As a Real Plans subscriber, you have access to a comprehensive list of real food resources that includes specific brands, kitchen gear, and products that we love to use.
To give you a little taste, below is our guide to products that we wholeheartedly recommend, believe in, and purchase for ourselves.
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Meat, dairy & seafood
Grass-fed meat and pastured poultry
U.S. Wellness Meats
If you’re looking for an online retailer of good quality beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, duck and more – visit U.S. Wellness Meats. They also have a great selection of organ meats, sausages, and options that are Whole30 and AIP compliant.
Vital Proteins collagen peptides
Adding collagen peptides to your bone broth, smoothies, or an evening cup of tea is one way to reap the benefits of homemade stock without actually drinking it. These benefits include a healthier gut, happier joints, and smoother skin.
Wild Planet canned roasted chicken
Nothing but organic chicken breast. A quick, easy emergency protein that will help keep you fueled until your next meal.
Dairy
Local Harvest CSA directory
For those who are interested in raw cow and goat milk products, you can get them delivered through CSA (community supported agriculture). A quick search will put you in touch with farmers in and around where you live.
Desert Farms camel milk
If you are unable to tolerate cow’s milk – even raw – you may want to look into raw camel milk. Enthusiasts of camel milk report that it can support an overactive immune system and get rid of digestive troubles.
Seafood
Safe Catch canned wild tuna
With the lowest mercury levels of any tuna on the market, Safe Catch tuna is sashimi grade wild tuna and hand packed to retain omega-3s.
Fats & oils
Cocao butter
Or, chocolate butter. While cacao butter has the aroma and flavor of chocolate, it’s made by separating the creamy lemon-colored fat from the dark, bitter solids of cacao beans. Both pesticides and child labor may be used in cacao production. Therefore, in order to avoid supporting the use of either, look labels that say organic and fair-trade. In the kitchen, use cacao butter to make chocolate, desserts, and smoothies.
Butter
When sourced from grass-fed cows, butter contains nutrients that support bone and cardiovascular health. What’s more, it’s delicious. If you’re worried about clogged arteries and saturated fat, rest assured that high-quality butter boosts your overall health.
Ghee
When cooking with butter, you may notice that it burns easily. This has to do with the milk solids in butter. But when you bring butter to a low simmer and remove these milk solids, you get clarified butter – or ghee. Ghee is essential to Indian cuisine and prized in Ayurvedic medicine for its healing properties. When used in cooking, ghee can withstand extremely high temperatures, making it ideal for frying.
Pasture-raised pork lard
Lard harvest from well-raised animal is one of the few ways you can get vitamin D through your diet. You can buy lard or render it yourself.
Grass-fed beef tallow
Suitable for high heat cooking, frying, and roasting. Tallow from grass-fed beef contains more omega-3s than conventional beef fat. This means it’s healthier and better for you.
Cage-free duck fat
Duck fat is notoriously delicious and has a reputation for creating that perfect sear or crisping up poultry skin while leaving meat juicy and full of flavor. When possible, source your duck fat from happy, cage-free birds.
Avocado oil
Avocado oil is a vegetable oil with an unusually high smoke point. This means you can fry with it and use it for high temperature cooking. It’s also wonderful on salads. Avocado oil comes from the meat of the fruit, rather than the seed. Like the avocado itself, the oil has a buttery texture and a clean, slightly nutty flavor.
Avocado oil spray
Pure avocado oil that can withstand high temperature cooking…in the convenience of a spray.
Extra virgin olive oil
Stone crushed, cold pressed, decanted, and unfiltered. When shopping for olive oil, look for an extra virgin oil with these qualities. You want the nutrients and antioxidants in olive oil to remain intact rather than get lost through processing. With that in mind, its best to enjoy extra virgin olive oil as a finishing oil – drizzled over soups, spreads, and salads.
Virgin red palm oil
Palm oil has a distinct reddish hue because it contains high levels of beta carotene. It has a waxy, nutty flavor and it is safe to cook with at high temperatures. Always shop for virgin, unrefined palm oil. Unfortunately, palm monoculture threatens the survival of orangutans, which are currently endangered. Look for a brand that is orangutan friendly and helps to preserve their natural habitat.
Coconut and palm shortening
Begging for a healthy alternative, traditional shortening is made with hydrogenated vegetable oil and filled with unhealthy trans fatty acids. This coconut and palm shortening is that healthy alternative. It contains organic, unfiltered palm and coconut oil…making it safe to cook with and good for you.
Coconut butter
Coconut butter is the fiber-filled “meat” or pulp of the coconut. It’s often used as a substitute to nut butters, to make vegan fudge, drizzle over roasted winter squash, or in paleo desserts. You can also make your own.
