Here are my 10 favorite new food finds to add to your clean eating grocery list.
When I started eating clean almost two decades ago, there were not very many truly clean packaged foods on the market. Now, we have lots of options to cut down prep time and help us enjoy the cooking process.
Our Clean Eating Grocery List has Changed a LOT
If you wanted almond milk, you pretty much had to make it yourself. Bone broth was not yet a “thing” and the idea of pasta made from beans would have sounded a bit odd. I don’t even think I knew what Sriricha sauce was back then. Also, I certainly wouldn’t have thought someone would create a Sriracha with probiotics.
And who would have thought I would find a root vegetable flour that makes grain-free tortillas that taste better than wheat ones. But gosh, times have changed! And that’s a great thing if you are into eating clean but don’t have all day to spend in the kitchen.
Don’t Feel Bad About Using Healthy Packaged Foods
As much as I love to cook, I just don’t have the time to keep up with everything else in life and also make every single food item from scratch. I don’t feel bad about serving my family packaged foods as long as they truly are clean. Of course they have to taste good too! Our clean eating grocery list items below are going to help cut down a lot of time while still feeding your family healthy foods.
Choosing Healthy Items for our Clean Eating Grocery List
The 10 products featured below are the new ones I discovered recently that I seem to use most frequently. I still rely on Rao’s brand marinara for a quick and easy dinner, Food for Life brand sprouted corn tortillas for cheese free quesadillas, Dr. Cow brand nut cheese, etc. But, adding the following 10 items to my clean eating grocery list has definitely made my life easier. This is not a sponsored post either, so all of these foods are ones I selected because I truly do love them.
Where to Buy the Specialty Foods on the Clean Eating Grocery List
You probably cannot pick these specialty foods up at Krogers or Publix. If you are lucky enough to live close to a Whole Foods Market or a well-stocked natural foods store, then you can find these product there. But I also do a good deal of online grocery shopping at places like Vitacost and Thrive Market. And of course Amazon is also one of my favorite shopping destinations for just about everything.
I hope you and your family like these foods as much our family does…
Let’s get shopping!
10 New Products to Add to Your Clean Eating Grocery List
These 10 products are some of my favorite new ingredients to use. If you have other ideas for a clean eating grocery list, leave a comment below so we can check them out!
#1. Banza Spaghetti (Chickpea Pasta!)
Oh my gosh! This stuff is just amazing. It’s gluten free and loaded with fiber and super clean plant protein. From spaghetti to shells, rigatoni, elbows (and more!), Banza offers a variety of pasta shapes.
- Learn more about Banza here and read the company’s FAQ here.
- Check out this variety Banza chickpea pasta pack on Amazon.
- Banza pasta can be substituted for any conventional pasta in your recipes. But this Chickpea Pasta Recipe is one of my new easy weeknight dinner staples (with the exception of the Banza pasta, you probably have everything in your pantry to make it right this minute!)
#2.Better Bean Cuban Black Beans
Time to think outside of the (bean) can.
The Cuban Black Beans are my favorite, but the Better Bean brand also makes eight different types of prepared beans. Roasted Chipotle Red Beans and Three Sisters Chili are two of my other favorites! If you have our Clean Cuisine book, then you know eating beans every single day is part of our clean eating diet guidelines. And sure you could just open a can of beans and eat them straight-up, but the Better Bean brand makes it so much more flavorful. And SO easy!
- Two of my favorite things to do with the Better Beans are 1) use them as a topping on my baked potato (with LOTS of my dairy free sour cream recipe too!) and 2) make a cheese-free quesadilla on Food for Life brand sprouted corn tortillas (or the new almond tortillas I discuss below) with avocado instead of cheese. SO GOOD.
- One thing I love about the Better Bean brand is that they don’t use pro-inflammatory and highly refined omega-6 rich vegetable oil like so many other “natural foods” companies do. The ingredients are pure and simple. For example, the Cuban Black Beans contain: Black Beans, Water, Onion, Organic Green Pepper, Cider Vinegar, Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Lime Juice, Garlic, Coriander, Oregano, Bay Leaf.
