Last week I wrote a post about what I bought at Whole Foods for $137. Grocery store haul posts are always so interesting to me because everyone has such a different perspective on food shopping and food budgeting. One thing I notice is that the area where you live seems to make a big impact on how you view food availability and pricing. I had some people comment that $137 was a steal for that haul and some people comment that they spent far less and some right around the same budget.
For me, considering that well over 50% of what I purchased was organic and there were some high dollar splurges in there (acai packs, cheeses, wild salmon, etc), I thought this was a pretty good number for the week. This ended up feeding us 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 5 dinners, plus snacks with some leftovers.
Here’s a look at some of the meals I made!
Acaci green smoothie bowl.
Banana egg white oatmeal.
Spinach salad topped with deli turkey and a bunch of fridge/pantry staples like garbanzo beans, kalamata olives, pine nuts and more.
Grilled cheese and a fried egg with sourdough from the freezer.
Snack plate with avocado and turkey roll ups, apples and cheese.
Parchment baked salmon with a side salad.
Red curry thai turkey burgers in a kale wrap (recipe coming soon!) with sauteed mushrooms and sriracha aioli. Roasted sweet potatoes and turnips on the side.
Honey balsamic glazed chicken breasts (recipe here) with fresh figs added when I added the glaze to the pan, roasted acorn squash and cauliflower puree with truffle oil and goat cheese. This was our Friday night dinner in so I try to jazz it up a bit.
And here are the two meals we ate out this week.
Sushi at the studio after Thursday night classes because we had a group celebration for a new teacher.
Lunch at Earl’s Grocery because we often do a Friday lunch date. I had the kale salad.
And we shared a piece of peanut butter pie.
Hopefully this gives you a better snapshot into how I use a week of groceries. As always, open to any and all questions. I used to get really stuck on menu planning and knowing exactly what I was going to make every night but these days I stock the fridge well with a reasonable amount of proteins, fruits and veggies and keep the pantry full of staples and rarely have a problem creating on the fly.
Did you eat in or out more last week? Do you usually eat in on Friday nights or go out?
Typically eat in on Friday night and make our own pizza. Well not the dough, that is usually from TJs if we are cooking it in the oven (spreads better in the pan) and Whole Foods if we are grilling it (less stretchy/holds shape better when put on the grill).
Grilled pizza, sooooo good!
Yum!! I need pizza in my diet about once a week too.
When shopping do you have a meal menu for the week already planned out?
Can you do a cauliflower purée tutorial?!
Those turkey burgers sound delicious! I probably spend right around the same amount for groceries each week but a) I very rarely eat out, b) a good amount is organic, c) I’m marathon training and d) I like to eat 🙂
Those are some great and creative eats!! I love the avocado rolls.
Oh yesssss! Whole Foods feeds you well!
I think $137 is a steal, but I live in the Bay Area where things are more expensive. And I eat most dinners at home except for Saturday night. Friday nights are a toss-up on whether we go out or not. Good work on your meals, Jen. I want it all!