Just like any way of eating, preparation is key. If you fail to prepare, be prepared to fail. If you don’t have Keto or low carb options handy you are setting yourself up for failure cause let’s face it Keto is like a marriage, it just doesn’t work if you cheat.
Having a good base of foods is helpful for the times when you can’t go shopping or just want a quick grab and go snack while staying on track.
When I started the low Carb/ Keto lifestyle I didn’t buy any specialty Keto items. They were hard to find in our small town and expensive. Now three years later I have gradually started adding items as they become easier to find and now that I usually only cook for 2 it doesn’t seem so expensive. There are a few grocery stores in Brandon now that have Keto friendly items and I found a Canadian company online who is all Keto (I’m waiting for my first order to arrive)
So here is a look into what I have at any given time…………….
Fridge
Eggs Cucumber
Heavy Cream Bok Choy
Butter Spinach
Mayonnaise Celery
Hot sauce Peppers
Unsweetened Cashew Milk Lettuce
Pickles Radishes
Olives Cabbage
Bacon Zucchini
Lunch Meat Sauerkraut
Cheeses
Mustard
Ground Flax
Lime Juice
Lemon Juice
Diet Cranberry Juice ** I explain later on**
Pantry
Spices! I love spices and have way too many to list.
Almond Flour
Coconut Flour
Monk Fruit Sweetener
Cocoa Powder
Sugar free Jell-O
Snack Bars by https://www.lovegoodfats.ca/
Peanut Butter by https://eatfatso.com/
Vinegars
Oils
Canned fish
Baking Powder
Freezer
Fish
Shrimp
Pork (local)
Bison (local)
Chicken
Cauliflower Rice
Kitchen windowsill – KITCHEN HACK! 
Green Onions
Parsley
Cilantro
I started doing this a couple of months ago and my fresh herbs stay good longer and the green onions keep growing!
These of course are just my staples and it all depends on you and your preferences and guidelines. My husband doesn’t follow Keto, so we also have at all times a bag of tortillas for taco night, real rice, popcorn and usually some sort of chocolate lol. I try and keep my daily carb count below 22g so I even try stay away from vegetables like broccoli, carrots and beans which can add carbs quickly. Cheese and butter are also two things I am trying to limit at the moment because I would like to shed some lockdown pounds hahaha. Just because you are keeping your carb count down does not mean you can eat all the calories you want if your goal is to loose weight. Try a free APP like “Carb Manager” it is easy to use, has a huge database and even has most restaurant chains on it.
Eggs are always plentiful in our house as they are (for me) the perfect food. Boiled, fried, scrambled, deviled, salads and chaffles. Which ever way you make them they are a great snack, meal or on the go fuel.
I always stay away from items that have “diet” or “low fat” in the title because they usually contain more sugar and carbs then the original. But I have lately been keeping 10cal Diet Cranberry juice in our fridge. I am looking for a replacement as this variety uses Sucralose as the sweetener which I really do not like. This little trick that I am about to share with you has helped me with three things, drinking all my water, getting through that afternoon craving period and finding a non sweetened no carb mix for my gin lol. 1 tablespoon each of the cranberry juice and pure lemon juice in a bottle of water makes for a fantastic and refreshing drink!
I always do a happy dance when I can find local foods or see a “Made in Canada” stamp on the packaging. It is important to shop local and Canadian Made as much as we can so I will keep sharing companies and producers every week so if you know of any please let me know!
www.bisonspiritranch.ca is where we get our ground Bison and Steaks plus they have many other excellent cuts and more. They have 400 head of Bison on 1200 acres of land North of the Assiniboine Valley.
www.smakdab.ca Mustard at it’s finest! A family run operation in rural Manitoba using 100% Canadian mustard seeds. The White Wine Herb is my personal favourite, but I love them all!
Next week I will share my order from the online source I found (can’t wait!) and my bread substitute journey, which I have been experimenting with now for a month (think I finally got it)
Thank you for stopping by & I would love to hear from you.
There were supposed to be some beautiful pictures of local products and my windowsill garden and a email signup lisy, they are not working for me today. Hey it will get better every week 😉
Have a great weekend, enjoy this amazing mild winter we have been having and join me next week where we keep living a keto and creative lifestyle here in the sandhills of Manitoba.