Not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous showing ya’ll the actual insides of my fridge!
Naturally, I scrubbed it top to bottom, removed the mysterious sticky drippings from the bottom & hand washed each shelf. There’s other things I found at the bottom of my fridge, but it’s so disgusting I can’t bring myself to tell you. It was gross, ya’ll. Nothin’ like a showing your fridge to thousands of people to get you to deep clean it!
So I guess I should say thank you for motivating me to do something I should have done months ago.
Now, before I show you what’s lurking behind those big black doors, let me just say that my fridge looks a lot different depending on the season. When I say “season”, I don’t necessarily mean Summer, Fall, Winter, or Spring. I also mean, the “Seasons of my Life”. Sometimes, I’m rocking the homemade mommy role and I make everything from mayo to mozzarella cheese from scratch. Sometimes, I just don’t have the time or the energy to be super mama, and that’s okay. Lucky for us mamas, there’s a lot of GREAT, HEALTHY, ORGANIC products out there to fill in the gaps for us. Instead of feeling bad about not being perfect, I feel glad that I can support companies who are trying to make a difference in this world full of GMOs (affiliate link), BPA, & Artificial everything.
So, without further adieu, I present to you….
My Real Food Fridge!
Let’s start from the top and go down…
- Sprouted Bread is a great alternative when we’re out of my soaked homemade bread.
- Love Butter. Seriously love it. I buy the Kerrygold brand because it’s grass-fed and the closest thing to raw butter, which isn’t readily available in my area.
- Our Pasture-Raised Eggs come from our own chickens. They yolks are a deep orange, full of pasture-raised goodness. We feed our chickens an organic, soy-free grain blend plus they eat grass and hundreds of bugs.
- Kombucha is my favorite drink. It’s my alternative to soda pop, and it rocks my world. It’s a great probiotic as well. You can learn about kombucha health benefits here.
- Our Raw Milk comes from our own goats that we milk every morning. Unfortunately, we’re at the end of the season and low on milk. Lucky for us, Lacey our goat is due any day (with triplets!) and her milk couldn’t come any sooner. Of course we’ll have to wait a bit to let her babies get some first, but after that we’ll have milk coming out our ears! You can read more about my guide to raising goats here.
- Over in the 1st door shelf we’ve got some Lemon & Lime Juice on hand for those times when fresh lemon & lime isn’t to be found. We’ve also got some bee pollen, and my favorite supplements, Fermented Cod Liver Oil (yes, the kids eat it too) and fresh ginger (aka my natural anti-inflammatory).
- On the 2nd shelf, I like to keep Organic Condiments on hand for those times I can’t make any homemade condiments myself. Did you know that you can make homemade condiments and turn them into a super-powered probiotic? See some of my favorite recipes here.
- For our Veggies, we usually stick to the basics – carrots, snap peas, peppers, tomatoes, etc. We really try to eat seasonally, and so we’re holdin’ off because in just a month, our fridge will be packed with produce from our garden.
- Below the veggies is my favorite drawer. Bacon, Cheese, Tortillas. What could be better? We make sure to spend more money on bacon that comes from pigs that see sunlight and that isn’t chock full of nitrates. We also like to eat raw cheese and buy tortillas that are sprouted. My own tortilla recipe rocks, though. Homemade tortillas are usually my 1st choice.
- Over on the 3rd door shelf, I’ve got Home-Rendered Tallow, which means, I bought beef kidney fat and rendered it down to tallow. It looks & tastes a lot like lard. Read why I eat traditional fats here & here.
- Next, I’ve got some Organic Pure Maple Syrup – this is where I buy mine (affiliate link), along with some Organic Peanut Butter & Organic Jam.
- Back to the middle we’ve got millions of Organic Peaches (I like to buy fruit in bulk and eat off that for a month) and below that are some Organic Potatoes along with onion & garlic.
- The last shelf on the door is Apple Cider Vinegar, a staple I use in soaked recipes – this is where I buy mine (affiliate link), other vinegar, and of course, Olive Oil.
