Food is Awesome

As you probably already know by my last post, living here has given me a healthy appreciation for being able to feed my family. Every time I find a new solution to it, I am so excited. Tonight, though, is probably the happiest I've been in awhile over it.

I was reading some random blog tonight and decided to look up a site they talked about as a source for coconut oil. I really can't buy coconut oil here, so what we do have we buy in the States. I figured they wouldn't actually ship to us, or it would be expensive, but figured a look costs nothing but time.

Hello, I feel like I hit a gold mine! Not only do they ship to APO/FPO (and even DPOs), but they do it for FREE! I actually started looking for some tribute to the military page or something because there was no explanation for it. They do charge shipping for all other orders, so that made it even odder. But, completely, incredibly awesome.

So, I just spent $150 on a huge order of stuff I'd been waiting to buy when we go to the States in a couple of weeks. They had a 15% off coupon, plus some specials on things we needed, so that cut the price quite a bit. Because I ordered it online using our FPO address, I also didn't have to pay tax, which means it pretty much beats any price I'd get at Whole Foods, which is where I was buying most of what I ordered. This also means less stuff we have to manage when we go. Less time shopping, more time having fun. I'm all for that one.

As an added bonus, this is a website that specializes in organics and other items that are high on the healthy list. I'm a bit of a health food freak, and intensely picky about what food I buy for our family, something that has only gotten worse with time. Feeding us was actually the biggest issue I worried about when we decided to come here after what I'd heard of the place.

Surprisingly, I think we are actually eating a lot healthier now. Between the lack of restaurant options (we were so bad about eating out in Washington!), ridiculously expensive meat that has lead us to eating more vegetarian, and high-priced processed goods (we had a $4.99 bag of Tostito's corn chips today for a snack), not to mention all the things like ice cream I now make from scratch just because we can't buy anything we like here, our meals are a lot more basic. I'm guessing that has been a huge factor in our weight loss, besides the running. Which is good, because I'm not one to diet. I so have no ability to control myself like that.


If you're interested, here's the link to their site. I'm not getting anything out of this post except an opportunity to share my excitement. When we go back to the States, I'm so going to buy some grass-fed beef, too. I never realized I could order something like that. I looked for it in Washington but never found it in the stores near us.