Grocery Shopping

Yesterday was a super busy fit day for me!

32 days until Tough Mudder and still going strong at the start of week number 2 of training.

Monday:
630am-8am: 12K run/monkeybars
9am-5pm: work
6pm – 6:45pm: kickboxing (if you’re in Peterborough, you need to try this class with Re-Newall Fitness! Great music, great workout…)
710pm – 810pm: volleyball
810pm – 910pm: groceries

I meant to take a photo of our groceries but I forgot… Here are my general grocery rules:
– stick to the outside of the store (veggies, fruits, meats – limit the middle aisles with processed foods)
– come prepared: write a list! (it also helps to write a meal plan so you know how much of each item you need for the week)
– compare products (for nutrition & price)
– stock up when staple items are on sale (natural peanut butter, salsa)

My grocery staples:
– spinach (great way to get nutrients with every meal)
– fruit (grab and go snacks)
– veggies (celery, carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes)
– salsa (I use this as salad dressing and with eggs)
– NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER (obsessed, currently have 3 jars in the cupboard, 1 in the fridge)

I didn’t do a grocery list or meal plan for this week, but I USUALLY do… I made myself some list print outs that I fill out each week. I sit down with the weekly flyers and figure out what we’ll be eating based around what’s on sale.

Here are the files if you’re interested in using them:

MealPlan (Excel file)
GroceryList (Word file)

The meal plan has space for breakfast (B), snack (S), lunch (L), snack (S), dinner (D), snack (S). I don’t always stick to it 100% but it helps me stay organized and also on budget at the store. This is what mine might look like:

B – poached eggs on spinach
S – apple
L – left over chicken with rice and broccoli
S –  carrots
D – steak with grilled veggies
S – celery with peanut butter

I keep our meal plan posted on the fridge – then I check it out each morning… if we’re having steak for dinner, I make sure it’s out of the freezer so it’s ready to be cooked when I get home.

The grocery list is pretty self explanatory. I have different sections for each section of the store: veggies/fruit, meat, canned/packaged, dairy, bread, frozen and other (for things like paper towels or dog food). I will go through my meal plan and estimate how much of each food I will need and write that on the list. This takes the guessing out of grocery shopping… “I wrote peppers down, but how many peppers do I need?!” and then you might have a breakdown in the store… let’s avoid that.

Trust me, the meal plan and grocery list will make your life SO much easier!

Monday night I needed a quick dinner – something that would fuel me for kickboxing & volleyball. I had made veggie lasagna and frozen individual servings a while ago, so I had a piece of that along with corn and some pan fried yellow peppers, mushrooms and onions.

I need ideas for more freezer meals – lasagna, chili… what else can I cook and freeze for easy dinners?

Keep fit & have fun!

Stacie