Post: #1

I'm always looking for ways to optimize my diet. My goals are health, low prep time, and low cost. I've gained a huge benefit over the years in learning how to reduce the prep and cook time for healthy meals. Resources like dangerandplay, and the Bodybuilding recipes - Cheap and Nutritious thread have been excellent.

For years I've shopped almost exclusively at Trader Joe's for all my food needs. While they're slightly on the pricey side, they have a wide enough selection of health food to where I don't need to make multiple trips to different stores. Including non-essential items (like coffee, tea, etc), I'm spending about $2-3/meal. I'm happy with that.

However, sometimes it's lacking options, and sometimes they run out of stock of what I'm looking for. Last time I went they were out of green tea, and didn't carry lime juice. Most of the prices are good, but some items are overpriced (but I buy them anyway, since I'm a captive customer).

While you're not gonna be able to find all of your food needs online, there are certain cases where buying food online is the best option.

• When you can't find it in the store: Recently, I bought a bag of zatar (a middle eastern blend of spices) off Amazon so I have the ability to make an effortless meal in 2 minutes I can eat on the go. I pour some olive oil on a small plate, smear a couple slices of sprouted bread in it, then sprinkle them with some zatar before rinsing the plate and throwing it in the dishwasher. It's cheap, delicious, effortless, and it makes me wonder what other options I've been passing up on.
  
  One of my favorite foods is vindaloo, but when I make it the sauce always comes out way too watery. My girl helped me lookup Psyllium husk for a cheap and healthy thickener. I can't find it at my local grocer, but it's easy to find online for cheap.

• When the options available in the store are bad quality: Sometimes, even the food available in "health food" stores isn't the best quality available. A few years ago, news broke that most of the popular olive oil brands were diluting their olive oil so that 80% of the content was actually grapeseed oil. This drastically changed the nutritional value of the product. After doing some research on olive oil brands and their content, I've resolved to only buy the brands are legit, which are only available online.

• When it's overpriced in the store: There are non-perishable items in the store that are overpriced compared to online products of the same quality. Coffee, green tea, chamomile tea, coconut oil, rolled oats, apple cider vinegar, ghee from grass fed cows, and many other products can be found for cheaper online. Looking online, some of these products are half the unit cost compared to stores.
  

Every once in a while, after I come back from the grocery store I'll get out my receipt and go on amazon. I'll lookup the non-perishable items like brown rice, rolled oats, condiments, ACV, etc and see if any of the unit costs are drastically cheaper online, or if much better options are available. Often you're not gonna save a huge amount of money this way, but when you find a product you won't see in the store it helps balance the cost.

Right now I'm considering buying some green tea in bulk. I'd appreciate any advice from those of you buy green tea online. Top of my list is this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016BFR4G/

I'd encourage everyone to share their experience and insights when it comes to buying food online.

Post: #2

Which site do you use besides Amazon?

Post: #3

(05-11-2016 08:17 PM)Chowder Head Wrote:  Which site do you use besides Amazon?

None currently, though I'd be open to others if the price is right.

Post: #4

I saw that 60 Minutes segment on olive oil. Which brands are legit?

Post: #5

Depending on the product and how much you use it, online shopping can save you money. Amazon is best place online for food shopping due to its infrastructure and Prime membership. After Amazon is jet.com, as another up and coming marketplace for shopping. After that is individual websites that sell the item you want.

If you know what you want and need for recipes, you can browse deal site like slickdeals for the latest sales from individual websites. To do online shopping for food is to have the mindset of a Prepper, stock on when on sale and ride it out until the next deal comes in.

Post: #6

(05-11-2016 08:29 PM)Chowder Head Wrote:  I saw that 60 Minutes segment on olive oil. Which brands are legit?

I posted a link to the UC Davis olive oil study in the original post:
http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/...educed.pdf

They use multiple criteria (aroma, acidity, etc) to judge if one is legit. Some of them pass one test and fail others. From my interpretation of the above study, it looks like only the brand California olive ranch passed of the ones tested.

Post: #7

(05-11-2016 08:29 PM)Chowder Head Wrote:  I saw that 60 Minutes segment on olive oil. Which brands are legit?

This is supposedly the most legit
I plan on buying a 3 liter tin.

You can get a small discount through this site with a coupon code.
http://vinnietortorich.com/products/

Post: #8

I get all my protein powder off MyProtein.com when they have a sale.

Usually pay about $55 for 11 lb bags, I try to get 4 bags of it at a time.

