Hi Friends!
Let’s talk about groceries today, shall we? Over the weekend, while hubby and I were grocery shopping, I realized it had been a while since I did a post about groceries. Turns out, once I looked back through the blog, that it’s been almost exactly a year since I posted Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!
I took a quick social media poll and determined that you guys were pretty interested in seeing what’s in my grocery cart! So here we go:
Hubby and I usually grocery shop every two weeks or so. Sometimes we pick up a few items one weekend without doing a full trip, but I usually averages out to about 2-3 trips a month. We also go to a couple different stores. We buy some things at Costco, and some things at the regular grocery store (usually Meijer or Kroger).
Costco
We go through a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and for us the best place to buy them is usually Costco. Not always, but most of the time their prices are cheaper than the grocery store. We also go through a lot of nuts and hummus and Costco has great deals on those.
So what did we buy?
- Avocados– $4.79 for a bag of 6 (we bought 2 bags) so $0.79 each
- Red Peppers– $5.99 for a bag of 6 = $1 each
- Gala Apples– lost my receipt but something like $1.25 a pound
- Sabra Hummus– $5.99 for a 32oz container
- Blackberries– $ 3.79 for an 18oz container
- Almonds– $12.89 for a 3 pound bag
- Pears– $6.29 for 12 pears
- Clementines– $5.99 for a 5 pound bag
- Spring Mix Lettuce– $4.49 for a 1 pound container
- Wild Caught Cod– $18.69 for 2.65 pounds = $7.05 per pound
Costco food total: approximately $80
Other things we often buy at Costco:
(Sorry I don’t have prices for everything)
- 10lb bag of carrots– $6.99
- 3 dozen eggs– $3.79
- Starbucks Coffee Beans– only when it’s on sale so it’s about $16 for a 2.5 pound bag
- Quinoa– $7.99 for a 4 pound bag
- Oats– 10 pounds for something ridiculous like $6
- Frozen Bean and Cheese Burritos– $9.89 for 8 burritos
- Cheese- Feta or Goat cheese
- Fage Plain Greek Yogurt– $4.99 for a 32 oz container
- Nature Valley Protein Bars– $11.69 for 24 bars
- Peanut Butter (for the dogs)– $11.99 for two 48oz jars
- Raisins– $7.99 for 4.5 pounds
- Olive OilÂ
- Toilet Paper– only with a coupon
- Paper Towels– only with a coupon
- Ziploc bags– $8.99 for 500 sandwich bags
- Laundry Detergent– only with a coupon
- Cat Litter– 11.79 when it’s on sale for a 40 pound bag
Since they come in bigger quantities, we buy them less often.
Meijer
Like I said, I alternate between there and Kroger depending on what I need. There are some things I like better at each store…Even so, I usually just pick one of them to go to per weekend, not both. Here’s what we got this time:
The Breakdown
- Onions- ($0.99/lb) $2.11
- Leeks- ($1.69/lb) $1.28
- Cauliflower- $2.99
- Green peppers- ($1.99/lb) $2.33
- Garlic- (2/$1) $1
- Bananas- (1.22/lb) $0.65
- Green Beans- (1.69/lb) $2.62
- Sweet Potatoes- (0.99/lb) $5.1
- Shrimp- ON SALE for $4.99 (usually $8.99)
- Cod- ON SALE buy one, get one free- $5.99 for a 1 lb bag
Usually I wouldn’t have bought this much in one trip but those were huge sales so I stocked the freezer!
- Kashi Heart 2 Heart Cinnamon- ON SALE- $3.00/box instead of $3.79
- Sweet Thai Chili Sauce- $2.29
- Soba Noodles (no salt added)- $3.29
- Black Beans- $1.65/bag x 2
- Lentils- $1.25/bag x 2
- Low-Sodium Tuna- $1.75 x 6
- Cream of Mushroom Soup- $1.49
- 50% less sugar dried cranberries- ON SALE $2.00/bag x 2
I buy dried beans/legumes instead of canned to eliminate the sodium. They super easy to make on the stove and freezer to use during the week. I always keep one can of cream of mushroom in the pantry for when I want enchiladas but don’t buy it often because it’s high in sodium. I’m so excited they’ve started making reduced sugar dried cranberries! I use them in hubby’s Quinoa Breakfast Bars.
