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There's nothing quite like finding my favorite pantry staples for less than they cost in the store, from the convenience of my home. I've been shopping Vitacost and finding new brands for about a decade now! NOTE: this post is not sponsored or affiliated with Vitacost, I am just sharing my recent purchases and fun things I find there for my pantry, laundry room, bathroom, and in general for the kitchen! Let's start with the Pantry finds.
Pantry:
Homeopathics: I do keep some in the pantry, but most of these are in my first aid kit. They had a great sale so I stocked up on lots of them, from oscillicoccinum to tooth support, to poison ivy support (iykyk) and many more.
Ketchup: Organic ketchups are often overpriced in the grocery stores. I think the Cucina Antica brand tastes great - like real tomatoes!
Tahini: My husband really likes hummus, so I keep some sesame seed paste on hand to whip some up.
Koops organic mustard: this brand has such straight forward ingredients and tastes pretty good. I always get excited at first when I see it in the store on sale, but then quickly realize it is not their organic variety. This has happened several times; I don't know why the organic line is a challenge to find in stores but I'm glad I can get it easily online. We've tried several of the SKUs and we like them all.
Kicking Horse coffee: they have several different kinds and we like all the whole bean, non-decaf we've tried so far. They take precautions to mitigate mycotoxin exposure. If you want to read more about how I drink my coffee, check out this post.
Jovial sourdough crackers - I like these for charcuterie boards, quick charcuterie lunches (i.e pepperoni, manchego, and pickles), for travel snacks, and just for when I want something crunchy. Keep your eyes out for my cracker review coming soon.
Big Tree Farms Organic Coco Aminos All Purpose Seasoning Sauce: Read more about this on my sauce review
Sugar - I get a variety of sugars: powdered, brown, sucanat...read my sweeteners post for the review on all of them and how and why I use the different ones!
Pad thai noodles: We made our own homemade pad thai with noodles from Ka-Me. They worked pretty well, I think it's just that my homemade version doesn't compare to our favorite Thai restaurant...
Cocomels - These are a tasty snack, but also great for guest pillow treats!
Lotus Foods rice ramen - I like the forbidden (black) rice best. My husband likes ramen (a lot) and these are great to have on hand. It's organic and cooks up really quickly! Sometimes, when I wish I made pasta but I don't have the time to make normal pasta as a side dish, I'll cook up some of these since they're SO much faster. I like them with butter and salt on them. Sometimes I'll find this brand at Costco, too...but not the kind made with forbidden rice. They're brown rice and millet I believe, and it's still quick, organic, and in bulk they're a great deal!
Namaste baking mixes: quick bread + muffin, brownies, perfect flour, cake mix - I like having these on hand and have tried everything except the perfect flour mix so far. I'll have to come back and update when I get a chance to do that. These are organic and taste pretty good, especially for being quick! They're gluten-free AND organic. However, this brand also sells a non-organic version, which I've seen at Costco and got really excited when I saw the brand, until I realized which version it was. It'd be awesome if Costco carried their organic line! The ingredients do contain cassava, which I really try to limit, not only for the oxalate content but especially the non-organic kind because it is traditionally a heavily sprayed crop. Also, since radically changing my lifestyle and quitting yoga, I'd prefer a different brand name. I know, I know, that's just me, maybe someday I'll explain here why this has become important to me.
Brown rice pasta (Gluten Free): This could probably be a whole post on it's own; a post on organic, gluten-free pastas! Jovial is my favorite brand I've tried that is the most consistent. I'm open to trying other brands, but this time I decided to try different pasta shapes and had some pleasant surprises, and learned what pasta shapes I like best. So funny how that works right? Like how steak-frites taste so different than waffle fries?!
Tagliatelle Traditional Egg Pasta: This is one of my favorites, but not something I cook as often since it's more of a spaghetti pasta (thicker, of course). The egg noodles are the best tasting (in my opinion)
Caserecce: This was my least favorite shape. I ended up using it in pasta salad and it turned out pretty good, it's just an odd shape and not one I feel drawn to eat a lot. Is that weird? I couldn't tell until I got it in the pantry then I was like, hmmm. I'll have to update this post with whatever else I try making with this shape.
Farfalle: This is good with pasta and cheese, especially baked in with some sausage. It is a pretty large pasta shape, though!
Shells: I like this shape for macaroni and cheese the best.
Capellini: This is like a good, thin spaghetti, but I prefer the smaller shapes in general.
