Episode 35: Grocery Haul! What I Buy Every Week and How I Plan My Meals
Last Monday I started out my day how I do most Monday’s. I dropped the kids off at school and then headed straight to the grocery store to get my pickup and my food for the week. I always get a lot of inspiration from seeing what other people eat and shop for so I figured I would hop on stories and share my haul.
Well, my DM’s blew up. And it turns out that there are a lot of you who feel the same way about food and groceries, and meal planning, and feeding our families, and just trying to eat and live healthy, but also not feel totally and completely overwhelmed about it all the time.
So in the spirit of GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT:
Here is a Grocery Haul Episode complete with:
How I plan my meals
What I buy every week
snacks to help me hit my macros and still feel full
and anything else related to my grocery haul:
Buckle up people.
First things first, before I can get into WHAT I shop for, I wanna share HOW I shop. I do the majority of my grocery shopping online with the pickup option. If I don’t have to go inside a store- I’m not going to!
Before I even pull up the site to order on, I first plan out my week. I try to shop once a week and I have found that that works really well for our family right now.
I plan my meals for the week ahead on Sunday’s and fill out my grocery order so that I can pick up all my groceries first thing on Monday morning and be ready to go for the week. Now, it is also important to know that I DO NOT cook dinner every night. I can usually pull off about 4 or sometimes 5. Sunday family dinners are a pretty much constant and then I’ll plan for Mon-Thurs.
Now that you know HOW I shop and plan, what in the heck do I shop for?!
1. Dinner ingredients
2. Prioritize Proteins
3. Veggies and Fruits
4. Healthy snacks and filler items
5. Treats/Desserts
1. Dinners: Since I have just finished planning out dinners for the week, that is where I start when filling out my online grocery order. I make sure that I’ve got the ingredients for each meal I have planned. I go through the recipes and add anything I need to my online order. * side note: I use a TON of recipes from Elyse Ellis’s subscription service. It’s $10 a month and I think it is totally worth it.
2. Prioritize Proteins.
So we all know that protein is important...but WHY? Well first off, out of the three macro’s: Carbs, fats, and protein...protein is what keeps you feeling full the longest. When I am consistently eating enough protein throughout the day, I tend to snack less and I don’t get as many cravings around 3:00. Protein also helps you build muscle and helps you KEEP muscle when you are losing weight. The more muscle mass you have, faster you burn fat….and well protein is a great thing to focus on. But HOW do you get more protein without just continuously eating slabs of meat and feeling like a total gym bro. Here are a few of my favorite ways to add in more protein.
3. Fruits and Veggies. First think of what vegetables will go well with your dinners that you have planned and add those. Then just load up on the fruit and whatever is in season. Fruits are one of the best snack foods, and is a way better choice to have on hand than crap that comes in a wrapper. I also always make sure I have my Juce Organics on hand, because even as well intentioned as I am, I still fall short and this helps me hit my greens intake with no problem.
4. Snacks. Since I’ve filled up on protein options and fruits….I should be pretty good on snacks, but this is when I will add in any crackers we might need, granola bars, stuff to throw in kids lunches or for summer snacks. But like I said, most of my protein and fruit options will have a lot of this already covered.
5. Treats. And since I absolutely don’t believe in completely 100% depriving yourself, I’ll make sure to add some type of treat or dessert that I know will help me feel satisfied, but keep my on track with my goals. Things like Halo Top, Yasso Bars, or Outshine bars are a top favorite. I have a treat almost every night and it really helps keep me sane and on track.
And that’s it. My meal planning and grocery shopping method. If you found this helpful, I have a free download for you filled with my very favorite grocery picks and links to where you can find them.
Links and other helpful things:
Try JUCE Organics
use the code POSITIVEU to BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
Try Built Bars
use the code: Positive to get 10%off
Join my Positive Community on Facebook