Protein shakes are a good supplement to any diet. I don't mind cooking, but three scoops of whey is way quicker to cook, consume, and clean up than any piece of meat. Throw some in a cup or two of instant oatmeal and you almost have a decent, real breakfast in the time it takes to heat up water.

I've read studies on the protein spiking that goes on in more well known brands, MyProtein Impact Whey performed well and it's about the cheapest protein I have ever found.

I've been entertaining the notion of getting a 5 gallon bucket of coconut oil off Amazon. There are many uses for coconut oil, it also claims to be healthy for you.

The other thing I've done is hit up the Walmart website (or most any grocery store), buy shit from their store online and have it shipped straight to the store.

Buy rice at Walmart and it's $6 for a ten pound bag and $8 for the non-generic 10lb bag.

Buy generic rice off the Walmart website then have it shipped to the local Walmart and it's $8.92 for a 20 lb bag. I have my own theories for why they never stock it (weak ass employees), but there you go, I just saved 30% on a food item I'll eat most every day.

I bet if I go to Sam's Club I can get a 50 lb bag of the shit for $20 or less, further cutting down my costs and trips to the grocery store.

Between these three items, you could buy $1000 worth of them and live in a hole in the ground for a year or more.

Post: #9

Good thread idea, especially for the items that are hard to find at stores. I recently ordered the following:

http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-Icelan...ge_o00_s00
Cod liver oil - just now trying this per AliBlablah recommendation (I think)

http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Natural-...ge_o00_s00
Manuka honey - anti-bacterial properties good for various health issues, look for brands with UMF rating of or above

http://www.amazon.com/Cricket-Flour-2-pa...cket+flour
Cricket flour - very high in protein and vitamin B12

Also good to get online are essential oils, like peppermint or lavender or eucalyptus and get your girls to use them during a massage. It's relaxing as hell and you basically add an "olfactory fingerprint" on their memory which is good for various reasons. I've used the Now brand which seems to be a good value.

Post: #10

I did a recent receipt audit. I looked at the following non-perishable items:

Ghee
ACV
Coffee
Himalayan salt
Black beans
Rolled oatmeal
Green tea

Of the items on the list, almost all are cheaper in person. The only items which were cheaper online were

Himalayan salt ($.20/oz) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HVJI7KI/
Green tea ($0.08/bag) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U9RJ316/

They're each roughly half the price of their store bought equivalent. Opting to get them online would lead to about $10/mo savings, which is pennies, but might help justify throwing in an extra $10 item on your wishlist next time you use amazon.

Post: #11

(05-12-2016 11:34 AM)Hannibal Wrote:  I get all my protein powder off MyProtein.com when they have a sale.

Usually pay about $55 for 11 lb bags, I try to get 4 bags of it at a time.

Protein shakes are a good supplement to any diet. I don't mind cooking, but three scoops of whey is way quicker to cook, consume, and clean up than any piece of meat. Throw some in a cup or two of instant oatmeal and you almost have a decent, real breakfast in the time it takes to heat up water.

I also buy protein from MyProtein.com. Great stuff. How do you cook it with instant oatmeal?

Post: #12

I just mix a scoop into a cup of oatmeal. I used to do 2 scoops per cup of oatmeal, but it was lumpy and disgusting.

Yeah, just throw the dry ingredients together, mix it up and add boiling water. Nets you something like :

400 calories
6.5 g fat
56 g carbs (8 g fiber, so 48 net g carbs)
30 g protein

1 cup oatmeal (about $2.50 for 42 oz generic can) - 17 cents
1 scoop Impact Whey ($60 for an 11lb bag) - 30 cents
Overall - 47 cents

Makes for a very fast and filling breakfast, great for folks who want to get big. I use chocolate protein, but be warned, it makes it look like a pile of dogshit.

I can thank this fast and nutritious meal for the gains I've made this last year because it allowed me to make a large amount of high protein, high carb low fat food in about three minutes. This allowed me to focus on other shit, like studying or lifting weights.

All the complicated meal plans in the world (eat 5 times a day, like eight different things per meal, measuring out ounces of steak, 4 egg omelets without the yolks, yada yada) are not designed for guys like me. I prefer to go to the store once a month, buy everything in mass bulk, then spend a grand total of 20 minutes a day cooking (includes doing the dishes).

Post: #13

^Thanks man, i'll definitely try this one.

I just mix my protein with water - two scoops during/after workouts and one scoop on off days.

Chocolate flavor is pretty good. I also tried "English Toffee" before from the same web site. A lot worse than chocolate, too sweet.