Inside Look: Grocery Haul + Meal Prep

Hi Guys!

After my last post about my personal wellness rituals, I thought it would be helpful to show you exactly how I meal plan and prepare for the week. I hate running to the store in the middle of the week.  I try to stay within my food budget (and not go over). And I have a clear plan, so I don’t waste time figuring out what to do when.

This is what works for me! And if you were to work with a nutrition consultant (like me) this would be one area (of many) we could work on together if you need support! (don’t worry if you don’t eat all real food yet or don’t have the $ for organic, we work where ever you are at!!

Let’s dive in on my weekly schedule.

Friday Evening:

The first thing I do is have my meals chosen for the week. I try to rotate my protein so I either have chicken breast, chicken thighs, ground beef, pork, or beef tips for lunch protein.  Then I try to choose a different protein for the dinner meals.  This is way we get variety for taste and nutrients!

This week I am cooking:

Lunch: Cuban Pork Bowls by Fed and Fit

Dinner: Week 11 from Cook Once Eat all Week.
Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Lemon Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
Chicken Vesuvio

I picked this week because Rotisserie Chickens were on sale this week at Whole Foods. 😊 And the Cuban Pork bowls are quite easy to assemble for lunches and pork sounded tasty.  I try to limit pork/beef tips to 1x a month because these are the most expensive proteins. Chicken/Ground Beef always saves me the most money.

My Food Budget:

My grocery budget is $200 a week for 2 people.  I try to never go over because it is quite high.  I balance it out depending on what I need that week! I also don’t really run out of food because I keep my fridge/pantry stocked! And you can go cheaper, you just might need to pick only on sale items and ditch all snacks.  There is always a way!! Read this article if you want to learn How to eat Paleo on a Budget. Every time I try to hit a lower budget, It causes too many problems like 1) I get super hungry so I grab dinner ($ spending money) or 2) I run out of something and need to take a 2^nd trip (spending extra time + money) 

I set aside this amount of funds because it makes WAY more sense and then I have enough to budget in snacks for Andy and fun health food snacks for me. 😊 And If I don’t spend $200 that is money that I can reallocate to going out to dinner for a night.

Friday Night/Saturday:

After I plan the meals, I create a grocery list.  

I like to fill up the Amazon Cart with everything that I want to purchase through them.  Then I will go to Whole Foods and compare prices.   SOMETIMES Whole Food will be cheaper and sometimes AF will be.  I will delete any items from AF cart as I shop at WF.  Typically, all produce by weight items are cheaper on AF.  (ie. grapes- I will show you below) And I never purchase meat on AF, it is MUCH more expensive.  I always shop at WF for the meat and other specialty health items.

THE GROCERY HAUL

AMAZON FRESH

Vegetables:

Organic Green Onions – $1.29
Organic Green Beans – $3.99 x 2
Organic Garlic – $1.99
Organic Mango – $1.79 x 4
Organic Red Onion – $1.49
Organic Red Bell Pepper – $1.99 x 5
Organic Chives – $2.49
Jalapeno Peppers – $0.65
Organic Parsley – $1.79
Organic Lemons 2lbs – $5.49
Organic Arugula – $1.99

Extra Items:
Celtic Sea Salt – $9.99
Almond Milk – $3.99
Organic Lemonade – $2.79
KRAVE Beef Jerky – 5.99 x 2
Strawberry Bars – $2.29 x 3
Strawberry Yogurt – $1.09 x 4

Total Amazon Fresh Bill: $82.25 (including tax)

Notes: The Sea Salt would be a rare purchase, not sure that was the best deal, but I wanted to switch it up from Himalayan salt since they have different minerals.   I have been craving lemonade, so this is also not a typical purchase.  The jerky, yogurt, and bars are all weekly snacks for my fiancé.

WHOLE FOODS

Vegetables:
Organic Green Grapes – $9.14 (3.99 lb)
Organic Broccoli Sprouts – $3.49
Organic Tomatoes – $4.99
Organic Arugula – 1.99
Organic Yellow Potatoes 3lbs – 3.99

Protein:
Pork Shoulder 4.25 lbs $29.71
Rotisserie chicken $7.99 (5.99)
Organic Rotisserie chicken $9.99 ($7.99)
$2 off all rotisserie chickens

Extras:
Homemade Hummus $9.44
Avocado Mayo – $7.49
Arrowroot Powder – $5.99

Whole foods Total: $92.84

Notes: Buying grapes is expensive.  AF is cheaper because it is a set price so you won’t accidentally buy $10 worth of grapes!  This week AF is expensive for green grapes, but the red grapes are only $5.99 for 2lbs.  (each week varies) So organic green grapes at WF wasn’t such a bad purchase considering….

The hummus is a bit pricey too.  I only purchase hummus without canola or soybean oil.  Most hummus brands are made with bad oils so check the label!! This is a new find at the Schaumburg Whole Foods made in their deli.   I can find homemade hummus for about ½ the cost, at another store, but this could be a larger container?  Either way I love my hummus for salads and snacks, so it was a necessity and I wasn’t about to drive 20 minutes to another WF store.

Overall this week was a bit on the higher end with the pork and a few other uncommon staples. The rotisserie chicken helped me save a bit of money ($14 dollars for 2 full chickens!!! Normally I would pay 22-25 for 3lbs of organic chicken) and it will make cooking SUPER easy this week for the weekly Cook Once Dinners. 😊

Lunch Meal Prep:

The lunch prep went smoothly. I was worried there would not be enough protein because the pork includes some fat and a bone…, but in the end I think it was just enough.

I doubled the mango salsa, I wanted to use all 4 mangoes, but 2 of them were hard…(1 problem with AF is you don’t get to pick out the produce ripeness).  I think it was plenty of salsa.  I skipped the plantains because I cannot figure out how to cook them well.  I roasted a lot of veggies (7 red peppers and 5 yellow squash).  Overall, I had just enough for 10 meals. The real test is during the week when I eat them. (I had one today and I feel good so far)

Dinner Meal Prep

Right now, I am not not prepping in advance the Cook Once meals. It just doesn’t make sense for me. If anything, I prep the protein so it is ready to go, then assemble the rest. This week I purchased the Rotisserie chickens so I know cooking will go pretty quick.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

This meal came together quick. I wasn’t initially excited about this meal, but it tasted pretty good.

Lemon Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry

This was another quick meal, and my finance loved it.

Chicken Vesuvio

This was my favorite meal. It had a delicious butter garlic lemon sauce and lots of veggies.

The dinner recipes all came together quick even without prepping in advance!

So that is it! My weekly grocery haul and meal prep. I hope this showed you how easy cooking real food can be. And to help you figure out a method that works for you and your family. 🙂

Comment below with any questions or share how you plan your meals! xox