Grocery Shopping Routine

It is quite interesting to see all the different things/ways we all do our grocery shopping.  Today, I am sharing a little bit of my process, which admittedly does change from time to time!

The 4 places I grocery shop are Kroger, Wal-Mart, Aldi and Trader Joe's.  I honestly probably go to Kroger the most, yet I rarely do Kroger pick-up. I really don't mind grocery shopping and it gets me out of the house.  I may be picking up some more part-time work this fall, so if that happens, I may use the pick-up option more.  Kroger and Wal-Mart are 10 minutes from my house and Aldi and Trader Joe's are 15 minutes, so all are convenient.  I usually only go to Wal-Mart if I need some other random household items as well.

Here is a sampling of some of my standard groceries/pantry items:

Fruits & produce - bananas & at least one other fruit, like grapes, apples, cantelope, or strawberries

avocadoes, onions and peppers, potatoes, carrots, broccoli

Packaged items - canned tomatoes, canned corn/green beans, pumpkin (especially during the fall months!), crackers, unsweetened applesauce, chips, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, cooking spray, cereal, sugar free bread, Coke zero bottles, sugar free/decaf sweet tea, sugar free BBQ sauce, sugar free chocolate sauce, tortillas, hot tea bags, ground coffee, coffee pods, peanut butter

Baking goods - almond flour, sugar/brown sugar substitutes, spices, salts, grapeseed/avocado oil

Refrigerated/frozen items - nonfat greek yogurt, Oikos yogurt cups, nonfat cottage cheese/cream cheese, cool whip, almond milk, 2% milk, low fat cheese sticks, shredded cheeses, mild cheddar cheese block, eggs, deli meat, sometimes hot dogs, frozen strawberries, Carbmaster vanilla ice cream, frozen veggies

Meats - turkey sausage, regular bacon, chicken breasts, rotisserie chicken, 90/10 ground beef, salmon, pork chops, roast

Speaking of roast, if you don't have time for a slow cooker or oven roast, this is a delicious option.  This is sometimes cheaper than buying a full roast and is the perfect amount for 2-3 people.  It is also so, so easy.  Just pair it with your favorite sides.

*I don't always have all the meats on hand at the same time, but I do rotate between these.

I don't have standing food items I get at Trader Joe's, but they certainly have fun seasonal items and easy packaged meals, so I always find something when I am there!  I do like buying some of their misc. items, like their hand sanitizing spray, candles and hand soap.  That being said, I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and I didn't buy any of those things!  Their fall items come today in store, so I will go back at a later time for some of those goodies.  Here is what I bought yesterday:

I bought salmon, milk, chocolate chip cookies, corn, orange chicken, some veggies and arepas.  We actually have been making arepas every week homemade at home lately, but I was trying to think of quick easy foods when Brook is back at school.

I also bought more bananas, flour, dog treats and then some chocolate and chips to have for our road trip.

Here is a picture of some items I purchased recently at Aldi:

The sweet potato chips were so good!  This doesn't show the refrigerated items, but I did pick up a face roller and this candle below.  It is a pumpkin scent and has a wood wick!  I have this on my desk at work.

While on the subject of food, I made this banana bread last week.  We rarely have ripe bananas, but I had brought home a lot from the 5K the weekend before and made the recipe that Andrea mentioned on her blog.  

I have made lots of other breads before, but honestly, I think this was the first time I had made banana bread and it turned out pretty good. 

Now to get motivated on what to cook!

After an unusual week of me posting 4 days in a row, I will be off until mid-next week. Hope you all enjoy the weekend & thanks for reading!