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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

Whole Foods produce
  • 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
Whole Foods shopping haul
  • 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
what I bought at Whole Foods
  • 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? 

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