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Bad. Better. Best.
It’s “What to Buy” in three columns.
I have been asked more than once to collect all the “avoid this” terms in one place, as well as to make a list of “good foods, bad foods, and compromise foods.” This three-column list is my attempt to meet these needs.
You’ll find a list of things to avoid, the ideal choice in a given situation, and the compromise option that you might just have to take if budget, time, or availability prevents the ideal.
The categories include:
- Produce
- Dairy
- Meat and Poultry
- Fish and Seafood
- Grains
- Fats
- Storage Containers and Cookware
- Personal Products
- Cleaning Products
- Sweeteners
Yep, it’s pretty much “Kitchen Stewardship: the Condensed Version.”
You can view it below or find a printable download HERE.
The List: What to Eat, What to Avoid, How to Compromise
Albeit quite lengthy, the document is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it’s amendable. Please help me fill it out by commenting with your ideas. I’ll continue to edit the document as necessary, but this is THE UPDATED VERSION already as of 6/14/10. It will also be easily accessible under “What to Buy” in the top menu bar soon.
(If you want to know “What to Buy” with “Not so Much Money,” Stephanie Langford will break it down for you in Real Food on a Real Budget, an eBook, or check out Kimi Harris’s A Peasant’s Feast, a frugal eCourse.)
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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
There are affiliate link in this document. See my full disclosure statement here. Photo from Peter Fasano.
I’m entered in Pennywise Platter Thursday and the NEW Wholesome Foods Carnival at Health Food Lover.
Hungry for more? Related posts:
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Thank you so much for doing this! It’s incredibly helpful. I’m going to be pointing people to this list today.
Comments -
For the yogurt, I would put an encouraging line about making homemade yogurt from RBH-free milk and a link to the crockpot version for this. I’ve been making the crockpot version for over a year and no matter what I do, the yogurt never fails for me.
It’s also possible to make homemade buttermilk.
Tuna? Sourdough bread? Chicken fat, bacon fat?
Barb@My Daily Round´s last blog ..adding up the dollars and cents spent at Catholic school
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Barb,
Thank you! Excellent additions – Katie
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WONDERful!
We are doing a lot of these types of things in NC and have a group of ladies struggling to live well together to raise our families as best as possible! I am going to share this and I think it will be a winner in sparking our conversations.
I appreciate your desire to do things well as well as live by grace.
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AWESOME! Thanks again for all the time you put into your blog. This is great info. I can hardly wait till next week to print it off, and will be sure to recommend it on my blog.
Trina´s last blog ..Getting it Done with Little Ones, Part #1
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Trina Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:06 am
Would you consider Brown Rice Pasta as a better option?
Trina´s last blog ..Getting it Done with Little Ones, Part #1
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Trina,
I’ve never tried it myself. What is it about brown rice that is better than whole wheat? Thanks! Katie
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wow, this is so helpful, thanks for putting it together.
Jennifer´s last blog ..Garden update
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Natural Health Ezine // Jun 3, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Natural Health Roundup | June…
It’s been a while since we have done a roundup here at NHE. So we did some digging and found a few interesting finds from around the natural health world on the web… Enjoy! How to recycle flip-flops Finding natural corn The story of bottled…
Holy cow! This list is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Robin´s last blog ..Five Simple Ways to Live a Healthier Life
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I totally agree brown rice pasta is the best option for pasta.
I’d suggest moving canola oil to the “no way” list and putting safflower in the “okay” liquid oil category.
This is fantastic!! Thanks!!
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Jamie,
I forgot safflower; thank you! Katie
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Wow. This list is genius!
Where would you rank tuna?
I’d like to recommend it on my blog – It’s only been up for a month though, so that might not be the best compliment! But really, this list is great. *Thank you*
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Steph,
Katie
All blogs were at “one month” at some point, so I’m honored to be mentioned no matter what. Thank YOU!
PS – I’ll add tuna later today to the list; good point.
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Wow! Thanks, Katie!
What would you buy? Local, non-organic or organic, non-local. I can get organic veggies at the store from Mexico or I can go down the street and pick my own at a farm, but they are not organic. They keep pesticides to a minimum, but they do use them. Anyway, it’s been a question I’ve been pondering and I’m curious how others would answer!
Camille´s last blog ..Fun Websites
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Camille,
Excellent question. I”ll update the list later tonight, but I and most others in the Real Food Face-Off agreed that it’s better to buy local and known than far, far away and “organic”. Thank you!
Katie
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Also, Oscar Mayer has a new line of “Premium” dogs with no nitrites or nitrates. I picked up some smoked turkey dogs and understood ALL the ingredients! Haven’t tried them yet so I can’t talk to the taste.
Camille´s last blog ..Fun Websites
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Oh my – this is just awesome!!! I read alot of Real Food/Homemaking type blogs and yours never fails to disappoint – it’s my favorite! It always lines up with exactly where I’m at right now! I’m printing this now anyway and I’ll print it again when you make changes. Thank you!!!!!
