What a Woman in Seattle Spends on a Week’s Worth of Groceries – Grocery Diary

Identify: Nicole
Locale: Seattle, Washington
Age: 31
Selection of people today in your relatives or domestic: 1
Profession and income: Company Analyst, $95,000
Where did you store: Puget Individuals Co-oP (PCC) Local community Marketplaces, Trader Joe’s, and a single of the close by farmers marketplaces
Weekly foodstuff spending plan: $100
Amount used: $84.67

I did the bulk of my shopping at PCC, a regional co-op chain near to my condominium that I’m a member of. I also went to a person of the multiple mid-week farmers markets in my city to choose up some in-year produce, and made a swift cease at Trader Joe’s. 

I write up a weekly grocery list with the things I require based on my meal prepare (extra on that underneath) and what I currently have in my fridge and pantry. I normally consider to structure the listing in the buy that I wander via the retailer so I am a lot less very likely to forget about anything.

I’m not tremendous rigorous about getting off-checklist objects, but I’m quite fantastic at sticking to what I need. Averting food stuff waste is important to me. I typically wander to the grocery keep, about 20 minutes from my home, so I tend to make many more compact excursions for the duration of the 7 days as opposed to just one large haul in buy to lessen foodstuff waste and to reduce how a lot I have to carry house.

My grocery finances is separate from my food stuff finances for consuming out at dining places, cafes, bakeries, and many others., so I don’t element that into my grocery searching.

I perform from household with a great offer of versatility in my plan, so I know that I’ll have time throughout the weekdays to prepare dinner or prep matters for foods in between meetings and do the job. I definitely appreciate cooking and I really do not eat a lot takeout, so I typically prepare on cooking all of my meals for the week when meal scheduling. Nonetheless, I practically usually end up likely out for at minimum one particular unexpected food, commonly with close friends.

I’ll study any perishable objects that I will need to use up, as perfectly as items in my freezer and pantry that I want to integrate for the 7 days. (I was viewing my household very last 7 days so I have some leftovers from my vacation to start off my 7 days.) For generate I now experienced some plums, little one Yukon Gold potatoes, environmentally friendly onions, and early year asparagus from final week’s farmers industry to use up. From there, I see if I have any recipes bookmarked that sound superior, particularly kinds that call for in-time produce.

I never intellect creating a food and taking in it for a number of days in a row, which works out well, as I are living by yourself and most foods end up producing leftovers. I ordinarily plan for at least a person breakfast, lunch, meal, snack, and dessert for the week, with more meals prepared if I know a recipe will only be sufficient for 1 or two servings. I’m also functioning on reducing my use of animal protein, so I check out to prioritize vegetarian foods.  

I strike the health club for power training to start with issue in the early morning, so I make a protein shake with unsweetened soy milk, handmade chilly brew, and vanilla protein powder and consider it with me to drink on my way property following my work out. My fridge is a little bit bare after becoming gone for a week, but luckily my parents sent me dwelling with ample food items to get me through till I’m equipped to do my grocery store later now.

I reheat a single of my Dad’s pancakes — his specialty and my complete favored — with some plums and greek yogurt for breakfast. I have leftover beef stroganoff and some a lot more plums for lunch, and then I created a rapid pizza dough so it has time to increase ahead of supper. I hit the grocery retail outlet to inventory up for the 7 days, and I minimize into the mini watermelon I bought for no cost for an afternoon snack.

For dinner, I built Smitten Kitchen’s adaptation of Jim Lahey’s potato pizza, which utilizes up half an onion and the Yukon gold potatoes I had lying all over, as properly as some fresh rosemary from the minor herb back garden I keep on my balcony. I threw jointly a spinach & cucumber salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette on the aspect. I commonly like to end my working day with one thing sweet, so I have a pair of Trader Joe’s cookies that I keep in the pantry for dessert. 

I consume the next leftover pancake I introduced back from my parents’ property for breakfast, with the final of the plums and Greek yogurt yet again. As a substitute of my normal home made iced soy latte, I meet up with up with a close friend at a local cafe and get a Vietnamese Coffee it will come to $7.24 with idea. For lunch, I have some of the leftover potato pizza from previous night with a big bowl of watermelon.

In the afternoon, I go to one of my favorite cake shops with a friend and get a cupcake and a slice of cake to have later tonight and tomorrow. (At $17 with idea, it is expensive, but so worthy of it). Then I strike up a farmers industry close by to choose up some create and new bread. The French bakery stand the place I get my sourdough has the most effective canelés and I’m sensation a little peckish, so I seize one for a snack. The market place is proper across the road from a Trader Joe’s and I pop in to get a dozen eggs and even though I’m there I grab one of my favored seasonal cheeses whilst it’s continue to all around: Eco-friendly Goddess Gouda.

For meal, I use up 4 ears of the fresh corn I acquired and make a further Smitten Kitchen recipe: Corn Butter Farro. My dessert tonight is the cupcake I purchased today. I knocked the box around in the car so it’s a little bit squashed but still delicious! Ahead of I go to bed, I slice half the sourdough I bought at the market place nowadays into slices and freeze them for the long run, and chop up the rest into cubes and spread them out on a tray to dry out for tomorrow’s breakfast casserole. 