Coconut oil
Coconut is loved by many for its ability to safely withstand high temperatures during cooking. It’s a healthy vegetable oil that’s filled with easy-to-use fat, giving you a boost in energy while flavoring your food.
Flours & alternatives
Grains and grain flour
Sprouted wheat flour
Organic and sprouted, this flour is easier to digest and bind to important minerals you that you need to be healthy.
Sprouted corn flour
Gluten-free, organic, and sprouted for better nutrition. Use this sprouted flour to make cornbread, tortillas, tamales, and chips. Also just the thing to thicken soups and stews.
Einkorn flour
This wheat flour is made with einkorn, a wild variety of wheat that has a long history dating back to before the agricultural revolution over 10,000 years ago. While no wheat is suitable for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, you may find that ancient einkorn is easier to digest.
Freekah
With roots in middle eastern and north African cuisine, freekah (or frikeh) is made with green durum or “pasta” wheat. Freekah’s wheat has been roasted, rubbed, and cracked so that is resembles bulgur. Use as a side dish with traditional spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, cumin, and almonds or add to soups.
Wheat berries
A wheat berry is the entire wheat kernel. You can add cooked wheat berries to salad, bake it into bread, or make a porridge with wheat berries. Ann Wigmore developed a popular fermented drink called rejuvalac using wheat berries.
Gluten-free oats
Gluten-free oats that have been coarsely chopped, allowing them to cook quickly. They have the exact same flavor as regular rolled oats, but have a slightly finer texture.
Organic panko breadcrumbs
Flakey, light, airy. Panko is made from white bread and can be used for breading to add a crunchy topping to casseroles or macaroni.
Arrowroot powder
Often used in place of corn starch as a grain-free thickener for paleo or grain-free sauces, gravies, and stews.
Grain-free alternatives
Almond flour
Gluten-free and safe for folks with gluten sensitivity, almond flour makes it possible for you to bake some of your favorite foods without using grains. When it comes to almond flour, baked goods tend to turn out better with a finer grind. When shopping for almond flour, be careful not to confuse it with almond meal, which is a coarse grind that includes almond skin.
Cassava flour
Grain-free, gluten-free, and nut-free. Cassava flour is made from cassava or yuca root. Easy to bake with and just the thing to get the right texture for paleo pancakes, waffles, cookies, and pizza crust.
Coconut flour
Grain-free, gluten-free, and nut-free. Coconut flour is made from dried, ground coconut meat and popular in paleo baked goods. It is high fiber and absorbs quite a bit of liquid. When used alone, it often yields a softer and denser product.
Snacks and “fast” food
Almond butter
The best nuts are organic, soaked, and sprouted. The best nut butters are made from these nuts. If inspired, you can easily make your own nut butter.
Good Health potato chips
Most brands of chips (even if organic) use unhealthy oils for frying. Look for chips made with a fat that can withstand high temperatures, like Jackson’s Honest (made with coconut oil) or Good Health (made with avocado oil).
Jackson’s Honest sweet potato chips
Sweet potatoes are the paleo-friendly cousin of potato. Non-GMO, these chips made with heat-stable coconut oil.
Sea Snax
A strangely addictive and crunchy chip alternative made with seaweed, olive oil, and sea salt.
Sogo grass-fed beef sticks
Verified by the Non-GMO Project, no added hormones, no antibiotics, pastured raised and free range.
Wild Zora lamb and veggie bars
Whole30 and AIP compliant bars made with pasture raised lamb and organic vegetables. Also allergen-friendly, which means these bars are nightshade-free, nut-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free, and soy-free.
Brooklyn Biltong
Grass-fed and Whole30 compliant. South Africa’s version of beef jerky. Instead of dehydrating the meat, biltong is air dried – keeping it tender and juicy.
The New Primal beef jerky
Grass-fed and grass-finished beef raised on pastures in New Zealand, without antibiotics and added hormones. Sweetened with pineapple juice and honey. Infused with hints of onion, pepper, and ginger.
Hakubaku ramen
Organic wheat noodles. Ready in under four minutes.
Beverages
Coconut water
Made from young green coconuts from Thailand, coconut water hydrates with all natural electrolytes.
Coconut milk
In some recipes that call for dairy, you may be able to use coconut milk instead. Coconut milk can be a rich and creamy addition to soups, curries, sauces, desserts, and beverages.
Organic, fair-trade coffee
Grown without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Organic and fair trade coffee gives farmers a minimum fair price for their crop. Rainforest Alliance certified means that there’s focus on biodiversity and ensures the rights of workers and local people.
