My basic grocery list

This is my basic grocery list (of course, I don't pick up all of this every time). I don't eat meat, but have been eating fish and seafood since 2000. Also, I'm fairly lactose intolerant, although yogurt and goat’s and sheep’s cheeses seem to be fine.

I love co-ops, farmers’ markets, gourmet markets, and delis.

I visit the Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium National Seafood Guide for guidance on what are the best kinds of fish and seafood to eat in terms of mercury levels and the environmental sustainability of the fishing methods.

- deep orange/tropical fruits like mangoes, papayas, pineapples, kiwi, and apricots
- bananas
- citrus fruit and pulpy juice
- veggies like carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, pumpkin, yams, peas, beans, bitter gourd, and avocado
- red and orange bell peppers
- hot chilli peppers
- berries and deep red/purple fruits like strawberries, blueberries, goji berries, acai, pomegranate, plums, prunes, grapes, and raisins
- red leafy veggies like beets, red cabbage, and chard
- green leafy veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, spinach, collards, and mustard greens
- sprouts - I like spicy ones
- aromatics like garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, chives, shallots, and ginger
- plain yogurt made from whole organic milk
- a green juice with spirulina and wheat or barley grass, etc., or seaweed
- sometimes, fish (especially small oily fish like sardines and herring, or wild alaskan salmon; sometimes tilapia, pacific cod, catfish, alaskan pollock, or pacific halibut – depends what we're making!)
- sometimes, shrimp or other seafood (I love oysters)
- kefir (sometimes)
- super dark chocolate (>60%) and raw cacao
- when we're running low:
- dried fruits, nuts & seeds, like walnuts, flaxseed, raw almonds, peanuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
- pickled vegetables, like pickled okra, kimchi, pickled peppadews, indian pickles, etc.
- dried beans & lentils, like chickpeas, green/yellow mung, blackeyed peas, tuvar, chana, and black dals (I'm not always sure what the English words are for different Indian dals)

At home we have olive, sesame, and peanut oils for cooking and making salad dressings, and honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and brown sugar to use as sweeteners. I have tried stevia, but I think it tastes terrible. I also love pistachio, walnut and flaxseed oil, but I don’t have enough space for so many different kinds of oils, unfortunately.

I use a lot of Indian and Asian spices and flavorings: cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin seed, coriander seed, garam masala, red chilli powder, tamarind, bay leaves, mustard seeds, curry leaves, lemongrass, lime leaves, rice wine vinegar, mirin, nama shoyu, nam pla, etc., etc. (I can't list them all!)

Indian spices are amazing – turmeric has healing properties, cinnamon regulates metabolism, chillies have a ton of vitamin C, and so on.

I love tea and have lots of black, green, and white teas.

For breads and crackers, it’s whole grain. We also keep unsweetened granola/muesli, brown basmati rice, quinoa, couscous, buckwheat soba, whole grain pasta, and bulgur, and I have whole wheat flour, almond flour, amaranth and ground flax for the rare occasions when I bake something. (Really, almost never. I’m terrible at baking, but trying to learn.) I promise if you switch to whole grains you will never go back! Because they have much more protein, they've got a more interesting, nuttier flavor profile than their poor, stripped-of-their-nutrients, processed grain relations.

Treats: We love wine, and chocolate so dark light doesn't escape its surface : ). And we love Organic Nectars Non-Dairy Raw Organic Vegan Gelato, pistachio flavor. Not just because we can’t digest ice cream – this stuff truly is better than ice cream. Made with blended, raw, organic soaked and rinsed cashews for the base, it’s incredibly creamy, and it’s only sweetened with low-glycemic agave nectar.

I swear, I am not paid anything to say any of this : )