- 100% Whole Wheat Bread- $2.99
- 100% Whole Wheat Tortillas- $2.50
- Low-fat shredded Mexican cheese- ON SALE $2.50/bag x2
- Havarti sliced cheese- $2.99
- Brummel & Brown Yogurt spread- ON SALE $2.00
- Butter- ON SALE $2.00
- Low-fat cottage cheese- ON SALE $1.79
- Chobani- $1.25 x 6
- Chobani tub- ON SALE $2.79
- Skim milk0 ON SALE $2.50/carton x 3
Meijer Food Total: approx $110
For the bread and tortillas, I look for 100% whole wheat and the lowest amount of sodium I can find. The tortillas I buy have about 250mg per tortilla…some brands have up to 600mg for the same 8 inch size! We like cheese. I stock up when it’s on sale and never buy it regular price. The yogurt spread is what I use on my toast. That’s about all I use it for. I probably buy about 1 tub a year and wait til it’s on sale. Butter is always good to have on hand- I only buy it when it’s on sale. That also lasts quite a while in our house. Hubby likes cottage cheese and I also use it in my Sweet Potato Cranberry Cottage Cheese muffins. I already have a couple tubs of plain Chobani in the fridge and I like to mix in a few spoonfuls of flavored when I eat it. When I make Frozen Yogurt Trailmix Bars, I usually do half flavored, half plain.
A few things I usually buy but didn’t buy this weekend:
Fresh salsa
Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Frozen veggies
Canned no-salt added chickpeas
Triscuits
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So…we don’t have an exact grocery budget but the way it averages out, we probably spend about $100/week on food. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We used to eat out 1-2 times per weekend but lately we’ve been eating all our meals at home. I pack my lunch for my internship and hubby comes home from work for lunch every day…so that’s 21 meals a week x 2 people = 42 meals for about $2.40/meal on average.
We don’t throw away a lot of food. We eat pretty much all our produce and stuff in our fridge before we shop again. We keep our pantry and freezer well stocked by keeping track of things we run out of and buying them when they go on sale. We also don’t buy a lot of processed food, which helps keep our costs down.
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If you’re interested in reading more specifically about Grocery Shopping and Eating on a Budget, I’d highly recommend checking out the posts I did for the Survive on 35 Challenge I did this summer. I blogged for one week while we ate for $5/day. Here’s the link to my Final Recap and Thoughts about the challenge. It has links to ALL the post I did during the challenge, including how I planned my menus and grocery shopped and a breakdown of the groceries i bought and the prep work i did.  Plus there are links to a recap of each day of the challenge that include everything we ate, plus recipes! I ended up winning this challenge and I’m super proud of all the posts because I think they really show that you CAN eat healthy on a budget with it being boring or gross!
Here are some other posts I’ve written about healthy eating include:
How to Eat Healthy In College
How to Eat Healthy During the Week
Stock Your Pantry with Staples
Healthy Eating on a Budget
Please check them out! I hope you find them helpful!
So there you have it. Stocking your fridge, freezer and pantry with healthy foods is the first step to healthy eating. Up next- Weekend Prep! I address this in my How To Eat Healthy During the Week post (link above) but am thinking about writing another post. I made it a goal this year to get back into the habit of weekend prep- I fell off the wagon for a while- and so far i’m doing really well. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook you may have seen a few photos of my weekend prep work over the past few weeks.
- Are you guys interested in a Weekend prep post?Â
- What other questions do you have for me about grocery shopping/menu planning/weekend food prep?
Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them in an upcoming post!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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I love these posts… I’m a grocery store voyer. You could pretty much switch our grocery carts and find the same thing. Except no kitty litter for me. 😉
haha i think we buy enough kitty litter for the both of us 🙂
I would love to see more of these posts. I usually go to Costco for the Fage Greek yogurt and rotisserie chicken. I need more veggies!
mmmm when we ate meat we used to get those rotisserie chickens all the time!
Great post!! I love the idea of getting the stuff you enjoy (like your cheese) only when it’s on sale. I wish Canadian grocery stores tried to help consumers out more. I hardly find buy one, get one Free’s!!