Dandy Blend
If you are avoiding coffee (or caffeine) for health reasons but miss holding a warm cup of brew in your hands, you may want to try this herbal coffee substitute. It’s made with roasted dandelion, chicory, beets, barely, and rye. Dandy Blend is non-GMO and gluten-free.
Nutpods
Vegan, kosher, gluten-free, non-GMO and Whole30 compliant. Also free from carrageenan, dairy, and soy. Use Nutpods as a delicious coffee creamer alternative.
Desert Farms camel milk kefir
Probiotic, raw, and pasture raised. All the immune balancing and gut healing benefits of camel milk…fermented. Kefir goes a step further to enhance the good that camel milk does for the body by introducing communities of probiotics to your gut.
Tealixer herbal kombucha
Probiotic, non-GMO, gluten-free, and non alcoholic. Traditionally, kombucha is a fizzy fermented drink made with black tea. This kombucha includes herbs, which are extra potent when fermented.
Water filter
As essential as water is, you’d think that good-quality drinking water would be easy to come by. It’s not. And one of the best things you can do for yourself is get a water filter that removes heavy metals, drug residues, chlorine, and fluoride.
Fermented food starters
Kombucha brewing kit
Organic and DIY. If you’ve fallen in love with kombucha, you may want to begin making your own. This kit gets you started. Click here a visual step-by-step guide.
Yogurt and cheese starters
Interested in an easy way to make yogurt? Watch this tutorial and find out how to make countertop yogurt with raw milk. Also use a mesophilic starter for a variety of hard cheeses including cheddar, monterey jack, stilton, edam, gouda, muenster, blue, and colby cheese.
Cultures For Health milk kefir grains
Probiotic, gluten-free, and non-GMO. Make traditional kefir using this heirloom starter culture. Use as a tangy base for smoothies and salad dressings. One packet will make a new batch every 24 hours.
Salt, spices & condiments
Celtic sea salt
Hand harvested and dried in the sun. Filled with naturally occurring minerals.
Chipotle in adobo
When your recipe calls for chipotle in adobo, it can be tough to find a canned version that doesn’t contain sugar or soybean oil. We recommend making your own, using these organic dried chipotle peppers.
Primal Palate spice blends
Organic, Whole30 approved, gluten-free, kosher, non-GMO, and non-irradiated. These spices are un-messed-around-with, just as nature intended.
Za’atar
A blend with roots in middle eastern cuisine, za’atar usually contains oregano, thyme, and savory mixed with sesame seeds, dried sumac, and salt. Za’atar is used as a seasoning for meat, vegetables, and bread or it is sprinkled on hummus.
Tessemae’s BBQ sauce
Organic, gluten-free, and Whole30 compliant. While you could make your own, it’s always nice to have some ready-made sauce on hand.
Tessemae’s ketchup
Organic, gluten-free, and Whole30 compliant. If you want to make (and ferment) your own, click here for a cultured ketchup recipe.
Sir Kensington’s Mayonnaise
Non-GMO, soy-free, and gluten-free. This mayo is made with certified humane free range eggs and sunflower oil.
Primal Kitchen mayo
Made with avocado oil and cage-free organic eggs. If you feel so inclined, you may want to make your own mayo and use it for homemade ranch dressing.
Tessemae’s ranch dressing
Organic, gluten-free, and Whole30 compliant.
KC Natural barbecue sauce
Organic and nightshade-free, this sauce is both paleo and AIP compliant.
Red Boat fish sauce
Gluten-free. No shellfish, added water, MSG, or preservatives.
Soy sauce
Organic, unpasteurized, and probiotic. Soy sauce is traditionally made from a fermented paste of boiled soybeans and roasted grain, like wheat. Because of how it’s delicately processed, this soy sauce contains live enzymes and beneficial microbes.
Coconut aminos
Organic, fermented, non-GMO, soy-free, and gluten-free. Made from the nutrient-rich sap of the coconut tree, naturally aged and blended with mineral rich sea salt.
Sriracha
Gluten-free and all natural. With a half pound of peppers in every bottle, you won’t find any preservatives, sulfites, thickeners, or additives. This sriracha is sweetened with pure Vermont maple syrup. Or, if you’re interested in making your own, click here for a Whole30 compliant sriracha.
Natural sweeteners
Raw honey
One hundred percent pure, natural, unheated, unfiltered, and fresh from healthy beehives. Raw honey contains the highest possible levels of live enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Click here to find out how raw honey is better than white sugar.
