In February, I completed my first ever Whole 30! Even a few months out from finishing, I feel better than ever and the results were honestly astounding (you can read more about them here). I seriously can’t WAIT to do another one and am actually planning one for later this month!
Ever since I finished, I’ve gotten hundreds of questions from you about how to prepare for it. Since I’ll be starting up again, I thought it would be fun to share my shopping list of essentials that I know I will want on hand when I start up. One of the reasons I almost failed last time (and wanted to give up) was because I didn’t have time to get to the grocery store and didn’t have ingredients on hand to make something compliant!
Luckily, this time I’m going to be VERY prepared and will be using PeaPod to schedule all my food delivery. To ensure success, I’ll be planning out my meals for a week or two and scheduling them with Peapod throughout the month to drop off the ingredients I need (so I’m not scrambling.) This service is honestly a life saver.
Here are 10 things that I KNOW will be on my shopping list and why they are so important to have for a successful Whole 30!
- Eggs – Since eggs are high in protein (but only about 70 calories per), they are seriously one of the best ways to start your day and make sure your full! Almost every breakfast I have during Whole 30 has eggs in it.
- Coconut Oil – One of the only compliant cooking fats in the program. You can use olive oil too, but I find that coconut oil imparts a yummy tropical flavor that I prefer most of the time
- Zucchini – This is an incredible pasta substitute. Just grab a spiralizer and go to town! If you don’t have one, don’t worry. Just use a vegetable peeler to create strips and then cut them into pasta size. It takes a little more time, but it’s not crazy!
- Portobello Mushrooms – Roast these beauties for a few minutes and they make the PERFECT bun for your burger or sandwich
- Sweet Potatoes – I can’t tell you how many Whole 30 Recipes use sweet potatoes. You can slice them thinly and toast them as a bread substitute or throw them in a skillet in the morning for a delicious hash like the one I made here.
- Ghee – Once you try Ghee, you will never go back to butter. This whole 30 compliant fat is seriously so decadent, you will wonder how you lived life without it. Basically, Ghee is just butter that has been clarified and simmered a bit longer to bring out the nutty flavor. It removed the water and milk fats which gives it a nice high cooking temperature.
- Coconut Aminos – This is a LIFE saver when trying to impart flavor into an Asian dish. It tastes just like soy/teriyaki sauce but it’s made from coconut sap. It’s low cal, so delicious and I bet you’ll never go back to cooking with Soy again.
- Frank’s RedHot Sauce – I like things a little spicy and most hot sauces have sugar in it (believe it or not). This one is compliant.
- Spaghetti Squash – Another awesome pasta substitute. Hey, I’m a carb lover, what can I say? If you want to learn how to prepare it, check out this post I did a while back.
- Almond Flour – I couldn’t be more obsessed with this stuff. I made eggplant and chicken cutlets during whole 30 just by dredging them in eggs and almond flour. Fry it up in a little coconut oil and you’ll feel like you’re having a MAJOR cheat meal.
Do you have any ingredients you can’t live without during Whole 30? Share them with me in the comments below!
Love always,
Erica