I don’t think even all states have the same type of sales that some do…there are no doubling on coupons or anything crazy here in Nebraska…just sales and regular coupons. 🙂 So basically I’m a little jealous too!
really?! that’s a bummer!
Love it! I have to be honest, I LOVE grocery shopping! It’s one of the things I miss the most about living at home again right now. Sometimes I’ll go out anyway to pick up a few things I want and just wander around the store looking at everything I’ll buy when I can. 🙂
hehe love it! i love grocery shopping too 🙂
I love this post. I may steal the idea for a similar post on my site in a couple of months. I am jealous of your Costco trip. The nearest one to me is 3 hours away.
awesome! would love to see what you buy! that sucks costco is so far…we’re lucky to have one really close!
Do you buy organic produce? And would love to see how you prepare a whole weeks worth of different foods on the weekend! 🙂
i don’t always buy organic. when i do, i focus on the dirty dozen and worry less about the rest! working on a weekend prep post!
AWESOME post. I have my grocery shopping down to a science- I hit up Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and Whole Foods all multiple times a month for different items. I think this post will be SUPER helpful to all kinds of people! Love it!
love it!! you’re so organized!
I’m having total flashbacks: The week I started blogging everyone was doing the Survive on 35 challenge. Such a great idea to try!
haha….seems like it wasn’t that long ago! can’t believe it was summer!
A weekend prep post from you would be amazing!
workin on it girl!
Ummm..I don’t see Columbus’ BEST grocery store on here!! ehem… 😉
We buy so many similar foods, I think great RD minds think alike (or at least, soon-to-be-RD). I love frozen cod and think it tastes just as good as fresh, most of the time. I have some right now in my freezer. I thaw it the day before, make sure it gets dried with some paper towels, then prep away! It’s delicious.
me too! i don’t think there’s anything wrong with frozen fish 🙂 and sorry about not including your store…maybe if it was a bit closer to me! 😉
I have a few questions about Costco as I’ve never shopped there! Is their produce high quality (does it stat fresh for two weeks)? And do they have a big organic section? I’d love to save money on my produce!! 🙂
i find some of their produce to be hit or miss. i love their carrots and mixed greens lettuce…but for things like berries, we always have to check carefully to avoid mold. we like their apples, avocados and clementines…things like that and they definitely last a while. i’d suggest going in to check out the costco near you. you can go in and look around without buying anything to see if you like and check everything out! The one near us seems to be getting more and more organic stuff.
this was great! i LOVE grocery shopping and go multiple times a week – probably not very cost effective lol. do you buy frozen veggies at all?
i do! added them to the post after you said that. i buy giant bags of mixed frozen veggies to use in pot pies, soups and things like that. love them!!
costco is a lifesaver, i mean MONEY saver. And i love how they are getting more organic produce too! WOOHOO!
me too! it’s so nice!
I have a weird fascination with peaking into other people’s grocery carts so I love this post! We’ve been eating all meals at home this month (with David’s birthday exception!) and our bill has averages about $115 a week, which I think it pretty great for healthy foods, some organic, for 2 adults and a toddler who eats like an adult. I do wish we had a Costco, though. Sigh… 🙂
Great post!
you’re a rockstar, lady! great job!
I really wish I could cut my trips down to every other week! I eat so much produce, I have to buy it all pretty much every week.
do you use any frozen veggies? i buy those to use as well and it helps stretch our trips a bit further!
What a great post! Proof you can eat healthy on a budget. I love it!
yep! you definitely can!
wish we had a costco nearby!! sam’s is not nearly as good!
i agree! we’re very lucky to have one only about 3 miles away!
fascinating! that was really fun to see and I agree we rarely to never eat out, so our grocery bill is a little higher than it used to be, but still less than if we were eating out. plus i feel so much better when I make things at home, it always has more veggies! 🙂
i love eating at home because i can control the ingredients, especially the sodium!!
I love groceries! The only thing that beats it is new workout gear… So this was great. I’m that nosy person who likes to see what is in the carts of other people in the checkout line… Lots of processed junk. Yuck.
We rarely eat out here, and it has saved us so much money. And we use minimal processed foods (I make our bread too…) Have you tried homemade hummus though? It’s cheaper than store bought and in my experience, really easy to make.
i have tried homemade hummus! i have a few recipes on the blog and i love making it. i’ve just fallen off the wagon a bit lately. i tend to go in spurts of making it myself for a while and then buying it. my fav kind to make at home is roasted red pepper and sweet potato!