For someone who doesn’t own a farm or anything close to that. Any tips on how to accomplish this type of lifestyle? I see alot of I grow my own insert whatever here or with your goats…I don’t/can’t currently own goats so any tips on where to buy all of this would be appreciated. I have a chronic illness that causes me to pass out alot and my kids this year have been sooo incredibly sick so I would love to try this, but have no idea where to begin!
Hi Ashley-
No, not everyone can have their own farm, so you have to make due with what you have. If you have local markets that sell quality produce and grass-fed meat you can buy that and start there. For organic items that are canned or bottled, you can find most of those items in the store or on Amazon. You can also buy grass-fed meat online at places like US Wellness Meats. https://grasslandbeef.com/
If you can find a farm that does sell milk and eggs, that is within driving distance, that is always a great option. Go to local farmers markets and you will find those folks that do sell fresh farm items and they can tell you how to keep in touch with them and buy more. Even with limited space, including small apartment balconies or indoors by windows, you can always grow a few fresh vegetables, fruits, or herbs in pots. Every little bit helps, so just do what you can and use what you have access to.
Try talking to your local County Extension Office as well. They can connect you with people that sell all kinds of fresh farm items, some that even do organic.
I hope that helps!
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Mine is a mix of real foods and processed since we are still in new to the real food living. But I have been canning my own foods for a few years now from our garden and I also have Nigerian Dwarf goats and chickens, and thanks to your inspiration my own kombucha (SCOBY purchased off amazon and I just keep the batches going). Home-canned applesauce, pickles, jam, sour kraut, relish, spaghetti sauce. Of course raw, delicious goat milk and eggs. Left over roasted goat leg. Organic produce and other items from Aldi’s.
That’s some of the stuff. Thanks for sharing all you do and manage on your farm!
Love the peep inside your frig! I share a frig with my Mom since moving in to be her caregiver. Mine is mostly organic, non-GMO, local. Mom’s is convenience, processed type foods. : (
Anybody know where I can get organic pastured eggs in the uk and a good source of raw milk and cheese. I live in Wales in the uk so anywhere nearish would be helpfull or somewhere online I could purchase them.
My dear hubby sent me a link to you and I love it. I have been without processed foods for 2 months, buying raw milk, making my own cheeses, butter and bread. As soon as the pasta and other items I call (poison) are gone I will never buy it again. I will make my own. I make my own mayo and ketchup now. I am back to canning and freezing foods. I use whey in a lot of my cooking. (I always seem to be drowning in whey LOL) Oh in the first 6 weeks I lost 25 lbs and the only difference was no processed food. I cannot wait to try your bread recipe looks fantastic!!
Can you help people get a scoby so that we can try for ourselves? .. I would love to try!
Samantha, you can grow your own scoby by leaving store bought kombucha at room temp for a week or two. Put it in a wide mouth jar along with some freshly brewed , but room temp sweetened tea. And depending on how warm your house is, you will have a scoby in no time. Cover it with something like a coffee filter/rubber band to keep bugs out. The warmer the room, the faster it grows. A cold environment will take longer.
You can buy them on Amazon!
Mine is looking a lot more like yours now, except I have a person in the house that refuses to give up the junk. Minus soda and snack food, it looks really looks good. I thought the real problem to the transformation to healthy eating would be giving up all the junk food, instead it is the family. I just taught my 14 year old about all the flavored Corn syrups out there, and I even was shocked myself. Learning to make a lot more from scratch, especially chocolate syrup 😉
Thank you so much for sharing! Would you consider sharing what your pantry looks like as well?
We too use almond/sun butter instead of peanut.
Where do you get your sprouted bread and tortillas? I have been buying Trader Joe’s bread, but wondered how good it is. I haven’t seen tortillas. Maybe Sprouts/Whole Foods?
Nice! next, can you show us your pantry? medicine cabinet/make-up drawer?
Your fridge looks like ours except we have the oils, acv, maple sugar, potatoes and onions in the pantry too (even in Arizona) but we don’t have a bunch of windows. We also have the dates in the pantry (out of sight out of mind so we don’t eat them too much), but they are definitely better cold!
