A Shopping Trip

Today I had a different experience whilst doing our regular weekly grocery shop.
I wasn't alone.
Its nice to have some social time at the end of a week working at home!
No, I wasn't shopping with a friend or family member!
I was shopping with someone who works for Woolworths & was getting some customer feedback!
Although there are a few products that I particularly like at other grocery stores, I do prefer to shop at Woolworths and so most weeks I drive that little bit further out of my way to shop there (and no I wasn't paid by Woolies to say that!).

I never knew it could be so fun to explain what you buy & why, what you like about a shop & what you'd improve!

After explaining my preferences to this ever so tolerant man (believe me I did a LOT of talking!) I thought it might be a fun blog post... something a bit different!

Our grocery shopping is not always the same week in and week out. I tend to buy certain foods when they are on special & 'stock up'. I largely stick to a shopping list & I check what we already have at home prior to shopping in order to not over-buy too much.
I have our budget for shopping & I try to keep within those limits.
I aim for each weeks grocery bill to be under $150 for our family.

So here's what ended up in our trolley this week:

Freezer section

I couldn't live without frozen spinach. It makes its way into many of our family meals. I find that some brands of chopped spinach are in tiny little pieces and I don't particularly like that. So Homebrand gets my tick of approval for its pieces that are cut into strips rather than little tiny flakes! We regularly make red lentil sauce for dinner served over potatoes or pasta. Its my husband's favourite meal actually - only now we also add frozen corn to the recipe & often use frozen spinach in place of fresh.
Frozen broad beans - so wonderful, so versatile. They make great dips & are also a fantastic addition to meals. I love using them in my Asian lunch salad.

Bakery items

Pita bread makes for great pizza bases. My daughter loves these flavoured wraps for lunch. And our home in not complete without a loaf of bread for the week. We don't eat a lot of bread - about one loaf a week, but I do like it to be a nice bread, and always wholemeal of course!

Cold section

I don't buy a lot of products from the cold section but I never leave without milk. When we were shopping I was asked if I am brand loyal and at the time I couldn't think of any brands that I am loyal to. However driving home I realised that yes I am brand loyal - to Vitasoy :-) Its the only type of plant milk that I'll buy.
I also buy tofu regularly. I love to make tofu nuggets with the organic firm tofu shown. It really holds its shape well. And soft tofu makes a lovely mousse.
I also reallllllllllllllllllllllllly love the new range of Macro Vegetarian products. They have such a wonderful variety of tofu available and as all vego's will know, not all tofu is the same! For an occasional treat I enjoy their new burgers, sausages and meatless balls too. I have tried many of the flavours available and so far LOVE them all.

Canned goods

We use quite a lot of canned food - particularly legumes. I love that Woolworths Select beans come in a "No Added Salt" variety. And also they don't add their own flavour (tomato paste etc) which is a big issue for me because I like to add my own flavours when cooking with legumes.

Sauces and other

We regularly use passata and tomato paste. We use red lentils every week without fail. I love that they don't need to be soaked prior to cooking. 
Cinnamon is added to most bowl of oats & cookies. 
St. Dalfour is the only variety of jam that I'll buy because it is sweetened only with grape juice concentrate. Yep another product I'm brand loyal to! 
These Heinz beans are a new product. I usually prefer to make my own sauces/flavours to accompany beans but I'm also a big fan of trying new products at least once! We regularly have mexican meals in our home so I'm looking forward to trying this bag of mexican beans.

Baking and other

Oats for breakfast mean we go through quite a lot of them. They also regularly end up in our baked goods. Talking of baked goods, wholemeal flour ends up in our trolley every week! And every week that these Macro Raw Food Bars are on special they end up in our trolley too!!! 
My daughter makes random comments that everyone takes packaged food to school except her so she gets an occasional treat of muesli bars or rice crackers when she isn't enjoying treats from the kids lunchbox club section!
And today I also bought some containers that are clear because my husband commented just last week that when leftovers are put into containers that aren't see through he never knows they are in the fridge!!!

Produce - last but not least!

I don't have an issue buying produce from regular grocery stores. However, I will not buy produce that comes from overseas EVER. I always make sure that what I'm buying comes from Australia. I buy some produce organic and other things not. I like the idea of the dirty dozen/clean fifteen list however I can't always find everything organic that I would like to. I have however made a regular habit of vinegar washing our produce.    
The produce I bought today is smaller than I usually buy, however I was mindful of what was not consumed last week that is still in the fridge! No use over buying items that will not keep! I always buy lots of bananas to make sure we have enough not only for snacking but also for ice-cream and baking with.


