- Marriage After Kids
- Fitness In My 20s vs Fitness In My 30s
- Week of Weeknight Dinners
- My Current Beauty Favorites
- How I Make My Tea Lattes
Today I’m coming at you with my first grocery haul post! I had a few of you ask me to share a glimpse into what I buy at the grocery store and for my first haul, I’m sharing a peek into what I bought during a trip to ALDI on Tuesday. I went equipped with a list so I didn’t end up adding a bunch of superfluous things to my cart and I and left with a decent amount of food for the week ahead. My bill was just under $100 and the majority of the items purchased were organic. ALDI for the win!! (Also worth noting: I have worked with ALDI in the past and continue to collaborate with them through social media and my blog but this blog post is not sponsored.)
Despite my best efforts to only grocery shop one time a week, I fully admit that lately I’ve found myself frequently grocery shopping about two times a week, so I am planning to hit the grocery store again within the next two days to replenish some things we already had on hand during my Tuesday shopping trip that we now need (bread, yogurt, whole milk, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, tortillas, etc.). Also, going into this trip, our pantry and freezer were both pretty well stocked with beans, nuts, grains, coconut milk, crackers, spices, oils, frozen veggies and some shrimp and chicken so this trip was definitely on the lighter side.
Before diving into my first grocery haul post, I have a few ideas concerning where I see these grocery haul posts going in the future if you guys like them, so please let me know if they’re of interest. Here are some things I’d like to include in the future if grocery haul posts prove to be something that you guys want to see more of on PBF:
- A breakdown of our dinner meal plan for the week so you can see what we’ll be making with the food we buy
- Breakfast and lunch plans for the week that will incorporate food from our grocery hauls
- Overall cost breakdown
- Two grocery hauls in one post if our week includes two grocery trips to provide a better overview of what one week of food shopping looks like for our family
Below you will find a summary of everything I purchased during Tuesday’s grocery shopping adventure!
Grocery Haul #1
Produce
FRUIT
- Organic Apples
- Organic Bananas (2 bunches)
- Organic Navel Oranges
- Organic Raspberries (2 half-pints)
VEGETABLES
- Organic Baby Carrots (3 bags — these are the BEST for little ones because they’re much more thinly sliced than other baby carrots)
- Organic Spinach (3 cartons — a staple in our smoothies)
- Organic Frozen Broccoli
- Organic Frozen Butternut Squash
- Sweet Onions
- Cole Slaw Mix (2 bags)
PASTA/GRAINS
- Simple Nature Organic Linguine
- Simply Nature Organic Shells & White Cheddar Mac & Cheese (2 boxes — the boys’ favorite!)
- Simply Nature 90-Second Organic Seven Grains (love these for easy lunchtime grain bowls)
- Simply Nature 90-Second Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice
PROTEIN
- Simply Nature Organic Cage-Free Eggs
- Earth Grown Vegan Protein Veggie Burgers (this was an impulse buy and I haven’t tried them yet)
MILK / CHEESE
- Friendly Farms Organic Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (3 half-gallons — we go through a ton of almond milk in our house)
- Simply Nature Organic Colby Jack Cheese Slices
- Simply Nature Organic Shredded Mexican Cheese
EXTRAS
- La Croix Hibiscus Sparkling Water (a new-to-me flavor and it’s so good!)
- Benton’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Thins (Can you tell I broke into these in the car?)
- Simply Nature Organic Garlic Hummus
- Little Journey Organic Baby Food Pouches (18 of them! Clearly I was on a mission to replenish my stash and this is where I spent the bulk of my money on Tuesday.)
Questions of the Day
- How many times do you shop for groceries during the week?
- Do you grocery shop with some kind of a meal plan in mind for the week ahead?
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Curious to see more info about grocery hauls. I am in the process of reviewing our grocery budget, what should be our norm, how does our budget compare to “norm”, etc). Thanks for sharing. Also, I noted this haul didn’t include much meat, are you opting for more meatless meals or already have meat in stock? If less meat, an approach to cost savings, health, other? I am a food and budget nerd, so this intrigues me.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi! We already had some meat in our freezer (chicken + shrimp) but I am constantly trying to reduce our meat consumption because I truly do believe a predominantly plant based diet is healthiest — the $$$ savings are a big bonus, too!!
Hi, Jennifer! The USDA makes a monthly chart that details family food budgets in four categories: Thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal. It gives you a good starting place for creating a budget based on your family size and how thrifty you want to be!
https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/media/file/CostofFoodJan2020.pdf
I really enjoy seeing grocery hauls as it gives me new ideas to products that I may not normally see in the store. Sometimes I think I am a creature of habit and always buy the same things. Thanks for sharing!
What a great topic! Yes, please share more of these! We shop once a week and I feel like there is never anything in the house. We grocery shop with a meal plan in mind, but fizzle out on breakfast and snacks. We try to keep it at about $100 as well. Please incorporate breakfast and lunch plans and a dinner meal break down. This would be so helpful. Like I said, great topic!
