Organic/Natural Grocery Haul #1
Call me nosy, but I love seeing what food other people buy. It inspires me and gives me ideas about what to buy myself.
Today I'm sharing all of the groceries that we bought for a week's worth of meals for our family of 4. We tend to do all of our grocery shopping on Saturday. That way Reuben and I can both go into town and we each get one child to mind. We both can't stand it when our kids are crazy in stores, so it really helps if we can divide and conquer.
Sometimes we have to make a grocery stop partway through the week (the life of a food blogger!), but we get the bulk of our shopping done in one day.
On to the haul!
Organic/Natural Grocery Haul
FRUIT
The coconut and organic bananas were from Walmart, and the organic pears were from the HFS (health food store).
VEGETABLES:
The carrots, lettuce, and peppers were from the farmers market, and the broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, tomato, frozen peas, arugula, and Yukon gold potatoes were from the HFS. Everything from the HFS was organic except for the Yukon gold and fingerling potatoes. For some reason I assumed the fingerling potatoes were organic...perhaps because I was so excited to find some. They're so pretty when roasted. The Yukon gold potatoes were from a local farmer.
DAIRY
The Rumiano sharp cheddar, Organic Valley Grassmilk, Siggi's, Greek Gods, and Noosa yogurt, heavy cream, eggnog, and Colby cheese were from the HFS. The GV plain Greek yogurt, Parmigiano Reggiano (made in Italy), Kildery cheese, and Kerrygold butter were from Walmart. All of the yogurt except for the Grassmilk was for Reuben's lunches - he's a yogurt addict! And of course he was the one who got the eggnog.
I wish I could find some organic/grass-fed Parmesan cheese, but I haven't seen it in our town!
P.S. - If you'd like a review of Kerrygold and 4 other grass-fed butters, check out my post HERE!
PANTRY
I needed some spices for a recipe I was testing: vanilla beans, cinnamon, black tea, and cardamom, all organic except the vanilla. I also bought a box of organic Chai tea.
"JUNK" FOOD
I was planning on making totchos with a bag of organic tater tots that we had in our freezer, and Reuben insisted on buying an extra bag because he said that we never have enough of them. I purchased a bottle of beer from a local alcohol store to use in a recipe I'm testing. It turned out to be very bitter and ruined what I was making. Bleh. Reuben also got a box of Cascadian Farms dark chocolate granola. The tots and granola were purchased from the HFS.
MEAT AND EGGS
I purchased some chicken backs, chicken breasts, a beef roast, and some lard from the farmers market. We got the eggs and sausages from the local health food store.
So that's all the food we bought for the week! We did end up purchasing a quarter of a cow the same day, which we split with my sister. And I had to stop and buy more spices on Tuesday because I stupidly didn't get enough.
Let me know if you would be interested in seeing the meals that I make from a grocery haul. And if you'd like to know how much we spent. I know that money can be a sensitive issue, so I wasn't sure if I should include the prices or not. Let me know what you think!
And if you'd like to see what I eat in a day, check out my What I Ate Wednesday posts!
xoxo
Erica
I would love to see what you made with these groceries! And I do like hearing what other people pay for groceries, mostly since we live on an island and it helps me feel like I'm not losing my mind with how expensive everything feels!
I would love to see the meals you made and how much you spent! Helps give me a perspective what other people spend on healthy good food for the week.
Unfortunately I didn't take photos of our meals, but here's what we ate: Mac and Cheese with veggies and bacon, Cheeseburger Totchos, Chicken Pot Pie, Roast Beef Dinner, and Stir-Fry! And I didn't keep super good records of what we spent at the Farmers Market, but all together it was about $195. Yes, it's a lot, but it's so worth it for me! 🙂
Not a lot. Don't feel bad about sharing that number. I shop for real food for a family of 5 and my kids are are elementary school age. At the HFS I spend around 100 each week plus another 100 at the regular grocery store and typically another 200 at Trader Joe's and farmers market. Ugh. We are all trim people but big eaters nonetheless! But we aren't dining out at all. I'm trying to find ways to cut costs without having to buy gmos, non organic dairy, etc.
That makes me feel better! 🙂 Yes, I'm not ecstatic about the price of organic food, but it's really important to feed my family high quality food. I'd rather give up other things than good food. 😀 Yes, my kids eat so much - as much or more than I do!
I'll have to take photos of our food next time, and keep better track of what we spent (didn't write down what we spend at the farmers market and they didn't give receipts). What we spend is pretty high for our area, but I know others spend $200+ on non-organic food! You could definitely make it work to buy healthy food on a budget. You would just have to shop the Clean 15 and not buy any convenience foods. I should do a post sometime on healthy eating on a budget...
I have bought that parm cheese here in Germany! It's in our normal grocery stores. I can get organic parm here. It's close to $5, but I don't remember how many grams you get. I love shredding it myself.
Oh yeah, and I buy Kerrygold butter here too, but mine it not rectangle shaped, it's a square!
That's cool that we buy the same food across the globe! 🙂 That's interesting that your Kerrygold is square...I wonder why that is? Tradition?
I would be interested in seeing photos of the meals you make. One thing I have noticed in your pictures before is that you have very good portion control. I am a diabetes educator and discuss this a lot with my patients. I would love to see how you portion out your meals.
I enjoy your blog... Thanks!
Aw, thank you! I don't have a set amount that I portion out. I try to eat until I'm full, not stuffed. I can't live by the Japanese philosophy of eating until you're only like 80% full - I would be hungry in an hour! It's hard for me to know how much to dish up sometimes, especially since I'm coming off of nursing where I can eat like a pig. Haha! I tend to start with a small portion, and dish up more if I need it. I really have feeling over full, so that helps to keep my portions smaller. 🙂
I'd love to see a post sometime on healthy eating on a budget. Id like to go organic but I have to pick and choose because it's so expensive! Love your blog!
That would be a fun one to write! I'd also like to do a comparison of all organic vs all conventional to see how much more you have to spend per week/month/year if you choose to go organic.
Please post your recipe for totchos. 🙂
I'll have to do that sometime! They are sooooooo good. 😀
I love these kinds of posts and if the prices are included it's even better! Just subscribed to your emails solely because you might do more of these. Budget Bytes used to do them and I miss them a lot!
Aw, thank you so much for subscribing! I'm definitely planning on doing more of these. I kind of feel that once a week would be too often...perhaps once or twice a month? I've been super busy with behind-the-scenes blogging stuff lately, but I hope to share another grocery haul when I can!
This is the ultimate organic haul, Erica! I especially love yogurt and would like to try different brands, do you have any recommendations? Since most farmer's markets don't provide receipts for your orders, taking photos and notes of every cent spent is a nice idea. Kudos! I am also very interested in the meals you make out of these stuff you bought. Keep up the good work! And I hope you find the grass-fed Parmesan cheese you've been looking for.
Thank you for your kind words, Elizabeth! 🙂
I would recommend the Organic Valley Grassmilk yogurt, or the Kalona Supernatural yogurt, both in the whole milk version. I also really like Siggis and Wallaby.
I'll have to check Wholefoods next time we go for grass-fed parm...
Thank you for your suggestions, Erica! I will definitely look for these brands and try them out. And good luck with the grass-fed hunt!