What Food Resources Do We Use?

Since we generally move our home every two to three weeks, we are constantly looking for the best food resources around. Obviously the definition of “best food resource” can vary dramatically from one consumer to the next. Our version of the best can generally be described by some or all of following: Locally Sourced, Pasture Raised, Regenerative Practices, Sustainable Practices, Organic, Grass Fed, Farm Fresh, Nutrient Dense.

Are we always able to find, and/or afford options of this quality? No, but it is always worth looking.

Online Resources

Here are some online resources we use to try and find the best options we can get wherever we are at:

Eat Wild’s Directory of U.S., Canadian, and International Farms & Ranches – This is an incredible tool for finding local farms, predominately for meat but also some eggs and dairy.

Real Milk’s Raw Milk Finder – This is an incredible tool for finding local raw milk.

Sometimes all of the options that show up on those searches are too far away from our campground, or too far out of our budget. When that is the case, we often search on google and apple maps for things like “raw milk,” “organic grocery,” and “farm stand.”

Retail Chains

Natural Grocers

Locations in: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington & Wyoming.

We love Natural Grocers because they are committed to health and sustainability and have high standards for everything sold in their stores. They offer high quality foods at affordable prices. The have an extensive list of ingredients that will never be sold in their store so you can have peace of mind without reading every label.

When we shop at Natural Grocers we typically get produce, dairy and bulk bin items. We also love that most locations have water refill stations so we can refill gallon jugs if we are boondocking, or the campsite water tastes funny even after our filtration system. They also cary a wide area of homeopathic remedies, supplements and environmentally friendly household goods.

Mom’s Organic Market

Locations in: Maryland, Virginia, DC, Pennsylvania, New York & New Jersey. We have found them to be well priced with great options and a list of over 250 banned ingredients so you can spend less time comparing labels. They also accept recycling, including unique items like phones, shoes and glasses.

We love that Mom’s Organic Market offers an easy, nutritionally dense shopping experience and that they are determined to make a positive impact through health and sustainability.

When we shop at Mom’s Organic Market we typically get produce, dairy and packaged goods. We have found chicken liver at some locations. They also have a great selection of homeopathic remedies, supplements and environmentally friendly household goods.

When we are too far away from a Natural Grocers or Mom’s Organic we will look for local grocery options, Whole Foods, or Walmart.

Wholesale Chains

If you know us, or have been following our journey for a while, it should come as no surprise to you that we are always excited to check out the nearest Costco!

Costco Wholesale

While we do have to be conscious of space, we still manage to do a lot of our grocery purchases at Costco. We really appreciate how many organic options Costco generally caries (it varies from one location to the next but is fairly consistent). Some items are almost too affordable, in that it makes us squirm at regular retail prices.

While we prefer to support local farmers when we can, we also try to keep a fairly tight budget so the savings that Costco provides is extremely helpful. We appreciate that Costco cares about the environment and the well being of their suppliers.

Some of our staple Costco purchases (when available):

• Organic Eggs – We especially love when they are Pasture Raised, but occasionally they are just cage free. We easily eat 10 dozen eggs a month so $8 or less for 2 dozen compared to $6-8 per dozen makes a significant difference in our budget.
• Organic Baby Spinach – We love to puree the spinach with half an onion, garlic, whey and some seasonings (usually a combination of salt, pepper and Italian). The one pound plastic bin condenses down to one quart size jar. Adding whey keeps the spinach fresh until we use it all, and having it pureed makes it ridiculously easy to throw into whatever we want. The boys love when we make green “monster eggs” by adding a spoon full of the spinach blend into their scrambled eggs.
• Garlic – We eat a ton of garlic, occasionally they sell it pre-peeled which is huge time saver! Yes, the bag is huge and can be overwhelming for a family of four to get through before it goes bad. We solve this problem with Whey and the Vitamix (any food processor or blender should do). Similar to the spinach, we puree the garlic with whey and keep it in a one quart mason jar in the fridge. Adding a spoonful to nearly everything we cook is so much easier than peeling and chopping a few cloves per meal.
• Organic Chicken – We much prefer to buy whole chickens directly from local farms, but more often than not we chose the cost saving option from Costco. We eat at least one whole chicken a week and it is a lot more affordable at $2.99/lb than it is at over $5/lb.
• Organic Fruit – We typically stick with the bananas because they are the least expensive, but we will occasionally get apples, oranges or other fruits depending on our circumstance.
• Yellow Onions – We eat a lot of onions, generally at least one every day. I consistently add onion to every savory dish whether a recipe calls for it or not.
• Organic Frozen Vegetables – We typically get broccoli and either corn or mixed veggies. Our freezer space is pretty limited so we try not to over do it.
• Organic Frozen Blueberries – Easy and delicious. The boys absolutely love them so we typically add them to pancakes or serve plain for a snack.
• Organic Fresh Vegetables – We typically keep carrots and celery stalked and rotate between the Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts, Zucchini and Baby Bella Mushrooms based on meals for the week and fridge space.
• Organic Whole Bean Coffee – Less than $8/lb is really hard to beat! We are not very picky about which roast we get but typically get whatever the least expensive medium roast option is. Some locations have a surprising number of organic whole bean options to choose from!
• Organic Quinoa, Rice, Beans, Chickpeas, Lentils – Affordable pantry staples. Dried grains/legumes take up significantly less space than canned and are less expensive.
• Cheese – We used to always get the shredded cheese but have recently started getting the blocks of cheese instead. While it is a little extra effort to shred the block, I love having the flexibility to have slices to snack on and add to sandwiches. I also appreciate that there are fewer ingredients/preservatives in a block of cheese than there are in a bag of pre-shredded.
• Ground Beef – Fresh organic ground beef or frozen grass-fed beef. We have not seen the frozen grass-fed option at many locations but are starting to look for it more consistently.
• Organic Sprouted Oats, Chia Seeds, Hemp Hearts, Dates, Cashews, other organic seeds/nuts – We use various combinations of these ingredients for overnight oats, blender muffins/pancakes, nut butter blends and granola bars. Basically make-ahead-friendly breakfast and snacks.
• Wild Caught Canned Salmon and Sardines – These are pantry staples that make for really easy lunch or snack when we don’t have leftovers or something else planned.
• Dog Food – Some Costco locations even carry Organic dog food! We don’t typically splurge to feed Autumn organic, but when the option is there and reasonably priced we definitely consider it.
• Toilet Paper – Okay, so when we started out in the RV we thought there was no way we could keep buying Toilet Paper from Costco. Where on earth could we store it all?? So we started buying it from Walmart or elsewhere. I never really realized HOW MANY OPTIONS THERE ARE! Frankly, it was overwhelming and caused so much unnecessary stress. Finally we saw a fellow RV family’s storage hack – behind the fireplace. We immediately returned to the simple, stress free choice of affordable and reliable Kirkland Toilet Paper.

How do you source your food when travel?