On my last shopping tour at Costco, I have found some great organic products.

If you don’t live on a farm, grow your own veggie garden, butcher your own meat, and milk your own cows it is quite difficult to not buy any packaged foods. So let’s talk about some “pre-done” foods which you can incorporate into your busy day without any guilt!

Supermarkets are flooded with processed, pre-packaged and ready-to-eat foods but it needs some label reading and knowledge to “separate the wheat from the chaff”.

If you think you can blindly trust the food industry and hope that they only use the best nutritious ingredients in their products… Think again.

Some products aren’t even real food rather “food-like” products.

The only person you can trust for putting natural whole food on your plate without any nasty ingredients, pesticides or artificial color and flavoring is YOU!

I help you find the good stuff because there are companies which truly care about natural food and our environment and they need OUR support by choosing their products in the supermarket aisle. As consumers, we have so much power which we should use mindfully!

I cook from scratch most of the time but with bread and cereals, it happens that breakfast (and school lunch) can become the meal of the day which does contain some sort of “pre-done” food.

And let’s be real…kids love ready-to-eat food! Is this something I want to provide? Not necessarily, but life get’s busy and remember we “separate the wheat from the chaff”!

Besides convenience, another advantage of these products is the aha-moment when my children read the ingredients on the package and notice how easily they could copy it – completely homemade and from scratch. Yes! The best store-bought products are the ones which are indeed very simple in their ingredients and manufacturing process.

1. Nature’s Path Superfood Oats

This product is kept simple in terms of ingredients and provides a no-fuss preparation which is ideal for a school lunch. Many school bistros have a microwave which can be used to heat up a cup of water (supervised, depending on child’s age). Simply stir pouch content into hot water. Done!

I don’t like microwaves, but I would be willing to compromise to heat the water in it, not the oats! Another option would be to pack a thermos with hot water with their lunch (also depending on child’s age).

Oats are naturally gluten-free. They might be contaminated if processed in plants that also process wheat, barley, and other gluten-containing grains. People with celiac disease might need to look for oats with the certified gluten-free label.

While some people can’t tolerate oats they might have a healing effect on others.

If you want to read what science shows us about oats, read this article from  Sayer Ji/Greenmedinfo.

This product can be easily copied at home with your own ingredients, but it is actually a good quality and price-performance ratio. The apple cinnamon mix is without any nuts in case your child’s school is nut-free. Costco price cad$9.99/24 pouches/960g total

2. Nature’s Path Golden Turmeric Cereal

Turmeric has gotten very popular because of its superior anti-inflammatory properties

No wonder it has now found its way into a healthy breakfast cereal. This product is also certified as gluten-free since it is made of organic corn. It has a pleasant taste of cinnamon and honey.

Any corn products which are not labeled as organic are very likely genetically modified. GMO foods have been shown in studies to be carcinogenic.

A healthy balance between protein and carbohydrates is very important because it is so easy to overeat on carbs. So keep in mind shifting between cereal, eggs or yogurt as breakfast options to avoid imbalances and monotony. Costco price cad$7.99 for a box of 793g

3. Terrafertil Dried Golden Berries

Goldenberries aka gooseberries or physalis have a great flavor profile, not too sweet and not too tart. The sugar content is lower compared to other dried fruits. 40g (1/3cup) of goldenberries have 14g of sugar. Dried cranberries from Fruit D’Or or dried Deglet Noor dates have around 27g sugar per 40g fruit and the same amount of dried raisins from SunMaid have 29g of sugar.

Dried fruit is often treated with sulfur dioxide as a preservative to extend shelf life, kill bacteria and to avoid discoloration. A study also shows that people sensitive to sulfur dioxide or with asthma can react to it. I personally avoid dried fruit which is treated with sulfur dioxide, therefore I like this product even more because it is treated with pineapple juice as a natural alternative.

Goldenberries are an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamins A & C, minerals, and B-complex vitamins.

A simple healthy snack option while providing all the important nutrients for the health of eyes, nervous and immune system. Costco price cad$13/567g

What are your favorite packaged foods? Share in comments.