Essential Items for Your Shopping List

I work on my shopping list in three phases. I keep a list in the notepad on my phone, usually with ongoing items, things that weren't in stock the week before, or things I decide to put off for a week.

Then between Wednesday's and Thursdays I actually work on the list, adding what I know I'm going to need.

Thursday night or Friday before I leave, I look it over one more time in case I forgot anything.

Today was adding day, and I figured I would share some of that with you.

Rationale: I love breakfast, protein shakes are lunch and dinners are light and almost always home-cooked.

The list:

Eggs. I go with 18 packs of Egglands. I am willing to pay a little more for the higher standard of quality, since it is something I will eat daily.

High fiber bread and wraps. I can do SO much with these to switch up the method for eating anything really, all while getting a nice dose of fiber.

Fruit, usually berries. Usually enough to last me the week.

Butter, do I have enough?

And a couple times each week I will eat frozen Kodiak cakes, are there enough of those?

Almond milk for protein shakes, and I make sure I have enough protein powder (comes from a Vitamin Shoppe autoship), and Collagen peptides.

2 to 3 packages of protein, usually chicken, turkey, beef or pork. Sometimes I'll switch it up and put in salmon, veal, ground lamb, shrimp or steak.

Potatoes, rice and fake noodles. I stick to a measured serving size each day. The fake noodles are the brand "Better Than..."

Vegetables: I'm always sure to have at least three frozen bags of veggies in the freezer, so I'll buy a resupply of those. I also will buy a couple fresh options, like a broccoli head or a squash.

That's dinner.

For snacks, I always seem to have nuts, chocolate chips to have a taste of something sweet, lime and lemon juice for fancy non-alcoholic beverages at night.

Then I'll add anything needed as a gift for someone (like Valentine's Day coming up) or for a gathering (Super Bowl coming up)

And I always make sure there's plenty of sparkling water yum.

And that's about all there is. It's not boring by any means. It's versatile.

I buy usually for myself. With a husband that works in a restaurant, he usually is able to take care of himself, but there is always plenty of food if he needs something.

If I don't have any gifts or occasions, my grocery bill used to average $55 each week. Now it's close to $65 since prices have gone up. That's it.

If I'm maintaining this cycle, it all averages out at that. I've been tracking this amount for about two years.

It's a major cost savings.

Do I eat out? I haven't in months. Do I get take-out? Maybe once a month.

But that's all I'm spending on myself for food.

Certainly if you're buying for two, or for children your numbers obviously are different. But overall, cost per person can absolutely be that if you commit to meal prep and home prep methods.

Not to mention how satisfying, fresh, tasty and healthy it is.

Are there any further questions you have about how I do this? To me it sounds easy, but I've been doing this for years, so it feels tried, true and preferred. To someone looking to make this change, it might sound difficult.

So let me know if I can help in any way!