This post was sponsored by Fresh From Florida as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central, however all opinions expressed are my own. Thank you for your support of My Healthyish Life!
After 15 months in the working world I’m still very much a novice. The fact that I refer to my tenure like you do a baby’s age is telling enough. I don’t know if I’ll ever get 10k steps a day, wake up feeling refreshed or not want to change into sweats as soon as I get home. One thing I *think* I have a good grasp on is cooking. I credit this entirely to celiac disease and being “forced” to prepare my meals for the last 10 years.
Celiac comes with a helluva lot of annoyances, but learning how to prepare colorful, nutrient-dense meals is not one of them.
So because 90% of my food is homemade, I try to make it fun by wandering the aisles of the market, searching for new and on-sale ingredients, and then making a loose menu for the week. (I genuinely enjoy grocery shopping any time that’s not Sunday after church.) I’ve also concluded that I don’t enjoy meal prepping as much as I do food prepping. Rather than structure everything, I prepare a bunch of ingredients individually and pick and choose what I want at meal-time. The only caveat is lunch because I’m out of the house from 8-6 and I need to bring it with me to work. That’s as prepped as I get.
Microwaved green beans and sweet potato. Salmon cooked with coconut oil, lemon and rosemary.
What I buy depends on what’s in-season, what’s on-sale and what I’ve run out of. I’m assuming most people purchase this way. I did keep the receipt from a recent grocery trip to share what I grabbed. It’s pretty basic and arguably boring, but I don’t need things like snack bars, granola, nut butter and condiments every week. I’ll share those pantry staples below, too.
As for produce, we are in PRIME strawberry season in Florida right now. There’s a lot of hoopla around those red berries—even a Strawberry Festival with a country concert. While I wish squash season never ended, in-season produce obviously tastes better, is more cost-effective and is better for the environment. Where I live, I appreciate that you don’t have to go to Whole Foods to find fresh produce year-round (although I tend to prefer going there, as you know). My recent haul was from the Publix near my house and I found great Fresh from Florida produce.
A few other notes:
-I don’t buy organic everything. Ideally I would, but it’s not feasible. I leverage the ISH there.
-Remember, I live with my parents. While I’m pretty self-sufficient you better believe some days I show up at 6 and say “what’s for dinner?” It’s a perk and I enjoy it. If my mom cooks, I clean.
-I spend about $75-$100 a week. I know that’s a lot but I’m still working on the food budgeting thing. My clapbacks are that I rarely eat out, I don’t spend money on Starbucks or alcohol and nothing goes to waste. I’m still fun, I swear!!
Now to the list…
Produce
- One container of mixed greens
- 5 sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Baby tomatoes
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Pre-sprialized butternut squash
- Pre-sprialized beets
- Stir-fy package
- 2 lemons
- One zucchini (for zucchini banana bread)
- 4 avocados
- Bananas
*I don’t enjoy spiralizing beets or butternut squash. I’ll pay extra for someone else to do it. Some of this stuff will last for more than a week.
Protein
- Frozen wild-caught Sockeye salmon
- Frozen wild-caught cod
- Chicken thighs
- Ground turkey
I live out of the freezer on weeknights. I keep it stocked with frozen meat (buy more when it’s on sale) and fish (cod, tuna, salmon). You can buy wild caught fish for a decent price.
Other
- 2 kombuchas (I don’t drink a full one at a time. One lasts ~3 days)
- 4 to-go packets of coconut butter (these were on sale for $1.50 each, which is a steal)
Pantry Staples
- Eggs – not pantry but I didn’t buy them this trip
- Tuna fish
- Coconut oil
- Avocado oil
- Granola
- Coconut butter
- Almond butter
- Sunflower seeds
- Almonds
- Dijon mustard
- Olive oil – my mom buys fancy, high-quality flavored oils and I use them
- Balsamic vinegar
- Apple cider vinegar
- Coconut aminos
- GF snack bars – I’m not a huge fan but they are convenient for travel
- Almond milk – not in the pantry
- Canned coconut milk
- Almond flour
- Tigernut flour – this is new to me but I’ve liked it so far
- Spices – among others, my favorites include: turmeric, rosemary, tarragon
I tend to need one or two of the pantry staples every trip. Thank goodness it’s not more than that because those are the most expensive.
To wrap up, here are a few recent meals. None of these are work lunches—those don’t photograph well.
Strawberry-balsamic chicken with more strawberries
Cod with rosemary and thyme.
Asian veggie stir-fry
Coconut shrimp (coated in coconut flour with dill and coconut aminos)
I made dinner at a friend’s house last week. Really easy one-pan meal. Tin foil is a celiac’s best friend.
Sunday steak dinner.
Zucchini banana bread
The frozen salmon does not go to waste.
Make sure to follow Fresh From Florida on social media for recipes and cooking videos featuring Florida fruits and vegetables. I’m inspired to experiment with some other seasonal fruits—look out for a recipe. And non-Floridians are allowed to follow too :)
What is your favorite in-season produce?
What fruit/vegetable do you wish never went out of season?
I always love seeing your salmon plates. I made a big old salmon salad last night. It’s my favorite!!! I wish peaches never went out of season. Have a beautiful day! xoxo
Yay! It’s so easy to make too. Peach season is right around the corner – I love topping fish with peaches. Or grilling them. Perfect summer meal.
Honestly I spend usually a 100 on groceries a week, if you eat a veggie based diet its super hard to spend any less!!!!
Seriously! I’m so impressed by people who do.
I was budgeting for my future life (5 months!) and while I don’t know exactly how much just I spend on groceries (as in, not for all three of us that I usually shop for), I put $500/month to be safe because I like kombucha and sometimes impulse buy. I also think I’ll start ordering my pantry staples (or a lot of them) on Vitacost/Thrive because that might help reduce the grocery trips that lead to the impulse buys.
Same clapbacks as you. I’m not into alcohol and I only eat out when I don’t feel like making a real meal for the family. My dad always asks, “What’s this meal called?” and I’m like, “I was too lazy to make something with a name. It’s chicken and kale,” which clouds his judgment of how good it tastes. But when it’s just me, I’ll whip up a big smoothie or sauté veggies and meat in a pan and call it good. :P
Ellen recently posted…The GOOD Fest + A Quick LA Trip
Soul sister. Right down to the kombucha and random lazy meal. I’ve been debating a Butcherbox and/or something similar for the meat portion of my haul, but I’m not sure it’s cheaper anyway?
i dont think your 75/100 per week is a lot. many weeks for my boyfriend and i i spend close to 200. im same as you with celiac and i do not leave my health up to restaurant food ! i feel much safer making my own food generally. unfortunately i dont really enjoy cooking but what are you going to do ? we make a lot of easy one pan dinners like what you showed. and i always cook for leftovers. that helps to cut down on cooking and provides lunch variety. For me the cleanup is the worst part and coming up with ideas. ugh. but when we do eat out im always shocked at prices now a days. my sister was telling me the other day a value meal at mcdonalds is now like $8 and i was like whaaaat. when i could last eat that i remember getting a value meal for $3 or maybe $4. so i think of how much money i saw on fast food or even restaurant food and i do not feel any guilt about grocery store purchases….and lets be real…most of what i save by eating in i spend on wine and makeup :)~ As for in season…i love fruit in season…my absolute fave is a good juicy sweet pineapple.
The clean up is definitely the worst…which is why one-pan meals are so appealing. Most days I throw everything on parchment paper! I’m always shocked by prices at restaurants too, but that’s crazy about McDonalds.