Please help me make a grocery list!

here are the tips for shopping. list out all the foods you will eat for a week. Include all the recipes. Then go through that and you make a list of all the ingredients. Then check your pantry against the list, scratch off all those you already have on hand. Then shop for the rest. Also you could do a google search for 5 meals one grocery bag. This will solve dinner menu use left overs for lunch or other meals. Your work at the daycare sounds like you are very active so leave the exercise for a while. I hope this helps.

Eggs
High fiber/low sugar cereal
Almond milk
Almonds
Hummus
Carrots/celery/broccoli/jicama
Lunch meat
Whole wheat pita bread
Chicken breasts
Italian dressing
Red potatoes/sweet potatoes
Lettuce/spinach/kale
Whole grain, whole wheat bread
Cheese (full fat!)
String cheese
Natural peanut butter
Fruit

You can make scrambled egg pitas, pita sandwiches, salads, grilled chicken (marinate it first in the Italian), ect.

I eat either eggs, cereal, or a 1/4 cup of granola + 1/4 cup of almonds every morning for breakfast. An easy, cheap & tasty egg recipe is poaching 2 eggs in 1 cup of marinara sauce. I serve mine over grits, a small baked potato, or brown rice. Or mash a banana, mix with two beaten eggs, and pour small pancakes - brown on both sides.

Lunch is usually 1/4 cups of almonds, hummus and raw veggies, and a piece of fruit. Sometimes I'll make a sandwich or soup to bring with me, or I'll just eat leftovers. String cheese is another good option because it's portion-controlled. On the weekend, I'll bake a couple of potatoes/sweet potatoes to take for lunch or as a pre-workout snack.

The biggest tip I can give is prep EVERYTHING the day you bring it home. I prep all my veggies, throw the chicken in freezer bags with the Italian dressing, portion out my almonds and granola, bake all the potatoes at once, ect. Eating healthy on the go means you have to prepare everything at once, portion it out in bags/Tupperware, so it's easy for you to grab it and go. I make my lunches the night before - everything goes in the lunch kit & the lunch kit goes in the fridge, if necessary.

I use full fat cheese and peanut butter when I'm short on calories for the day, but don't feel like eating.

Went shopping today, here's my list-

-Boneless skinless chicken breasts - $9 at $2/lb
- 1 dozen eggs- $1
- whole button mushrooms -$1.58
- 2lb bag baby carrots - $2
- 1lb bananas - $.70
- 1 yellow onion - $.30
- 4 green peppers - $2
- tanimura and antle 4 pack lettuce -$2
- 1/2 gal of 2% milk -$1
- 6 golden delicious apples -$2.50
- Head of cabbage - $1
- big bag of frozen peas -$2

$25 for the week


Luxuries
- Naturally more Peanut butter -$3.59
- cliff chocolate coconut bars -$6
- life choice meal bars -$4
$14 for these extras

The chicken, eggs, pb, and meal bars will last me for a while. I typically go through everything else once a week. The trick with the chicken is to cut it into chunks, cook it before hand, freeze it in proper portions, and then throw it back in the pan or microwave as needed to heat it up. Takes me five mins to cook some chicken with bbq sauce and eat served over lettuce with half a sliced green pepper and some carrots on the side.

You can make a good soup with cabbage, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, celery seeds, pepper, a veggie bouillon cube, cayenne pepper, and water that easily makes 6 bowls if you use the whole cabbage.

Sometimes I want a sweet or have no time to get home and cook like the 30 mins between my two 2.5 hour classes. The life choice and cliff bars are good for that.

I indulged today and bought some mascarpone cheese. Yummm.


And personally I'm not very fond of pasta or tomato based things or really sugary fruits beyond every once in a while. Cheese is something I don't eat much of any more either. (I prefer my greek yogurt, have you tried Greek God's Honey flavor?) I also don't eat pork products because I don't like the look of it and sausages/ham are kind of a trigger food. Before july I ate a lot more cheese and butter and a lot of bread, but gradually I've been wanting it less and less, same goes for chocolate/chips/icecream/pizza. Just looking over my own list I realize I've become quite the veggie eater..

Rice and pasta may be cheap but remember that you can replace it with veggies just as easily.... cucumbers are good julienne style with a cooked chicken/veggie mix on top.