Easy Switching: Part 2

As you know, our pantry has been getting a slow overhaul.  It now takes me forever to grocery shop because I am looking at the labels of everything that I haven't already approved!  It's very interesting to see what is closer to whole foods and what isn't, what has natural flavor in it that you'd never think would, and what actually tastes really good!  There's also such variation between flavors of the same type of item, like flavors of applesauce.

Some keeper foods I found already in our pantry (or refrigerator):

 Cabot cheese

 Go-go Squeeze applesauce (on-the-go pouches for kids)

Great Grains pecan, date, and raisin cereal (not the best, but not bad for the cereal category)

I was also surprised to find that while Rice Krispies and Corn Flakes are fine, Cheerios has some questionable ingredients.  Cheerios!  That really saddened me- it will be hard for me to give up Cheerios, one of my childhood staples.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that these have great ingredient lists:

 I'm doing the steel cut oats thing, but sometimes you just need quick oatmeal.  

This was the only instant oatmeal I found without a completely gross ingredient list.

 I love crackers, and I've always loved Triscuits.  With only 3 ingredients (whole grain soft white winter wheat, soybean oil, and salt), these are a good choice, and they're tasty.

 I thought I was going to have a hard time finding a granola bar without a junky list.  This one (but none of the other Nature Valley flavors) has no natural flavoring or anything too junky.

A toddler favorite.  We bring this in for snack at preschool often, and I was happy to see its short list: corn meal, rice, oil, cheddar cheese, whey, and buttermilk.  We'll keep this one around.

Also good on the cereal front: Grape Nuts and Uncle Sam cereal, a new find in the natural foods section.  Simple flakes and whole flax seed is a great addition to my yogurt.

Things to finish and not buy again:

Diamond's Pecan Nut-Thins- gluten free and yummy and filled with natural butter flavor

Pretzels- I'll have to look at other brands but the bag I have has natural butter flavor too!

Quaker rice cakes!

Have you banished any foods from your pantry lately?