Grocery Staples

[Jolt]

Weekly: milk, various fruits and vegetables, bread, yogurt

Staples restocked as needed: eggs, chicken, ground beef or turkey, fish (frozen or canned), carrots, whole wheat flour, brown rice, olive oil, butter (which takes a while to go through), dried beans/lentils, quinoa, nuts, dried fruit, honey, canned tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, various seasonings, peanut butter, dark chocolate

Occasional: tortilla chips, salsa, cheese, avocados, junk food (ice cream etc.)

[Grits]

Thanks Jolt, and a couple of others, who admitted to some junk food. I was beginning to feel bad! We have a lot of healthy stuff, but I would also have to add chocolate chip cookies, Baked Lays BarBQ Chips, ice cream, chex mix, Laughing Cow cheese, and wine as staples at my house.

[OakLeaf]

Oh, I eat plenty of baked goods.

I just don't count store-baked goods as staples because I never plan to bring them home, they're a total impulse buy. And once they're in the house, they don't stay. Buy 'em or bake 'em, eat 'em, it's over.

I've had to cut down on my wine intake but yeah, we buy wine very regularly too.

[sfa]

We buy a lot of things in bulk and store them for later, so even perishable staples like cheese and meats we don't buy weekly since we put so much in the freezer. The only thing that we absolutely buy weekly is two gallons of milk and fresh fruit and vegetables.

But our standard grocery list of staples includes:
bread
tortillas
soynut butter
breakfast cereals
cottage cheese
yogurt
various cheeses
almonds
crackers
pretzles
goldfish crackers
Oreo cookies
lunchmeat
eggs
frozen vegetables
chicken breasts
ground beef
tilapia (the only fish the whole family can agree on)
chicken nuggets
fish sticks
french fries
canned or dried beans
rice
pastas
potatoes

[limewave]

Eggs
Organic/Natural chicken
1lb beef (used sparingly for spaghetti, pastas, chilis)
Canned Tomatoes
Canned Blackbeans

Frozen Veggies: Spinach, peas, beans, broccoli

Fresh Veggies:
Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
Peppers
Cucumbers
Celery
1 Potato (for DH)

Herbs:
Cilantro
Parsley

Cheddar Cheese
Hummus

Fruit:
3 Apples
3 Oranges
Bananas
Red Grapes

Raisins

Organic Whole Grain Spelt Bread
English Muffins
Puffins Cinnamon Cereal

Silk
Grape Juice

Indulgences:
Twilight Delight Intense Dark chocolate Bar
Potato Chips for DH
PB & J

[GLC1968]

We work out of a huge pantry, have chickens for eggs, a goat for milk and I'm working on replacing all cleaners with home-made versions, so our weekly trip is mostly random things.

We do buy cheese and lunch meat for DH's lunches each week. And cold cereal...but that's about it besides restocking the veggie drawer and the occasional container of icecream or box of crackers. We also buy TP as needed because I can't seem to find the brand I like in bulk anywhere local.

The chickens, goats and pantry have reduced our weekly grocery trip from $150 to about $65 or less (for 2 of us). By mid summer, we hope to have that down to virtually zero.

[Jolt]

We work out of a huge pantry, have chickens for eggs, a goat for milk and I'm working on replacing all cleaners with home-made versions, so our weekly trip is mostly random things.

The chickens, goats and pantry have reduced our weekly grocery trip from $150 to about $65 or less (for 2 of us). By mid summer, we hope to have that down to virtually zero.

Nice! That's one thing I like about having a garden in the summer.

[Karma007]

Oh wow. Funny this came up. Bf and I were just talking yesterday about how I don't need a grocery list b/c it's so standard. We're not very adventurous.

For him- milk, meat of some sort, lunchmeat, sugar free syurp, ww waffles, and pb.Oh! And Newman's light ital. dressing.

For us- leaves (spinach, romaine) cucumber, canned artichoke hearts, brown rice, sprouted grain bread, apples, bananas, baby carrots, celery, beer on the weekends

For me- firm tofu, beans, salsa, Kashi GoLean cereal, Vitasoy light milk, small bar of dark chocolate, squash, mushrooms, ww pitas, hummus, vegan patties, pino noir berries or other fruit, dried apricots,nuts of various flavors, a couple Amy's organic burritos, just in case.

That's standard, and I'll p/u others stuff as deemed nessesary, depending on my mood. This week I made a big pot of lentil soup for me, and ONLY b.c it's his birthday this week, bf gets Hamburger Helper (I avoid stuff in boxes).

[IvonaDestroi]

Hehe:

12 pack frozen burrittos
Bread
Milk
Giant brick of cheese
eggs
5 pack mac and cheese
Ham
Mayo
Tomatoes
Onions
Butter

Hmmmm.... Yea I think it's time for the college diet to go! My fruit and veggie intake: tomatoes and onions on piles of mayo in a ham sammy. That's it! Pure carbs and starches and cheese.... And I wonder why I'm getting fat...

Speaking of which... The place I'm moving into with my friend has no functioning stove/oven, just a microwave. I should be getting food stamps soon so I'll at least be able to afford non-junk food for once, but does anyone know of some healthier things I can eat that I can either make raw or cook using only a microwave?

I seriously need to change my eating habits, and I guess a change of environment at the same time can really help with the motivation.

Oh yea, and one more thing: I can't use the freezer cuz theres dead snakes in there... so no freezer stuff either!

