouldn't recommend something to you guys if I didn't like it.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Nutrition 101: Part 2 - Five Tips for Good Nutrition

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Nutrition 101: Part 1 - Introduction

Before we begin discussing the topic of nutrition, I'd like to clear a few things up and tell you about my journey to better health. 

First of all, I do not claim to be an expert in this area. I'm still very much a student when it comes to health. 

Secondly, I'm not trying to say that you need to eat 100% according to the principles I'll be writing about. Everyone has their own standards. I just hope that you're able to learn something and be encouraged to try to live a healthier lifestyle.

Lastly, don't get the impression that I'm a health-freak (well, maybe I am a bit) and never eat anything I consider unhealthy. Just over the weekend we ate fast food. And I like to be polite when I'm at another person's house and eat whatever they have to offer. But I try to make healthy choices when I can.

Let me tell you about my journey: 

I have been concerned about my appearance/weight since I was a little girl. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I heard that someone had mentioned that I putting on some weight. I was horrified. Immediately I put myself on a diet and lost weight. 

At 13, I started to put on weight once more. Again I set myself on a diet. I called it the "half diet" - I would estimate how much food I would normally eat and only take half that amount. I was hungry a lot, but it felt good to see myself get skinnier. 

At this point my ideas about nutrition were very limited. I was definitely following the low-fat craze. I made many smoothies with skim or low-fat milk and ate apples for a snack. I was hungry, so I would eat every part of the apple except for the stem and the seeds. 

During this time we were also doing a lot of bike riding. Needless to say, I was able to lose quite a bit of weight. At my lightest I was about 92 pounds (I'm 5'2"). This could possibly be a healthy weight for some people, but this was NOT good for MY body. 

Then I began to dig a little deeper into the nutrition aspect of food. Even from a mainstream source (I think it was a Reader's Digest article) I was able to discover that not all fat is evil. 

One day Reuben's mom (who has always been a great source of knowledge about health/nutrition) loaned a book called Eat Fat, Lose Fat to my older sister. It really opened my eyes about healthy fats being essential to good health. From there I continued to read about traditional nutrition.

And so I relaxed and let myself eat again. It felt good. Of course I put on some weight, but that was what my body needed. I had to give up my crazy notion that being super thin was the ideal form of health. Again, some people are naturally thin and healthy, but it wasn't a good thing for my body. 

Ever since then I have tried to make good food choices. I eat until I'm full and I can easily maintain a healthy weight. Of course I still struggle with body image - what woman doesn't? But I try to stay grounded in reality.

God gave us our bodies to live in and we should take care of them, but our obsessions about looking a certain way shouldn't be more important than our character (I'm talking to myself when I say this because it's something I still need work on).

Okay, I'm done preaching.

Up next I'll get into more particulars about what I believe to be good nutrition choices.

Thank you for reading my story! How about you? Have you ever struggled with weight/body image?

Monday, May 19, 2014

Nutrition 101: Part 1 - Introduction

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