Sunday, May 18, 2008

Some of My Favorite Resources


This is my first time participating in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays which is hosted by Tammy @ Tammy's Recipes. My "tip" for this week is to share my sources for hard-to-find items. It has taken me a long time to find sources for different kitchen items as I have started to cook everything from scratch. I thought it might save someone else some time to see 25 great resources-ok 24 if you're coming here from Tammy's ;-) (in no particular order) all in one place. Hope you find something new.

1. Pleasant Hill Grain. Great resource for juicers, grain mills, dehydrators.

2. The Homestead Kitchen. Lot's of recipes, photos and links.

3. Juicers For Less. Juicers of course, yogurt making supplies, grain mills.

4. Something Better Natural Foods. Huge supply of organic food, herbs and products. I especially like the fact that they have pictures of each product and lots of recipes. They can ship nation wide.

5. The Vegetarian Express. A vegetarian and vegan food line. But don't over look them if you are not veg, they have bulk herbs, unique seasoning blends, unsweetened coconut which can be hard to find and other cool products like brown sesame seeds for cooking.

6. Azure Standard. The grand-daddy of organic bulk buying. Great prices on organic items, herbs, and groceries especially if you don't live close to a health food store. First time customers can request a free giant catalog. Monthly specials and they ship nation wide.

7. Lehmans. This is probably one of my favorite sites for all things for the home. They started in 1955 in Kindron, Ohio to sell products to the Amish. Today they have a retail store with a cafe in it. They still cater to Amish families so many of their products are old fashioned things that can be hard to find. Here are some highlights of things that they sell: tools, toys made in the USA for reasonable prices, kitchen gadgets, canning items, Zote and Fels-Naptha soaps for those of you who like to make your own laundry soap, recipe booklets for $2.00 that cover all kinds of topics including cheese, yogurt and butter making. They even sell wringer washers like I remember my grandma used to have and root beer making kits. They have a free print catalog for non-electric annual items with any order, and if you spend over $25.00 you can request their "visit us" packet that has local brochures and maps in it. You have to request both items as they don't come automatically.

8. Mountain Rose Herbs. Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking gave me this tip: organic coconut oil by the GALLON for $30.00 plus shipping. WOW I just paid $11.00 for 16 oz. at the health food store. Many other herbal products that are great deals as well.

9. Bulk Herb Store. Tammy at Tammy's Recipes gave me this tip on buying bulk herbal teas. You can get 1/2 pound of pregnancy tea mix for less than $8.00. Lot's of great recipes and herbal mixture instructions. Don't miss their new mama & baby kit. It contains teas, salves and herbs to make different baby products like a baby powder that contains lavender powder. I bet it smells great!

10. Essential Wholesale. Have you ever seen recipes for natural cleaners and soaps but wondered how they could be economical? I used to think that making a cleaner with lavender in it couldn't be very frugal when a 1 oz. bottle can be $7.00 to $11.00. I realize that you only need a few drops, but still.... this site sells everything from 1 oz. size to 55 gallon drums. Obviously it's geared towards people who want to make natural products to sell, but for example: you can get an 8 oz. bottle of lavender essential oil for $24.00. That should last a long time. You can also get soap making supplies and cosmetic products to make yourself like beeswax lip gloss.

11. Naturally Frugal Cleaning. Michelle has a great website with tons of "recipes" for making your own natural cleaners. Huge amount of great resources and tips.

12. The Herbwife's Kitchen. This is a really unique site with a mix of recipes that combine herb use for cooking and healing. Really fun to learn from and read.

13. Tammy's Recipes. Tammy has the most wonderful recipes that taste great, and her pictures & personal anecdotes about her family make for a fun and sweet blog.

14. Passionate Homemaking. Lindsay is a mom who has loads of great information about cooking healthy for your family and recipes. She has great info on soaking grains if you are following the Nourishing Traditions type of diet.

15. Pioneer Woman Cooks. Wow is all I can say! Her pictures are so yummy looking you want to try everything! A must read blog.

16. Bakerella. All things yummy from the oven. Esp. great cupcake recipes.

17. The Nourishing Gourmet. Great recipes and lots of info about nourishing food.

18. The Hillbilly Housewife. Tons of free information and research as well as recipes. I really love the section on making your own convenience foods.

19. Living on A Dime. I ordered Tawra's book and just love it. The ebooks are a great resource. Sign out for her newsletter for free with lots of great tips and recipes each time it arrives in your email.

20. Nourishing Indian Food. If you like the book Nourishing Traditions than you will like this site as it has Indian food with unique ingredients.

21.The Aldi Queen. If you shop at Aldi's then you will like this site with shopping lists and recipes.

22. Vermont Country Store. Looking for a product from yesterday and can't find it?? here's your source. Everything from food, vintage candy from your childhood, herbal salves, modest clothing, perfumes, tools and gadgets. I am going to give my grandma a gift certificate and catalog this year for her birthday as they carry all kinds of products that she has a hard time finding.

23. Sue Gregg. She is a wonderful teacher and her approach to whole foods is very down-to-earth and easy to do. I have my wish list going of all the books I want to purchase. I esp. like her Christian approach (for myself) as I don't care for the "new age" philosophy.

24. Urban Homemaker. Lots of kitchen gadgets as well as books and cookbooks.

25. The Real Food Revolution. Nice blog with recipes and info on "real food" on a budget, losing weight while eating healthy etc.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great links! I can't wait to check them out, I had only heard of a few of them!
Thanks for sharing!
Toni

Lynn said...

Thanks for the links. There are several I have not heard of. Everyone keeps talking about Azure Standard. I wish the delivered to my area. I checked and they do not drop off anywhere near me. Shipping is so expensive if they do not drop of near you. Thanks for the great links.

Laura said...

I'm excited to check out some of these! I LOVE Azure Standard...and many of these others...but haven't heard of all of them. Thanks!

Sonshine said...

Welcome to Kitchen Tips!

I can't wait to check these links out along with the West MI ones(my current stomping grounds) in your sidebar!!! I am bookmarking your blog to come back later to read!

Thanks for sharing! Enjoy your week!

Mom2fur said...

Thanks so much for all the links. It's going to be fun checking these out!

Kelly said...

You're welcome. Hope you like them.