Grocery List

organic fruits and vegetables

It’s the first episode of the new year and today’s topic was requested by a listener — she wanted to know what my weekly grocery list looks like and some of the food brands I recommend. So, for today’s episode, here is my grocery list…

Listen to the episode here

 

Grocery List

PRODUCE

*Assume everything is organic unless specified

  • 1 carton each of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries
  • 7 bananas
  • 3 apples
  • 1 big container of spinach
  • 1 small container of arugula 
  • Green onion
  • Bell pepper
  • Cucumber
  • Bag of mini peppers
  • Bag of carrots
  • Bag of red onions
  • Bag of lemons
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • Bulb of garlic
  • Ginger root
  • 1 carton of cherry tomatoes
  • 4-8 vine tomatoes
  • Bag of oranges
  • 4 avocados (will buy conventional if organic isn’t available)

DRY GOODS

  • Cashews (bulk section)
  • Almonds (bulk section)
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Aurora Naturals Brazil nuts
  • Aurora Naturals dates
  • 365 Organic Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
  • Lundberg Basmati brown rice
  • 365 organic pinto beans
  • 365 organic black beans
  • Truroots sprouted lentils
  • 365 organic dry red lentils
  • Bob’s Red Mill organic farro
  • 365 organic vegetable broth
  • Jovial gluten free brown rice pasta
  • Organic capers (in a jar)
  • Organic sun-dried tomatoes (in a jar)
  • Organic quartered artichokes (in a jar)
  • Organic black olives (in a jar)
  • Organic avocado oil (reference cooking oil episode)
  • Organic olive oil (reference cooking oil episode)
  • Organic unrefined coconut oil
  • Frontier Co-op assorted spices (especially turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, chili powder and curry powder)
  • Himalayan pink sea salt
  • Navitas Organics cacao powder
  • 365 organic almond butter
  • Dave’s Killer Bread
  • Traditional Medicinals organic Darjeeling tea
  • Yogi Super Antioxidant Green Tea
  • Y.S. Organic Bee Farms organic raw honey
  • Organic, Fair Trade coffee beans

SNACKS

  • Mary’s Crackers
  • Lundberg organic red rice & quinoa thin stackers
  • Cedar’s organic hummus
  • 365 organic yellow popcorn kernels (for stovetop popcorn)
  • Yellowbird Organic sriracha hot sauce
  • GimMe organic seaweed snacks (avocado oil & sea salt)

FROZEN

  • Food for Life Ezekiel English muffins
  • Food for Life sprouted brown rice tortillas
  • Dr. Praeger’s Supergreens veggie burgers
  • Dr. Praeger’s Heirloom bean burgers
  • 365 organic mango
  • 365 organic mixed berries
  • 365 organic edamame, cauliflower, broccoli & green beans

 

Episodes Mentioned

Listen to the BEANS & LENTILS episode here.

Listen to the COOKWARE episode here.

Listen to the ORGANIC FOOD episode here.

Listen to the COOKING OIL episode here.

Resources

Cookie + Kate recipes

Oh She Glows recipes

Food Babe Kitchen cookbook

SUBSCRIBE

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Subscribe on Spotify here.
Subscribe on Google Podcasts here.

Transcript

It’s the first episode of the new year and today’s topic was requested by a listener — she wanted to know what my weekly grocery list looks like and some of the food brands I recommend. I will be fully transparent and say, we grocery shop about once per week and spend between $150-200 for a family of three. I don’t know how that shakes out in comparison to your own weekly grocery bill, but our philosophy is to splurge on clean, healthy food whenever possible, save on other expenses like the latest new gadgets and online shopping, and hopefully save on medical bills down the road. So, for today’s episode, here is my grocery list… 

First, I’ll go ahead and set the scene. I am not what you would call a “good cook.” I grew up with my mom making three course meals every single night of my life and I was never interested in being in the kitchen or learning to cook.

In college, I would eat lean cuisines, cans of soup or deli sandwiches (this was before I became a vegetarian) and then after college, I lived with roommates where the deal was that they would do the cooking and I would do the dishes. Then I moved in with my now husband and we both got used to making the same 4-5 dishes in rotation over and over again and if I’m perfectly honest, he took on the majority of the cooking.

So, it really wasn’t until the past couple of years that I have gotten more into cooking because I’ve gotten so interested in clean eating. I finally started to understand that food is medicine and that the way you eat dictates the way you feel. So, if you’re one of those people like me, who would rather do the dishes than do the cooking, there is definitely the opportunity for change. 

For me, it started by finding the Cookie and Kate website and sticking to her vegetarian recipes. Then, once I exhausted those, I felt more ready to explore other cooking blogs like Oh She Glows and clean-eating-specific cookbooks like Food Babe Kitchen. I imagine this will continue to evolve as my confidence in the kitchen grows and I start to finally get the ratio of turmeric to cumin right.