[shootingstar]

Hehe:

12 pack frozen burrittos
Bread
Milk
Giant brick of cheese
eggs
5 pack mac and cheese
Ham
Mayo
Tomatoes
Onions
Butter

Hmmmm.... Yea I think it's time for the college diet to go! My fruit and veggie intake: tomatoes and onions on piles of mayo in a ham sammy. That's it! Pure carbs and starches and cheese.... And I wonder why I'm getting fat...

Speaking of which... The place I'm moving into with my friend has no functioning stove/oven, just a microwave.

I'm not the right person to suggest microwave dishes/recipes even though we do have a microwave...we only use it to warm up leftovers, bagels or zap my daily instant oatmeal. The latter as a healthy, suggested start for microwave breakfast with fresh fruit and milk. Very effortless.

Perhaps the library has a book on microwave recipes? Go online and check their database.. Will save you cost of printing off recipes.

A rice-cooker is not that expensive if you save your money carefully. Up here in Canada, the smallest rice cooker: $30.00CAN.

And with a rice cooker you can cook all kinds of rice. PLUS when the water starts to boil in cooking rice, you can add thin slices of meat or near end, just break 1 whole egg and let the steam cook the egg for next 8 min. or so. have veggie and fruit on side. Done.

There are recipes for microwaved rice, potatoes but I haven't tried using a microwave for these items. Nor have I tried a raw food diet. You can eat fresh daikon raw, red radishes where we live are only 69 cents for a bundle. I read a recipe that makes an interesting sandwich out of thinly sliced radishes, lettuce. Sounds like a retro-tea party sandwiches.

By the way you can make a fake egg salad, by cubing pressed tofu and mixing with mustard, etc. I do seriously suggest shopping in the Chinatown districts --pricing can be quite good for produce with a wide selection.

[PamNY]

Hehe:
Speaking of which... The place I'm moving into with my friend has no functioning stove/oven, just a microwave. I should be getting food stamps soon so I'll at least be able to afford non-junk food for once, but does anyone know of some healthier things I can eat that I can either make raw or cook using only a microwave?

I seriously need to change my eating habits, and I guess a change of environment at the same time can really help with the motivation.

Oh yea, and one more thing: I can't use the freezer cuz theres dead snakes in there... so no freezer stuff either!

Can you store the snakes in something airtight, then clean the freezer and use it anyway? I know nothing about zoonotic diseases involving snakes, but you might email a herpetologist at a local university or ask a vet.

Many vegetables are okay cooked in a microwave. There's a ton of food & cooking information online. Google is your friend.

I agree with checking out your area's Chinatown. In NYC bargains abound and it's much more fun than the regular grocery store. You can learn to cook all manner of new things.

Pam

[IvonaDestroi]

Can you store the snakes in something airtight, then clean the freezer and use it anyway? I know nothing about zoonotic diseases involving snakes, but you might email a herpetologist at a local university or ask a vet.

Many vegetables are okay cooked in a microwave. There's a ton of food & cooking information online. Google is your friend.

I agree with checking out your area's Chinatown. In NYC bargains abound and it's much more fun than the regular grocery store. You can learn to cook all manner of new things.

Pam

I dunno about the freezer... I sort of just don't want anything to do with it! I'm going to try to convince my friend to get rid of them (they've been in there forever and I dont think he's ever gonna get around to the taxidermy). If he throw's 'em out that thing is getting bleached like 10 times over before I'll even go near it

Chinatown does sound amusing and interesting... hmmm.... I'll see what I can find online in terms of using that kind of stuff

[smilingcat]

Chocolate with almonds. Two bars every week must be a staple for us.

Tater tots when we got a hunkering for junk food. It is junk food isn't it??

Pace Picane Sauce and organic multi-grain chips or bean chips. Also junk food.

Otherwise, we eat healthy. And we are almost finished with planting our garden. Lost track of all the varieties of lettuce we grow. crooked neck yellow squash, three kinds of cucumber, 8? different varieties of tomatoes. At least 6 are heirloom variety, Zuccini, acorn squash, bell pepper, Japanese pepper, several varieties of beans... French tarragon, cilantro, parsley, basil, oregano. garlic, ginger to name just some of the herbs growing...

We also have meyer lemon trees, washington navel orange trees, bears lime trees, Rio red grapefruit trees, and just picked up an odd looking pink lemon(ade) tree. Missing are Hass avocado, Bay Leaf (bay Laurel) in my yard. Bay laurel tree died several years ago..

Most of our groceries will be coming from our yard in about a month. We've been back to eating our home grown micro-green for the past week. And hopefully, we can start adding our tomatoes to our salad in about three maybe four weeks. Green zebra tomato plants have set some fruit hmm raddishes too.

So can I get away with hens and guinea fowl in my urban setting??

And flowers for our table are also growing. Roses, dahlias, glads, ...

And yes we have torn out all the useless grass on my property. Ooo just realized, I think I want to get some yellow rasberries just outside my window. Berries and to discourage would be intruder.

Urban homestead at its best maybe I'll post a pic in about a month or two when things are lush and green.

[surgtech1956]

You could also get one of those 2 burner things - we use one for camping. I know Walmart carries them for $30. Also an electric griddle(flat cooking surface) or an electric fry pan, or a george foreman(or knock-off) cooker. ++ for the rice cooker, a friend of mine at work has one that came with a steamer insert.

[Tuckervill]

I take an electric tea kettle with me camping, and it will boil all the water you need for anything you can cook with hot water. And there's also a few websites with nothing but recipes of things you can make in your hotel coffee maker! Both of those items can be had for less than $15.

Karen