Right after a number of times of sweet breakfasts I’m in the mood for something savory. I make a zucchini breakfast casserole for breakfast, alongside with a home made iced soy latte. The casserole makes rather a good deal for just just one person, so I portion it out into servings for the subsequent few of times and freeze the relaxation for the future.

I have the last of the leftover pizza for lunch with an additional spinach & cucumber salad and handmade balsamic vinaigrette on the side. I have a therapeutic massage scheduled for the afternoon and overlook to pack a snack. By the time I’m completed I will need a small one thing to tide me around, so I devote $9 and acquire 1 of my beloved chocolate chip cookies and an iced latte from the cafe following doorway in advance of heading home.

Meal is leftover corn butter farro topped with Parmesan and some green onions that I’ve been maintaining alive in a jar of water in my fridge. They’re a small pale, but still give me the oniony kick I’m on the lookout for. I dig into the slice of brown sugar peach cake I bought yesterday for dessert. Right before I go to mattress, I get started soaking some dried Rancho Gordo chickpeas from the pantry in planning for earning hummus tomorrow. 

I start the day off with a homemade soy latte — sizzling currently, for the reason that it’s unseasonably awesome. For breakfast, I have a slice of the zucchini breakfast casserole I produced yesterday, and then I make a batch of hummus. I’ve tried out several recipes over the several years, but my present-day favored is from the cookbook Arabiyya: Recipes from the Everyday living of an Arab in Diaspora by Reem Assil. I take in some of the hummus drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil and sprinkled with dukkah for lunch together with some peeled carrots, cucumber slices, and pita chips.

I am a little overly enthusiastic with my portioning, so I put the rest in the fridge and I stop up having it afterwards on as a snack prior to I head out for the haircut I have scheduled. Supper is much more corn butter farro, and for dessert I’m in the temper for some thing lighter, so I take in some of the watermelon I slash up before in the week. 

I’m organizing to get brunch right now with a mate right before undertaking some procuring, but I never want to hold out for my coffee. I mix up a Vietnamese iced latte making use of the very last of some coffee concentrate I purchased on my preceding Costco trip alongside with some milk.

The brunch position we’d prepared on heading to has a for a longer time wait than we really feel like dealing with, so we end up going to a deli rather, exactly where I spend $20 on a turkey and Havarti panini and a Thai iced tea. The tea is a minimal way too sweet for me, and the sandwich is disappointing. I only consume half.

I’m pretty hungry when I get dwelling, so I dig into a massive bowl of watermelon. It is not really sufficient to fill me up, so I eat some cheese curds following, and that hits the spot. I spend the rest of the day cleaning and performing chores around my apartment, and I cook dinner up some basmati rice. I’m in the mood for fried rice, and it would be a fantastic way to use up some of the odds and finishes in my fridge.

Fried rice is ideal with working day-previous rice, and I toy with putting this batch in the fridge to neat and dry out for tomorrow, but my heart has already set its sights on fried rice for tonight, so refreshing rice will have to do. I’m in a position to use the other half of the yellow onion I have leftover from Wednesday’s pizza, some carrots from my grocery haul, and the last corn cob from the sector, together with some eggs and bacon. It undoubtedly satisfies my hunger, and I have obtained adequate remaining above for yet another meal.

For dessert, I rummage all-around in my freezer and emerge triumphant with a pair of toffee chocolate chip cookie dough balls. Every time I bake cookies, I virtually often place a pair of unbaked cookie dough balls into the freezer so that upcoming me can practical experience the delight of a freshly baked cookie devoid of all the problem of preparing the dough. 

I get started the day off with a home made iced soy latte, and I have yet another slice of the leftover zucchini casserole for breakfast. I’ve bought a bunch of conferences today, and I don’t have a likelihood to consume again until eventually I’m currently rather hungry.

With much more meetings coming up, I make up a hummus plate sprinkled with sumac to snack on as I continue on to work. I warmth up the previous of the corn butter farro for meal, and I choose to make some cookies for dessert.

For my birthday last yr, 1 of my very best buddies gifted me a copy of Cookies: The New Classics by Jesse Szewczyk. It’s develop into a custom for me to bake a recipe once a month to provide to our following hangout. We’re conference up tomorrow, so I leaf by the e book hunting for a recipe that I’ve nevertheless to check out and that will not have to have me to go out and invest in any new substances. I settle on the Vanilla Bean Sumac Cookies — fitting, as I now had the sumac out from lunch — and I mix up a batch, baking about two thirds of the recipe and freezing the relaxation for afterwards. I have a couple for dessert and save the other individuals for tomorrow. 

My cat has an early early morning vet appointment, so I make up a handmade soy latte to go, then mentally get ready myself for the mutually traumatic encounter of obtaining my cat into her provider. We both survive, and I have a slice of the zucchini breakfast casserole when I get house.

For lunch, I reheat the very last of the leftover fried rice from Sunday. My close friend and I are going on a hike right after perform, so I consume an early supper. It’s a bit of a fridge/pantry clear-out, as it’s really incredibly hot out and I’m not in the temper for anything heat. I dish up the last of the watermelon and cheese curds, and a handful of rosemary Marcona almonds. I choose the cookies with me and munch on a few when we’re out. 

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