Today's total came to $137.
That's a fairly big shop for us. Most weeks we're under $120 with some weeks not even making it over $100. But I'm pleased that I was still under our limit!
Don't get me wrong - I'm not against spending money on quality food, and in particular some items - but largely speaking I don't think the cost of good food is a lot. I just know that if I'm coming close to our limit then I have purchased an oversupply for the week and that is not necessary.
So to be honest when I hear people comment on how expensive groceries are these days - I really can't relate! 

And don't forget to take your green bags when you shop too! 
I recently purchased an "Animals Australia Make It Possible" one.

Items that didn't make it into this week's trolley but that I buy as needed:
--> Dates (both medjool and dried) - my favourite food and as such I have a BIG tub in the fridge!
--> Brown rice - currently still working our way through a 5kg bag
--> Wholemeal pasta - I buy a few packets when its on special
--> Other grains - quinoa, couscous, barley, polenta
--> Spelt flour, oat bran, baking soda, coconut & other baking goods
--> Nuts, seeds, nuts spreads & dried fruit
--> Tomato sauce, salsa, herbs & spices, vinegars (for cleaning as well as eating)
--> Frozen berries (anyone know where you can source Australian ones???) and other frozen vegetables

Questions of the day:
Do you have a particular store that you prefer to shop at?
Does your grocery list vary from week to week or look relatively the same?
Do you feel like groceries are expensive these days?
Have you tried any new products lately that you really enjoyed?

A Study in "P" Major

For those of you who are musically inclined you may have realised that I'm clearly not talking about playing the piano here...... since there is no musical note "P".
However, I do like to sing while I'm cooking ;-)

Today's study in P major includes:

PLANT MILK AND PASSATA!

2 'major' parts of our cupboard!

 

PLANT MILK

I tend to be someone who tries any new plant milk that comes out. 
I like to use different types of plant milk for different purposes too.

Here's my own assessment of the situation:

I prefer the taste of soymilk and rice milk over any other type of plant milk. I enjoy cooking with almond milk for a bit of a change but I don't particularly like the taste of it for drinking or in smoothies. My daughter LOVES the Sanitarium So Good Almond Milk - probably because it has more sugar than almonds in it and that is a reason that I don't let her have it too often. That said, I did notice just this week in the grocery store that there is now a 'sugar free' version available! Well done Sanitarium I say!!!! :-)

I find oat milk is quite thick and rather bland. Of course it is wonderful on oats but I don't use it for too much other than that. The Australia's Own Organic brand provides a range of organic plant milks with few additives which is always a good thing in my opinion. Note that their oat milk does contain honey so it will not suit people who choose to avoid bee products.

Rice milk is quite sweet - even though it doesn't usually contain any sweetners. I love cooking with ricemilk as I find the amount of sugar in a recipe can easily be reduced then.

Vitasoy wins in my books - easily!
They use whole soybeans instead of soy protein (which I largely try to avoid). All their products are non GMO.
I love the range that Vitasoy offer too.
All my favourites just so happen to be from the Vitasoy range!
                                    My favourites:

I love making my morning coffee with Vitasoy's Organic Soymilk. It is rich and creamy and not watery like some milks can be. It has a delicious flavour and it has low sodium compared to other soymilks too. My coffee simply isn't the same using other milk! Also it contains B12 which is a bonus too - 1ug per 250ml. 

The chocolate flavour soymilk also contains B12 and is delicious. Any evening is complete with a glass in hand ;-)

The Vitasoy ricemilk is my favourite for cooking with for the reasons mentioned above. It also makes for a delicious addition to smoothies. I also must admit that as a plain 'drink' it is my favourite!

With all of that said, I still do tend to make my own soymilk for everyday use! I have had a soy milk machine now for 18 months and it has well and truly paid for itself! 
Of course home made soymilk doesn't last as long as store bought, and it doesn't have quite the same consistency or flavour to it. However, it is completely additive free and has just ONE ingredient! Can't beat that for everyday use! 



Now for another major "P" in my cupboard:

PASSATA - Tomato Cooking Sauce

I have found there is not a huge range of these available. Usually just a generic brand and Val Verde is available in standard grocery stores. 
I cannot get over the MASSIVE range of pasta sauce that the stores now stock!
Personally I don't use pasta sauce. I prefer to use a passata base and make my own 'sauce'. I don't like the amount of addictives and oils that are included in many of the pasta sauces and that is why I prefer to make my own.
(The Sole Natura brand that is shown below is from Costco.)
Of the sauces shown here I was surprised to find that all of them (except Coles brand) had exactly the same amount of sodium and each also included acidity regulator E330. Now even though I consider myself to be a numbers person - I don't like numbers in my food! 

So for those reasons, the winner for me is "Coles" having no "E"s included and with nearly a quarter the amount of sodium of all the others.
(I don't always shop at Coles though so I will buy another brand when I need it! We do use a lot of this sauce!)

Questions of the Day:

 

What is your favourite plant milk?

Do you prefer the make your own pasta sauce or buy a premade one?