Looks similar to mine, but I’m not quite there yet! Question, do you need to keep your Bragg apple cider vinegar in the fridge? I don’t. Or the extra virgin olive oil, potatoes and onions? I just keep those items in a cool, dark cabinet. I thought the moisture isn’t great for the potatoes? But maybe I’m storing them all wrong!
OMG! LOL!! LOVE your comment in the picture “KerryGold butter is normally here, but I ate it all”!!! I always try to keep an emergency stash somewhere where I can’t see it so if I ever run out and they are all out at the store, I can still have my precious butter 🙂
I love the conversation around the fridge. I grew up on a maple syrup lot and to this day I do not understand organic maple syrup. All maple syrup should be… cause how is a maple tree not. The best organic fairtrade soap I use from the baby to the dog to my floors and my hair is Dr. Bonner’s
Good food choices. Poor container choices. You have several ACIDIC items stored in plastic. This is a recipe for hormonal disaster. Plastic leaches into food and causes havoc in the body. Highly acidic foods are ketchup, lemon and lime juice, maple syrup, and mustard.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/25/even-bpafree-plastics-leach-endrocrinedisrupting-chemicals.aspx
Solution: Make own lemon and lime juice fresh and store in glass. Make own purchase ketchup in glass. Make own mustard, much less expensive and easy to do. Find maple syrup in glass jar.
What is the point of having such pure organic foods with toxic petro-chemicals leaching in them?
Brett…do you have a mustard recipe that you use. That is something I would like to try.
It looks good.. Low grade for non organic Ketchup and mustard. I wouldn’t eat peanuts.
The lemons and limes should be real .. not juice
You are fortunate to get raw milk in that area
Thanks for sharing
Looks like Annie’s to me…both organic. But I would like to know how you make your mustard…my husband LOVES mustard.
Sorry I see you are not the person that makes their mustard :/
that’s Annie’s organic ketchup and mustard
Looks fairly similar to mine…though we only do tapioca bread sparingly and no milk either 🙁 Instead we usually have a couple cans of coconut milk (I know, BPA!). Right now we’re doing orange and carrot juice fermented with whey…it’s very good and super easy to make, I highly recommend it! i too go in spurts with whether I’m making everything from scratch or buying organic. So glad to hear I’m not alone.
Potatoes really aren’t best stored in the fridge, it causes the starch to convert to sugar and then they brown oddly when cooked. https://www.stilltasty.com/questions/index/74
I clicked submit too soon….our fridges look similar otherwise 🙂 Good eats, although I need to clean mine. Usually mine has a half dozen dozens of eggs in it and about 6 half gallons of raw goat milk if I need to make some cheese.
Where do you get your lemon and lime juice? I go through a LOT of it (my husband works outdoors and I make him a homemade electrolyte drink to replace Gatorade) and right now I hand juice lemons and limes by the dozen…I have yet to find a bottled juice that’s just juice and nothing else.
I’m happy to report that your fridge looks a lot like my fridge, though like the others, my garlic, onions, potatoes are kept in the pantry, the ACV, olive oil and syrup are too. I keep my coconut oil out also, even though I live in the desert of Southern California and so it’s always liquid. We have yogurts too (not homemade… I haven’t gotten that down yet… but they’re organic and have at least 6 different strains in them).
Other than that…the same. YAY! Thank you for sharing (and the Kerrygold caption made me laugh)
How do you get your kids to take FCLO? I give it to my 4 yr old on his toast with peanut butter (both organic.) But I would like to find other ways to give it to him so he doesn’t eat so much bread.
Thankfully my daughter is only 11 months so I can start her early on it and used to taking it. 🙂
I spread my almond butter on thin rice cakes- and before adding sliced strawberries, I generously sprinkle my own mix of- lite & dark flax seed, hemp hearts, sesame and sunflower seed. Six of these are a meal for me
we give it to our daughters (5yrs & 2 are aged 3.5) straight on a spoon. We do the butter oil blend in cinnamon. I told them when we started (18 or so months ago) anyone who complained got a double dose. they got used to it super quickly, and now LOVE it and don’t need a chaser (momma gags opening the jar though). i just didn’t have time for the whole “hide the FCLO” song and dance with three kids and crazy mornings. Good luck!
