Better Groceries
Here’s our grocery list of items we use in our kitchen and family meals!
I read ingredient labels and find groceries that have cleaner ingredients for meals in the typical Singaporean home.
My main considerations for this list:
- Cleaner ingredients (as clean as possible)
- Accessibility/Availability in SG
- Price
👋 Just a friendly note — some of the links on this site are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy something through them (at no extra cost to you, of course!). I only share products that my family actually uses or that this Aunty truly believes are worth your money.
Browse by categories
Sauces & Condiments
-
Korean Soybean Paste (Doenjang)
I felt like a master in finding Asian sauces and condiments when I found these! I use this for Korean Bossam dish that has my kids chanting ‘Pork Belly!’.
The redmart option is better but somehow always out of stock, while the iHerb version still has some alcohol in it but I’m ok with this since my kids are older and I cook my stew for a long time so the alcohol prob gets cooked off!
-
Teriyaki Sauce
This Teriyaki Sauce uses coconut-aminos which means it’s low sodium and it tastes so great on its own. I just slap it on Salmon and Chicken and throw it into the airfryer for a quick protein!
-
Rice Vinegar
Great for Japanese recipes! I use this in our sushi rice and many of our easy Japanese dishes.
-
Pure Oyster Sauce
This one is PURE oyster juice so it’s packed with oyster flavour. If you use it to replace oyster sauce in recipes, remember to reduce the amount and also add some sweetener of choice (like coconut sugar or maple syrup) to balance it off.
Or if you prefer an option that’s more similar to regular oyster sauce, check this natural oyster sauce out.
-
Natural Oyster Sauce
Oyster Sauce was a really hard one to find clean options for. This one still has sugar, but it’s heaps better than the usual ones you find at supermarkets. I also use this 100% Oyster sauce for an option without sugar.
-
Mayonnaise
Mayo made with avocado oil!
I’ve provided multiple links but iHerb has the best price 🙂
-
Coconut Sugar
We use this as a sugar substitute in recipes, even in sushi rice!
-
Maple Syrup
Please make sure that your maple syrup is not maple-FLAVOURED syrup and is actually maple syrup.
This is the most affordable option I’ve found on the internet.
-
Tomato Ketchup
My kids love ketchup (or tomato sauce like we say in SG), but so many ketchups are just filled with sugar. Our favourite is Primal Kitchen which tastes great even without sugar.
If you need something with some cane sugar, this is a better than most ketchup option.
-
Fish Sauce
Another Asian condiment/sauce that typically comes with a lot of added ingredients that we don’t want in them. This one has a simple ingredient list and tastes great!
-
Japanese Curry Powder
Japanese curry is a sure-win meal for most kids, but the curry roux cubes aren’t so great so I use this for kid-friendly Japanese curry.
-
Coconut Cream
Did you know you can make Nasi Lemak in your rice cooker? With just some coconut cream and a pinch of salt!
-
Kimchi
Kimchi is a superfood but sadly many store-bought versions have a lot of rubbish ingredients in them these days. Look for ones with a simple ingredient list just like this one.
-
Toh’s Daily Chilli Crisp
Finally an allergy-friendly asian chilli condiment! I recommend this for anyone struggling with eczema and allergies who still loves their asian food.
Even if you don’t have allergies, it is still super shiok!
-
Soy Sauce
Check the label on your soy sauce bottle and chances are you’re gonna find a long list of ingredients you don’t recognise. This is soy sauce like they used to make it back in our grandmother’s time. And it’s actual soy sauce, not some replacement that doesn’t taste like it!
-
Mirin
Most mirin products have a lot of sugar in them. This one does not so you’ll need to add your sweetener of choice along with it when replacing it in recipes.. or follow me on Instagram @themillennialaunty for all the recipes with better ingredients 🙂
-
Cooking Rice Wine
I use this to replace rice wine or any type of cooking wine in Asian dishes.
Dried Food / Pantry
-
Dried Mango
It took me a long time to find this one because most dried mango contains so much sugar and sulphur. Dried mango without sugar tastes so good.. it really doesn’t need any sugar!
-
Dried Cranberries
Dried cranberries without preservatives and sugar. Great for using in granola or making your own trail or nut mix! My kids love these with pine nuts.
