Grocery Haul

I do not loathe nor love grocery shopping.  If I have time to spend and a plan; I tend to enjoy it.  If the store is busy, have very little time and I have no list; I tend to loathe it. Alas, it’s something that needs to get done.  If I left it up to my husband we would have pounds of lunch meat, Italian bread, crab legs, peanuts and cherries. Nothing else.

I figured I would share some of my typical buys and ‘give it a whirl’ impulse buys from Trader Joes and Whole Foods.  This week shopping wasn’t as typical as usual because of my crazy hours which equals much less cooking time. 

 

 

Whole Foods – The Usual

Mama Chia Products – I love Mama Chia Products.  I stocked up on a bunch of their Chia Squeeze Green Machine pouches when they were on sale at Target a couple of weeks ago, so I have plenty of those.  I really like these for an afternoon snack and an added bonus 1200 Omega 3-s!  I also love their Vitality Beverages, which I picked up a couple of those to change things up a bit.

Whisnant Family Farms Grassfed/Uncured Beef Hot Dogs – Grassfed and free of nitrates.  These are the premium of hot dogs my friends.  My husband love, love, loves them.  Did you know Grassfed beef is much higher in Omega-3s.  We all know how much I love my Omegas.  Supporting a family farm is an added bonus to purchasing these delicious links.

Horizon Organic/Organic Valley dairy products – Whole Foods is less expensive than Jewel or Meijer for organic dairy.  I picked up some Colby Jack Stringles (snacks), Mexican Taco Cheese (Taco Thursday!) and Heavy Whipping Cream (Shrimp Alfredo).

Evol Frozen Meals (not pictured) – I grabbed a few of these for lunches throughout the week (if I have time to eat!).  I am not a huge fan of frozen meals, but this week is  all about convenience!  Evol promises meals free of GMOS and rBGF/rBST.  The ones I picked up were also soy free (trying to stay clear of Soy for health reasons) and a couple week gluten free (I am on the fence about eliminating gluten from my diet for health reasons – and its baby steps around here).  The best thing about Evol is they actually taste good!

365 Organic BPA Free Canned Beans – Great price and BPA free can; can’t beat that.

**This was an odd week, but some other usual purchases for me at Whole Foods are seafood and bulk spices/beans/lentils/trail mix.

Whole Foods – Impulse Busy

Grass Fed Bacon – We rarely eat bacon because of my inability to cook it without almost burning the house down.  I decided to give it a whirl this week and purchased some grass fed bacon which I cooked on Sunday (without fail!) and it was absolutely delicious.  Bonus: seasoning for my cast iron cookware.

Jovial Checkerboard Einkorn Organic Cookies – I needed a cookie which was soy free and a *tad* better for you.  These are made with Einkorn wheat which is less processed than regular wheat (baby steps).  They are fabulous. I would definitely buy them again. 

365 Veggie Straws – Definitely not the best thing in the world for you, but soy free and something to snack on.

Whisnant Family Farms Italian Sausage – The hot dogs are amazing, and I am sure these won’t disappoint.

Trader Joes – The Usual

Dried Fruit & Nuts – This time I purchased some dried fruit, trail mix and brazil nuts

Trader Joe’s Apple Fruit Bars – just fruit!  soy free and a great afternoon snack.  I am particularly fond of the Apple & Coconut variety

Kind Bars – My husband loves the dark chocolate cherry variety

Organic Basmati Rice

Produce – This particular trip included plums, asparagus, lemons and cherry tomatoes

Miscellaneous Organic Frozen Veggies

Breaded Cod Filets – Another husband favorite

Bool Kogi (Korean Sesame Marinated Boneless Beef Ribs) – This is the second time I am purchasing.  The first time I bought them, my husband loved them but I didn’t try them.  I figured for a quick weekday meal this week with some basmati rice.  I am extremely strange when it comes to meat; so I may or may not try them this time

GrassFed Ground Beef – Great price and great taste!

Trader Joe’s Ubiquinol 100 mg – I am taking 300 mg of Ubiquinol (not CoQ10 - Yes, there is a huge difference) a day.  This stuff gets extremely expensive.  TJ’s price is extremely reasonable at $19.99 for a 60 count which means I am paying $30 a month for Ubiquinol not bad at all considering I was paying $80 for a 1.5 month supply.  I ordered some NOW brand 200mg Ubiquinol and will supplement the additional 100 mg with the TJ Ubiquinol.  One less pill to swallow!

Trader Joe’s -  Impulse Buys

Turkey Corn Dogs – for my husband

Trader Joe’s Reduce Guilt Air Popped Popcorn – purchased for my husband who was a much bigger fan of the new Baconesque but too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and I didn’t pick that up this trip.

 

Not many impulse buys, but what I really wanted to buy consisted of Speculous Cookie Butter Cheesecake Bites, Cookie Butter and Baconesque popcorn.  Ya, it was oh so very tempting!

 

What are your favorite TJ/Whole Foods must haves?