Our Standing Grocery List

In our house we plan all of our dinners. Not like dictatorship-regime-style, we are game to swap two nights if it makes more sense or bump a dinner later in the week cause the meat hasn't thawed from the freezer, or anything like that. But when we grocery shop we don't just wing it. We hit the meat section and I say to Cal "ground meat for nachos, shoulder for pulled pork, fish for tacos..." etc. And if at the end of the week we had some plans change, like friends invited us over or we ended up going out to eat, the exact ingredients of that dinner are left in the fridge.

That said, breakfast and lunch are a toss up. Usually breakfast is eggs and toast or yogurt and fruit. Usually lunch is soup, sandwich or salad. Sometimes pasta. If working, almost always leftovers.

But put all of this together and we pretty much have a standing grocery list. The items I can write off-by-heart because we buy them every week.

Here is what we always, always, always buy:


At least 2 cartons of berries (blue, rasp, straw or black!)
Bananas
Apples
Something else: oranges, kiwi, peaches, nectarines...
Baby cucumbers or regular size
Tomatoes AND cherry tomatoes
Lettuce
Sometimes a "chop chop" salad mix
Potatoes, onions, garlic, if we're out

Whole grain bread
Usually whole grain buns, bagels, english muffins, too

-- 2 free kid cookies from the bakery please! --

Meat for dinners, nothing extra

Almond or coconut milk
Eggs
Butter if we're out
Yogurt (usually individuals but sometimes just a large tub)
White cheese

And that's it!

Then the stuff we get sometimes:
- crackers, canned tuna or salmon, pasta, rice, condiments (soy sauce, mustard, mayo, etc.)

Cal will also usually get some sort of juice, lemonade or iced tea, as well as sports drinks for baseball, and a snacky food like chips, pretzels or popcorn