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Katie Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
What? Print twice and waste paper?!?
Just kidding. I wish I could pick on people with a wink as well in text as in real life. I’m honored you feel that way, Ronda!
Katie
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Ronda Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
ha ha
As SOON as I posted my comment I had a feeling you would say that (about printing twice and wasting paper) and you are totally RIGHT (even though I know you are just picking on me!) Will it help if I say that my kids use the backs of any papers I no longer need to create works of art? 
(it’s true! We have a recycle/art bin)
Keep up the awesome work Katie!
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Thank you for this list! It definitely sums things up pretty thoroughly! I appreciate the time and effort you put into it. I love your blog!
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Great list! Under the OK “Dairy” category I would definitely mention that any non-organic diary item should at least be Rbgh/Rbst free. Also, my understanding is that cattle growth hormone use has never been approved in Europe, so imported European cheeses might be a good option to include in the OK or even Hey Hey category.
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tonya Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
rbst/rbgh is chemically IDENTICAL to it’s natural counterpart which is secreted by cattle in all their milk. it is produced in a similar fashion (recombinant technology) to insulin. Both the synthetic & recombinant (that’s what the r stands for) hormones are petide hormones, which means your stomach treats them as any other protein & digests them.
to those who shy away from rbst/rbgh…I pose the question…what would you tell an insulin dependent diabetic? Is it even possible to obtain natural (pig) insulin these days or is it all synthetic/recombinant?
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Pamela P. Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
That’s an interesting perspective! I’ve never had a reason to research insulin, so I have no idea if there is a natural alternative or if there are side effects or drawbacks to synthetic insulin use. My view is that diabetics have to take insulin for their health, but the rest of the population has no compelling reason to expose ourselves to a synthetic substance such as rBGH. There is a good synopsis of the book about the dangers of rBGH by Samuel Epstein here http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3717.cfm
A good excerpt from the review: “*rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut. *Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers. IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers. ” From this I would conclude that even if the synthetic hormone is, in fact, identical to the natural, giving cows extra hormone changes their bodies in ways that effects their milk and may make it not good for us. Also, dairy cows injected with rBGH have about a 5 year lifespan compared with an average lifespan of 20-25 years otherwise. This fact alone tells me that rBGH is detrimental to their bodies and that milk from them could logically be detrimental to humans! I am personally not comfortable having my family be part of this experiment.
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Tonya Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 1:12 am
http://blogs.das.psu.edu/tetherton/2008/07/21/no-difference-in-conventional-rbst-free-and-organic-milk/
Hormone Levels: There were no differences in concentration of bST in milk regardless of label type. Concentrations of IGF-1(insulin-like growth factor-1) in milk were similar in conventional and rbST-free-milk, both were slightly higher in comparison to organic milk. Concentration of the steroid hormone progesterone was greater in organic milk compared to conventionally labeled milk or milk labeled rbST-free. Conventionally labeled milk had less estradiol compared to organic and rbST-free milk with concentrations of estradiol in samples labeled organic and rbST-free being the same.
as i recall, Dr Epstein has weak to little science backing his claims. I’m pretty sure he’s also a proponent of the “milk is pus” argument.
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Pamela P. Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Interesting study- wonder if it was funded by the commercial dairy industry! There has been a demonstrated connection between funding source and the outcome of scientific studies. You might recall the “BPA is perfectly safe” studies a few years ago. Now there is mounting evidence that it isn’t safe, especially for babies and young children, and the recent report by the President’s Cancer Panel recommends avoiding it. However, if you are confident of the science supporting the safety of Rbgh/Rbst, go ahead and drink conventional milk- I personally prefer to be conservative on things like this!
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LOVE it! I’ll definitely be sharing this crib sheet!
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skim milk okay? really? no no no.
organic skim w/ cream added??? what’s the point?
just don’t buy skim ever.
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Katie Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Tonnnnnn-yaaaaaaa! *whiny voice*
It was you who convinced me that skim milk doesn’t have oxidized cholesterol to worry about in the first place! I know fat is best in milk, but if you’re having a meal with plenty of fat, I don’t think skim milk is going to kill you. ???
The point of adding cream to the skim is to avoid homogenization, which may or may not be an issue. It’s what I do most of the time to make yogurt nowadays, and it’s delicious. It’s not too hard to do. I have enough cream from our raw milk that I can “snitch” some and at least have organic fat even if I buy Meijer brand skim milk. That’s why.
I figure people who still have a fat-phobia might like to hear that they could drink skim milk without dying, especially if you have other sources of fat in the same meal to complement the skim milk. It’s a good compromise and still at least real food, albeit incomplete.
Katie
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Tonya Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 1:01 am
ok, i did stick up for it in regards to oxidation…but didn’t i say i wasn’t advocating for skim milk, per se. i see what you’re doing tho…reverse engineering milk.
