Just a regular old grocery haul.
I’ve waxed poetic about the cyclical nature of our grocery shopping habits. We have our online orders that take place monthly, we alternate going to Costco and Whole Foods every week, and we get most of our dairy, meat, and local produce from the farmer’s market every Wednesday. We have itemized lists with prices for comparison of every item we regularly purchase so shopping on a budget is a breeze! I often get asked what I get from where so I’m going to start doing grocery hauls on a regular basis to give you an idea of where we source our food from. Without further ado, here is a regular old grocery haul from Whole Foods which we do every two weeks or so.
Before we start, as a rule we almost always buy organic! It aligns with our values and is something we prioritize in our budget. You can use the dirty dozen list to see what to prioritize when you shop!
BUTTER: We stock up on butter because we use A LOT of it! We usually buy organic valley pastured butter and maple hill farms butter as well. Why do we buy both? Well, maple hill farms butter is 100% grass-fed but not organic and organic valley is organic but not 100% grassfed and I just can’t decide which to buy so I buy both! Ha!
YOGURT: Again, maple hill is 100% grass-fed and we love it! The yogurt is also organic, which is a plus. When we want greek yogurt we go for stonyfield organics. I like to bake with regular full fat yogurt as opposed to the thicker greek style.
GRAPES: We love fruit, end of story. I usually try to stick with seasonal fruit, but I was craving some chicken salad with grapes in it!
LETTUCE: We would typically buy lettuce from our farmer’s market, but they were out this week! We stick to whole head lettuce rather than pre-washed which is often rinsed with some pretty harsh detergents!
ASPARAGUS: Definitely not local or seasonal, BUT we aren’t perfect ;) Asparagus sounded good to go with pasta this week, so into the cart it goes!
PEPPERONI: The grass-fed pepperoni from applegate farms is our JAM. We use it for snack plates and pizza.
COCONUT WATER: Harmless harvest is our fav! It is the best tasting in my opinion. There was a sale this week so I stocked up! This is my favorite tip for budget shopping. We add a few ounces to our adrenal cocktails for minerals and chug on hot days like gatorade! I also keep it on hand in case anyone gets sick with a stomach bug or fever to replenish electrolytes.
CHOCOLATE: Our favorite brands are Alter Eco, HU, and Evolved. It’s WAY cheaper from Thrive Market (get 40% off your first order!), but we were out and it’s a staple around here!
KIWIS: We are getting tired of oranges after eating them all winter so we bought kiwis instead for our hit of vitamin C!
CHOCOLATE CHIPS: A must have for our sourdough chocolate chip cookies and chocolate yogurt cake!
BASMATI RICE: A pantry staple to cook in broth. It’s actually cheaper at Whole Foods than anywhere else we shop! We love Lundberg brand because it has low arsenic levels.
FROZEN CAULIFLOWER: For last minute roasted cauliflower sides to add to dinner.
FROZEN PEPPERS: Again, a great last minute side sauteed in butter with some rice and protein.
BASIL: Maggie was my shopping buddy this week and picked this organic basil plant out! A key tip to get kiddos excited about family dinner is to give them a say. We will make some pesto pasta with it this week.
RUSSET POTATOES: A favorite carb in this family! Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew. We are partial to making fries with them.
APPLE JUICE: We use this juice as a carrier for vitamins for the kiddos and also make gummies with it!
PARMESAN: We get the REAL parmesan to grate on everything from the cheese counter at Whole Foods. Aged cheeses are so nutrient dense with LOADS of bioavailable vitamin K!
PLANTAINS: We love a good sweet plantain. It’s a great carb to serve with dinner when you are sick of sweet potatoes!
FINGERLING POTATOES: Another favorite carb source! We love them simply roasted with a garlicky yogurt dipping sauce.
DRIED PLUMS: Also known as prunes ;) We love a good dried fruit around these parts. They are often very high in minerals. Just make sure to buy organic unsulphured!
TART CHERRY JUICE: One of our favorite juices to make gelatin gummies with! We mix it with Perfect Supplements gelatin (use code JMW10 for 10% off) and a bit of raw honey for some sleepy time gummies since tart cherries are high in melatonin.
CURRY PASTE: We mix it with some coconut milk for an easy sauce to serve with some protein and rice! Get a good organic brand to avoid yucky ingredients.
PERSIAN CUCUMBERS: We love these little cukes for an easy no-cook side to our lunches.
This should tide us over for a few weeks in addition to what’s in our pantry, fridge, and freezer and what we get from the weekly farmer’s market. You can see our thrive hauls here and our market hauls here. If you want a clearer picture of what our kitchen staples are my Kitchen Staples and Simple Meals freebie has an entire list of what we keep on hand and thirty meal and snack ideas you can make from them!
