Must haves on your grocery list

[inconditus]

After answering Russianrocket's post on food budget now I am curious to know what is on that budget.

What are the repeating items on your grocery list? Do you do a lot of cooking or buy pre-made and/or raw snack foods?

I HATE cooking so even when I try the most I can muster up is some crock pot stews, box meals, and stir fry.

Must on my lists have been changing a lot. It used to be a raw fruits and veggies (nothing fancy, little kid friendly ones) milk, yogurt, bread and rice. But then I changed jobs and H started coming home for lunch and for some reason I just buy random garbage food =/

[missbhaven]

Monthly shopping must haves or items that must ALWAYS be in the house
(I have "or" because I often choose between these on a weekly basis)
This is usually for 2-3 people

Fruit-

• bananas
• oranges or grapefruit
• limes (seasoning) or lemons
• apples or pears or a stone fruit (peaches, plums or necterines ect.)
• grapes every 2-3 weeks
• seasonal fruit (summer has berries and other exotic fruits)
• melons once a month (more in summer)

Vegetables-

• Onions (green, red, sweet it doesn't matter)
• Garlic
• Pepper
• tomatoes
• parsnips or carrots
• potatoes or yams
• zucchini
• a type of squash (especially late summer and into winter)
• cucumber
• broccoli, rappini or cauliflower.
• cabbage
• greens (varies based on whats on sale and my mood)

Grains-

• brown rice
• quinoa
• millet
• oats

Meats-

• Poultry, alternating a lot between chicken and turkey with an occasional hen
• Pork (lots of tenderlion [it's often on sale, quick to thaw and easy to prepare], chops, steaks rounds and peameal bacon)
• Beef (once a week, mostly ground, more stew beef and roasts in winter and an occassional steak here and there. My dad also loves slow cooked veal soo we have that once a month also)
• Fish - salmon, trout, snapper, grouper, tilapia and shrimp (once a week or every 2 weeks)
• Lamb- roasts or chops (rarely). We have this marinated roast we get every 3 months.

herbs
I keep all types dried, I do a bulk shopping and drop about $100 for the year
ginger is the only must have kept fresh at all time.
these are the only ones I usually buy fresh

• Thyme
• organo
• chives
• rosemary
• cilantro

Dairy

• eggs
• 2% milk
• low fat fruit yogurt
• some type of cheese

packaged foods.

• Chips
• cookies or muffins
• canned soup
• bread
• mustard (we go through LOTS we buy at least every 2 weeks, its crazy)
• Vinegars (apple cider, white, but balsamic is bought most often)
• oils (safflower, olive, sesame)
• pies for my dad
• nuts (cashews, pistachios or almonds)
• cereal and instant oatmeal
• coffee
• tea
• instant cider or hot chocolate
• filtered water
• agave and splenda
• dips
• crackers and chips
• premade food store salad bar items like egg, tuna or chicken salad
• brown rice pasta
• organic pasta sauces

[inconditus]

wow thanks for the detailed response. I was buying a lot of grapes, apples, blueberries, green beans, broc, carrots, celery, bananas but it seems that fruits and veggies go bad in my house! I'm not a big veggie eater, the best i can force myself is kale chips, stir fry, and hidden in my smoothies.

My husband used to be but right now he just wants hearty food =(

I buy a lot of premade juice (need to buy a juicer but can't afford it) trail mix, and frozen vegan food.

[firenexx]

I buy most of the vegetables and fruits listed above.
I like to include as much variety as possible, but that's easier with vegetables than fruits.
For instance, whether I buy parsnips, celeriac, daikon radish, turnip, or jerusalem artichoke, there's not a HUGE difference.
But bananas are a major staple! Why? They are 95 cents a pound. (Organic.) A single grapefruit is $2. So I buy one grapefruit, 10 apples, and 30 bananas.

I purchase nuts that I generally soak. Variety here too. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.

