Hi blog friends! How have you been? I’ve been good, just getting back to the groove of the school year and juggling everything at once. Living on my own has been a learning process to say the least. Over the last couple of months I’ve been getting down with my meal prepping, budgeting, and setting time for planning. Don’t @ me, I’m still trying to fit in blogging! By creating a grocery list I am less likely to buy items I don’t need, my grocery trips are short and sweet, and I am able to stick to my budget. I’ve been getting the hang of meal prepping and building effective grocery lists to stick to my budget.
Living in Hawaiʻi is beautiful, but it comes with a cost. On one hand you have beautiful beaches and the best weather in the world, and on the other hand there’s the cost of living. Living in Honolulu is expensive which is why I do what I can to save money. I’d like to note that my grocery trips are for 1-2 people, and I have enough for 2-4 meals and 1-2 breakfast items with room for dining out. I spend approximately $45 – $60 for my weekly groceries with minimal food waste. I’d also like to mention that I don’t have a problem with eating leftovers! I’m okay eating the same dish as long as I space it out throughout the weekdays. Growing up, we ate leftovers for up to 6 days because we always had homemade food with ingredients that keep well. Some people may find that gross, but I can honestly say that I’ve never gotten food poisoning from home-cooked leftovers! Your initial smell will catch a bad dish 95% of the time, and another 4% will be after the first bite. The last 1% are the bad dishes that sneak through the cracks.
I’ve also learned that building a reliable pantry filled with go-to’s is important to meal prepping. We went to Sam’s Club, a wholesale retailer, and we bought our pantry staples only once! We haven’t had to buy anything else since June. Here are my pantry staples.
Here are my tips to building a good grocery list:
- Plan the dishes that you’re craving ahead of time. You’re more likely to stick to your prepped meals if you are excited to eat them. I chart out breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day of the work-week. I make sure to add in nights out, date nights, or dinner with my parents. I don’t always stick to the schedule that I wrote down, but it helps to visualize the pattern and make sure that I have enough meals planned.
- Skim through the weekly ads to see what’s on sale and if the dishes you cook need any of those items. I’ve definitely adjusted my menu based on sales before! Because a good majority of our food is shipped here, our grocery prices are very high. Some stores are better for certain ingredients. For example, I shop at Target for all my frozen foods, non-perishables, and pantry staples because it’s a lot cheaper than other grocery stores. For fresh produce, I go to the local grocery stores (Times and Foodland) for produce from local farms.
- Stick to 2 proteins in each haul and find dishes that you can use them for interchangeably. For example, if I buy chicken thighs and ground beef, I’ll plan on making baked chicken and chicken stir fry, and teri-burgers and Bolognese sauce.
- Buy frozen fruits and vegetables. They last longer in your freezer, and can be thrown into many dishes for an added nutrient boost. Just because they aren’t “fresh”, doesn’t mean they’re any less healthy (unless there are filled with preservatives). A lot of frozen fruits and vegetables are flash frozen or cooked at peak ripe-ness so when you defrost/cook them, they’re ready to be eaten.
- Make dishes that you are excited to eat. This way, you are looking forward to eating the dishes you cooked rather than buying out. This leads to less food waste. A lot of the media content I consume are food-related. This is where I get a lot of my meal inspiration from.
- Remember the pantry items that you have! I’m a big supporter of using what you have before buying something different. It’s like playing a round of “Chopped” (Food Network Show) with yourself.
I hope these tips help! I also was gifted an awesome Snapware Pyrex glassware set from my best friend that I use every week. Having glass containers are not only good for the environment (because of the long-term usage), but they are microwave and oven safe! It is easy to prep my meals ahead of time when I have a set of dishes to put it in. If you have any meal-prep friendly recipes, I’d love to learn! I’ll work on putting together a list of recipes to share. I’m hoping to tip toe into some food blogging. Until next time…
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