Fusilli: This is my pantry staple go-to for organic pasta. It's pretty forgiving in cooking (I tend to overcook pasta, ahh, I know!!!). It goes well with tomato sauce, in soup, homemade macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, etc... I've tried it out in all of these. I missed taking a picture and I'll try to remember next time.
Fettuccine: This is thicker like the egg noodles and tastes good, I just prefer the egg noodles!
I've also tried their penne, spaghetti, and lasagna!
Chocolate Chips:
Pascha organic chocolate chips - a non-soy alternative that is organic. I was greenwashed for a bit on the chocolate chips that are soy-free, but it's not organic chocolate, so I like this brand for being both soy-free and organic. I'd like to find these in milk chocolate vs. dark chocolate.
Hu mint gems - I like the idea of these in mint-chocolate chip cookies and as a mix-in in homemade vanilla ice cream! They're soy free and have really straightforward ingredients.
Equal Exchange organic chocolate chips - mini and reg size
Laundry Room:
ECOS oxo bright: this large powder tub lasts a while, although now that I've made it though a full bucket, towards the end the lid/top of bucket part starts coming apart, so I think a great swap would be to put this in an Oxo Pop container--properly labeled, of course! I don't use this in every load, but I do use it when trying to get out stains. I also try to remember to add a scoop when washing whites. If you want to read more about what I do in the laundry room, check out this post!
Wool + cashmere delicates, stain stick - see silks post on how this did not turn out
Bathroom:
Cotton swabs - They have a few organic cotton options. They are all fine: Organyc, Swisspers, and Maxim, but I feel in general are a little more poke-y than their conventional counterpart.
Now Solutions magnesium flakes - I share about these quite a bit, whether I'm doing a foot bath, taking a relaxing soak, making homemade tallow whip or my own magnesium spray. Sometimes I buy magnesium oil already made though (affiliate code: SB10)! I shared a post all about magnesium here.
Epsom salt - like this best after a long summer day, whether it's Dr. Teals or Saltworks - I like them both, but Dr. Teals comes in a huge bag that has a nice resealable velcro-ish top which is nice!
Avalon Organics Strengthening Peppermint Conditioner - I didn't feel like this overly washed my hair, and I like the ingredient list better on this peppermint shampoo!
Oral Care:
Sometimes things arrive from Vitacost looking like this after the box takes some bumps, but oftentimes, their customer service will replace (or refund) the order with ease.
Here are (some of) the toothpastes I've tried from their site:
Lumineux toothpaste - I think this one is good. It does not froth like my husband would like, but it is just fine.
Radius Whitening Toothpaste Mint Aloe Neem - this didn't taste too great to me.
Dr. Bronner's All-One Toothpaste Peppermint - this is fine and one we use often.
Dr. Bronner's All-One Toothpaste Anise - I really do like this flavor of toothpaste!
Dr. Mercola Tulsi Mint- comes out kind of hard, doesn't spread as well as I'd like, feels ike I need to add more onto brush
Desert essence toothpastes:
coconut oil + pink himalayan - these were not my favorite. At first the himalayan tasted like birthday cake to me--I have no idea why, but it did. I find myself using more toothpaste than I should need to make my teeth feel clean with both of these "flavors," thus going through the tubes pretty fast.
Arnica & Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste Wintergreen - this was way too hot for me. I was disappointed because I really like wintergreen, but it was way to spicy! I really don't like essential oils in my toothpaste, but it is really challenging to find ones that don't have it. I burnt my oral mucosa with a cinnamon essential oil toothpaste a couple years ago and have been really sensitive ever since.
Kitchen (other):
Ecover dishwasher rinse aid - this is the one with the cleanest ingredients I can find, but I am always looking. Also, I have never used a rinse aid before this one and before our new dishwasher, so I don't have much to compare it to.
Chip clips - I like the ones they have with a magnet so I can use for snacks (that I don't have a container for) and to hang up our to-do lists on the fridge!
Oxo containers - they don't always have them, but when I place an order I try and search to see if they do since it is typically a little cheaper!
ECOS (unscented) dishwasher detergent - this is the cleanest I can find. I think it works fine, but would be open to trying something else.
Dr. Woods Naturally Castile Soap Baby Mild Unscented - I've used this brand and like the unscented, but also castille from Vermont Soap Co.
Soap dispensers - I purchased refillable soap containers for my whole home at a great price from Vitacost. I like to use castille soap in my homemade hand soap, and also in a homemade soft scrub for cleaning out sinks - this works especially well in our kitchen sink! I follow the recipe from the Jill Comes Clean e-book!
Hope you enjoy learning about some of my favorite pantry staples for less!
