Plant-Based Diet Grocery Haul

 Good morning friends and happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend! We spent a majority of our weekend in our favorite place, the US National Whitewater Center. We got to kayak and paddle board, then lay in the hammock and eat popsicles. 

It was a pretty great weekend.

So I have a bit of a nerdy confession... I am weirdly fascinated by what other people buy at the grocery store. If you ever write a blog post about what groceries you're buying and what you're doing with them, there's a 100% chance I'm going to read it-- especially if it's healthy food. I don't know why this fascinates me so much? I guess I love to see other people's food and think "oh yeah I love those and haven't bought them in awhile, I'll get them next time!" I'm hoping there are some more of you out there who are interested in what groceries other people buy, because that's what today's post is! Our plant-based groceries for the week, and how we plan to use them. 

It actually doesn't look like that much when it's all crammed into one picture, does it? 

Now before we begin, I definitely want to point out that I try to keep our pantry pretty stocked with rice, quinoa, pasta, peanut butter, etc. I also try to keep our freezer stocked with frozen fruit, açai packets, and frozen veggies. And we do use a plant-based protein powder, which we buy at Costco, so we only need to buy a new one every few months. Other than that, I head to the grocery store once a week to grab the fresh produce and any items we ran out of. This is a look at what we bough this week, but keep in mind that we already had a lot of stuff on hand. 

Each weekend I make our meal plan using our meal planning pad. As I write our recipes down for the week, I add what ingredients we need to a separate piece of paper. I write down everything the recipe requires, even if I think we have it. Why? Because I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the store and not bought the ____ (insert any food here) because I was positive we had it, only to find out a family member ate it. Nobody wants to drive back to the grocery store when you were just there. So I make a list of everything, then double check that we have certain items and cross them off.

We eat the same breakfasts a lot: smoothies, avocado and tomato toast, açai bowls, cereal, oatmeal, chia pudding, overnight oats, and sometimes the kids will have scrambled eggs. I double check that we have everything we need for breakfasts for the week.

For lunch we usually eat leftovers, a PB&J, Thai spring rolls, quesadillas with dairy-free cheese, or I'll make the kids some mac & cheese or some chicken nuggets. Same thing with breakfast, I make sure we have everything we need before crossing it off the list. 

For snacks we eat a lot of fruit, nuts, and veggies dipped in hummus. We need to buy new snack foods every week because we go through them quickly. 

For dinner this week we are having:

- Coconut Curry

- Earth Bowls

- Greek Veggie and Hummus Pitas

- Tofu Stir Fry

- South Indian Curry Bowls

- Vegetable Soup with French Baguette

And here's the list (and pictures) of this week's grocery haul and what we plan to do with each item:

- Broccoli- We add to stir fry, make as a side item, and dip in hummus for a snack

- Avocados- Used for avocado toast, add to the top of the curry and Earth Bowls

- Mushrooms- Add to curry, Greek pitas, stir fry, vegetable soup. The kids also love them sautéed with a little butter as a side item.

 - Refried Beans- I will warm some up as a side with our quesadillas at lunch

Corn- Some will be added to the vegetable soup, but I bought extra just to stock up for the future

Coconut Milk- Added to curry 

Garbanzo Beans- We make our own hummus (usually twice a week) so we go through a lot! I also crisp some up in the air fryer to sprinkle on top of the vegetable soup. We eat the crispy ones as a snack too.

- Bananas-- Yes, we really do go through that many before they go brown! I make giant smoothies every morning and always add 2 bananas. We also eat them as snacks and I'll add them to açai bowls, chia pudding and overnight oats.

- Leeks- Adding to the vegetable soup

- Spinach (under the leeks)- We add to smoothies, quesadillas, Greek pitas, and Earth Bowls.

- Blueberries- Smoothies, snacks, add to açai bowls, overnight oats and chia pudding

- Strawberries- Same as above

  - Rambutans (underneath the strawberries)- This one was new to us this week! I've written before that we like to try new things in order to keep it interesting, and when we saw these at Costco we decided to try them out. We eat them as snacks or as a dessert. The kids LOVE them!! They are similar to lychee. This is what they look like:

Isn't that fun and different?

- Bell Peppers- Stir Fry, cut up and dip in hummus as a snack

- Blackberries- Eat as a snack, add to açai bowls, chia pudding and overnight oats.

- Green Onions- Add to curry, Earth Bowls, Stir Fry and Soup. I freeze what's left.

- Baby Carrots- Snacks and add to vegetable soup

- Zucchini- Add to curry

- Cucumbers- Add to Greek Pitas, Earth Bowls and have as a snack

- Cauliflower- Add to curry, stir fry, and have as a snack

- Lentils- Add to South Indian Curry Bowls

- Cashews- Eat as a snack and add to stir fry

- Macadamia Nuts- Snack

- Beets- Add to Earth Bowls and smoothies

- Almond Milk- Add to smoothies and cereal for the kids (Liam also still drinks whole milk)

 - Yukon Gold Potatoes- Add to Curry and Vegetable Soup, I'll also add some to the air fryer and make potato wedges as a side item

- Whole Wheat Pitas-- Greek Pitas

- French Baguette- Eat with Vegetable Soup

Like I said earlier, when it's all crammed into one picture it doesn't look like that much for a family of 4! 

I hope this grocery list is helpful to some of you! If not helpful, then at the very least interesting 😊. Have a great Monday!