Grocery Shopping at Natural Grocers

Last week Josh and I had the opportunity to attend an event at the now opened Natural Grocers on Val Vista and Williamsfield in Gilbert. This is Natural Grocers 121st store. I also thought it would be fun to share our grocery shopping trip with you and show you what we purchased on this visit.

Natural Grocers Val Vista

Grand Opening Event

The event we attended focused on educating about Natural Grocers and their commitment to quality food and supplements. We were treated to a wonderful meal that included a green salad, chickpea salad, chicken salad, fruit, and the hands down best vegan and grain free cookie I have eaten!

Natural Grocers VIP Meal

Why You Would Want to Shop at Natural Grocers

Natural Grocers does NOT carry products that contain artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives. They do NOT sell hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils. My favorite thing about Natural Grocers is not having to search between conventional and organic produce! You will only find USDA Certified Organic Produce at Natural Grocers.

100% Organic Produce - Natural Grocers

They also believe healthy foods and nutritional supplements should be affordable to everyone and they are the low price leader in this industry and they will price match. During this shopping trip we wanted to see what the prices were on items we typically purchase at Sprouts and Whole Foods. If the items were cheaper we purchased them, more on this later.

Things to Know Before You Shop at Natural Grocers

They don’t have a butcher but they do carry Mary’s, Applegate, and several other popular non-GMO brands. The reason they do not have a butcher is to keep their costs down so they can provide better discounts throughout the entire store to their customers. Natural Grocers is also a bagless store. Either bring your own, buy reusables from them, or grab some boxes at checkout to carry out your purchases.

Another point I want to mention before I get to our shopping trip is that each store has a Nutritional Health Coach that is available for FREE consultations to shoppers to answer questions on special diet needs, design eating programs, and can educate consumers on individual health and fitness goals.

Sara is the Nutritional Health Coach at the Val Vista location and has been a dietician for 11 years. She began her career in hospital and clinical settings but soon realized that she didn’t truly believe in what she was being trained to tell her patients about nutrition. She is thrilled to work for a company that wants to promote whole food eating and she would love to work 1 on 1 with anyone in the community looking to better their health through nutrition.

Natural Grocers is very big on community education and has a separate room at the front of the store for this purpose. Be sure to check out their monthly calendar in store to see upcoming events you can participate in FREE of charge.

Our Shopping Trip

Onto our shopping trip! We wanted to really try to stay true to what we would normally buy during our weekly grocery shopping trip. We tend to buy most of our organic meat these days at Costco as well as whatever organic produce they have in stock. In order to give a good idea on what a typically shopping trip would cost we did purchase Mary’s chicken while at the store. We did also buy a few supplements which would normally not be an item we include in our grocery budget.

Supplements

We LOVE Natural Grocers vitamin selection! There many great quality brands to choose from and by far one of the lowest prices for many brands we have seen locally. If you are running low on your vitamins be sure to check out their prices before you purchase at another local store. We ended up purchasing several different supplements along with a body wash and sunscreen on this trip.

While Natural Grocers does carry a plethora of different brands they unfortunately do not carry the major brands that we use in our household. Want to see what supplements we use in our house and why we picked these brands? Additional Reading: Vitamins and Supplements for a Healthy Family

Produce

We didn’t go crazy in the produce department, but we easily could have. All the produce is so pretty and vibrant. Our kids adore watermelon and we snagged up this almost 10 pound organic beauty for $5.63.

Shopping Trip Produce

Meat and Cheese

For meat and cheese we purchased Mary’s chicken, our beloved Applegate Organic Hotdogs (and yes I know they are still hotdogs but if you are going to eat a hotdog this is the brand to choose) they were a full $1 cheaper then what we normally purchase them for, and Rumiano cheese. The cheese was hands down an amazing deal! Each block was $3.99! These typically cost us between $5.69 – 5.99 a block. With the price being so amazing I bought several and put the extras in the freezer.

Shopping Trip Meat and Cheese

Bulk Section and Inner Aisles

And then we came to the bulk section and inner aisles of the store. We really try hard not to go crazy in the inner aisles of grocery store and shop the majority of our food along the outer edges. Which is a really good thing for me because at Natural Grocers my new found favorite cookie dough, Capellos, is in the refrigerated section along the outer edge of the store.