I always try to split my shopping between different places to get better deals 🙂 I love trader Joes I just dont get there enough!
same with me! it’s not as close so we don’t go as often. but when we do, i load up on favs!
Thank you for this post! I am just getting back into meal planning and need some motivation this week. A weekend prep post would be great! We just started a huge lifestyle upgrade with TONS of veggies so it was perfect to know about Costco, that will be added to my list this week.
yes! definitely check out costco…but also compare prices to other grocery stores..they’re not ALWAYS better at costco! working on a weekend prep post!
Your Costco list looks much like ours! Love the large amounts of produce we can get, makes me eat more 🙂
yep! having it on hand definitely helps me eat more too!
I love posts like these! Everything looks great- love all that fresh produce:)
thanks!! me too 🙂
I’d love to see your schedule and process for weekend prepping. Definitely post about it!
will do, girl!
This is so interesting and helpful to someone like me. This is a bit off topic but, I recently heard that baby carrots are dipped in chlorine to preserve them and this, for obvious reasons can be harmful… thoughts? My kids eat them by the buckets, should I be getting the bagged and peeling them myself?
from what i’ve read, they’re not actually dipped in chlorine…they’re dipped in water that contains small amounts of chlorine…if it concerns you, i don’t think buying whole ones and peeling can hurt. that’s what i do…but i’m gonna do some more research for you!
I love these posts. I used to get away with going every week & a half, but with a toddler we always run out of something (milk, fruit, veggies) so I end up going weekly if not more than once a week. I used to shop at WF but we moved and it isn’t that close but our local grocer is really lacking in produce, fish & meat. (Slimy salmon ugh) so I end up doing all I can there and then hitting up WF later that week.
way to make it work!
We buy in bulk when things are on sale and my husband watches the flyers now in our area. Costco doesn’t seem to have the best produce or meat prices here.
it’s definitely different everywhere! at least you compare prices so you know!!!
Great post Lindsay.
Whenever my family goes to Costco, we usually spend 100 dollars, but it does save money in the long run if you buy in bulk from there. I love Costco. There’s also a Winco near where I live and they have same great prices too. I tend to shop at both. Sprout’s and Trader Joes’ are places I wish I could go more too, but they tend to be on the expensive side.
i agree. it sucks having to spend a lot at once at Costco but I know it’s saving me money!
I would love to hear more about your weekend prep! That is something that I really struggle to do, so I’d love to hear more about how you make it work!
i’ll get to work on a post!
I love snooping in people’s grocery carts so THANK YOU for just putting your cart on display so I don’t have to snoop, LOL! I want to go grocery shopping with you 🙂 Seriously – going into say, Whole Foods, Costco or any store with FOOD IN IT (hey I even get happy going into Walgreens) is my DISNEYLAND! ah ha ha ha! 😉 Oh and whatever you’re making with that cod, yeah, I want a bite!
me too 🙂 i LOVE grocery shopping!
I really love this post. I’m always unsure of what to buy and what things will all end up as a delicious meal. Silly, I know. I am no chef, but I’m trying! Thanks for this! I’ll definitely be pinning.
not silly at all! it just takes a little practice to figure out what goes well together. once you find a few go-to meals, that always helps!
Costco is amazing!! We’re all about eating at home too when we can. It saves so much!!!
it definitely does! they have some great deals!
Weekend prep post please!
on it!
Thanks for sharing Lindsay! I really like when you post your foods on instragram too, it gives me inspiration for eating healthier and alternative options I might not think of!
i’m so glad to hear that!! i love looking at other people’s food to get inspiration!
This is great Linsday! I love seeing what people buy, i might do this post myself when we go shopping at the weekend if you don’t mind! I don’t want healthy eating to be expensive and then i give up!
go for it!! would love to see what you buy 🙂
So excited that you posted this! One thing I would really like to do this year is get a handle on my grocery shopping. Comparison shop and get those costs down without my belly getting angry with me. Thanks for sharing!
you can do it! let me know if you have any questions or if i can help at all!