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Great list! A couple of comments though … For chicken, you mention that no chicken is allowed antibiotics or hormones. True for hormones, but not for antibiotics – they do use them in poultry (remember the controversy about Tyson labeling some chicken as antibiotic free even though they had injected the eggs with antibiotics prior to hatching the chicks?).
Also, in the produce category, you mention the “clean 15″ in one place but say to focus on the “dirty dozen” in a couple of other places. I’m guessing you mean to focus on the “clean 15″?
Thanks for the list – very helpful, esp. for sharing with people who don’t understand the many choices I make for feeding my family on a daily basis!
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tonya Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
any animal product in the food stream has to be antibiotic free. that means the actual product at time of slaughter/consumption. the animal may have been given antibiotics, but a proper withdrawl time is observed prior to slaughter.
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JenZ Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Such parsing of standards is why my family started raising our own meat birds this year. That is the only way that we can be sure of what they are given (although we are fortunate to have some really good producers in our area whose standards I trust).
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tonya Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
there’s no parsing of standards. animal products must all meet the same standards based on type of product (milk, meat, egg). differences lie between the conventional & organic label.
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Katie Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 9:45 am
JenZ,
I’ll double check the wording on the clean 15/dirty dozen. I probably meant to avoid the dirty dozen, actually.
You’re right, my mistake! It’s been a while since I’ve read the little asterisk on a package of store chicken, I guess.
Thanks for the editing!
Katie
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I noticed above that a lot of the Real Food Face-Off agreed to buy local over organic. If you had to choose between local milk where the cows are grassfed in summer and non-gmo grain in winter with minimal sprays on pasture or store bought organic milk that is grassfed summer/grains in winter, which one would you choose? I have struggled with the local non-organic versus organic store bought decision for quite some time.
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Katie Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Teresa,
Likely the storebought organic milk is UHT pasteurized, which would make the decision easy. Local.
If the store stuff is low-temp pasteurized or at least the same temp as the local stuff…I think I’d still go local, unless it was much more expensive. Do they really spray their pasture at all? Maybe do 50/50! I’m sort of kidding…
Katie
Never an easy answer unless you grow your own cow…which of course isn’t easy, either!
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Great list! Why do you have an issue with the slide top ziplock bags but not the regular ones?
Thanks!
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 2:47 am
Beth,
I’ll link that word to this post where there’s info from an email forwarded to me by a reader from the Ziploc company: the zippered bags have BPA in them, and the others don’t. Weird, huh?
Thanks for pointing that out!
Katie
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KATIE! This list is AMAZING! Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are amazing. Thank you for tending to all of us so thoughtfully.
Megan@SortaCrunchy´s last blog ..9 Lessons on Parenting I’m Learning from Running
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Wow! This is great. And so thorough! Thanks so much. I can’t wait to print it out and add it to my binder.
Stacy @ Delighting in the Days´s last blog ..Choosing Joy
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What not to EAT. « It's ALLLIIIIVVVEEEEE // Jun 5, 2010 at 8:26 am
[...] a link to the actual post containing the list if anyone wants to check it out. Leave a Comment Leave a [...]
what a great list! this is really helpful!
Natalie @ cinnamonbums´s last blog ..Green and Black
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I would be more cautious about fish. There have been problems with fish being sold to wholesalers and retailers under names other than their actual species (low-value or unsellable species masquerading as higher value fish).
I would say, if you live near a coast, try to buy your fish from a real fish market. Whereever you live, though, familiarize yourself with the appearance of your favorite fish and ONLY buy fish packaged in such a way that you can visually confirm that the fish is as advertised. Preferably, buy whole fish, but settle for fillets with skin attached and visable. If there’s no visable skin, no way!
Here are two articles on the topic.
http://www.connectsavannah.com/news/article/100953/
http://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/alerts/2003/aug/escolarfhw
Hope that helps. Great chart!
Rachel´s last blog ..FMBF: Golden Books
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Now that I’ve looked at the rest, two comments:
1. In my experience, and from what I’ve read, stevia does not raise blood sugar because the chemical that makes it sweet is not a sugar. You say that all additive sweeteners raise blood sugar, can you please support that statement with regards to stevia?
2. What is your opinion of grape seed oil. It’s less expensive and has less of a flavor than olive oil, as well as having a higher smoke point. I’d also like your opinion on sesame oil.
Thanks.
Rachel´s last blog ..FMBF: Golden Books
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Katie Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 3:15 am
Rachel,
Great point on the stevia; my mistake.
I haven’t done my own research on grapeseed oil (yet), but what I see on other blogs is that it’s high in omega-6s, I believe. Sesame oil doesn’t have a super omega 6/3 profile, but it’s a good sometimes oil…and man, is it tasty in my Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing! So it’s staying in my house, but it’s too expensive to use in large quantities.
Thanks for helping out!
Katie
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I’m glad I came back to read the comments – whew! :>) I haven’t made it all the way through the document itself yet… so much to think about. Linked, though!
Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Inaugural Garden Update (Week 3, Sigh)
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This list is amazing – thank you so much!!
Heather´s last blog ..Friend of Chickens
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