What should I buy?

[SCUBAgal]

Will be making a trip to the states this weekend and will be stocking up.

Lots of meats and frozen vegi's (fresh aren't allowed) but I'm looking for help in the "other" stuff.

I was thinking of getting flax, and I keep seeing recipes for almond flour and for unsweetened coconut (although I could just chop one up here as we have them all over our yard :anger , but that is just TOO much work, lol).

Where can I buy these things? Will a regular grocery store have them? We'll probably be going to either a Sam's or BJ's (wholesale clubs) and probably a superwalmart for the other groceries. Or do I need to find a health food store? And what can I expect to pay for these things adn do they keep? I know I can't use the almond flour and the coconut for awhile yet but I have no clue when my next trip will be so I'd rather buy now to use later if they keep in the frig/freezer.

Thanks!!

[Moochiecat]

First off, buy yourself a little coffee grinder...you can pick them up cheap at any kitchen or department store.
Get a bag of flax seeds, store them in the fridge, and grind up a jarful at a time to keep everything nice and fresh.
Almond flour is just ground almonds, and you can do those up in the coffee grinder yourself as well.
You should be able to find everything at a regular grocery store. I buy my flax seed at a health food store because the bulk bin is small, and I know it's a popular thing and gets refilled often, so the product is always fresh.
I buy my ground almonds in the bulk section of the supermarket, but if I were buying a large amount, I'd just buy baking almonds and do it myself at home.
I don't think you'll have any problem finding these things.

[Heidi3]

cheese!....buy lots of good cheeses ....they are legal on all levels!!!..also there is some jarred and canned heavy cream that I sent to a friend in Japan who said she loved it!...it is so thick you can eat it literally with a fork!...dried mushrooms.....anything dried ......boullion cubes that you like....depends what you like and what you are not able to find there....good bulk herbs ..whole spices....kosher salt...whole pepper corns....how much room do you have?....I agree with the coffee grinder but I will pass on the flax..use it to grind whole spices ...like cinnamon....you can buy sticks that stay fresher and whole nutmeg coriander seed all the seeds ...buy two like I have one for savory spices and one for sweet....(I use them when the morter and pestal give me a headache!) .....fresh spices make a WORLD of differance in cooking I think!

[not2late]

Nuts will keep in the freezer. You might want to buy the whole or blanched almonds and grind them yourself. You can buy whole almonds in the baking section of BJ or Sams (big bags too!).

Coconuts----crack the ones in your backyard (you'll burn some calories off while you do it too)! The coconut here isn't that great PLUS finding unsweetened coconut is hard.

What part of the US will you be in? Some of my local markets sell flax, whey protein etc. If we know what state, we could probably find someone here who is from there and knows the stores.

[SCUBAgal]

I'll be in West Palm Beach FL on Friday/Sat. (and Port St. Lucie) and then up near Cocoa Beach area for Sun/Mon.

I can't bring fresh herbs on the plane...agricultural/customs regulations or whatever. I'm not sure about cheeses...I will check. We do get cheese here (which means I'd be paying duty on those!). We just get the kraft block cheeses in the packs, like cheddar, colby, pepper jack, etc. so those are good enough for me I think. We also get the shredded ones too.

I will definitly be looking for a small coffee grinder! What a great idea! I figured I'd end up spending big bucks on a food processor which would only get used for this...the grinder sounds alot more budget friendly!!

[Heidi3]

too bad there are restrictions my folks lived in the Caribbean for a long long time and we could bring all kinds of stuff down ..but then they ended up having great markets so we stopped and just bought stuff there...Cheese should be fine it is packaged and sealed....dried herbs should be fine...low carb tortillas if you are there yet..... Do you get callaloo there? it is a great green just like collards!!! but sweeter I think ...I cooked with it all the time when I visited...there are soo many options for eating there I just can not imagine missing too much!!!....