Nutritionist Pantry Staples

Hey everyone! This is Judy from Happy Holistics and I’m going to show you what health foods I got from Kensington Market today in Toronto. Many people think that eating healthy is expensive but it’s not necessarily the case.

When you go for packaged foods like their ready-made healthy soups or their boxed vegan-gluten-free-and-therefore-assumed-to-be-healthy-mac-and-cheese or their sandwich spreads, then yes, it will be more expensive. But if you stick to more or less the staples and make things yourself, you’ll save a bundle.

Kensington Market is one of my favourite places. They have a bunch of health food stores there that have some of the best prices in the city, so it makes a great place to stock up on pantry items. Since there are multiple stores within a small community, you can even look for the best prices between each store – sometimes this can mean a difference of $1 or more, simply by walking a few stores away.

First up, I purchased tempeh. I used to get it cheaper elsewhere, but they raised the price to $3.50 and it would require bus fair of $6 to get there and back. So, instead of making the separate, more expensive trip, I got it here for $3.79 each.

I’ve been loving Chocosol coffee for the past couple of months and I’ve only seen it in one store in Kensington called 4 Life Natural Foods. While it is pricier than some grocery store brands, it is less expensive than a lb of brand name whole bean coffee and way less expensive than buying a cup a day at a coffee shop.

I purchased lima beans which were actually cheaper pre-packaged than in bulk. The bulk was $3.99/lb, but here I bought a 780 g bag for $4.79. So if we do the math, I paid 80 cents more for the difference of 326 g. When you cook the beans, they expand like crazy, so it’s super cost effective – we’re talking about doubling or tripling it’s dry amount.

I brought my own container to Essence of Life, took the tare weight and filled my mason jar with spelt flakes instead of using their plastic bags. I thought it was worth mentioning because it’s awesome for the environment that they allow this. While this is technically processed food and not as healthy as the actual spelt grains, the flakes bake better into a granola than kernels – so I often have both in my pantry.

Next up, I’m almost out of my home-made laundry detergent, so I wanted to restock on washing soda. It’s about $1 more expensive on Amazon, and it’s something that I’d use anyways, so yay for savings! I just went ahead and bought it at Kensington.

In terms of perishables items, I got these Brussels sprouts for a little over a dollar and all these potatoes for $1. I have produce at home that I haven’t touched yet, so I didn’t go too crazy in this department.

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Music: “Faith” by Vibe Tracks

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