01 Aug Inside the Fridge: Whitney

Inside the Fridge welcomes Whitney, the voice behind WhitLikesFit! Cowboy boots, country music, and the occasional mason jar of beer…that’s just a slice of this Portlander’s pie. Between a full time job, blog, hubbie, doggie, and her regular workouts, she’s one busy lady. What’s her philosophy? Life is short, and you only get one. So enjoy it. Eat the cookie, have the glass of wine, but go to the gym and make smart choices. Whit’s recent “smart choice” includes a kitchen sans all the artificial mumbo jumbo. She’s enjoying the challenge of cooking from scratch!

ITF: Where do you shop for food? 

Whit: We primarily do our shopping at Fred Meyer which is part of the Kroger family.  It’s definitely a one-stop shop kind of place with everything from groceries to home goods.  They have a great selection of organic and natural products too which is great.  Occasionally I want something a little more natural like vitamins, organic beef or our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough and then I’ll head over to New Seasons.  We also shop at Costco for a few staples – organic chicken, bulk blueberries (for smoothies), coffee and shrimp. And last but not least, I’ll head over to Trader Joe’s for my staples – almond butter, goat gouda, pre-steamed beets and their handful of almond packets.

ITF: Do you love food shopping or dread it?

Whit: I love food shopping!  It’s my favorite type of shopping.  I would gladly take a trip to Fred Meyer over one to the mall.  I also love going to new grocery stores, especially natural/organic ones.  Drop me off and let me wander for hours and I’d be in heaven.

ITF: What is the single most important thing on your mind when you are shopping for food?

Whit: That the food I’m putting in my cart is safe for my husband and I to eat.  I’ve tried really hard to cut out processed foods and we definitely buy organic when it makes sense.  Pesticides, chemicals, additives and fake things freak me out and I’m definitely ok spending more money to either buy a “natural” product or buy all the ingredients to make it myself.

ITF: What is your weekly food budget? 

Whit: We typically spend $70-$80 a week on our weekly trips and then head to Costco once or twice a month which each trip coming in around $50 – $100.  I feel like that’s pretty reasonable for groceries when you think about that food covers our daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  My husband however, thinks that’s spendy. 

ITF: What is the most coveted food in the fridge right now for each member of the household? Why? 

Whit: For me, it’s nut butter.  Right now in the fridge I have 3 different kinds, an almond butter and two types of peanut butter.  I put it in my smoothies, on rice cakes, on sandwiches, on apples, in my oatmeal, eat it plain etc.  For Chris, I’d go with Greek yogurt.  He religiously eats it every day in his lunch. I feel like I would be in big trouble if I ever came home from the store and forgot it!

ITF: What cooking utensil/piece of equipment/appliance do you live for?

Whit: Chris and I have a smoothie for breakfast every day and there is no way I could live without my Magic Bullet.  I’m also obsessed with my Cuisinart Griddler.  The weather here is not “outdoor grill friendly” most of the year  so we rely on the Griddler to grill up all our chicken breasts.  It also makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich.  We love it so much its now “our thing” that we buy for any friend’s wedding gift.

ITF: When you hear the word “homemade” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

Whit: My grandma’s macaroni and cheese just popped into my head.  Even though most everything Chris and I eat now is homemade, I think I will always associate that word with my grandparents.  Which in fact, is how I think we should all think about it.  Eat how your grandparents ate and I bet you’d be pretty darn healthy because they didn’t have all these processed food offerings that we have now.

ITF: How have your cooking/shopping habits changed over the last 10 years?

Whit: I have cut way back on processed foods.  When I was just out of college I was big into diet everything – diet drinks, sugar free cookies, 100 calorie packs, Splenda, low fat everything… I just wasn’t aware that all those low calorie things had chemicals in them to get them that way…that they weren’t real, whole foods.  Now, there is no way I would put Splenda in anything and I’ve learned to read food labels to look for things like high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, etc.  Even though making something from scratch takes longer, I’m much happier knowing I’m doing what I can to keep my body full of whole foods.

ITF: What are your go-to food/nutrition/culinary/cooking website/s, book or cookbook?

Whit: I love Pinterest!  That’s probably my biggest go-to place right now.  However, it’s a tricky site because people are posting these amazing looking dinners and desserts…like crazy, delectable, make your mouth water kind of things so while they look lovely and I’d love to eat them, I don’t.  I make sure the people I follow on Pinterest are healthy – Fitfluential is a great one to follow because they pull in healthy recipes from a variety of bloggers and sites.  I also get a ton of my recipes from blogs, some of my favorites include The Fitnessista, The Gracious Pantry, Skinny Taste and Eating Bird Food.

ITF: What are you working on these days that you’d like to tell us about?

Whit: Well, to be honest, I’ve had a bit too much fun this summer and have been noticing a few extra pounds when I get on the scale in the morning.  I’m all about having fun but I feel like I’ve been on some sort of vacation or out of town every weekend and it’s adding up.  I’m just trying to be more conscious of my diet, especially sweets, chips and alcohol.  Those are my major trigger foods!

Thank you Whitney!

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