-
Sweet Potato Glass Noodles
This is my kids’ absolute favourite noodle. They love it in soup, in stews and even stir-fried. It’s just so chewy!
This one my favourite because it’s cut in nice shorter, easy strips vs other sweet potato noodles that are in loops and tend to fall all over the place hah.
-
Egg Noodles
This is a non-fried option with better ingredients. It works well for bak chor mee, wanton mee, basically any mee dishes.
-
Chicken Stock Powder
It was so incredibly hard for me to find a chicken stock with clean ingredients that didn’t need to be in the freezer. I hesistated getting this stock powder because it seemed expensive until I compared the price per serving and realised this was cheaper than boxed chicken stock. You only need 1 tablespoon for 2 cups of stock. It’s halal too!
-
Wakame
Dried kelp to have on hand for quick and easy miso soups! Also check out the dashi miso paste I use for an easy miso soup.
Frozen Food
-
Frozen Mango
It’s a 1kg bag of frozen mango below $10!
We use this for our homemade mango ‘ice cream’, smoothies or to add to yoghurt bowls.
-
Frozen Chopped Spinach
This one is chopped and is always so good to have on hand as a quick veg option. I use these for smoothies, homemade ‘ice cream’, rice cooker recipes and pasta dishes.
-
Frozen Chicken Broth
This chicken broth is soooo rich and good. I love it for making my rice cooker chicken rice recipe!
-
Frozen Udon
Frozen udon is so much fresher and cooks in a minute. We use this in miso soup and it’s always a big hit!
-
Non-GMO frozen corn
We use this for burrito bowls, tacos and to throw in rice cooker meals or fried rice.
-
Rainbow Riced Veggies
Good to have in the freezer for fried rice, pasta sauces and anything you wanna throw little veggies into!
Noodles
-
Sweet Potato Glass Noodles
This is my kids’ absolute favourite noodle. They love it in soup, in stews and even stir-fried. It’s just so chewy!
This one my favourite because it’s cut in nice shorter, easy strips vs other sweet potato noodles that are in loops and tend to fall all over the place hah.
-
Frozen Udon
Frozen udon is so much fresher and cooks in a minute. We use this in miso soup and it’s always a big hit!
-
Egg Noodles
This is a non-fried option with better ingredients. It works well for bak chor mee, wanton mee, basically any mee dishes.
Snacks
-
Dried Mango
It took me a long time to find this one because most dried mango contains so much sugar and sulphur. Dried mango without sugar tastes so good.. it really doesn’t need any sugar!
-
Dried Cranberries
Dried cranberries without preservatives and sugar. Great for using in granola or making your own trail or nut mix! My kids love these with pine nuts.
-
Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter that’s just peanuts and without sugar can be really messy and annoying to manage. I tried MANY brands before I landed on this one that spreads nicely on bread.
-
Tortilla Chips
A better ingredient tortilla chip for your taco and salsa nights!
-
Potato Chips
A better potato chip made with extra virgin olive oil.
Also check out this Potato & Quinoa chips!
-
Chocolate Chips
Chocolate chips spruce up all our homemade snacks!
Our favourite is the Enjoy Life chocolate chips. These are dairy-free and also have a simpler ingredient list, price point is also much better.
But if you need a more easily available option, you can also find this 60% cacao chocolate chips at Redman/Phoon Huat and some FairPrice outlets.
Dairy & Baking
-
Spreadable Cream Cheese
Much cleaner option that somehow lasts longer than the typical cream cheese?
-
Tortilla Wraps
We use these for quick lunches and dinners on busy days. Just throw in tuna or a rotisserie chicken, along with some lettuce and done! (Yes, the kids will eat some lettuce with a good salad dressing!)
-
Chocolate Chips
Chocolate chips spruce up all our homemade snacks!
Our favourite is the Enjoy Life chocolate chips. These are dairy-free and also have a simpler ingredient list, price point is also much better.
But if you need a more easily available option, you can also find this 60% cacao chocolate chips at Redman/Phoon Huat and some FairPrice outlets.
Also check out
my favourite items from these stores
Got questions?
Feel free to reach out.
And follow along on IG and Telegram for discount vouchers and product recommendations!