Every Day Begins New

This morning  I did a top-up shop at Woolworths, Coles, and a Greengrocers as I was out and about. I didn’t need to do a big shop, so this shop is a few bits n pieces that we had run out of. I plan to make this a series of posts to give you a better overall look at the types of plant-food that we purchase. I will also post a pantry, fridge and freezer tour down the track. At the moment I have had a ‘pantry moth’ issue that got into all of my glass sealed jars and laid eggs. It was a horrible waste of food and there was very little I could salvage.

Today’s Food Hall;

• Organic Oats- Red Tractor Hill- Woolworths. I meant to purchase rolled oats but picked up instant oats instead.
• Organic Spelt Flour– Woolworths. I usually by wholemeal spelt flour but they were out of stock.
• Organic Corn chips– Woolworths.
• Vegan butter– Naturli- Woolworths. We also stock Nuttelex as well. We are not big butter eaters, so this will last us ages.
• Vegan Tomato Salsa– Keep it Cleaner- Woolworths. This is the first time we have purchased this item and thought we would give it a go.
• Organic Frozen Mixed Berries– Creative Gourmet- Woolworths
• Org Coconut Milk and Coconut Cream– Woolworths brand- Woolworths
• Org Wholemeal pasta– Coles brand- Coles
• Vegetable Crackers (Vegan friendly)- Peckish- Coles
• Organic Peanut butter– Coles brand- Coles
• Org Coconut sugar– CSR- Coles
• All fruit/Veg– Greengrocers (half organic)- potatoes/sweet potatoes, cauliflower, purple cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocadoes, nectarines, bananas, apples and kiwi fruit.

Meal ideas:

• Nachos– corn chips with salsa, guacamole, beans, cashew sour cream, salad.
• Curry– coconut milk, almond butter and slithered almonds, passata, spices/curry paste, mixed veggies including (cauliflower, potato, beans, spinach or peas, carrots, onions etc
• Baked/steamed Potato (either white or sweet potato with quinoa tabouli, hummus, cashew sour cream plus a fresh salad.
• Wraps– falafel, pitta bread, hummus, tabouli, fresh salad including grated purple cabbage).
• Potato Mash– sweet potato mash, steamed vegetables and gravy (gravy bases, cooked tomatoes, onion, mushrooms and brown lentils).
• Pasta– w/meal pasta with sauce baked in oven (olive pesto + passata, garlic, onion, red lentils, mushrooms, grated carrot, zucchini, veg broth, fresh herbs and topped with ‘parmesan cheese’ (blended cashews, pumpkin seeds and savoury yeast flakes).

How We Shop:

Budget: The aim (we are not there yet) is to get our weekly grocery bill to no more than $150/week.

How often We Shop: At the moment I usually do a bigger fortnightly shop (groceries) and a small top-up (fresh produce) shop weekly.

What We Shop For: approx 80% wholefoods 20% processed

• What I eat- I aim for Plant-Based (Vegan) wholefoods.
• What our children choose to eat- My children are both Plant-Based but have the occasional dairy-based item when out and about. I don’t pressure them at all. Their body, their choice.
• What my husband eats- meat and dairy products (milk and cheese) sometimes. He eats a Plant-Based food 90% of the time.

Tips before you go shopping;

1. Clean– fridge, freezer and pantry.
2. Stocktake/Inventory– take note of what you have in your fridge, freezer and pantry
3. Meal Plan
4. Make a shopping list (shop for ingredients) instead of ready-made meals where possible.
5. Eat before you go.