Supermarket GPS: November Brand Favorites
Do not fear the supermarket.
Navigating the aisles for healthy and delicious items that won’t completely destroy your wallet is a true art. And for a lot of you, time is the of essence. You don’t have two hours to spend dilly-dallying in the cracker aisle to decide which brand has the best ingredient list. Being in your twenties is already stressful enough, never mind the fact that your metabolism isn’t what it used to be in your teenage years and the fact that you’re more sedentary than you’ve likely ever been in your life. Hello, 9-5’s. You don’t need to add on the stress of finding healthy products and figuring out how to afford it. I got you, boo.
Buyer’s remorse, be gone.
Ah, the dearly beloved, totally infamous chip. Not anymore, my little turmoilers. Now you can have your chips and eat them too. Plant Snacks is committed to making the tastiest gluten-free + vegan chips on the market. They have an impressive flavor list—think: vegan goat cheese and vegan cheddar. Even better, all of the chips are made with cassava flour—rich in vitamin C, folate, magnesium and fiber. Eat your chips, doctor’s orders. Favorite Flavors: Beet with Vegan Goat Cheese + Super Seed Mix
2. Bari & Betty’s
Where are my fellow celiacs at? Don’t worry, this is a very inclusive community, so if you’re not gluten-free for medical purposes, you probably know someone who is. Considering the holidays are all about food, being the gluten-free dweeb at the party can be an isolating, hungry role to play.
Luckily, we have brands like Bari & Betty’s who dedicate their careers to making gluten-free + vegan PIE CRUST flour blends. Plus, if you live in a 5 mile range of Montclair, NJ, you can place your order online and they’ll deliver your pie. I really can’t imagine receiving a more glorious delivery. Favorite Desserts: Mini Chocolate Bites + Brown Sugar Apple Pie
3. Right Foods
They’ve got the right stuff, baby. Jokes aside, I found them at a health food store when I went vegan and was in complete awe. They make the most easy and delicious products for the lazy folk (like myself). The best part is that it’s real food. Forget the packaged ramen noodles you ate as a kid. These are filled with actual, easily pronounced ingredients. Plus, they offer a lower sodium line.
Let’s face it, our 20’s means we are doing the most at work—the work our superiors don’t want to be bothered with—while also balancing a social life, making our bed, paying our bills…sometimes eating healthy is just too time consuming. When it comes to food, we have no energy to offer. And where does that leave us? Doing the least. That’s why I love the Right Foods soups and oatmeal cups. It’s like they know how lazy we are. Favorite Products: Split Pea Soup + Black Bean Soup + Pad Thai + Brown Sugar Oatmeal
4. Viva Naturals
A lot of items on the shelf claim to be “superfoods,” but it’s important to know where that so-called “superfood” is coming from. You wouldn’t take candy from a jenky-ass van would you? No, of course not. Your mother taught you better than that. So why treat your superfoods differently? Viva Naturals is committed to providing you with ethical, sustainable, and environmentally conscious products—while also tasting bomb AF. Bonus points for this company because they also have beauty products + essential oils + health supplements. Favorite Products: Coconut Sugar + Coconut Flour + Psyllium Husk Powder + Maca Powder
5. GoRaw
Raw food offers the most nutritionally dense bang for your buck. Therefore, when you snack endlessly at your desk—because snack time can be all the time if you just believe—you don’t need to feel guilty about it. You’re literally feeding your body health. GoRaw does raw food best. Pro tip: hide them from your family members if you don’t share well.
They make raw sprouted seeds & bars, protein bars, chocolate, granola, cookie crisps, flax snax and coconut crisps. What I love most about them is that they really battle the stereotype of raw vegan food—that raw vegans eat celery and grass—and make the tastiest, most creative products while keeping it raw and real. Product Favorites: Choco Crunch Cookie Crisps + Choco Crunch Coconut Crisps + Pumpkin Seeds + Zesty Pizza Flax Snax
6. Emmy’s Organics
I am not speaking in hyperbole when I say I do not, under any circumstances, skip dessert. It doesn’t matter how full I am from dinner, I can always find a little corner in my stomach to fit some dessert in there too. And if I don’t have dessert one night, then you better call my doctor because I probably have the flu.
Emmy’s knows what the heck is up. They let me have my cookies and eat them too and I never need to feel bad about it. The base of the cookies is organic coconut, almond flour and sweetened with maple syrup. Depending upon the flavor, the other ingredients will vary, but rest-assured all ingredients are pure, simple and healthy. If you love macarons then you must get your hands on these.
Crumble them on smoothies, sandwich some PB in the middle, top it on your oatmeal bowls, pulse them into a pie crust—these babies wear many hats. Favorite Flavors: Pumpkin Spice + Peanut Butter + Chocolate Mint + Chocolate Chip