Sucanat
Organic and fair trade certified. Sucanat is dehydrated whole cane sugar that retains its molasses content, meaning it’s rich in the vitamins and minerals naturally found in cane sugar.
Coconut sugar
Organic, non-GMO, unrefined, and unprocessed. Coconut sugar is made from the fresh coconut tree sap collected from the cut flower buds. The sap is heated to evaporate moisture, resulting in the crystal or granular form of sugar. Its taste is similar to brown sugar, with a hint of caramel.
Maple syrup
Organic and kosher. This dark grade syrup is made late in the season when the sugar content in the sap is at its lowest. Extra boiling gives a strong maple flavor.
Kitchen equipment
Pressure cooker
Cook food faster and save energy with a pressure cooker. Use pressure cooking to mimic the effects of a long braise, whip up a batch of stock, and tenderize tough cuts of meat.
Slow cooker
The quintessential “set it and forget it” kitchen appliance. Made with dishwasher safe stoneware and a tempered-glass lid.
Le Creuset french oven
A large pot made of cast iron with an enamel coating, a french oven is ideal for moist cooking methods, like braising or making soups and stews. The Le Creuset french oven is coated with enamel that resists chipping and cracking.
Stainless steel stock pot
High sides slow evaporation, making it the prefect vessel for slow-cooking chili, stews, and soups. Also just what you need to simmer stocks and boil pasta.
Stainless steel frying pan
For even heat distribution without hot spots. The starburst finish makes pan stick resistant and easy to clean. Ideal for searing, browning, and pan frying everything from eggs and meat to veggies.
Immersion blender
Tired of batch blending your butternut squash soup? Or lugging your whole blender over to the sink and disassembling its parts? An immersion blender makes blending and cleanup a breeze.
Cuisinart food processor
For chopping veggies and shredding cheese to pureeing cashews into nut butter or roasted cauliflower into mash. A good food processor is an indispensable kitchen tool for anyone who wants to save some time.
Vitamix blender
Maybe the best blender you’ll ever own. Comes with a BPA free 64-ounce container and spill proof vented lid. Laser cut, stainless steel hammer mill and cutting blades. All backed by a 5 year warranty.
Dual julienne & vegetable peeler
Ultra sharp and dishwasher safe. Peel your veggies and make matchstick strips for coleslaws, salads, and stir fries.
Spiralizer
For making zucchini zoodles and sweet potato swoodles.
Kitchen shears
Peel fruit and vegetables, scale fish, grate cheese, crack shells, and open bottles. Smart non-slip handle. Comes apart for easy cleaning.
Chef’s knife
High-carbon German stainless steel hot-drop forged blades and bolsters. Perfect blade shape for mincing, slicing and dicing.
Paring knife
High-carbon German stainless steel hot-drop forged blades and bolsters. Small, light, and versatile. Good for peeling, cutting, cleaning, and making garnishes with fruit and vegetables.
AccuSharp knife sharpener
With a safety hand grip, sharpen knives easily.
KitchenAid stand mixer
5 quart stainless steel bowl with a comfortable handle. Mix as much as nine dozen cookies or four loaves of bread in a single batch. The tilt-head design allows easy access to the bowl. Good for tasks such as stirring wet and dry ingredients together, kneading bread dough, and whipping cream.
Excalibur dehydrator
Comes with nine trays (a total of fifteen square feet of drying space) and an adjustable thermostat temperature control that ranges from 105F to 165F. Dehydrating foods helps to preserve nutrients while transforming perishable foods into travel friendly snacks. Make dried fruit, raw veggie bread, crunchy raw sprouted nuts, or meat jerky. Trays can be removed to raise bread, make yogurts, and use for crafts.
Ice cream maker
Makes two quarts of your favorite frozen treat in under half an hour. An integrated motor, double-insulated freezer bowl, and automatic mixing paddle do all the work. Easy cleanup. Ideal for fresh sorbet, frozen yogurt, or nutrient-dense ice cream.
Wide mouth canning jars
Canning jars are always handy. Whether you’re preserving jams, jellies, or your backyard harvest…mixing a quick vinaigrette…or fermenting a batch of sauerkraut.
Plastic lids
Plastic lids for the canning jars above to keep your preserves fresh.
Get It Right silicone spatula set
No more burned wooden spoons. Or gunk stuck between a silicone head and a wooden handle. Unibody silicone construction, heat resistant to 464F, easy to clean, dishwasher and nonstick safe, and nearly indestructible. Ideal for mixing, folding, spreading, scraping, and flipping.
Digital food cooking thermometer
Get a perfect cook on your meat. With the push of a button, the foldaway probe will pop open for quick and easy temperature read.