Shopping for food was easy once-upon-a-time. When i wasn’t concerned about every item that went in my mouth, aka before Paleo. It has proven to be complicated in more ways than one. First, recipes call for things I have never cooked with before:

• Almond flour
• Coconut flour
• Coconut cream
• Coconut butter
• Coconut sugar
• Coconut aminos (Really? I have to google this to know what it is)
• Chia seeds
• Grass fed beef
• Grade B maple syrup
• Plantains
• Pink himalayan salt (come on, what is this?)
• Tapioca flour

Some of these were easy to find in the grocery store–Kroger has a health area that is most helpful, I can buy my coconut and almond milks there, coconut oil, all the flours, but some things just don’t exist. Coconut sugar, for example. Apparently I can only get it from Whole Foods, which is nowhere near me, or I can order it off Amazon. That is frustrating. I am already lazy enough, let’s not make it more complicated for me.

Then there is the coconut cream. Not in the healthy area of Kroger, nope! I looked for a full 30 minutes today for it there. Had to break out my smart phone and figure out where I would get this item and it turns out it is in the asian food area. It took me a full thirty minutes from start to finish, to find this $3 item! Ridiculous.

As for cage-free and grass-fed, that’s also hit and miss. Cage-free eggs I can find at Kroger but grass-fed beef? That’s harder. Again, Whole Foods has it and again it’s too far. And I am lazy. And it’s crazy expensive. So I don’t buy grass-fed beef. And I am going to Paleo hell for it, I am sure!!

I also want to discuss how frustrating it is that some of these ingredients are put in these recipes with no discussion. As if all of these items are in everyone’s pantries. Not true! So why do these blogs not help their readers find these obscure items? Why couldn’t they find something else to cook with that isn’t as complicated? Couldn’t regular salt work in place of that crazy himalayan salt? What is so special about it? And what is coconut aminos? (For answers, go here)

From my personal experience, I thus pledge to tell my readers where to buy some of this crazy stuff, if it’s part of the recipe. I don’t want others who are learning from me, to feel as frustrated as I have in trying to find some of this stuff. And who knows, one of these days I might go to Whole Foods and buy me some coconut sugar. But it’s a much stronger likelihood that Amazon will be delivering it to me because I am just that lazy.