After about two hours and two stops this morning, I have nearly everything that I need for the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse. I couldn't even tell you the last time that I shopped for that length of time with such a comprehensive list. While I did manage to spend a bit of time prepping for the trip and determining what I already had on hand, I overlooked grouping needed items as they are arranged in my grocery store. Since I'm still new to this city and my grocery store, certain items are illusive on a regular trip... let alone a trip where I need to find coconut water and miso paste and French lentils.
If you're going to follow along too, then grab the four files from Bon Appetit's
website. There is a fantastic and fully comprehensive Shopping List (it assumes that you do not have anything required, which is great because then you can assess yourself and determine what you need to buy... rather than starting your prep and realizing that you are missing key spices or pantry items because you missed a recipe page when writing your own list), there are two Food Lover's Cleanse recipe documents (one for Week One and one for Week Two), and there is a schedule of all meals laid out in a two week calendar.
So, my recommendation on prepping for this little excursion would be to not only review your fridge, freezer and pantry to see what you already have BUT also to read, not review, the shopping list a few times and group any items accordingly. Otherwise, bring a buddy with you to stand with the cart while you run back to a passed aisle to grab that missed ingredient or as you wander aimlessly attempting to locate one of the more specialty items.
The other recommendation that I have, or maybe it is just a moment of honesty, is to do as much as you can but don't pull your hair out over following every aspect of this cleanse completely. I do give complete credit to those obviously talented chefs and food lovers at Bon Appetit for creating such a neat and appealing cleanse concept. I wish I had a larger pantry, a larger budget and a degree more patience in which to follow this cleanse fully. That said, I don't have any of those three (well, I do have a reasonable amount of patience), so I am making adjustments where I need and my substitutions mean no disrespect! I wasn't buying the fermented black beans and the lentils that I have already might have to do. Walnut oil was proving difficult and I have a really beautiful and nutty extra virgin olive oil here already. I think these substitutions are just fine. If nothing else, I am following a great deal of the plan as it is laid out (despite having a general aversion towards rice milk), am allowing my own culinary creativity to flow when I need to make changes, and recognizing that the whole point of this cleanse (and escapade) is about being intentional about eating and making some lovely detoxifying choices... that will allow me to tox myself back up later. hahah.
