Have you noticed that supermarkets all seem to be set up the same?
Through the front door, to the left is the produce and toward the back is the meat section, then as you continue along the edge you’ll find the dairy and sometimes a bakery. But what is in between? All those aisles is where many people spend most of their time…and money.
This is where many people sabotage their healthy eating goals. This is where you’ll need to use your detective Skills. To navigate your way through these seductive aisles, you MUST become a Label Reader.
Read the ingredients on every label. It takes time at first and I see them in the Pharmacy watching me. Glancing down the other end of the aisle the butcher keeps an eye on me. How long does it take to choose a soy sauce? I look for labels that identify foods that I recognize. When I see phrases like “ natural flavorings, artificial flavor, caramel color, any dye with a #, partially hydrogenated, enriched, fructose, …ose, corn syrup. There are many times when I’ve been discouraged with poor ingredients on a label and have been inspired to research and create my own. After reading the ingredients on my favorite almond milk, I decided to try my own and was so pleased with the simplicity and ease of the recipe, I’ll never buy it again.
Now about the edge.
There are times when I need to shop the aisles to stock up on certain pantry items, however, for the most part I only shop the perimeter. This not only speeds up each shopping trip, but surprisingly saves money.
There is no label on a Lemon.
Almond Milk
1 cup raw whole almonds
3 dates
1 vanilla bean
Soak the almonds on 3 cups filtered water overnight
Drain water and rinse
Add almonds, vanilla scraped from the bean and dates to a blender with 4 cups filtered water.
Blend, Blend, Blend.
Strain through a cheese cloth and refrigerate. Store in a glass container. It will last about 10 days.
You could add other spices if desired- cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.
Enjoy!
(I freeze the almond pulp and add to smoothies. No Waste)
Do you know what’s in your food?