- Learn more about the Better Bean brand HERE!
#3. Bonafide Provisions Organic Bone Broth (Chicken)
I know bone broth is all the rage. I acknowledge all of the reasons why one should eat bone broth. Every day. I know it is easy peasy to make it yourself (Mommypotamus can show you how!) But I truly just can’t stand making it myself. I’ve done it a few times and every time I think about doing it again a sense of dread comes over me. I also don’t like the idea of powdered bone broth or bone broth that is sold un-refrigerated.
Bonafide Provisions Organic Bone Broth solves all of my reasons to not drink bone broth. I started adding it to my clean eating grocery list a few months ago and it sure has made life easier.
Bonafide Provisions was founded in 2011 when Sharon Brown, a clinical nutritionist and certified GAPS practitioner, noticed a reluctance from her patients to make their own bone broth. Having walked over 500 clients through the GAPS program, she knew the benefits of this amazing elixir. Her passion for healing and nutrition coupled with a desire to see a shift towards a more nutrient-dense diet is what set the ground Bonafide Provisons.They believe in maintaining the time honored tradition of the slow cooked, handcrafted, small batch, broth to ensure every batch is the highest quality.
- You can read more about why bone broth is so good for you along with what makes Bonafide Provisions an incredibly clean and healthy choice on the company FAQ page HERE.
- It’s important to note that Bonafide Provisions is NOT shelf stable. That’s a good thing! The company adheres to the time honored tradition of freezing the broth after it is prepared to maintain the integrity of the product. Look for Bonafide Provisions in the frozen section of your supermarket.
- As for how I drink it….I heat it up every morning just before breakfast and add some Pink Himalayan Salt (Bonafide Provisions bone broths are not salted) along with some turmeric and a bit of lemon. It’s actually DELICIOUS!
- I prefer the chicken bone broth, but Bonafide Provisions also make beef, turkey and blended broths. All are organic. They also make a drinkable vegetable bone broth that is great for on the go. (I’ll have to do a separate blog post about that one day….)
#4. Engine 2 Garbanzo Spinach Whole Wheat Ravioli
YAY! I finally found a clean ravioli brand. This is the ONLY ravioli I have ever found that meets my clean eating criteria.
Actually all of the Engine 2 Food Line meets my clean eating criteria. The food line is a spin-off of the New York Times Bestseller, The Engine 2 Diet book.The Engine 2 program is much more strict than what we follow (it is entirely vegan and also does not allow for any oil.) So, while you can definitely eat “Engine 2 Food” while following Clean Cuisine, you can’t necessarily eat Clean Cuisine if you are following the Engine 2 Diet.
But back to the ravioli.
This is a 100% whole grain ravioli that is dairy free, oil free, loaded with fiber and also includes a vegetable. It’s hard to make a healthier ravioli!
And it tastes delicious. My favorite way to serve it is tossed in some lemon juice and olive oil with walnut “crumbs” on top. SO GOOD.
#5. Hu Dark Chocolate
If I were to create my own line of “Clean Cuisine” chocolate bars, Hu Chocolate would be it! If you are a chocolate fanatic, then Oh. My. Gosh. You won’t believe how amazing this paleo/ vegan chocolate is! It’s dairy free with no refined sugar.
It has no emulsifiers, no GMOs and no sugar alcohols. “Crunchy Banana” happens to be my favorite but they have lots of other flavors. Crunchy Mint is also pretty out of this world.
- I buy my Hu Chocolate at Whole Foods. But you can buy a variety pack on Amazon.
#6. Otto’s Cassava Flour
I’ve been talking about this gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free root vegetable flour for months now. It bakes like a dream and unlike many gluten free flours, it has absolutely zero funky “aftertaste.” It’s also made from “whole” yuca root and the fiber is not removed (a good thing!)