We also buy the fclo with butter oil in the cinnamon flavor. We started taking it back in March of this year, and my 9 and 5 year old take it from the spoon followed by a big gulp of milk or juice. By the time they drink and eat a few bites of breakfast, they don’t even remember taking it. We are wanting to try the mint next.
Hahahaha! Looks almost exactly like ours! Love it!
I wish ours looked like that, so inspiring!
What is bee pollen for? I have some but have never used it and not sure what to do with it. Why do you store your potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, ACV, oil, etc in the fridge? Is it a personally preference?
This is such a funny coincidence. I have a video scheduled on my blog today showing the inside of our frig!
Thank you for opening yours to us. 🙂
I want to try fresh ginger tea(to ease my stomach into it), Never worked with fresh ginger before. I really want to incorporate into my diet. Do you know how much ginger to water? I love your blog by the way! I learn so much and love your recipes. Will be trying your soaked bread recipe soon! I do use ginger essential oil, just rubbing a drop on the belly in a carrier oil to encourage healing with nausea and digestion. I also pair it with lemon oil to encourage detoxing while I am healing my SIBO. Great post!
How much ginger really depends on how spicy you want your tea! But for reference, when i make chai I use a knob of ginger about as big as my thumb from the tip to the first joint. I grate it (without peeling unless the peel is funky) and toss it in about a quart of liquid (half water, half milk with the other spices.
I would love a recipe for homemade chai
I love fresh ginger tea! It’s good for my tummy and gives me pep in the morning (a good alternative to coffee). Here is the recipe I use:
serves 1
1 teaspoon very finely grated fresh ginger (I use the zester or fine grates on a regular cheese grater works fine)
1 teaspoon honey (optional – but it helps my allergies and soothes my soar morning throat)
1 cup boiling water
combine the ingredients together, stir, and let set for 2 mins. Then enjoy!
Wow, your maple syrup is an AWESOME bargain!!! I think I am going to definitely have to switch!!! Thanks for that link,… yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 us some good syrup! 😉
I kinda wanna see your medicine cabinet/make-up drawer. You know the things like make-up, deodorant, face wash, shampoo conditioner (I’ve had the worst luck with shampoo and conditioner… Tried no poo and just can’t do it. I have a husband who is totally a scent guy and I love smelling good…. So I use aveeno shampoo and conditioner. >.> I replaced all of my expensive perfumes with some EO body sprays. Okay sorry done ranting.
Look into Shea moisture brand. It’s the best alternative to no poo that I know of. My target and walgreens both carry it in the ethnic hair care dept.
Nice! Next, can you show us your pantry?
Why do you store Olive Oil in the Fridge? Doesn’t that solidify it? Also, Braggs ACV and Peanut Butter are 2 things I usually don’t refrigerate?
I only store them in the fridge because it’s so hot here and my kitchen gets particularly warm because I have so many windows.
I didn’t know this until the beginning of this year, but peanut butter definitely should be kept refrigerated. Peanuts can be (and likely are) contaminated by a mold called aflaxtoxin. Refrigerating it can help keep the mold growth under control. (As a side note: If one is on the anti-Candida diet, peanuts are not allowed due to the mold. Pistacchios as well.)
We’ve switched to cashew/almond/sunflower seed butter for the above mentioned reasons.
Mine looks close!! One question though – does ACV, Olive oil, and syrup need to be refrigerated? I keep all of those in the cupboard 🙂
I know the syrup should be refrigerated especially if you don’t use it frequently. As far as the ACV and the olive oil go, I don’t keep those in the fridge I also don’t put root vegetables or tomatoes in the fridge.
LOVE it! It looks pretty much like mine and that is a LOT because of you! 6 months ago it would have looked horrendous. Bad. Thanks for opening up your fridge to us.