What's the best place for sourcing these ingredients?

[overweightcat]

Not sure where else I can post.

Since lockdown and the constant urge to snack out of boredom has started I've taken to cutting down my general snacking/ using healthier or low calorie alternatives for myself and I also would like to make some healthier desserts for us as a family and since I have time I might as well give it a go.

I've been looking at making things like healthy flapjacks/ homemade granola bars for DCs and alternative versions of standard treat foods to have rather than the super sugary or store bought stuff.

I'm looking for almond flour, hazelnuts (which I've been unable to buy in the supermarkets and would like to buy a larger amount of) , cocoa nibs, coconut sugar, coconut flakes and coconut cream at the moment.

What are the best online places for these types of ingredients that aren't super expensive?
I've seen £20 for 500g of hazelnuts on some sites which make me 😱

Pom Bears are packed with salt, contain sugar and they don’t fill you up. How anyone could think they are the same as a handful of hazelnuts I don’t know. A hazelnut has all the energy and nutrients needed to grow a whole tree!

Lidl sell coconut flour and sugar.

My local Lebanese deli sells all kinds of chopped and ground nuts loose at a lower price than the supermarkets. You might want to try kosher stores (or the kosher/world foods section of the supermarket) too. The branch of Waitrose near me sells huge bags of ground/flaked almonds for Passover. I usually stock up after Passover when they reduce the price!

A hazelnut has all the energy and nutrients needed to grow a whole tree

Doesn't it also get it from the soil, fertiliser and from sunlight using photosynthesis?

I agree that 100 calories of hazlenuts are probably more nutritious than 100 calories of pom bears, but given that both are eaten as snacks, I'd be looking more at what the majority of a persons diet is made up of.

We eat lots of nuts and seeds, Dh buys them from here;
www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7IfskquQ6QIVTOztCh1BOgV5EAAYASAAEgKmWfD_BwE

The OP says that they’re trying to reduce their snacking. Adding in high calorie snack foods made out of the ingredients the OP mentioned is not the way to do that. Coconut oil has a nutritional profile roughly on par (or slightly worse than) with lard. And no, if the OP wants to reduce snack intake, under 100 calories of Pombears is not worse for you than 300 calories of food with better PR that may come with some extra vitamins.

If you want healthy snacks, eat an apple. Or a small piece of cheese and a cracker.

@MoltoAgitato avoiding snacking is best achieved by eating filling food that doesn’t cause a sugar spike like Pom Bears. Hazelnuts every time over processed crisps.

@ferntwist what sugar spike from Pombears? They have 1.2g of carbohydrates from sugars per 100g compared to 1.9g of carbohydrates from sugars for hazelnuts....

Yes, hazelnuts will contain other “good” things compared to Pombears, but the OP doesn’t sound like they are suffering from malnutrition.

I saw Coconut sugar in lidl last week, never knew it existed before ! I was hoping to find some dessicated coconut but they didn't even have a space on the shelf for it.

Lidl had coconut sugar yesterday.

Another recommendation for buywholefoodsonline. I shop there at least once a month for nuts, seeds, oats, etc. Their service is excellent.

@MoltoAgitato all carbohydrates turn into sugars as soon as you eat them, especially if not eaten with fats (which hazelnuts have). The percentage of sugar/carbs isn’t that important, it’s a marketing gimmick really. It’s all sugar.

Hazelnuts have fibre too, which slows the absorption of sugars.

Don’t get me wrong, I love crisps as much as the next person, but it’s just not right to say Pom Bears are the same as hazelnuts.

@MoltoAgitato I'm trying to reduce snacking yes but I'm also looking to replace our desserts with slightly better options. I've been looking at recipes using those (and other) ingredients and most of them have a much lower calorie count than their regular version.

And I don't intend to use something like brownies as a snack but a weekly treat replacing things like store bought biscuits or cake.

The hazelnuts in particular I mostly wanted to use to try out different homemade Nutella recipes to see what we end up with. I already make my own almond butter I like to have with rice cakes and DCs like with a bit of fruit like apple or banana. It works out cheaper than store bought.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations I will have a look at the websites. DP managed to get coconut cream and desiccated coconut on his shopping trip so I'm going to be making some rafaello and bounty truffles for this weeks movie night. (will be a change from chocolate, full share size packet of crisps and jellies )

Sounds delicious OP. Check out the Pick Up Limes vegan Nutella recipe with hazelnuts, it’s amazing, as is all of her stuff

For almond flour, I use ground almonds which you can get easily in supermarkets other than Lidl. I saw coconut flour and sugar in Lidl this week.