My Grocery List

Grocery Shopping, my worst enemy! I can spend a whole week making a proper list (that’s the Virgo perfectionism in me!). I want healthy but affordable. I want tasty but not junky. I want as fresh as it comes but sometimes I gotta stick with frozen.
Ultimately we spend about $150 on food for 2 weeks. Another $50 on things like laundry soap, toilet paper, diapers, etc.
I’m not saying it’s perfect or that it works for everyone but I wanted to share and maybe give some ideas. So here goes.

 

BREAKFASTS:
-Grapefriut & Plain/Greek yogurt
-Oatmeal (sometimes boxed, sometimes from scratch, but always with fruit like frozen blueberries or strawberries)
-Toast & Peanut Butter
-Cereal (very rare because we already use a lot of milk, but sometimes a treat)

LUNCHES:
(for the kids)
-Mini Pizza (Whole Grain hamburger buns, pizza sauce, and Skim Mozzarella Cheese)
-Canned beans in Pure Quebec Maple Syrup (Heinz is best)
-Frozen mini turkey pies

(for mike to take to work)
-Soup
-Leftovers from night before (happens often as I try to plan ahead with suppers and make big quantities)
-Canned Ravioli (when on sale, for those days where there are no left overs)

(for me…ONLY because I am gluten free so I can’t always eat what they eat)
-Leftovers (Obviously when I can)
-Meal Replacement Shakes (sometimes if they are on sale, I use PC)
-Canned Beans in Maple Syrup (Same as the boys, one can usually feeds the three of us)
-Soup (Knorr packaged soups. Makes 4 cups. I usually eat the Minestrone, Tomato, or Vegetable)

SUPPERS:
-Spaghetti (Gluten free noodles and the sauce is made with veggies instead of meat. I try to cut back on meat when I can. For veggies I use Carrots, onions, and mushrooms)
-Macaroni Casserole (Mike swears by this stuff. Gluten free macaroni, Condensed tomato soup, onions, and hamburger)
-Fish & Rice (I usually go with salmon if it’s on sale and we buy bulk basmati rice)
-Stir fry (Rice & Veggies usually, sometimes chicken)
-Knorr cream soup (Packaged. I just add potatoes and veggies to it)
-Shipwreck (A slow-cooker meal and I double the recipe.)
I also try and go with other slow cooker meals, as long as they are pretty healthy and don’t require too many ingredients and WILL leave me with left overs for the next day.

SNACKS: (mostly for the boys)
-Mini yogurt
-Crackers
-Apples
-Bananas
-Natures Path Granola Bars
-Peanut Butter & Whole Grain bread

 

Now, as I have said…this certainly would not work for everyone. I am a stay at home mom so I have time to cook. And obviously some of these options are as healthy as I can go but it’s what I can afford and it’s variety. I don’t have any picky eaters in this home as I know some people do. And I know my kids are still young so they don’t eat as much as, let’s say, a 13 year old would. But maybe by sharing I will have inspired some ideas for people out there. Like I said, I try really hard not to get meat. I just tried a Free Range package of sausages the other day…they were SO good but $5 a package so it’s a treat. Hamburger, which we used to swear by, is very limited because I hate the store brand crap and that’s normally where we buy ours.
So go with what works for you and your family. I may just post some recipes eventually but there are thousands of them online. It’s just to fish through them all to find the right ones!

~Tanya~

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