What I Buy At Trader Joe’s And Monthly Grocery Shopping
We live in a tiny town in the southern part of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate NY. It is a great place to live. Everyone knows just about everyone. Each graduating class has someplace around 100 students, and many of the teachers and staff are alumni. The town comes together when someone needs something, and I am very proud to call this town my home.
However, our town is nestled between two larger ones, and there is a small grocery store, a few convenience stores, two family discount stores, a Subway and your other small businesses that sell pizza, ice cream, and provide us with excellent breakfasts and lunches.
Small Town Will Travel
But, there is no Target or Walmart. There is no Kohls or JC Penny. If you want to do any kind of shopping or take part in any type of entertainment that is not school related, you have to leave. It isn’t just a five-minute drive to these places. We are talking at least 15-20 minutes drive to a Target and Starbucks. It’s an issue, guys.
To get to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, you’re looking at an hour drive. This hurts my heart because I adore these stores.
So, last Friday, I decided it had been a while since I was last at Trader Joe’s and I had missed ole TJ! So I took the journey. I grabbed a large iced tea and headed south! So did everyone else. The parking lot was PACKED!
But the minute I walked in the door, it was like greeting an old friend, and an inner peace went through, and the crowded store didn’t even phase me. It felt good to be back!
I’m A Planner
I had planned my menu and had my list. I knew there were going to be things that I was going to pick up that were not generally on my list because TJ’s has some great snacks and items that I can’t usually find other places, so I was going to pick up extras. You will notice quite a few snacks in these photos! But it is just because I haven’t been there in more than six months!
My youngest loves their organic chocolate syrup and their organic pop tarts. My husband and I LOVE their fair trade chocolates. And their nacho cheese chips are delicious too! See…snacks. Please don’t judge!
A New Idea
There is a vlogger that I follow on Youtube. Her name is Brittany, and her channel is Pennies Into Pearls. She is cute and wise! She just put out a video this week about only grocery shopping ONCE PER MONTH! She spends $400 per month on just food and then $160 on miscellaneous and household stuff. So, her big haul is about $300. She reserves $25-$30 each week for perishables like fruits and milk.
Now, my plan is pretty similar. I do once a month at BJ’s and Target then I grocery shop every two weeks or twice a month.
Here is where I got this BRILLIANT IDEA!!!
What if I took the day once a month to grocery shop at Trader Joe’s for my groceries and then took another day to hit Bj’s, Target, and the meat store? Then on the second paycheck of the month, I could just grab some extra bananas and milk if needed. Even if I just grabbed it in town!?! Only one monthly grocery shopping trip.
What do you guys think? Could you only make a monthly grocery shopping trip??? I think it would sure save on time if I didn’t have to leave town so often. I mean, I could leave town if I wanted to (maybe grab lunch with a friend or a Starbucks Grande Soy Latte, hot no foam) but the burden of grocery shopping would be off my shoulders.
I am going to try it!!
I am going to create my list and plan out how much we would use of all of our favorites plus write out a rather large meal plan. It starts August First!
Gosh, I think I am going to need another refrigerator!
Bak to my Trader Joe’s haul. I didn’t need any meat as our freezer was still quite full. I would probably not get my meat there anyway. I like our butcher shop. But I did get all our fresh and frozen veggies, snacks(we talked about that – still not judging, right?) and dairy. All three photos show all the items I got.
79 items for a total of $221.35.
As Aldi and Trader Joe’s are both owned by the same parent company, most of their organic products are the same price, but Aldi only carries a small assortment of organics. I still love Aldi, by the way, and will continue to swing by to stock up on those things that we love from them. Like their nitrate free bacon! YUM!!
Look for a post all about my prep work for this monthly grocery shopping trip as well as the results from the first month!
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