I always like to broaden my food horizons and include as much variety as possible in my diet. Cassava flour is a great ingredient to use as an alternative to conventional whole grain flours such as whole wheat or spelt flour. It’s also a great source of vitamin C (1/4 cup has almost 20% of your Daily Value), folate, magnesium, potassium and many additional nutrients. So whether you are gluten free / grain free or not, you may want to consider adding cassava flour to your clean food pantry staples.
Here are a few of my latest recipes using cassava flour:
You can pick up Otto’s Cassava Flour here or here.
#7. Siete Foods Almond Flour Tortillas
Wow. If you are gluten-free or grain-free these will just blow you away. They are incredibly soft and have the perfect texture and flavor.
Made from almonds and cassava flour (the same flour I discuss in item #6 above), they are also very nutritious. You can learn more about Siete brand Almond Flour Tortillas on the company’s FAQ page HERE.
- One of my new favorite go-to lunches these days is Better Bean brand Cuban Black Beans (discussed above in item #2 above) spread between 2 Siete brand Almond Flour Tortillas with some avocado and kimchi. I then spread a thin layer of extra virgin coconut oil on a skillet and heat my no-cheese quesadilla for about 2 minutes per side. I add some greens and lunch is done!
We love that THRIVE market now carries so many items from Siete. Go check them out.
#8. New Barn Unsweetened Almond Milk
As far as I know, New Barn is the only “whole” almond milk on the market. It’s also the only almond milk I have ever bought. I talk more about the benefits of “whole” almond milk in great detail in this blog post. In a nutshell, the health benefits of almond milk are practically non-existent if you are not getting “whole” almond milk.
Making Homemade Almond Milk
If you Google “How to Make Homemade Almond Milk” you’ll see a number of different recipes pop up. The problem is almost every single homemade almond milk recipe requires a lengthy process of soaking the almonds overnight (or for up to 2 days), then using a high speed blender to process the almonds with water and finally straining the almond meal with a cheesecloth.
The straining is the part I have a problem with. Straining the almond meal removes all of the nutrients! It is true that homemade strained almond milk does not have synthetic nutrients added and often contains less sugar than commercial versions, but that doesn’t make it a super nutritious milk alternative. It also doesn’t make it a rich and creamy alternative either. In other words, strained homemade almond milk is still going to have the consistency of skim milk. Not good.
Like the founders of so many of the new clean eating grocery list items I have included here, the founders of New Barn wanted a clean, organic almond milk that tasted like homemade and only used simple, quality ingredients. When they couldn’t find one, they decided to create our own.
And like I said, New Barn is the ONLY store-bought brand of almond milk I will buy. It is rich, creamy and has the consistency of whole milk. It’s perfect for smoothies, baking or just drinking straight up.
#9. Wildbrine Probiotic Sriracha
Everyone in the food world has been talking about Sriracha for some time now. I was a bit late to the party (my first recipe using the ingredient was a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Sriracha Sauce) I didn’t know about Wildbrine brand when I did that recipe though!
You Must Try Sriracha
If you have not yet gotten into Sriracha, it’s a Thai hot sauce named after the city in which it was first made over 80 years ago, Si Racha, an eastern city on the coast of Thailand. Sriracha was virtually unknown to those in America until 1980 when Vietnamese immigrant David Tran founded Huy Fong Foods and began marketing his own version of the sauce famously packaged in a clear, green-capped squirt bottle with a rooster logo printed on its front. Though the Huy Fong brand is most widely known and associated with the sauce, I would not exactly classify it as a clean eating grocery list item. The ingredients in Huy Fong include: “Chili, sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite and xanthan gum.” Certainly Huy Fong is NOT a probiotic rich condiment either!
But Wildbrine is both clean and a great probiotic too.
Wildbrine srircha sauce is made from the solids of their Probiotic Live Shots, and then they add new ingredients like fresno peppers, garlic, and tomatillos and re-ferment the batch, puree it all, and then add it to squirt bottles. That’s it! No added sugars, no processed ingredients—just double fermented veggies with 35 to 60 billion CFU’s per bottle, complex flavors, and all-natural probiotic goodness.
