I was recently asked about how I grocery shop and plan our meals. To be honest, there’s no science to it and most the time I don’t even have a plan but I’ll share my pseudo ‘strategy’ here in case it helps someone.
We usually grocery shop once a week. We, like most of Boston, do a big shop on Sundays after a run, breakfast and some football. During the week I may also stop in to pick up odds and ends, especially on Thursday evenings when I’m done teaching at All One Yoga as there’s a grocery store on the same block.
During the week I spend a lot of time on food blogs and Tastespotting. If there is something in particular that catches my eye, I bookmark it. For anyone who is following a lot of blogs and doesn’t use a reader I strongly suggest it. I use NetNewsWire. It’s a great way to aggregate blogs and recipes. When I like something, I flag the post then refer back to it right before we go shopping. See below.

If something sounds good to both Michael and me then I make a list of the ingredients we’ll need on my phone.
But only if something sounds good.
Most the time we are very wishy-washy so we just buy staples for our go-to meals. That list is below:
Fruits and Veggies:
Apples, lemons, limes, celery, carrots, ginger and cucumbers. Most of these are for my morning juices.
Onions, bell peppers, jalapenos, avocados, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, new potatoes, kale, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and asparagus. These are for steamed and roasted vegetables, the base for soups or assorted dinner bowls. I buy onions and sweet potatoes in bulk when I can because we use them so often. I also buy cilantro pretty religiously because it’s my favorite herb.
“Dairy”:
Almond milk, firm tofu, vegenaise and Earth Balance spread. We don’t buy a ton of traditional dairy but we do buy cheese and eggs. Michael likes cheese on his sandwiches and often makes eggs on the weekends. I will eat a quesadilla or panini when I need a quick meal so it’s nice to have in the house.
Bulk Bins:
Garbanzo, black, white beans, quinoa, lentils, dates, gf oats, nuts, raisins. If I’m trying a recipe with new ingredients I will try to buy what I can in the bulk bins in case I don’t like it. That’s how I discovered chia and flax seeds. I’ve alluded to it before but the bulk bins tend to be cheaper than packages of the same item. Save your money and buy bulk. I use a bunch of mason jars to hold my bulk goodies.

Freezer Section:
Gluten-free bread (Udi’s is Michael’s brand of choice), Against the Grain frozen gf pizzas are a new favorite, frozen peas, corn. If we’re at Trader Joe’s I stock up on corn and bean enchiladas, green chile tamales, veggie gyozas and soycatash. I also buy a big bunch of bananas every other week or so and stick them directly in the freezer when we get home for smoothies and baking. I’ve been making this a ton so I’ve gone through a lot of bananas lately.
Beverages:
We are obsessed with bubbly water. We buy at least 10 bottles each time we go to the store. We really need a soda stream. If I need it I’ll buy Tazo’s Awake black tea and Michael loves cranberry juice so we buy a couple of bottles regularly.
Treats:
We are both big chip fans. We buy a bag or two of Lundberg’s BBQ rice chips and a bag of tortilla chips every week. If you’ve never tried Lundberg rice chips please do yourself a favor and buy some as soon as possible. They are SO good!
I eat Whole Food’s vegan dark chocolate chips almost every night so we buy a bag most weeks. We occasionally buy ice cream. We also eat a lot of salsa, that’s not a treat but I didn’t know what section to put it in, ha.
As for meat, Michael is not a vegetarian and will eat it if we’re out or occasionally when ordering takeout but we never buy it. Below is a shot of our groceries from a trip to Whole Foods.

Whew, okay, so that’s mostly it. I’m sure I’m leaving a ton of stuff off this list but this is the basic outline. It’s nothing too exciting and we spend way too much money on food but I consider it too important to skimp on. Hope this helped some of you out.
Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy!
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