Bulk Foods - Natural Grocers

Some of our favorite brands/products we wanted to mention that Natural Grocers carries are Namaste Waffle and Pancake mix (this is so good and gluten free and GMO free) and Yummy Earth Fruit snacks (the kids love these, the price was $5.69 for a 10 pack, and let’s be honest we love them too). Josh was also really happy to peruse the bulk section and he discovered an assortment of raw/organic nuts and coconut date rolls.

Shopping Trip Bulk Foods and Aisles

Total Cost of Shopping Trip

I am sure, by now, you are all wondering how much money we spent on this little shopping trip. While we only left the store with two reusable bags filled with our purchases and carried out our watermelon we did feel like we still had a very successful shopping trip. Our grand total was $240.78.

Natural Grocers Shopping Trip Receipt

Now this amount also included supplements that wouldn’t normally be on our list and we also were kindly given a $30 gift card after the VIP event that we applied to this amount. If we subtract the supplements, soap, and sunscreen and the gift card from our total our shopping trip cost $141.26.

Final Thoughts and Overall Impression

I do feel like we did get some good deals on products and brands that we normally buy but there were a few items that we typically purchase that we had to pass on at Natural Grocers. We always buy organic apple juice to add to the kids water bottles for flavor but found that because they don’t carry their own brand of apple juice the price on the brands they did carry were more expensive, $10.99 compared to $7.99. So we had to pass. We also buy canned coconut milk for smoothies and breakfast porridge and the canned organic coconut milk was $2.99 compared to the brand we normally buy $1.99.

Our overall impression after shopping at Natural Grocers was a positive one and we will definitely be back. We were happy with our purchases and what we were able to buy at better prices.

1625 E Williams Field Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85295

Store Hours: Mon-Sat 8am – 9:04pm, Sun 8:30am – 7:35pm

(480) 917-9000 | www.naturalgrocers.com

I want to hear from you! Have you ever shopped at Natural Grocers? What is your monthly food budget? 

PS…Natural Grocers also has stores in Gilbert (Baseline/Gilbert) and Chandler (Kyrene/Ray)!

PSS…While we were invited to the grand opening event and given a gift card to Natural Grocers this post was not sponsored or solicited. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Vitamins & Supplements for a Healthy Family

You will never see me promote anything on here, sponsored or otherwise, that I haven’t used myself and researched before using. This post is not sponsored and I have never been sponsored by the brands listed.

Do you take vitamins or supplements? What about your kids? It can be overwhelming at times as a parent figuring out what your child needs let alone finding the time to research what you need for yourself. This is a list of what has worked and is working for me and my family.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS WHEN PURCHASING VITAMINS/SUPPLEMENTS

I take the responsibility of sharing my opinions and recommendations very seriously and would NEVER post about a product without researching it to the best of my ability. So what are some of my recommendations when purchasing vitamins/supplements? I am glad you asked…

1. WHAT YOU EAT IS KEY

It is important to keep in mind that vitamins and supplements are a support to your diet. Your diet is the key to healthy living. You CANNOT take enough vitamins or supplements to counteract a bad diet.

2. GET FAMILIAR WITH THIRD PARTY TESTING

It is important to become your own advocate and do your own research. Without this testing there is no way to determine if what is actually inside matches what the label says. The FDA does NOT monitor vitamins and supplements so ANYTHING could be put in these products.

USP and Consumer Lab (there are a few others as well) are third party unbiased companies that are hired by the vitamin company to test their products including product validity, absorbability, and make sure there is no added ingredients or the amount in the ingredients matches the label.

3. GMO-FREE

If possible try to limit the amount of GM ingredients in your vitamins. An easy way to do this is to be sure that your products are free of the most common GM ingredients: corn, sugar beets, high fructose corn syrup, and soy.

MY RECENT VITAMIN ORDER

This week I received my vitamin order in the mail and I thought it would be fun to share what we use in our household. Remember to check with your doctor before taking any new vitamin or supplement. 