As for how to eat it? I eat it on everything, including: eggs, baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, hummus sandwiches, mixed in with soba noodles, mixed in with deviled eggs, on top of tofu, etc. The possibilities are endless!
#10. Kite Hill Ricotta (Made from Almond Milk)
I only just discovered this one, but oh my gosh, it tastes just like the real deal.
If you have our Clean Cuisine book you know we are not big fans of cow’s milk. Although I still eat a wee bit of real cheese (not because I think it is healthy, only because I LOVE cheese!), I look for unrefined plant-based cheese alternatives as much as possible.
They are not always easy to find though. In fact, before I discovered Kite Hill brand, the only brand I knew about was Dr. Cow nut cheese. But Dr. Cow didn’t have a ricotta, so as of today, Kite Hill is the only brand of dairy free ricotta that I can recommend. Other dairy free ricotta’s exist, but they 1) don’t taste food or 2) are not made with clean ingredients.
Kite Hill’s artisanal almond milk “cheeses” celebrates traditional time honored techniques. Ingredients include: Almond milk (water, almonds), salt, enzymes, tartaric acid, cultures.
And the taste is incredible! Kite Hill ricotta has sweet, and cultured overtones, and a buttery, smooth finish. It is moist and incredibly versatile. Its silky texture makes for a great mascarpone substitute and it is perfect for desserts. You can use Kite Hill ricotta in any recipe that calls for dairy-based ricotta (including pasta fillings and cheesecakes!)
Happy Shopping!
And remember, if you can’t find the items on this clean eating grocery list at your local health foods store, you can always try an online supermarket.
Victoria Weidel
Tuesday 30th of January 2018
Ivy, I just found you tonight while googling whether I should return Trader Joe’s Organic Flaxseed Meal and purchase what I’m running out of: Whole Food’s 365 Organic Flaxseed Finely Ground because of its Ingredients: Cold-Milled Organic Flaxseed rather than Trader Joe’s: Organic Ground Flaxseeds. You answered it precisely which was making sure it read Cold-Milled. Thanks! Fiber, Omega-3 & Tryptophan (for sleep) is very important to me. Now, I add that Lignans are very important due to what you wrote. I don’t write comments but you getting MS at 22 and being symptom free for 15 years prompted me. Congrats on this type of eating you devised! It looks wonderful! I was very upset & scared tonight due to my foot having buzzing/vibrations or maybe tingling (the closest to my description) as soon as I get in bed to sleep. Google came up with it being the nerves & all the bad things that could cause it. The worst for me to see was MS. As a young child my grandmother had me feed my mother’s sister (born 1924) who was paralyzed everywhere including speaking except all that had to do with eating foods. She got MS at 22 and died in her 40s. My grandmother took care of her by herself. I need not say more. I’m from near Princeton, NJ where all my family lives. I moved to Abacoa in Jupiter, FL 14 years ago. So, I see you live only a few miles away which means you and I go to the same Whole Foods. I’m so happy for you, your husband and son because you’ve won! Vicki
Ivy Larson
Thursday 1st of February 2018
Oh what a small world Vicotria!! We lived in Abacoa about 12 years ago when we first moved back from New Jersey (we lived on 332 Sweet Bay Circle in New Haven) Anyway, I am so glad you found me online! I'm not sure if I am reading your comment properly, but are you saying you are concerned YOU might have MS? It can absolutely be a devastating disease, as it sadly was for your aunt, but there are SO many things you can do today that can make a major difference. My former neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter has been a tremendous help to me (he no longer sees patients but he runs a very informative website at DrPerlmutter.com ) But even if you do not have MS, starting an anti-inflammatory diet, like the one I follow, will still helpful for your overall health. I sure do hope you are ok though? Please keep in touch and let me know. Maybe I will run into you at Trader Joe's down the street one of these days ;)