Happy Tuesday! After many, many years of teaching 5:30 and 6a fitness classes pre-Finn, I felt pretty confident that those days were over. Well, never say never because here I am teaching at 6:10a Flow + Lift class on Tuesdays at The Health Club and loving it. It is a super sweaty, high energy start to my Tuesday and it’s been a fun switch up in my schedule.
I had a break this morning between teaching + training clients and more training clients later so I popped home to check on Zoey, eat some breakfast, enjoy a cup of coffee and write this post.
I did my weekly food shopping at Whole Foods yesterday with some actual strategy and a menu plan because we have a special visitor coming – my mom!!! She’s flying in tomorrow to spend a week with us. The occasion is Finn’s birthday pool party. She hasn’t been to Charlotte since his party last year so we’re excited to have her!
Before I get into sharing what I bought at Whole Foods + the menu plan for my mom’s visit…can we take a moment to commiserate about the cost of groceries right now? Every time I go to the grocery I just feel shocked and sick over the prices and my total bill. I spent almost $250 yesterday. I try to focus on how much we save by not eating out a lot and how much I appreciate homemade food but whew!
Okay, here are the details!
WHAT I BOUGHT AT WHOLE FOODS

- Baby kale and baby spinach
- Spicy maple brussels kit
- Bag of pink lady apples
- Yellow/champagne mangos
- Strawberries
- Blackberries
- Green beans
- Bananas
- Blueberries
- Wild Wonders tomatoes
- Sweet potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Avocado
- Sweet onion

- 2 lbs of frozen gulf shrimp
- 2% milk
- Frozen mango
- Frozen croissants
- Bacon
- Frozen blueberries
- Muenster cheese
- Chicken thighs
- Frozen cherries
- Cream cheese block
- Ground beef
- Cottage cheese
- Deli chicken
- Selection of cheeses
- Cream cheese spread

- Pellegrino – my child has always loved sparkling water and has recently decided that these big Pellegrino bottles are his fave so I get them as a treat since he doesn’t do juice or sports drinks of any kind. He also loves the La Croix Limoncello flavor which I also got a case of on this trip but didn’t photograph.
- Fig preserves – the Bonne Maman is the best brand in my opinion!
- Diced and crushed tomatoes
- Counter Culture coffee beans (on big sale + my mom and I both love this brand)
- Chicken broth
- Coconut water
- Orzo
- Crostini
- Dave’s Killer White Bread Done Right (for my mom)
- Cracked wheat crackers
- Shells and cheese
- Sea salt kettle chips
- Thin spaghetti noodles
MENU PLAN FOR MY MOM’S VISIT
Wednesday: marinated baked chicken thighs, baked sweet potatoes, steamed green beans, croissants (I’m going to do a childhood favorite chicken marinade of my dad’s and hopefully share here soon!)
Thursday: shrimp, spinach, sun-dried tomato, pesto, feta orzo creation with a side salad
Friday: slow cooker pork roast (I have a roast from famers market in freezer) with carrots and potatoes, homemade rolls (will base off of this recipe)
Saturday: Finn’s birthday party in the afternoon so we’ll either do leftovers, order in or eat out
Sunday: homemade spaghetti sauce, salad, french bread
Monday: girl’s afternoon/evening shopping and dinner out – probably Chinese or Thai
ETC
- I’ll make some homemade cookies (maybe these!) for snacking and I think we’re going to make a batch of homemade chocolate cupcakes for Finn’s party (to go along with the SUPER CUTE letter donuts that I got as his cake)
- I got things for cheese/cracker snacks
- I’ll need to make one more stop at Harris Teeter or Publix to get a few more specific things that my mom needs that I couldn’t get at WF
- We’ll also go to Walmart to get snacks/drinks for Finn’s party and some decorations
Okay, it was nice to have a minute to pop in! Hope you guys enjoyed this post. I’d love to bring back some weekly meal planning posts – AND RECIPES! It’s going to happen.
QUESTIONS
Have you made any changes to your grocery shopping/budgeting with food costs being so high?
What’s on your dinner menu this week?
Favorite brand/flavor of sparking water?