A glimpse into my kitchen

I don't know why I didn't think of it before. My sweetest friend Ezzy made a request the other night as she, lovely Nae and I noshed Indian-style in cozy company. She asked for my grocery list! Her inquiry made perfect sense as soon as it parted her lips. When I look up recipes, I very often wonder, "Did they really have this stuff in their kitchen??" Most of the time with my recipes, the answer is yes- I keep it on hand. When you have a specific lifestyle you'd like to maintain, it helps to have the right stuff in your kitchen. So here is a glimpse into my kitchen and some tips as to how I make it easier for myself to make healthy eating feel indulgent and adventurous rather than stressful and unmaintanable.
As I begin this list, I am realizing this is going to have to be a series of posts. I don't always buy everything in every grocery trip, so we'll take it a bit at a time.
We'll start with a typical Costco trip. I have a family of 5 (my husband and I and 3 darlings). We go through a LOT of produce. Costco saves us. I do the bulk of my shopping there. This trip lasts us 2 weeks. We spend approximately $500/month on food. To us, totally worth it- very few trips to the doc and a life of feeling awesome most of the time!

~Whole wheat bread- 4- 5 loaves of locally made, real ingredient bread at just under 2 bucks a loaf. I put 4 in the freezer and keep one in the fridge at a time. Nothing ever goes moldy. We make a lot of peanut butter and agave sandwiches.
~Tortillas. I buy whole wheat and regular white flour. Again- if I'm not sure we'll get through them all, I freeze some.
~Red potatoes (if I'm out)
~Onions/ Garlic (if I'm out)
~Yams/sweet potatoes (whenever they have them)
~ Avacados (when in season)
~Roma tomatoes
~Apples (we like gala and fuji)
~Pears (if they have good ones and are in season)
~(in the summer) Nectarines or peaches
~Bananas (one pig bunch that is fairly ripe and one that is still fairly green) If they start to get too ripe near the end, I slice them onto a cookie sheet, freeze them and then keep them in a ziploc in the freezer for smoothies.
~Clementines (when in season)
~Romaine Lettuce hearts
~Flat Leaf Spinach
~Asparagus
~Broccoli Florets
~Cucumbers
~Red peppers (or mini mixed peppers)
~Baby Carrots
~Baby bella mushrooms
~(in the summer) Fresh Pineapple and/or Mangoes
~Frozen strawberries
~Frozen Blueberries
~Frozen fruit mix (Spectrum Blend is what they carry at my costco- peaches, white peaches, pineapple, honeydew melon, blueberries and strawberries)
~Frozen sweet corn
~Frozen green beans (if I'm out)
~Frozen Stir Fry mix (if I'm out)
~Frozen fish (Salmon, Mahi Mahi, Shrimp whatever is cheapest- these big bags last us a while in the freezer. I usually buy one every other shopping trip.)
~Mozzarella cheese (separate itinto smaller ziplocs and freeze them so they last a long time. Again, probably every other shopping trip)
~Fresh Pressed Apple juice
~ Concord Grape Juice
~ Rice milk (one box lasts us months)
~ One favorite fairly healthy cereal- Cheerios, autumn wheat or flax plus granola (every other shopping trip)
~Almonds
~ organic Peanut Butter (every other trip)
~ Raisins (the Costco pack lasts us months) or Craisins
~ a healthy-ish cracker/chip snack (gotta have snacks)
~whatever canned stuff I need to stock up on (beans, tomatoes, etc...)
~ vegetable stock (if they have it) or organic chicken broth (sometimes)


Coming soon: Things I keep on hand in the cupboard, freezer and fridge