where do you buy dried fruit, etc. for trail mix?

[mckeev5]

I thought I would make my own trail mix and wondered where everyone shops for the dried fruit? Do you go to a regular store or is there a specialty store? Do you get the nuts and other ingredients with or without salt? Where do get pumpkin seeds? Thanks!!

 

[Dani53]

I think a good health food store should have all of that stuff in bulk and you can put together what you want. I know I get pumpkin seeds from our local health foods store. Trader Joes is fairly well known and they may have that, or Wild Oats which is another larger type of store.

 

[allwildgirl]

My grocery store has a really good bulk section that has all those things. I buy unsalted everything. Right now I have roasted soya nuts, almonds, dried apricots, raisins, Cheerios. It's so much better than the pre-made stuff that I've tried. You can actually taste all the different things in it

 

[mckeev5]

Soya nuts? Never heard of them. Our grocery store does not carry a lot of these things. I am going to have to go hunting around to find them. Can you get dried fruit with less sugar? How much do you usually eat for a serving? I found a package of ocean spray cranberries and chocolate craisin trail mix. It is good. I have a hard time stopping myself from eating that.

 

[mckeev5]

Is there a website for Trader Joes so you can order?

 

[kathryn]

You can also get raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc.) at many health food stores. Even better, IMO, than roasted.

The dried fruit in health food stores is often dried without sulfhur (sp?), which is a good thing.

 

[kathryn]

Can you get dried fruit with less sugar?

Buying dried fruit with no additives is as low-sugar as it comes. Craisins have sugar added, as does some dried pineapple and mango.

 

[mckeev5]

Thanks Kathryn--I am trying to learn. No one in my family eats healthly(never has). This is all new to me. I just need to find a health food store. Hopefully I can find what I need.

ETA: How do I know what to look for?

 

[kathryn]

>ETA: How do I know what to look for?

In terms of what? The dried fruit? The nuts?

For dried fruit, look for no sugar, no sulfites/sulfur. The best thing to find is dried fruits where the fruit is the only ingredient. They sometimes aren't as pretty as the sulfured dried fruits (for example, dried apricots that have sulfur added are bright orange, those without are darker. But sulfur also allows the fruits to retain more moisture, so you are paying for more water than in the un-sulfured variety. ) (Is there a spell-check here? "Sulphur/sulfur" just doesn't look right to me, and it's bugging me! If it were French, I'd know how to spell it!)

I also get organic if I can find it. It's better for the environment, better for the people who work in the fields, and organic foods often have higher mineral content than non-organic (the vitamin content of foods is about the same no matter how it's grown, but the mineral content depends on the mineral content of the soil.)

For nuts, the same thing: nuts only as the sole ingredient.

Now Foods makes a trail mix with raw almonds, cashews, raisins and a couple of other kinds of nuts. They also have packaged raw nuts (and their prices are pretty good.)

 

[mckeev5]

Sulfur--I think!

I didn't know with dried fruits if there was a label listing ingredients. I have seen dried apricots but there was nothing listed. It just said dried apricots and had a price. Sorry, I should have been more specific with the question. I need to find a good source that tells what the ingredients actually are (or mean).

Thanks for taking the time to reply to all my questions.

Does Naturally Yours stores carry food items (dried fruits, etc)? I think there is one of these stores about 50 minutes away.

ETA: I just noticed you are from Illinois. Where at? I am in Illinois too. Canton.

 

[kathryn]

I'm in Charleston.
Where is Canton?
Urbana has a really nice natural foods store, Strawberry Fields.
I've never heard of "Naturally Yours." Do they maybe have a web site you could check out?

 

[mckeev5]

Canton is about 50 minutes SW of Peoria. We just moved from Monticello (right between Champaign and Decatur) in November to Canton.

I am not sure about the website. I will have to look. I need to do a search and see if there are other stores too.