One of the frequent questions we get about eating real food is “what do you eat exactly?” Unfortunately so many people have come to rely on both processed foods and highly refined ingredients that most don’t know what they would eat without them (you may be one of these people!). I will be the first to tell you
that the initial transition isn’t easy, but once you get used to eating this way you soon discover that there so many options that actually taste a lot better than all of that processed stuff anyway.
I have been blogging about recipes and what to eat for months, but in this post I want to take a step back and tackle the topic of what a typical real food pantry might look like. Pictured you will see a snapshot of my personal pantry. I still have a couple of items in there that we no longer eat (like white rice and white flour) that I just haven’t gotten around to giving away yet. But speaking of getting rid of stuff, I can assure you that sticking to real food (and especially getting children to adopt real food) will not work nearly as well if the processed snacks and cereals are still hanging around and available.
So anyway, without further ado, below is a list of what you can see pictured in my pantry. I am sure there are many ways to organize and stock a whole foods pantry…this just happens to be the way we do it:
Starting from the bottom here is a description of each shelf:
- On the floor there are bottled waters (for when we are away from home…we also have reusable bottles, but we don’t always remember to use them!), all natural juice pouches (similar to a Capri Sun for me to bring for my girls to birthday parties and playdates).
- Next up there are canned goods on the left including plain tomato sauce (no salt added), diced tomatoes, applesauce, extra jelly, and canned beans to use as a backup in case I forget to soak beans overnight for something. Next to that are three baskets, which are designated as first the seed basket (sunflower and pumpkin seeds), the nut basket (cashews, pecans, peanuts, etc.), and the dried fruit basket (raisins, freeze dried fruit, dried dates, etc.) This is often where my kids go for a snack.
- On the left-hand side of the next shelf there are cereals including homemade granola, boxed shredded wheat, and rolled oats as well as a container of Lara Bars. Next to that is a basket of potatoes, onions, and garlic. On the right we keep whole-wheat bread (from Great Harvest), Triscuit crackers, and whole-wheat Matzo crackers.
- Next up is just where we store coffee makers and the toaster. To the right of that is some unpopped popcorn and boxed whole-wheat pasta.
- The shelf that is second from the top has some of my old baking ingredients (like white flour, sugar, and colored sprinkles – I keep my whole-wheat flour in the freezer since it would go rancid otherwise). That shelf is also where we keep the honey, yeast packets and vanilla extract.
- On the doors (starting at the top left) we keep coffees, teas, dried beans, unsweetened cocoas and all natural peanut butter. On the other side we keep grains including brown rice, wild rice, more whole-wheat pasta as well as other baking ingredients such as baking soda/powder, salts, etc. That door is also where I still have some white rice that we haven’t been using.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I too have been strongly influenced by the writing and research of Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver and others, and have been working to de-process my family’s eating habits for over a year now. It’s one thing to think you are eating healthy, and a whole other matter to discover what you thought was healthy, was not at all. We’ve gone so far as to even find locally raised meat, which has probably been the most difficult challenge. I appreciate your blog because within my circle of friends and family, I have few people to compare and share my experiences with, on this journey. Even the description of your pantry makes me feel better, as it’s exactly like mine!!
You were smart to start this while your children are young. Mine are 5, 6 and 9 and it’s been much harder to transform them. They never ate “horribly”– for example we were never a white-bread-and-chip family–but even making small adjustments in their cereal and breads to eliminate HFCS has been hard for them to accept.
Best wishes!
Heather
Thank you for the comment, and I am glad as well to have a little community of other similar eaters!
Lisa, you mention jelly above. Do you make your own or is there a variety which can be purchased that follows “the rules”?
Thanks,
Sherri
The jelly I’ve found is at Earthfare and called Crofters organic “Just Fruit” spread. It only has 5 ingredients and uses fruit juice concentrate as a sweetener – so it follows the rules!
As far as canned goods go, are you concerned about the lining of BPA in them? I’ve found only one brand of tomatoes that doesn’t contain BPA (Eden Organic) and that is also a big concern of mine, along with whole foods.