Before I get into my actual grocery list, though, I want to share some of the things that I feel sets me, and my kitchen, up for success each week. The first is… 

  1. Sprouting: As I mentioned in the episode I did on beans and lentils, which you can listen to at cleanlivingpodcast.com/beans, I sprout a bag of dried beans or dried lentils at the beginning of the week. Every single meal I make consists of either beans or lentils, although the type and variety changes. The second thing is… 
  2. Meal planning: I remember watching my mom write down the list of the meals she would make for the week right before she went to the grocery store. I did not appreciate at the time how much effort that takes. But I now see why it’s necessary and worthwhile. If you want to start cooking more at home, then meal planning is the first place I would start. The third thing is… 
  3. Batch cooking: Cooking a healthy meal from scratch is a lot of work. Whenever possible, I double the recipe so that I have plenty of leftovers that can be eaten for lunches throughout the week. We’re very lucky that my son eats (just about) anything so spicy curry for dinner can be his lunch the next day. Batch cooking saves so much time and makes all of that effort go a lot further.
  4. Mason jars and glass storage containers: To be successful with batch cooking, you need to have plenty of storage containers. As I mentioned in the episode on cookware, I recommend steering clear of plastic at all costs because of BPA so we have all different shapes and sizes of mason jars, Pyrex and OXO storage containers stored on the bottom shelf of our pantry. The fifth thing is… 
  5. Advance prep of produce: Whenever possible, I cut up fruits and vegetables and store them in the fridge in glass containers. This makes it easy in the morning to pack my son’s lunch and snack for the day. And it works really well for things like strawberries, cucumbers, peppers, carrots and broccoli that last longer when stored in glass anyway.  

Okay, so now I’ll share my grocery list, including some of the brands that I buy in case they’re also available to you. You can also assume that everything I buy is organic when possible. We live in Boston for half of the year and San Diego for the other half and I’m basing this grocery list on shopping at Whole Foods in Boston since that’s where I am right now when writing this. Obviously, some brands will change on the west coast where we shop at Sprouts and the amazing Wednesday’s farmers market we have in the town.

As a reminder, this produce list is for a family of 3 for about a week.

PRODUCE

*Assume everything is organic unless specified

  • 1 carton each of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries
  • 7 bananas
  • 3 apples
  • 1 big container of spinach
  • 1 small container of arugula 
  • Green onion
  • Bell pepper
  • Cucumber
  • Bag of mini peppers
  • Bag of carrots
  • Bag of red onions
  • Bag of lemons
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • Bulb of garlic
  • Ginger root
  • 1 carton of cherry tomatoes
  • 4-8 vine tomatoes
  • Bag of oranges
  • 4 avocados (will buy conventional if organic isn’t available)

DRY GOODS

  • Cashews (bulk section)
  • Almonds (bulk section)
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Aurora Naturals Brazil nuts
  • Aurora Naturals dates
  • 365 Organic Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
  • Lundberg Basmati brown rice
  • 365 organic pinto beans
  • 365 organic black beans
  • Truroots sprouted lentils
  • 365 organic dry red lentils
  • Bob’s Red Mill organic farro
  • 365 organic vegetable broth
  • Jovial gluten free brown rice pasta
  • Organic capers (in a jar)
  • Organic sun-dried tomatoes (in a jar)
  • Organic quartered artichokes (in a jar)
  • Organic black olives (in a jar)
  • Organic avocado oil (reference cooking oil episode)
  • Organic olive oil (reference cooking oil episode)
  • Organic unrefined coconut oil
  • Frontier Co-op assorted spices (especially turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, chili powder and curry powder)
  • Himalayan pink sea salt
  • Navitas Organics cacao powder
  • 365 organic almond butter
  • Dave’s Killer Bread
  • Traditional Medicinals organic Darjeeling tea
  • Yogi Super Antioxidant Green Tea
  • Y.S. Organic Bee Farms organic raw honey
  • Organic, Fair Trade coffee beans

SNACKS

  • Mary’s Crackers
  • Lundberg organic red rice & quinoa thin stackers
  • Cedar’s organic hummus
  • 365 organic yellow popcorn kernels (for stovetop popcorn)
  • Yellowbird Organic sriracha hot sauce
  • GimMe organic seaweed snacks (avocado oil & sea salt)

FROZEN

  • Food for Life Ezekiel English muffins
  • Food for Life sprouted brown rice tortillas
  • Dr. Praeger’s Supergreens veggie burgers
  • Dr. Praeger’s Heirloom bean burgers
  • 365 organic mango
  • 365 organic mixed berries
  • 365 organic edamame, cauliflower, broccoli & green beans

A note on dessert, we really don’t have any sweets in the house. Every once in a while, my husband will come home from the grocery store with Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy peanut butter cookies ice cream but that’s really it. I stock coconut sugar, raw sugar and almond flour for the twice a year time I bake cookies or muffins. My husband and I aren’t big sweet tooths but we do eat way too much stove-top popcorn — that’s our go-to for an after-dinner snack. Everyone has their vices : ) 

I’ve included this entire shopping list on the show notes page for this episode at cleanlivingpodcast.com/grocery. So you can reference back to it for your next grocery shopping trip.

And again, this episode topic came from a listener, so that’s a friendly reminder that there is a survey on The Clean Living Podcast website where you can request your own episode topics that you’d like me to cover — just go to cleanlivingpodcast.com/hello and scroll down to the survey link.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Clean Living Podcast — I’m your host Shannon Lohr. If you’re enjoying this podcast or finding it helpful, please share it with a friend or family member– Here’s to creating a cleaner, more sustainable world for all of us.