Yes to all the grocery haul stuff!!! I was glad to read this post today and I love Aldi!
Love this! Do you meal plan then shop?
I try to but this week I went with a rough outline of meal ideas in my head — not so much a definite meal plan which is probably why I feel the need to go 2x! When I really plan out our meals I’m a lot better at shopping for everything in one swoop!
I mostly just do one big grocery shopping trip a month, and then I usually go two other times later in the month for fresh things like milk and produce.
I love reading grocery haul posts, so I’m excited to see this series!
How do you do this? Go once a month? Very interested.
I plan to do a blog post on it at some point, but the short answer is that I go to Sam’s Club at the beginning of the month, drop between $250-300 on staples, produce (both long-lasting like apples and potatoes and ones that need to be used up fast), meat, etc., and then I freeze what I can and use up everything else according to when it will go bad. I keep a well-stocked pantry and don’t buy a lot of convenience foods, so our bill stays pretty low.
This is an awesome post! Thank you!
I’d love to hear your review of the vegan protein veggie burgers as finding a good one that isn’t super expensive is difficult! Speaking of Aldi, have you heard they came out with a dill pickle hummus?
I haven’t seen that at my ALDI yet but as a pickle lover, I’ll be on the lookout!! And I’ll definitely report back on the veggie burgers.
You’re very lucky to have an Aldi that carries so much organic stuff. The ones in my area have very little organic, especially produce. It’s a real bummer. (I’m in Raleigh, NC.)
Love this post! I have one suggestion and one comment. For future grocery hauls, maybe you could post a separate picture of all the items in each category? I was interested in seeing some of the items you bought under pasta/grains, but it felt a little like Where’s Waldo trying to spot them in the larger photo. 🙂 My comment is that I used to drink sooooo many cans of sparkling water (La Croix, Buble, Costco brand, etc.) and didn’t like how many cans I was wasting. Then I got a soda stream on Prime Day it’s been such a game-changer!! They have little flavoring bottles and everything. I haven’t used a can in months! Just wanted to share. 🙂
Oh! I’ll definitely do that next time! I had to pile a lot of the food on top of each other to get it all in one pic but separate pictures would be a lot easier to showcase everything outside of one big overhaul pic. Thanks for the suggestion!
Love this post! It would be great to see the planned meals you have based on what you bought and what you already had at home. 🙂
We moved to an Aldi-less state in the past few months, but I’ve been shopping at our versions of Kroger and Publix. I make my general, non-specific shopping list first based on what we need (x proteins, x sides, etc.), then I’ll look at the sale ads of both stores to figure out what to get where. Things not on sale at either store get purchased at Walmart! I meal plan based on the sale ads. 🙂
OMG I cannot believe that came to under 100 dollars?!?! I wonder if there is a price difference from where you live and New York (Long Island)? I feel like that would cost me at least 200 dollars. We spend WAY TOO much money on food, but I refused to spend less and buy less produce and healthier foods just to save money : (
I’m not sure! In general ALDI is a LOT cheaper than a lot of our local grocery stores (especially for organic items) so that definitely saves money but I don’t know whether or not their prices vary regionally. Every time I shop there, I swear I’m blown away by how much more affordable it is!!
I love Aldi posts! I recently rediscovered Aldi after not going since I was a kid and love seeing what others find and recommend. Do you not purchase meat there? I haven’t yet, and I know there used to be some stigmas with meat from Aldi. Knowing it’s a sister company to Trader Joe’s though, I have to think those were all wrong… Just curious your thoughts.
Hi Julie! I just wanted to say that I loved this post. I’m a big fan of Aldi and wish it would come to Canada. I was just wondering if Ryan takes home cooked food for lunch and if he does, does he take leftovers or stuff like sandwiches?
I love posts like these! I am obsessed with buying healthy foods but trying to keep my food budget to a minimum. I live in South Africa and also seem to think you got alot for $100! I wish we had an Aldi here. Have a great weekend!
Love seeing your grocery hauls. I would love to see your menu plan for lunches. I feel that is where I’m lacking in the creativity department, especially with a toddler. My friend bought me reusable pouches from Amazon and I LOVE them for my toddler. I pour smoothies in and freeze them. That way, they thaw in the diaper bag (or a sit them in water for a few minutes if we need it fast). They hold a good amount and my son absolutely loves them. It’s a great money saver because those pouches can add up and I feel better about not creating as much waste. Wasn’t sure if you’d seen them before. The spout is on the side, so I’ve never had a blowout like others I’ve read about.
Yummi Pouch Gift Set – Reusable Food Pouches https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I1AE4A8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JsNyEbRVB1YNE
We grocery shop once a week, every weekend (either Sat or Sun). Now that we have an almost one year old with busy work schedules, getting to the grocery during the week is too difficult and going out is impossible. I do like have bulk items in the freezer from Costco b/c then we just have to figure out sides/salad/etc. Always looking for quick/easy meals or crock pot ideas to mix in!