I know it looks like I have a lot of canned goods, but I honestly don’t use them very often. I know BPA is a concern and we replaced all of our sippy cups, reusable water bottles, etc. But I guess I have not gotten as far as the canned goods yet. Thanks for the insight!
I noticed you mentioned all natural juice pouches. Can you tell me the name of these or is it something you make?
They are the best because my kids LOVE them! Read this post which gives all of the details…http://thefoodillusion.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/for-convenience-the-best-store-bought-snacks/ I called them “Applesauce on the go” near the bottom.
Just a random fact I learned recently–if you store potatoes and onions together, they go bad much more quickly than if they were stored separately. The gases they omit react to each other or something weird; I don’t know the full “why” of this. I’ve stored mine together in a basket as you do for years until I found this out and moved my potatoes to another room. Worth looking in to! Thanks for all you do.
I actually heard that once before, but I’ve never noticed anything to spoil or taste weird. So I guess I didn’t feel motivated to rearrange! Maybe we just eat ours quickly
Thanks for the comment!
Do you feel like you spend less at the grocery store now that you aren’t buying the (highly over-advertised) processed foods?
Thanks for this pantry list, it really makes the change to all real foods feel more doable – seeing ‘behind the curtain’!
Unfortunately no! Now that I am not doing the “100 Days of Real Food on a Budget” pledge I’ve fallen off the wagon. I have a weakness for all things expensive like cheese, olives, nuts, good seafood, etc.
I’ve been following your blog for a long time now and many months ago I swore I read a recipe for date balls which only contained nuts, dates, pb and cocoa and now I can’t find it anywhere… when I google it every recipe contains sugar… Can you please send me the recipe or let me know where it was posted or if for some reason I’m mistaken??? Thanks so much! Sam
This one is my favorite favorite (made into balls)!! http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/07/17/recipe-chocolate-torte-with-whipped-cream-and-chocolate-sauce/
Oh but there is also this one with the peanut butter: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/05/recipe-powerballs-two-versions/
whole wheat flour will go bad in the pantry? I also was wondering about the almond butter from the grocery list, I have been buying the MaraNatha but its No Stir…why is that bad? Thank you so much, I am loving your blog!
Yes, whole-wheat flour will spoil in the pantry (because it is real food!). One of the reasons they started making white flour was because of the longer shelf life. Here is a post with more info: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/03/26/what-should-be-in-your-sandwich-bread/
Also, the almond butter should be fine as long as it doesn’t have added salt, sugar or oil.
whole-wheat flour will go bad because in its processing it still contains some of the bran (the outer coating) and the germ (the oily seedling-to-be). ALL oils will go bad in time, so the flour will go bad. Enriched white flours have had EVERYTHING except the starchy endosperm removed. no oil – way longer shelf life.
hey there, love u reading all your wonderful ideas ….i noticed however you dont store your nuts and seeds in the fridge which have delicate oils that can go rancid….i store mine in fridge….is your pantry very cool?
Thank you for all the wonderful information. I have struggled with weight my whole life and been up and down the chemical road with low fat items and carb free items. I have long been a fan of everything natural but never applied it to food. Michael Pollan talks about the Western attitudes towards food with the guilt and shame we feel towards real food and I guess I am a product of my Western environment. Thanks for helping me break free of that.
Question about whole wheat in the freezer (I did not know this fact, so thank you!!): does it freeze solid and you have to thaw it before you use it, or how does that work? thanks again!!
It doesn’t change the consistency of the flour so you can use it right out of the freezer (although it will be cold to the touch).
LOVE, love loving everything I am reading on your site!! And I have another question. In our kitchen we have a candy jar/basket… it seems constanlty full with the revolving door of holidays and birthday parties. My boys are both 5 years old and I am JUST starting to try and alter their already bad eating habits. My Question: how do you handle holidays like Easter and Halloween (and even Christmas) where candy is so prevalent?