It sure has been a crazy past few days after Thanksgiving. I came back to Chicago on Sunday night and I walked into my apartment at 12:30a.m. with a hectic week ahead. Whenever I’m traveling, trying to consume all of the food in my fridge while at the same time having something in my fridge can be so difficult. When I opened the fridge Monday morning, all I saw was a few leftover muffins, numerous containers of hummus and a half eaten glass of chia pudding. Yep, not much to work with.
Because I knew I wouldn’t get to the store until Wednesday, I ended up using free coupons, Whole Foods and Kitchfix to get me through the first 72 hours or so of being back home. I do this all too frequently which results in my bank account plummeting into a black hole but I finally got a hold of myself when I did my weekly trip to Whole Foods (for specialty items) and Trader Joe’s (for everything else).
Today I’m going to give you a sneak preview of some of the items I bought for the first week of December and how these items can pair with different meals. Also — not everything I purchase is organic, non-gmo, blah blah blah. Although I love organic food (specifically meat), I buy what I can afford realistically.
First up, I bought 2 persimmons, blueberries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds, 2 pears, red seedless grapes and 3 bananas for my fruit of the week. I also threw into my cart two bags of frozen berries for smoothies! Hot tip: Costco has the best steals on bulk frozen fruit.
I ended up spending about $50-60 total at Trader Joe’s which is around what I usually spend for a week’s worth of groceries there. I picked up 3 zucchini, a tomato, a can of chickpeas, a frozen bag of quinoa mixed with veggies, a bag of mixed greens, an acorn squash, sun dried tomatoes, butternut squash and almond milk. For less than $10 I love grabbing their wild caught smoked salmon to add to my English muffins or toast in the mornings! And corn tortillas were included in my cart of course. Gotta have my weekly taco fix somehow 🙂
After leaving Trader Joe’s, I stopped into the place that sucks me dry – Whole Foods. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. I have been DYING over these Thin Stackers from Lundberg Farms recently. As most food bloggers know, we need any and every vehicle possible to consume hummus, nut butter and avocado. Thanks to these rice cakes, I get my fix of those without having to eat toast for every single meal. These are perfect for snacks!
I didn’t become a fan of rice cakes until recently due to their association with “diets” and “low calorie” food (not cool), however I look beyond that now and see them simply as a vehicle for my nut butta. They’re crunchy and comprised of just brown rice and quinoa.
As for my main bread of choice, I love picking out either Food For Life Baking‘s toast or English muffins. Since I just went through 2 loaves of their Ezekiel bread (thank you, Costco), I bought the plain English muffins this time around. I smear these bad boys with dairy-free cream cheese, avocado, nut butter, hummus, Siggi‘s yogurt… the list goes on and on.
Speaking of that Siggi’s I know and love so well… I can’t go a week without the mini yogurt cups! If I’m not buying the large container for $6.99, you better believe I pick up 2-4 a week. Favorite flavors? Plain and vanilla. Minimal sugar, excellent taste. If you see me in real life, you know I have a Siggi’s sticker on my MacBook and on the back of my phone. I’m sure I look like a crazy woman, I’ll admit it.
I love buying the plain flavor to top in my tacos as a sour cream sub, on toast topped with warmed berries and granola or just by itself with some nuts. After being off of the yogurt train for over a year, I’m glad Siggi’s got me going again.
Two other specialty items I like grabbing at Whole Foods are Hilary’s Eat Well veggie burgers and Organic Valley eggs. I love veggie burgers when I’m in a hurry and the Adzuki Bean (made with sweet potato, quinoa, coconut oil, garlic and adzuki beans) can be popped in the oven for 10 minutes before running out the door, thrown on a salad or onto two pieces of bread for a sandwich. P.s. 5 grams of protein in one lil guy!
Now those eggs… Organic Valley’s eggs come from chickens who are fed organic grains, along with chlorophyll-rich plants. Therefore, the eggs are not only bright in color but the animals raising them are free to range in open farms. They taste great fried with my favorite Applegate sausage.
The last product that stuck out to me from my grocery haul I wanted to share with all of ya’ll crazy chickpeas is this soup from Nona Lim.
Nona Lim is a brand I have been eyeing for quite some time in Whole Foods’ meat/dairy-free section but never had the chance to bite the bullet and buy it. I have this tendency with a lot of fancy products. Whenever I’m looking for soups, it is SO hard to find one that contains less than 500000% (joking) of your daily sodium intake or has 100g of sugar per cup. The one question I always ask myself when soup browsing is why can’t someone just make it fresh!?
I guess Nona Lim answered my prayers because this thai green curry soup is EVERYTHING. Nona Lim uses whole and fresh vegetables, no GMO’s and homemade stock to produce a high quality product. Take a look above at the ingredients listed in the photo. They come in refridgerated bags ready to pour into a pot and heat up after a long winter day. Exactly what I plan on doing this weekend.
Seeing as I’ve been on a huge curry kick lately, I can’t wait to try this. Next up on my must-try list from Nona Lim? The red lentil veggie soup!
-Addie
*All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post was not sponsored/affiliated. These are products/brands I enjoy and love.*
