Day 16: Feeding 7 People On One Trip To The Grocery Store Per Week

Limiting myself to one trip per week to the grocery store and making meals that are semi nutritious and good (enough) for you has not been as difficult as I thought it would be.

In fact, it has made my life a little easier.

Because I need to shop with a very specific plan and then stick to it.

Not having swim practices to go to has given me much more time to prepare meals.

But making a plan has also eliminated the need to think about what we are going to eat every day.

Last week I sat down and made a pretty detailed plan for what we were going to eat for every single meal.

I shared this in an earlier blog post, but this is helps to make sure no food goes to waste and it also save me a lot of brain power as the week goes on.

And brain power was in high demand with mandatory distance learning starting this week for the kids.

For the most part, I 100% stuck to this plan.

I didn’t make the ham/egg/hash brown casserole I had planned for Friday night because I underestimated the amount of eggs we were going to eat in a week and also because we had more leftovers than I thought we would, so on Friday we ate all the leftovers.

Speaking of what we ate in a week, here is what we went through:

• 3 gallons of milk
• 2 gallons orange juice
• 1 gallon almond milk
• 1 gallon oat milk
• 5 dozen eggs
• 5 pounds potatoes
• 2 1/4 pounds salmon fillets
• 16 hamburger rolls
• 4 loaves of bread
• 8 cups oatmeal
• 8 pounds of apples
• 2 pounds of fresh strawberries
• 2 pounds of baby carrots
• 64 ounces iceberg salad mix
• 2 heads romaine lettuce
• 6 peppers
• 1 package mushrooms
• 3 onions
• 30 hashbrowns
• 2 frozen pizzas
• 10 hamburgers
• 8 beyond burgers
• 6 pounds frozen strawberries
• 3 pounds frozen mangoes
• 1 box pancake mix
• 2 large bags Pirate’s Booty
• 2 large bags Goldfish
• 12 sleeves Ritz crackers
• 2 lbs American Cheese
• 1 large Kirkland Ham
• 1 pound deli ham
• 14 tortillas
• 2 pounds Mexican cheese
• 2 cans corn
• 2 cans black beans
• 2 cans green beans
• 1 bag lentils
• 1 bottle salad dressing
• 1 jar pickles
• 1 jar roasted peppers
• 1 jar banana peppers
• 1 can sliced olives
• 32 ounces strawberry yogurt
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 8 half gallons of ice cream (yes, eight)
• 48 cans seltzer
• 1 jar pesto
• 2 boxes pasta
• 2 cans mandarin oranges
• 1 bag clementines
• 1 box cake mix
• 1 can frosting

That’s just about everything.

Some of that stuff in that list was stuff we already had, but most of it was new.

I spent a little over $330 for groceries last week.

For the first couple days after I go shopping, we eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, and then as the week goes on, we eat more of the canned and frozen stuff.

The strawberries are gone in two days. The apples last about 5 days. I buy McIntosh for eating because those are what the kids love the most, and then I buy at least 5 pounds of whatever apple is cheapest and use those to make applesauce.

I have baby carrots and ranch dressing on the table at just about every lunch and dinner.

The bagged lettuce lasts a couple days, and then I use the romaine for salad.

I make this plant based chili once a week.

To make frozen pizza a little bit more nutritious, I roast some veggies and add them on top.

Newman’s Own pizzas were super cheap so I bought 4 of them 2 weeks ago.

The boys don’t love veggie pizza, but the girls do. So I make one plain and I make one seriously loaded up with veggies.

It’s really good.

It’s also a good way to use up peppers and mushrooms if they are a little past their prime.

When the fresh strawberries are gone, I make smoothies with orange juice, frozen mangoes and frozen strawberries.

The kids love these and we have them with breakfast and or lunch.

Number 5 has been a vegetarian for over a year now.

One of her favorite sandwiches is a cheese and veggie sandwich.

I make it using most of the extras they have at Subway — roasted peppers, pickles, banana peppers…

That’s a favorite sandwich of mine, too. And all the ingredients are things you can keep stocked in your pantry.

I went grocery shopping today and stocked up for next week.

My meal plan for the week is going to be a little bit different than it was this week. I’m making that tomorrow, and I’ll share it in the next day or two.

If you are feeling challenged or frustrated in the food department right now, I strongly suggest making a plan for the week.

It eliminates so much brain power, especially as the week goes on and you are getting more and more worn out.

You don’t have to make it fancy.

And now is not the time to attempt a Whole 30 or to go 100% plant based if that’s not something you’ve already been doing.

Make things as simple as possible.

If you have some tips/strategies that have been helping your family, please share!

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