Best places for whole foods/alternative foods/unusual fresh stuff

dimestorediamond

So I've been considering cutting out processed foods out of my diet, one step at a time. But aside from the obvious, like fresh fruit and vegetables, where can I get my quinoa and other lentils and oulses etc, cheaper? The big supermarkets plus aldi and lidl are all I have in terms of physical shops, and sometimes it can be VERY expensive.
Obviously, I get its going to be a more expensive venture, but I really want to attempt this, in order to improve my physical and mental health.

Does anyone have any go to online shops? If anyone has any great blogs about 'clean eating' I will also be grateful! Thank you!

Polaria

Hi,

With the Ramadan starting towards the end of this month, you may find a lot of world foods in offer - including pulses - in your local shops.

Pol

Callie22

Goodness Direct is good for pulses etc - there's a £10 off a £35 spend at the moment which might be useful.

You can also get pulses, grains etc really cheaply in bigger supermarkets if you look in their 'world foods' aisles.

natbags

I like iTadka for online purchases of spices, lentils etc... very reasonable and if the order is large enough the delivery cost is well worth it

dimestorediamond

Thank you everyone - As for the world foods in the local supermarkets, I doubt it We live in a rural, massively white area that really limits anything exotic.

Kirri

Have you checked to see if there are any food co-ops in your area? They buy in wholefoods from places like Suma etc and distribute locally like a community thing, keeping prices down.

I buy from Wholefoods (shops though so no good for you), veg box schemes like Abel & Cole, Planet Organic, Ocado, even Amazon have bulk stocks of pulses.

If you're interested in eating clean then you may want to look into organic, imo there's no point ingesting lots of pesticides etc any more than additives/preservatives - it's possible to eat healthy on a budget but to avoid the crap it's usually best to avoid the supermarkets as much as poss.

dimestorediamond

Kirri wrote: »

Have you checked to see if there are any food co-ops in your area? They buy in wholefoods from places like Suma etc and distribute locally like a community thing, keeping prices down.

I buy from Wholefoods (shops though so no good for you), veg box schemes like Abel & Cole, Planet Organic, Ocado, even Amazon have bulk stocks of pulses.

If you're interested in eating clean then you may want to look into organic, imo there's no point ingesting lots of pesticides etc any more than additives/preservatives - it's possible to eat healthy on a budget but to avoid the crap it's usually best to avoid the supermarkets as much as poss.

No food coop as far as I am aware. Thanks for the websites. I try to eat organic as much as I can anyway

WantToBeSE

Holland and Barratt are good, but expensive. Wholefoods are good if you are in London. buywholefoodsonline.co.uk look good, but I have never tried them.


Blogs that I read include:


The gracious pantry http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating/


Funeralformyfat http://funeralformyfat.tumblr.com/EatingClean (this is a fitness blog too, check her story out, she is my inspiration)


I started a thread on CE a while ago, so feel free to go and have a look, there are some great links over there

natbags

i find amazon quite expensive red lentils 2kg around £5.99, however at iTadka . com the same TRS 2kg £2.69, hence the delivery cost is well worth it They have a really great range of product, fruit & veg etc...

NatMast_2

I have been clean eating for a while now though I never really ate processed foods. It was just rather too much of the good stuff! (Lost 3 stone in the past year). I'm thoroughly enjoying myself still and I don't completely limit what I have. It's all about balance.

When you say alternative foods do you cover meat as well as 'different' types of meat or just more alternative places to get quality meat from? Either way I have a couple of companies I would most certainly endorse - when there are offers on of course.

Have you checked for any wholesalers near you? If you use a lot of quinoa or lentils it may be worth while investing in larger quantities.

dimestorediamond

I live at home, so I am limited with what I can store.

As for meat Natmast, probably going to cut it out. Not immediately but a gradual phasing. I don't eat much fresh, its always been processed which I have now stopped, so it will probably only be the odd bit of chicken anyway.