Vitamins Supplements Healthy Family

For the last few months I have been using Integrative Therapeutics – Clinical Nutrients for Women. I love this vitamin, you can see the supplement facts in the picture below! If you decide to try out this brand my only recommendation would be take with your meal and work up to the three tablets. If you have never experienced a Niacin flush, they aren’t super pleasant, and I am guessing somewhat equates to what a hot flash feels like, in addition to your joints becoming flaming red because of increased vasodilation. FYI, these don’t smell super great so if you notice an odd oder it is probably coming from these vitamins. My naturopath recommended this brand. Josh is also taking the Men’s version – Integrative Therapeutics – Clinical Nutrients for Men. $25 for 90 tablets, 3 tablets daily

Integrative Therapeutics Clinical Nutrients for Women Label

Thorne Research – Meriva-500 is an anti-infalmmatory supplement derived from Turmeric. Thorne is such an amazing brand! Super high quality! If you have an autoimmune disorder this is something to look into and talk with your doctor about. I also take this during that certain time each month instead of an ibuprofen and it works just as well. $28 for 60 capsules, 2 capsules daily

I have taken Innate Response – Adrenal Response for the last year for adrenal support. Adrenal fatigue is estimated to affect around 80 percent of people in the world. Most people struggle with adrenal fatigue at some point in their lives. Symptoms include: body aches, trouble concentrating, racing thoughts, moodiness and,irritability, always tired, feeling overwhelmed, hormone imbalance, and cravings for sweet and salty foods. If you have adrenal fatigue, it can also be a major cause of excess fat storage and low energy levels. $51 for 90 tablets, 2 tablets daily

The be all and end all to any kid vitamin – SmartyPants Gummy Vitamins. I could seriously eat this whole bottle. Supplement facts shown in the picture below. Josh and I have been known to sneak a few of these as a treat every so often, I know, I know, it is so bad, but these are just so good. They are chewy, sweet, without artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup, and the best part GMO-FREE! In order to stop eating the kids vitamins we now have a bottle of SmartyPants Vitamins Adult Gummy Multivitamins. I promise we are not overdosing on vitamins, we maybe have 1 a day, if that (an adult serving is 6 yummies). $16 for 120 gummies, 4 gummies daily

SmartyPants Kids Complete Vitamin Label

Lastly, we take SFH Stronger Faster Healthier SO3+D3 Super Omega-3 Liquid Fish Oil EPA+DHA (Orange) and I also take Integrative Therapeutics – Bio-Zyme® between meals. I know this might sound like a lot to some but to me and my family it is just part of our routine. Having dealt with an autoimmune disorder I know how fast your body can revolt against you. This is why I have made a commitment to learn as much as I can in order to promote the ongoing health of myself and my family.

I would love to know if you take any vitamins or supplements. Leave a comment below and let me know.

The links in this post are part of an affiliate program. This means if you purchase an item from a link I provide, I might receive a commission. This does not change the cost of the product to you. I only share products and services that I would personally use and think are a good fit for my readers. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help support our family. This is not a sponsored post. 

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Running Workout & Timex Ironman Run x20 GPS Review

Disclosure: I #TrainWithKohls! This post is sponsored by Kohl’s and is an unpaid review. All opinions stated in this post are my own. 

I have a super fun running circuit workout on the blog today and also a review of the Timex Ironman Run x20 GPS watch. Be sure to read this post all the way to the end because (hint, hint, wink, wink) there is a giveaway happening!

Timex Run x20 GPS Watch Review

This is a budget friendly GPS watch that has a very simply and easy to use menu. You can set different alert zones such as pace and speed. For the price this watch does have great functions. It allows for the user to strap it on, head out the door, and track distance and pace or to be used for interval running. Just pick your intervals by distance or time, set your watch, and listen for the beep.

This watch does NOT have the ability to sync up with an app or with your computer. If you are looking for something that has this capability this watch would not be recommended. It is also NOT a heart rate monitor.

I used the workout and interval function and didn’t have any issues with the GPS. It comes with a USB cable to charge and when the watch is not in use I shut it off to prolong the battery life.

This watch is a great fitness watch if you are looking to monitor your distance or to time yourself for cardio intervals. I love to combine running with different exercises to switch up my training. It always makes the workouts go so fast.

For the workout below, I set the intervals on the watch to 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile. Once finished with the 1/4 mile run do the 20 pushups and when you are ready to run again if you are using the watch it starts calculating for the 1/2 mile run. It is pretty cool!

Timex Run x20 GPS Interval Function

You can complete the running portion once or do it twice. When you are ready to be finished with the intervals and using the watch you just need to stop the workout. I also really liked the watch had an optional button to view the seconds which made it easy to time the 30 second plank holds.

Running Workout

Interested in a GPS watch of your own? You can find this watch and others like it at Kohl’s. They have an awesome selection.

But before you buy you might want to ENTER TO WIN the same watch I received right here! Kohl’s sent me another Timex Run X20 GPS Watch to giveaway! Enter below for your chance to win. Winner will be selected Saturday June 27th!

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