This past year it occurred to me that many of my favorite products come right here from Vancouver and our province of British Columbia. It makes me happy that so many of my regular purchases support local businesses, but not only that, they truly are the best products in the category! How lucky are we! I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface, let me know what your local must-haves are in the comments! Here’s a list of my favorite local products from Vancouver and British Columbia and where you can find them.
- Nutmeg Mylk nut mylk
- Holy Napoli pizza dough
- Salt Spring Soap Works bath bombs
- Feeding Mama Fertility Building Meal Plan
- Saje diffuser blends
- Beth and Olivia hand butter and hand sanitizer
Nutmeg Mylk nut mylks (based in Vancouver) – My husband Damon loves talking about the amount of money I’ve spent on nut milks this year. I’m particularly obsessed with the flavour Blue Moon (shown above on the left and right with the Tahiti in the middle), made with organic coconut, Blue Majik (a spirulina extract), maple, cinnamon and vanilla. I love to send orders of nut mylk as gifts and everyone who’s tried Blue Moon is now addicted. Nutmeg Mylk recently came out with a new line of products with a longer shelf life, and The Blue Coconut is my favorite from the line (same ingredients as Blue Moon).
Where To Buy – I get my nut mylk from three places: 1) I order online for local weekly delivery to my house; 2) Whole Foods; 3) JJ Bean for the new product line. List of other locations here.
Feeding Mama Fertility Meal Plan and Bone Broth (based in Vancouver) – What I love about Feeding Mama’s philosophy is that their meals and recipes are based on a foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Their mission is to help new moms recover and heal their bodies in the first 30 days after childbirth. It’s based on the Chinese tradition of Zuo Yue Zi (坐月子). Their main business is supporting new moms in the early postpartum period with 3 meals a day.
I ordered the Fertility Building Meal Plan this summer, which consists of 4 lunches a week, to feed my body nutritious meals with whole foods to help regulate my hormones and improve my health. At a more basic level, I wanted to eat better lunches at home and order less Uber Eats. I ordered one week to start then loved it much I ordered the monthly plan. Mona, the founder of Feeding Mama, encouraged the involvement of my TCM doctor and even offered to talk to her. My TCM doctor was impressed with the recipe cards and said all the ingredients were very nourishing and appropriate for me. The only tweak she suggested was to include some more bitter ingredients for me. She even started recommending the service to her friends and other clients.
I tried the Fertility Building Meal Plan plus Hydration for the first week, which comes with bone broth (there are 3 kinds) and a delicious hot goji berry, longan and ginger tea, then ordered just the meal plan on a monthly basis after that. The quality of the ingredients and the portion size of the meals were great. I don’t think I’ve ever had such healthy lunches. Lo and behold, I was pregnant two months later.
I feel really fortunate a business like this exists in Vancouver, and Mona runs a very transparent business (just take a look at her blog) that supports new moms while giving back. I look forward to ordering her Signature Meal Plan when my due date approaches. If you have friends who are expecting, this would make a great gift.
Where To Buy: online for home delivery
Holy Napoli Neapolitan Pizza Dough (based in Vancouver) – I heard about this pizza dough from the ladies in my cookbook club. It’s made with Italian “00” pizza flour and better than any other frozen dough we’ve tried. I buy several of these at a time and keep them in my freezer. We’ve made many delicious pizzas with this dough.
Where to buy: 1) Nestors; 2) Whole Foods on Cambie; 3) Welk’s on Main St. Other locations listed here.
Beth and Olivia (based in Vancouver) – I discovered Beth and Olivia at the Hycroft Christmas Market one year (I miss Christmas markets), and have ordered more than a dozen Love Hand Butter Sticks since then. I love how convenient it is to apply and have a ritual of applying on my cuticles and Damon’s hands as soon as we get in the car. I’ve gifted this to several friends as well. During the first wave, Beth and Olivia came out with a hand sanitizer spray, and it’s by far our favorite hand sanitizer to use. It doesn’t leave any sticky residue and doesn’t leave hands super dry. We love the convenience of the spray and the scent. We’re so grossed out by many of the hand sanitizers at grocery stores and other public places. I just noticed that there’s a refill now available.
Where to Buy: 1) Website; 2) Etsy. Local pickup is available.
Salt Spring Soap Works bath bombs (based on Salt Spring Island, BC) – I purchased bath bombs from the Salt Spring Soap Works store on my first visit to Salt Spring Island (by the way I highly recommend staying at Hastings House). When I tried them back at home, I loved how natural and subtle they smelled and how soft they made my skin feel afterwards. There was no overly strong fragrances or cloying smells. I loved the charcoal Dragon’s Egg bath bomb, which was a lot of fun because it made the bath water super black. Since then, I’ve been buying their Bathapalooza Bath Bomb Collection, which includes 9 of their bath bombs at a discount. I use some and gift some, and plan to continue doing so for a long time!
Saje diffuser blends (head office is in Vancouver) – Is a company still considered local if they’re all over Canada and the US? (I wouldn’t say Lululemon is considered “local”). Anyway, Saje is headquartered in Vancouver, and I have a growing collection of their diffuser blends. I thought essential oils were all the same until I purchased some not-so-great ones from other stores that made me realize Saje blends were high quality. I have the diffuser from the collaboration that Saje did with Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh.
What are your favorite local products?