Must-Have Items While Living Paleo

As we have gone along on our journey, I have discovered that there a couple things I cannot live without while doing Paleo.  These include food items, kitchen gadgets, and so forth.  The food items are mainly ingredients that are subs for things I used to use, or just delicious items that I now have to have.  There are some "specialty" items that you may need to buy at natural/health food stores, but if you want to cook/bake delicious items while on Paleo, you need to splurge on these items for sure.  A lot of these things aren't too out of the ordinary, though.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is full of things that I am really glad I have had!  Regardless, here is my list of must-have items for Paleo-ites!

Food:

• almond butter
• almond flour
• coconut oil
• coconut flour
• almond/coconut milk
• dark chocolate/cocoa
• eggs- LOTS of them (literally 2 of us go through about 3 dozen per week)
• bacon (If your diet allows you to eat bacon, take advantage. Often.)
• nuts (almonds, cashews, etc- they make great snacks!)
• tamari sauce (or coconut aminos if you are hard core)
• raw honey (buy it from Sams/Costco in bulk)
• FRUIT & VEGGIES (this may seem like a duh-item, but make sure you always have fresh produce in your house!!!)

Kitchen Supplies:

• food processor (not essential, but it is if you want to make almond butter, etc)
• blender or better yet, blender immersion stick (minimizes clean-up when making one smoothie)
• apple corer/slicer (I literally use mine every day)
• pineapple corer/slicer (if you like fresh pineapple, get one.)
• parchment paper (seriously, it will save you when baking)
• muffin pan
• slow cooker

And finally, the most important thing you need, in my opinion:

• TIME- This is kind of a big one.  In my experience, doing Paleo requires a lot more food-prep/cooking/shopping time than living a "normal" life.  For example, I probably spend a good 2-3 hours every weekend preparing breakfast and lunch items for the week (egg muffins, pumpkin muffins, cutting fruit, etc).  Additionally, I find that I have to go to the grocery store at least once a week. I know this doesn't seem like a huge deal, but for 2 of us, we could often go with just one big trip every other week.  Now, with all the fresh produce we need to buy, it needs to be more often.  For our typical meals, I don't really need any more time than usual to prepare them, so it is really just the weekend time for me that is much more.  I wouldn't say any of this is BAD, per se, just be prepared that if you want delicious and healthy Paleo meals, you will need to dedicate some time.

So there you have it!  If you have any other must-have items that I may be forgetting, let me know!  And feel free to ask about any of these "must-haves" if you have questions!  Happy Paleo-ing!