Helpful Hints

I was chatting with a friend and she told me some organic or hormone-free brand names to help me locate the items I was looking for. This really helped and I thought I could pass it along...also then I'll have it online so if I need it when I'm out I can find it.

Cheese -This was actually a hard one for me to find because at Target or HEB there's sooo much cheese and with 2 screaming kids in tow it's hard to read all the labels to see if it's organic. I did have more luck in the cheese section at the front of both stores though instead of the shredded cheese section at the back. Tillamook, Organic Valley (good cheese sticks) and Central Market Organics are some brands to look for. I also got some rbST free fresh mozzerella which is very good.

Butter - Challenge butter... rbST free

Snacks - Annie's...has fruit snacks, cheese snacks, pretzels, cereal and mac & cheese all shaped like bunnies!

Milk - We buy Central Market or Horizon, but may need to change this soon. I think they use the same CAFO cattle lot practices as other big name brands, but I'm not sure what our alternatives are right now and I'm not feeding the boys raw milk. So I need to do more research on this one!

Yogurt - My boys love Stoneyfield, but again I need to watch this company since it's getting big and may be resorting to commercial practices. Marci recommended Wallaby and Fage, but we haven't tried those yet.

Bread - I've tried some Sprout's organic multi-grain which was awesome, but not real kid friendly. I've been buying the Archer Farms brand at Target, but need to check them out. I found a Nature's Own Whole Wheat loaf that says it was made with organic flour so we'll try that out. I had some organic tortillas delivered in a Greenling basket.

Meat - I've found some called Laura's at Target, but I have generally been buying the chicken and beef at the farmers market where I'm sure it's grass-fed and supports local farmers.

Coffee- has been kind of difficult to find. Marci said she found Ruta Maya at Costco and I looked online and it's $2 cheaper at their store..so we may take a ride soon and get a bunch to last a while. The key here is to look for organic, shade grown and Free Trade certified. I figure going with Ruta Maya makes it local too so it hits all the good points!

Cleaning supplies - Still trying to use them all that we already have...there's always Mrs. Meyer's and 7th Generation. Clorox also has "green" brand that is 99% green that I've been using.

Please let me know if you have any other brands that you like that I can add to my list. I've found having the name brands has helped me cut down on some of the hit-or-miss of trying to find organic products that we all like.