Yesterday was “Grocery Haul Day”. My daughter and I have been doing monthly grocery shopping trips together for a few years now. We both try to eat a mostly organic diet and our small town doesn’t have a great selection. That’s why we spend a day a month (usually) stocking up in the city. It might sound crazy but we actually have a lot of fun together doing this.
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February Grocery Haul
Yesterday was absolutely perfect for our trip. It was in the low 70s. It started out overcast but the sun came out and honestly, it was just a gorgeous day.
I picked up Lisa at her house and we headed to Norman first. We don’t have glass recycling in our town so our first stop was to drop off the box of glass I have been collecting.
Next up: lunch. We have a favorite restaurant called Scratch Kitchen & Cocktails. They have an appetizer consisting of three Wagyu beef sliders on homemade rolls with bbq sauce and fried onions. We like to split that and then each get an order of their excellent shoestring fries. It’s just the perfect portion size for us. This restaurant is well-known for its craft cocktails, too. I normally drink water with my meals but this place makes the absolute BEST Manhattan so I indulged.
We then went to Michael’s because I wanted some insert sheets for my Happy Planner. They have their Easter decorations out – such pretty colors! We spent half an hour or so browsing the store and resisting the urge to BUY ALL THE THINGS! Aside from the inserts I had on my list, I only indulged in one other item – a packet of cute stickers for my planner. Plus I had a 40% off coupon so $8.68. Pretty good, right?
I had just about one squirt left of my perfume so I ran into Ulta and quickly picked up a bottle of Shalimar. Nothing else, but good perfume doesn’t come cheap – $87. However, as Coco Chanel said:
We had piddled around long enough and now it was time to start shopping for groceries. Target had a few good sales so we took advantage of those.
What I bought:
Target
- 2 Lindt chocolates (Valentine gift – on sale)
- La Croix (1 case – on sale)
- organic apple cider vinegar
- English muffins
- Tillamook extra sharp cheddar
- blue cheese salad dressing (on sale)
- organic butter (2 – on sale)
- International Foods Cafe Francais instant coffee (3 – on sale)
- plastic storage container (on sale – going to use it under the bathroom sink)
- red pepper jelly
- organic spinach (on sale)
$51.68
After we checked out we went over to the in-store Starbucks and I treated the two of us to vanilla sweet cream cold brew coffees. They are only 100 calories yet taste like dessert.
It was now almost 3 p.m. so we decided we had better get a move on. We drove to Whole Foods in Oklahoma City. Oh, I love Whole Foods. Look at these gorgeous vegetables:
And the flowers!
They had a special sale on meat. Buy $25 worth and get $5 off. Plus their pastured, grass fed ground beef was on sale for only $3.99 a pound! I bought three pounds and then divided it up into several small packages. I used my Food Saver vacuum sealer to seal the packages then froze them. The bacon, sausages, chicken and pork chops went in the freezer, too. I had a small ham already at home so we have plenty of meat for the month since we eat several meatless (or low-meat) meals a week.
Whole Foods
- lavender liquid foam handsoap refill
- frozen french fries
- chicken breasts (2 large)
- ground beef (3 lbs. grass fed – on sale)
- butterfly pork chops (on sale)
- European style cultured butter (2 pounds)
- cereal
- bacon
- Italian chicken sausage
- organic turkey lunchmeat
- organic chicken broth (2 cartons)
- tonic water (4 pack)
- coconut milk
- tomato paste (3)
- maraschino cherries
- apricot preserves
- Oklahoma honey (1 quart)
- fresh cheese ravioli (heart shaped – cute!)
- brioche hamburger buns
- King Cake (This made me VERY happy! – I’ll cut it up in about 4 sections and freeze them.)
- red bell pepper
- corn on the cob (2)
- limes (5)
- Meyer lemons (4)
- baking potatoes (2)
$176.42
Trader Joe’s
- organic pasta sauce
- potato chips
- cereal (2 boxes)
- farro (something I haven’t tried before)
- salmon fillets
- bananas
- potatoes (5 pound bag)
- eggs (1 dozen)
- flowers (2 bunches – I’m taking one to my mom)
$41.36
The flower section as Whole Foods is swoon-worthy but Trader Joe’s also had some nice flowers for only $3.99 a bunch. Aren’t they pretty?
Lisa’s groceries were in the back of my Prius (she took a photo of hers which I think she shared on Snapchat, a platform I have yet to do anything with). I put mine in the backseat:
Finishing Up the Day
And finally, we were done. We picked up something to drink at Sonic and then headed home. By the time I dropped her and her groceries at her house, it was nearly 8 p.m. We usually don’t take that long but it had been awhile since we’d done a shopping trip, the weather was lovely, and we just took our sweet time. It’s nice to have a whole day together.
Total: $269.46 (not including perfume and the items at Michael’s)
Here’s a picture of my purchases:
Fortunately I had cleaned out the refrigerator Saturday so I didn’t have trouble finding room for my purchases. Still, by the time I set everything out on the table to photograph, divided up the ground beef and sealed the packages, and put everything away, it was close to 9 p.m. Yeah, it was a long day but now I don’t have to think about groceries for a month. And if we get an ice storm? We are stocked up!
Note: If this grocery haul seemed a bit light on produce this time that’s because I already had sweet potatoes, onions, oranges, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, lettuce, celery, leeks and some peppers at home. I’m also still trying to use up some of the excess in my pantry and freezer.
I’ll pick up milk and some of the more perishable produce items such as bananas and lettuce in the coming month but otherwise this should be about it. Other than the brioche hamburger buns I didn’t buy bread. I am determined to get back into the habit of baking my own.
Links to YouTube grocery hauls:
Links to some previous LWD grocery haul posts:
You can search for more of my grocery hauls in the search box on the sidebar.
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Do you want to eat a healthy, organic, grass fed diet but don’t think you can afford it? My friend, Victoria of A Modern Homestead, explains how they do it on less than $200 a month. Click here to find out how:
I’m glad you made that comment about the produce and bread, because I was wondering about there not being much of either of those things.
We do something similar to you. Although, because of having some places literally up the road from us, our monthly “trip to town” (as I call it) is only to fetch a few things we can’t buy locally, and pet supplies, so most months we only have a few items to pick up. We’re never gone more than a couple of hours though, even though we do stop for lunch while we’re out.
I love your Gro. Haul day. sounds a like like mine sometimes, thats what you have to do when you live in the country. Thanks for sharing your day!
Miz Helen
Yes, country living changes the way one shops. And in our case we occasionally get ice storms so I like to stay stocked up in the winter. I have no intentions of driving on ice with the maniacs. Ha! Btw, I made your chocolate cherry cobbler last night for our Valentine’s Day dinner. Yummy!