grocery haul + what I’m meal prepping

Happy Wednesday! We’re half way through the week – if you’re anything like me you’re muttering “you got this” to yourself multiple times throughout the day. I’m finally back with a Wellness Wednesday post y’all will hopefully enjoy – this has actually been one of my most requested posts and I just now got around to feeling like I had a grocery haul worth sharing.

As many of you have seen/read by now, I’ve switched over to a flexitarian diet (these days it basically means weekday vegan because weekends tend to be a little more lenient, but I’m hoping to work on that). I recently invested in a couple plant-based cookbooks to keep me motivated, inspired, and stocked up with new recipes to try.

Transitioning over to a new way of eating can be tricky because it can often require stocking up on new pantry essentials – I’m still in the beginning stages of that process so my “grocery haul” actually felt like a haul for once.

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P R O D U C E

• Kale – I swear I use kale for everything. Protein shakes/smoothies, salads, kale chips… this is pretty much something I always have on hand.
• Cucumber
• Red onion
• Sweet potato
• Parsley
• Green bell peppers
• Avocados
• Lemons – I’m starting to keep more lemons on hand because of their alkaline + anti-inflammatory properties. I’m starting to make my own lemon juice too using water + whole peeled lemon slices. Lemon juice has a lot more nutritional value that way!
• Green onions
• Roma tomatoes

S N A C K S

• Halos
• Rice cakes – I like to bring 2 cakes with me to work and top with guacamole, but I love how versatile they can be because you could literally top them with anything you want!
• Guacamole – I would normally prefer fresh guacamole, but seeing as how it doesn’t keep as long as I would want it for, I’ve been using these little guacamole cups instead. They’re so easy to grab to take on the go and keep me from having to make + store my own during my busy weeks.

G R A I N S

When it comes to grains I’ve been trying to do gluten free, but I’m going to try going back to regular whole wheat for a bit to see how I feel with primarily focusing on plant-based. However, it’s likely I’ll go back to gluten free, especially once I’m stocked up on all the new pantry essentials.

• Whole wheat pitas
• Whole wheat tortillas
• Whole wheat penne
• Bread crumbs

P A N T R Y

• Almond butter – I prefer the salt + sugar free
• Crushed tomatoes
• Pitted dates – for making date syrup
• Almonds – primarily for making homemade almond milk, but also for snacking!
• Chopped walnuts
• Navy beans
• Chickpeas
• Black beans – I prefer dry beans, even though they take a little extra effort. I just feel better knowing they haven’t been sitting in a can full of salty syrup.
• Paprika
• Turmeric – one of my new favorites to have in the spice cupboard! I never can taste it but it is well known for it’s anti-inflammatory properties!
• Celery seeds*
• Dry mustard*

*these are seasonings I needed for a savory spice blend but I knew I wouldn’t need a lot of, so instead of spending $4 for a full jar, I went to Sprouts and used their bulk section instead! It saved me so much money on something I knew I’d only reach for a handful of times.

F R I D G E / F R E E Z E R

• Frozen berries – I use these for my chia seed pudding + for protein shakes! I love buying frozen instead of fresh. The flavor is better + it keeps so much longer.
• White miso paste – one of my new cookbooks calls for this ingredient pretty often!

TOTAL: $94.57

WHAT I’M MEAL PREPPING

When I go grocery shopping, I usually do it for 2 weeks at a time. It just generally prefer to have everything I need on hand for the pay period and avoid the craze of the grocery store as much as I can lol. I pulled my recipes from the How Not to Die (HNTD) and No Meat Athlete (NMA) cookbooks. Here are the meals I have planned for this week + next!

W E E K 1

• Chia seed pudding (with frozen berries or almond butter!)
• Black bean burgers (HNTD) + Sesame-Turmeric Fries (NMA)
• Golden Quinoa Tabouli (HNTD)

W E E K 2

• Breakfast bean burritos (NMA)
• Pasta marinara with Italian bean balls (NMA)
• BLAT Pitas (NMA)

I hope y’all found this post useful + are able to pull some inspiration from it!