We’ve been travelling around New Zealand for over a year now, and because we’ve been on the go so much, our pantry staples have had to be very minimal - they need to be able to fit inside one box, maximum two, to make travelling easier, plus I usually have very limited storage space in our Airbnb’s. Because of this I’ve had to get pretty fussy on what food items I choose to buy because I no longer have a full sized pantry that allows me to store lots and lots of different food items. I’ve rounded up some of my favourite additive free food products that I used over and over again in 2020.
CELL SQUARED
Here’s one of my favourite Brownie recipes that uses all four of these amazing foods. I love this recipe, not only because it’s delicious, it’s also gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free and an easy one bowl wonder
Here is the recipe if you want to make these brownies for yourself.
IHERB
You can use my discount code ‘CJJ916’ for a 10% discount on any of these products
Organic herbs and spices (these have been my most used in 2020)
Adobo - Garlic powder - Onion flakes - Dried parsley - Pepper - Cumin seed - Paprika
Cassava flour - i’ve used this brand for many years and love it
Hu Chocolate - a NEW additive free chocolate I recently came across
Gluten free Mary’s Gone Crackers - having a packet of these in the pantry is so handy for those times where you need something quick for adventure days/ picnics or BBQ’s with friends
Pure vanilla powder - personally, I prefer using the real thing over vanilla extract in my recipes
Reusable silicone Stasher bags - I didn’t think I’d like these as much as I do. I’ve used them for marinating meat, storing and freezing bone broth, leftovers, rice, frozen berries, homemade cookies and more.
CHOCOLATE BARS
Ocho Chocolate - is a small NZ business in Dunedin. They have the most amazing additive free, 2-ingredient chocolate. I love their sugar free chocolate (it’s very hard to find one that actually tastes good and isn’t loaded with dubious additives)
Loco Love Chocolate - I recently created a few recipes for Loco Love with their divine chocolates - a Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Tart + egg, gluten, grain and dairy free Gingerbread Men. I absolutely love that they add adaptogenic herbs into their chocolate blocks too.
Hu Chocolate - I don’t think I’ve ever come across a brand of chocolate coated nuts that isn’t full of vegetable oils, refined sugar, soy lecithin, flavours and more. Hu’s Chocolate Coated Almond ingredients are simple: organic almond, organic cacao, unrefined organic coconut sugar, organic fair-trade cocoa butter, sea salt. Amazing!
VANILLA &CO
Organic vanilla beans - these vanilla beans are incredibly divine and probably where most of my money goes if I’m being honest. Personally I love using REAL vanilla in my recipes, I think it is well worth the money and I always reuse the pods in homemade custards, ice cream, or add it into a jar of maple syrup or coconut sugar to impart it’s flavour and aroma into them
LOVE YA GUTS
Liver detox tea - this tea is so beautiful, I love sipping on a cup any time of the day. I’m also trying to stay away from tea bags due to the micro-plastics and choose loose leaf teas instead
Grass-fed & finished gelatin powder - I love using this gelatin to make gut healing jellies, gummies and pannacotta, or adding in a little to my morning Bulletproof coffee (or hot chocolate).
KULTURED WELLNESS THERAPEUTIC PROBIOTICS
Probiotic Coconut Yoghurt - I’ve been using both the probiotic coconut yoghurt and kefir for many years now, they have been such an integral part of my own gut healing journey (as well as many of my clients).
Probiotic Coconut Water Kefir - I love using the kefir to ferment my fruits and vegetables to not only make them easier to digest and more gut friendly (as they’re full of probiotics), but fermenting fruit reduces the sugar - especially the fructose content and makes them the perfect go to if you are keeping your sugars and carbs low or your gut can't handle FODMAPS
Probiotic Diversity Dough - which is used to make low carb, ketogenic and incredibly gut friendly breads, pizza bases, muffins, apple pie, delicious cakes, cheese and bacon scrolls, cookies and more! You can find these recipes HERE.
PRIMAL ALTERNATIVE
I love every single product in the Primal Alternative range. Helen has done such an amazing job of creating ready to go nutrient dense breads, wraps, pizza bases, granola and cookies made from real foods with absolutely zero additives. I know many people can have issues sourcing these types of foods to be completely free of harmful additives and vegetable oils, I’ve experienced this myself since moving the New Zealand. So when I came across the Primal Alternative food range, I was so happy to be able to wholeheartedly recommend such convenient and amazing real food options to my clients, friends and family.
Turmeric bread (egg, gluten and dairy free) - delicious toasted and topped with your favourite savoury toppings
Gluten free pancakes - I know making pancakes yourself is very easy, but sometimes it’s nice to have it done for you + these ones are so fluffy and delicious
Egg free, nut free wraps
DEETO
Deeto is another small Australian business I love. Renae’s products are high quality and excipient free - I often recommend these to my clients
WonderWild - is a greens powder that can be added into smoothies and ice blocks. I actually love it just mixed into water. It’s the only greens powder I’ve had that actually tastes yummy (like lemon), yum! It’s also an easy (and convenient) way to boost your greens intake + support detoxification
Turmeric Capsules - Roy put his back out recently, so I put him on a high dose of these turmeric capsules which really helped to reduce the inflammation and pain
You can use my discount code ‘LIFEOFPIE10’ for 10% off your order
BOOKS
MILK TO MEALS
I often have clients book in for a consultation with me because they feel overwhelmed and nervous with where to start when it’s time for their baby to eat solids. Milk to Meals is an amazing book created by Luka McCabe & Carley Mendes and I am so incredibly happy that I can recommend such an incredible resource to parents. This book includes information about food allergens, how to navigate picky eating, food safety and how to support your baby nutritionally. It also includes nutrient dense recipes for baby and family.
You can find more information about this incredible book HERE
THE WHOLE FISH COOKBOOK
The Whole Fish Cookbook is written by renowned chef Josh Niland. We know the saying eat ‘nose to tail’, however it’s not really applied to fish and seafood. I love Josh’s sustainable approach, in this book he teaches you how you can eat ‘head to tail’ and reuse every part of the fish. We have learnt so much from this cookbook and have almost zero waste (except for the guts) when we catch or forage for our seafood. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is like us and practices sustainable fishing, diving and/ or foraging for fish and seafood, or if you would like to learn the basics like what to look for when you’re buying fish, how to scale and fillet a fish and how to properly store fish.