Oh my gosh, you are kind of the best for listing this all out like this, plus the prices! This is so awesome! It definitely helps since I’ll be on more of a budget this month. Plus I’m nosy and like seeing what’s in others grocery carts;)
yay! glad to help! i’m nosy too 🙂
Great post, lady! Been meaning to do one of these myself. I usually shop once every week or week and a half, and shopping is usually $400 a month (and that’s just one of me). I like to be as thrifty as possible, and being more conscious of WHAT you eat certainly makes you more conscious of how much you SPEND on what you eat. xo!
so true! i’m way more aware now than i was when didn’t pay much attention to what i ate 🙂
Your purchases at each place are similar to ours. I have to go every week though because of the amount of milk and produce we go through each week (but there are four of us). Love the cheap peppers from Costco!
isn’t that the best deal?! can’t beat it!
Very insightful – lots of good tips that I will use to grocery shop more effectively!
awesome! glad it was helpful!!
I’m glad you decided to share!
This all sounded really similar to how we shop/plan/eat too. I never fail to save money when I meal plan. We’ve recently started shopping at Costco too–mainly for fruit, some veggies, hummus, peanut and almond butter, cinnamon, and yogurt (for the hubby). Trader Joe’s is our go-to for most groceries. I’m one of those people that loves to grocery shop 🙂
i love trader joes! it’s not very convenient for us, but when we make it over there i stock up on my favs!
Yes, PLEASE do some posts on weekend prep!!! This is the part I get caught up on. I can never figure out how to best store things so that they last the week. I can never figure out how long I should really keep things in the fridge. Yay!!
This is amazing information! Unfortunately I just moved into a place where I literally have one shelf in the fridge, one cabinet and a tiny spot in a dinky freezer to store food…..but logging this away for future reference! 🙂
Will you adopt a 55 year old lady! 😉 Loved this!!!!! Really helpful to so many!
I would love a week-end prep post, I am a huge coupon/prep junkie and any new tips are welcome. These are always my favorite posts. They also always give me new ideas on foods to buy/try!
Wow, looks great! I’m pretty sure I’d have to hide a few things if I was going to put a post like this up. 🙂
Love all the veggies!
LOving your blog! Can’t wait to read about week-prep…I keep trying 🙂
working on that post too!
Great post! I always buy canned beans but I will now have to try dried. Is there a way to soak them overnight? Thanks for sharing!
yep! you can soak them overnight…the instructions are usually on the back of the bag. or you can do a quick soak where you bring them to a boil, remove from heat and let sit for an hour and then cook. i use my pressure cooker now, but i used to do the quick soak all the time on the weekends. and overnight soak works great too. super easy!
fun post! i always love looking into other people’s grocery carts 🙂
Good to know my groceries would be approved by an RD. 😉 We shop very similarly. Except for the cod. I just don’t do fish ever since competition training. Yes, still. Hahaha!
Awesome breakdown! I spend about $100/week on groceries as well…and that covers most of our breakfasts, lunches and dinners…though on the weekends we tend to eat out!
2-3 times a month? That’s amazing! I always end up going every 5 days or so because I’m not that good at planning.
I’d love to buy more produce at Costco to save money, but I’m always worried it will go bad before we can eat it all. We’re a two person household, too! Any tips on keeping the produce brought in bulk fresh?
I would love to see a weekend prep post! I am trying to meal prep and plan every Sunday and when I actually do it, I am so grateful for all the quick food I have available when I get home after working all day!
My friends all know when I visit, take me to the grocery store….love it !! I am now living in Florida, and every. Week they always have 2 pages of buy one get one free. I am now cooking for just me , which sure has changed my buying and cooking habits. I am always looking at others baskets, just for fun….so nice to fine a place that loves food and sales as much as I do. Bon Appetite
This was a really helpful post. Thank you for sharing. I would LOVE a post about how you meal prep. You explained on instagram, but I think the thing that I would have the hardest time with is figuring out how to use all of the vegetables and fruits and how to buy what I know I’ll eat. Also, super random question. How do you keep those avocados good through two weeks? I pulled one out last night from last Friday’s trip and it was really yucky.
it’s tough to use two bags unless you eat a lot of them like we do. we could probably get by with one. I made some guac with the extras. You can also freeze them and add them to smoothies. also…they were rock hard when we bought them so it takes a couple days or them to ripen!