Dried beans I like to stock up on.

I try to buy as few packaged foods as possible. I usually have a jar of coconut oil on hand that I use occasionally for cooking. And since it's the holiday season I have some flours for baking, that I don't use much. No grains aside from the flours, but the woman still eats rice a lot as she has this incredibly annoying starchy carbohydrate infatuation.
And tomato sauce, since I grew a million tomatoes this year but ate them all before I had a chance to can any home-made sauce. Herbs I like to grow indoors so I have them fresh.

The "staples" that I have all the time could be summarized thusly:
Bananas, apples, citrus fruit, frozen berries
Leafy greens
Nightshades
Celery & carrots
Various roots (incl potato/yam, ginger, garlic, onion)
Nuts & sprouting seeds, fats such as avocados, olives

[scorpio1980]

I buy a lot of:

-salmon
-grass fed beef
-leafy greens
-cucumbers
-bell peppers
-tomatoes
-stir fry/steam veggie mixes
-bananas
-apples
-in season fruit
-frozen mango
-frozen berries
-hemp seeds
-butter
-coconut oil
-olive oil
Those are my staples. I don't eat much grains.

[inconditus]

Originally Posted by firenexx

I buy most of the vegetables and fruits listed above.
I like to include as much variety as possible, but that's easier with vegetables than fruits.
For instance, whether I buy parsnips, celeriac, daikon radish, turnip, or jerusalem artichoke, there's not a HUGE difference.
But bananas are a major staple! Why? They are 95 cents a pound. (Organic.) A single grapefruit is $2. So I buy one grapefruit, 10 apples, and 30 bananas.

I purchase nuts that I generally soak. Variety here too. Almonds, cashews, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.

Dried beans I like to stock up on.

I try to buy as few packaged foods as possible. I usually have a jar of coconut oil on hand that I use occasionally for cooking. And since it's the holiday season I have some flours for baking, that I don't use much. No grains aside from the flours, but the woman still eats rice a lot as she has this incredibly annoying starchy carbohydrate infatuation.
And tomato sauce, since I grew a million tomatoes this year but ate them all before I had a chance to can any home-made sauce. Herbs I like to grow indoors so I have them fresh.

The "staples" that I have all the time could be summarized thusly:
Bananas, apples, citrus fruit, frozen berries
Leafy greens
Nightshades
Celery & carrots
Various roots (incl potato/yam, ginger, garlic, onion)
Nuts & sprouting seeds, fats such as avocados, olives

this changes per region but 95 cents a pound for organic bananas sound like a lot. Ours are 89 cents and most of the time they are on sale for 69 cents.

Boo! You just reminded me that I forgot to get bananas at the store!

:headdesk: I have the appetite of a little kid so I looove fruit but tolerate vegetables. I can usually hide leafy ones in my smoothies in the morning but besides that I have broc in my fridge that is probably going to go bad, same wtih carrots. I hate celery its too salty for me. I like brussel sprouts, asparagus, peas, but those have to be cooked.

I like salads with a bunch of extra stuff in it like fruit, nuts or salsa but I have a really small fridge with most being taken up with juice, milk, and condements-there goes half of my space. I should really buy bagged ones, sure they are expensive but worth it.

I started buying amazing grass meal replacement/supplements which i eat on days that I open at work and can't eat a proper breakfast (not that I eat one anyways.

I'm the worst kind of lazy and usually shop after work when i am starving so I buy waaaayyy too much prepared food.

[MrProductive]

The staples in my kitchen are;

-Chicken
-Salmon
-Some sort of healthy cereal
-Almond milk (mostly for protein shakes)
-Beans, all sorts
-Rye bread
-Broccoli (love it)
-Rice
-Cottage cheese
-Eggs
-Grapes
-Apples

I normally try and cook with fresh veggies and meat, but because of my busy lifestyle, once every other day I usually break out of frozen dinner (the healthiest one I can find).