Illustration by Kat Frick Miller
Founded in 2015, Josh Broun’s company Impact Kitchen came from his own desire to find a one-stop shop for high-protein meals made with whole ingredients.
He had just become a personal trainer after graduating with a degree in health sciences and quickly learned how important nutrition was for his clients to get their best results.
“It was really enlightening and interesting to see how much of a difference food made in their fitness” he says.
What’s in my cart? A series looking at how Canadians stock their kitchens
This spurred his own interest in the quality of food and the ingredients he put into his body, but he was usually short on time to prepare his meals, and he says healthy takeout options in Toronto were lacking. “I would grab a meal from a vegetarian restaurant and throw some protein on it when I got home,” says Broun.
He co-founded the company along with a personal training client of his. The duo wanted everything under one roof: a salad spot, smoothie joint and café that served treats with minimally processed sweeteners such as coconut sugar, maple syrup and honey. It also offers a full retail fridge with items such as paleo chicken tenders and raw vegan cheesecake.
How parents of two kids with busy, active schedules shop for groceries
Years later, the company has grown to seven locations across Toronto, and two in New York, with the latest opening in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn this September.
Grocery shopping for his wife and two children (9 and 11), the 45-year-old prioritizes unprocessed foods. His cart often has yogurt, berries, eggs, both olive and avocado oil, and protein such as beef, chicken and fish.
“I try to give my children as many vegetables as I can feed them,” says Broun, who often brings his children grocery shopping, since they enjoy it, and since he lets them pick one treat most of the time.
How I save: To be honest, I’m not seeking out saving a dollar on eggs by going to certain grocery stores.
How I splurge: I splurge on my food. I don’t try to save. That’s one thing I spend money on. I believe in high-quality, unprocessed food. I enjoy buying higher-quality cuts of meat, grilling them and pairing them with in-season vegetables I get from the farmers’ market.
I meal plan to save money. Here’s how I spend $8 a day on groceries
The hardest shopping habit: Consistently eating whole foods. I take the balanced approach and follow the 80/20 rule – eating well 80 per cent of the time. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. If I’ve eaten healthy all week, on the weekend I can have an indulgence. I don’t stress about that, because I know my baseline is healthy. My kids eat healthy most of the time, but I wouldn’t restrict them from having pizza at a friend’s house or a slice of cake at a birthday party.
How I have changed my habits or diet: I now take time to go to farmers’ markets and understand where my food is coming from. At the restaurant and at home, I like to support regenerative farming. I love eating a meal and being able to recall the farmer or the person who I bought it from at the farmers’ market. I usually go to the Port Credit Farmers Market and the one at Lakeshore and Dixie in Mississauga.
Five items always in my cart:
- Grass-fed flank steak – local butcher – $13.56 per eight-ounce steak: My whole family enjoys flank steak. We usually cook it on the barbecue or on a cast-iron skillet for a quick meal with some healthy side dishes like vegetables.
- Celtic sea salt – Selina Naturally – $11.99 for 454 grams: I buy the Celtic salt because it’s the most mineral-dense salt I’ve found. I use it as a finisher for some extra flavour.
- BBQ Sauce – Primal Kitchen – $11.88 for 241 grams: Primal Kitchen makes some great sauces with minimal ingredients. They have healthier options for those types of dressings. I also buy the Caesar salad dressing.
- Frozen blueberries – Longo’s – $18.99 for 2.25 kilograms: These are hand-raked from Nova Scotia. I appreciate that they are wild, organic, Canadian blueberries.
- Avocado oil – Chosen – $15.97 for 750 ml: Avocado oil is a great source of healthy fat and it tastes great. I use it for salad dressings, or to pop popcorn. I throw some of that Celtic or Himalayan salt on the popcorn after.
