Cooking Essentials Shopping List Link and Suggestions for Paleo friendly meats

I took some time to add a link to the sidebar for some essential things to get you started in "paleo-izing" your kitchen.  These items are some of the ingredients I use on a regular basis that aren't always readily available in the grocery store, or if they are, they tend to be more expensive than if you purchase online.  Take a minute and look them over.  Something my husband did recently was sign us up for Amazon.com's Prime Eligible shipping status, which allows you to have all your items shipped free when you sign up ($70/yr) and you get them 2nd day express delivery!  The $70 is so worth it when you look at just the shipping cost of the first few items you buy.  If I'm running low on an item, rather than pack the kids into the car and head to grocery store, I just hop online and buy my items (make sure they say Prime Eligible, otherwise you pay for shipping) and get them either the next afternoon, or the following day.  This saves me so much time and effort because, honestly, when I take my kids to the grocery store with me, I leave vowing to never take them with me EVER again.   The items I added to the Amazon store are in different sizes and quantities, so there are plenty of options for those of you just starting out without having to buy a ton of each item.

For meats, always remember these keywords on labels:  GRASSFED, ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE, PASTURED, ALL NATURAL, NO PRESERVATIVES, NO ADDITIVES.  Now I realize some of these are pretty hard to do all of the time, but if you dig a little bit, you can find local farmers and markets that carry these kinds of items without having to spend a fortune.  One of the best resources out there for this is www.eatwild.com. 

For fruits, veggies, and herbs, feel free to go to the local organic farms in your area, or joining a CSA is also an option.  Heading to a farm is a great outing to take the kids with you.  Most love heading out and helping with the picking and plucking of various fruits and veggies.  If you have the time, energy and a green thumb, you could always grow some of your own.  I love growing my own, since I know exactly what is in the soil and I can grow them organically.  It doesn't get an fresher than picking it out of your back yard one minute and eating it the next.  Herbs can be particularly expensive to purchase fresh every time you need something specific, so growing them in pots and keeping indoors is also a great option during the cold weather months.  

Now that I've covered some of the basics, we'll get to the good stuff next time...the recipes!