Grocery Haul: Mini-Costco trip

I don't know about you, but I kind of love grocery haul blog posts and videos! It's a small thing, but I enjoy seeing what and how others eat and the different prices of groceries across the United States (or even other countries!).

We've never shared a grocery haul on Mom2MomEd before, so we hope you'll indulge us for a moment!

For this trip, I went to Costco for a few staples, as well as a few treats for the family of a police officer that frequently stops in at the hospital where I work. I also picked up a little Galentine's (Valentine's Day for your female friends) treat for a friend.

My son and I are working on tightening up our family budget in order to prepare for some big savings goals, to crush debt, and to work towards financial freedom. As a result, we are spending February meal planning and eating out of our cupboards, fridge, and freezer rather than making our usual grocery store trips. Our goals include using up as much as possible with as little waste as possible, to create a more comprehensive list of recipes and menus that we enjoy on a regular basis, and to maximize our money. Thus, my most recent Costco trip was quite small compared to my normal Costco grocery hauls!

So, without further ado, here is my mini-Costco grocery haul:

• Ziploc 4-pack of gallon sized freezer bags (152 bags total) -- $14.49 
• Turkey breast lunch meat (1.58lbs) -- $10.41
• Godiva chocolate hearts (14.6oz) -- $8.59
• Kirkland Asian snack mix (2.5lbs) -- $9.99
• Kirkland chocolate covered mango slices (19.4oz) -- $9.69
• Kirkland organic ground beef (4lbs) -- $19.99

The Ziploc baggies will be used primarily for storing chopped up banana chunks in the freezer for smoothies, but I also use them to carry dog food when traveling, to carry my toiletries through airport security, and so on. In truth, it will take us an exceptionally long time to go through all of these baggies--probably a few years!).

The turkey breast is a lunch staple for us. No explanation there...

The Godiva chocolates will go in a Galentine's Day package for one of my closest friends--she LOVES Godiva!

The Kirkland Asian snack mix and the chocolate covered mango, however, were totally unplanned splurge purchases which defeats the purpose of my grocery shopping goals. However, they also are both snacks that we like and will consume completely, so the only waste will be the packaging. My mom also really likes both of these snacks and thus I'll pack up a bit of each for a trip we'll be taking to Southern California in a few weeks. 

And, the organic ground beef--well, it's expensive stuff compared to regular ol' ground beef! I swear, it's worth the price! We don't eat a lot of beef at our house, I grew up with a mom who bought ground turkey instead of beef. I ate turkey sloppy Joe's, turkey burgers, turkey meat balls, and so on. For years, I followed in my mom's turkey buying footsteps. Then, however, a few friends started telling me how much better organic, grass fed ground beef tastes. Then, a vlogger I follow on YouTube (The Former Mrs. Jones) did a Costco haul video proclaiming how much she loves the flavor of this beef. We decided to give it a try and now it's our go-to whenever we make tacos or other dishes that require ground meat.

• Grape tomatoes (2lbs) -- $5.99
• Kirkland quinoa salad (1.55lbs) -- $7.73
• Bananas (Weight? Maybe 3.5lbs) -- $1.39
• Organic baby carrots (5lbs) -- $5.49

These items were all on my Costco grocery list. We use the tomatoes in a whole bunch of ways, including just eating them as is, and we dice a bunch of them up to cook into taco meat. 

The bananas will primarily be used in smoothies and banana bread (see above regarding the Ziploc baggies...). The carrots will be eaten as is, used in soups, and so on; however, our dogs happen to LOVE baby carrots as snacks! In fact, one of them begs for them and she FrEaKs OuT if you say the word "carrot"!

The quinoa salad, well, it's simply delicious! I'm not a big quinoa fan, but this salad is refreshing and tasty. It is chock full of tomato, cucumber, cilantro, and other yummy goodness! I especially love a bowlful with a dollop of hummus on the top. 

• Tree Top fruit snacks (80 pouches) -- $11.79
• Clif Kid Organic Z Bars (36 bars) -- $17.49
• Pocky sticks (1lb 9oz) -- $8.99

These three items were all purchased as a contribution to the gift for a local police officer's family as I mentioned above. I did pull out about 20 of the fruit snacks for my family, and the rest went into the gift package. 

What do your grocery hauls look like? Do you enjoy this type of post? If you have a Costco membership, what's the best thing you've ever bought there?

Did you enjoy this post? Check out these additional articles:

You, your child, and poetry read alouds

If you've been following along with Mom2MomEd for any length of time, you'll surely be aware that we love reading. We also love reading aloud with our children--my son is 18 and I still enjoy reading aloud with him!

After I began homeschooling my son, halfway through his fourth grade year, we took our reading aloud to a new level and started a loose tradition of reading poetry and classic novels together during and after dinner. We didn't necessarily do this every night, but it did happen at least two or three times per week for a few years.

Reading aloud was special in our home for many reasons, but I especially cherish our loose tradition because it allowed my son and my mom to form a bond they might not have had otherwise. You see, I was a single mother and, for a time, we couldn't afford to live in our own place. As such, we moved in with my mom--my son's grandmother. My mom is pretty old school (no pun intended) when it comes to certain things related to children. This includes the idea that children should be seen and not heard. It also involves children always following directions from adults. My mom was a kindergarten teacher, and although she was beloved by her students and their families, my son and my mom had a rocky relationship.

Since we lived with my mom, my son and I often ate dinner with her, and thus we included her in many of our evening read aloud sessions. The three of us especially enjoyed reading poetry together. A couple of times per month, my son and I would go to the library, and among all of the books in our library haul, we'd each have a few books of poetry to share at the dinner table.

Since my son and my mom often had difficulty getting along--my mom wanting my son to be quieter and more compliant and my son wanting to ask questions and to explore and discuss the world around him--reading aloud together helped to bridge the gap.

We especially loved to take turns as we read. Often we would each read a poem aloud, passing the book at hand around the table several times so that we'd each read several pieces. Some nights we'd only spend 10 or 15 minutes reading to one another. On other nights, nights when we were all in particularly good moods or just really enjoying the material before us, we might sit at the table reading aloud for more than an hour.

There are many ways that you can encourage your kids to read more, but reading aloud with them is a surefire way to lead by example and spark a passion for books.

Over time, my son and I (and my mom) found that we drifted back to a few poets and collections of poetry over and over, eventually adding them to our own home libraries. We would love for you to visit your town or city's library and check out books and explore the world of literature, but we've also provided links below to several of our favorite poetry collections:

First we have two collections of classics:

• The Random House Book of Poetry for Children edited by the poet Jack Prelutsky
• A Children's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

 



And, then there are those classics that many parents of my generation grew up with--the mostly silly but sometimes serious works of Shel Silverstein:

• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• The Giving Tree
• A Light in the Attic

But then there are a huge number of terrific poetry collections and books that my son and I discovered through our evening read alouds and the local library. I encourage you to look for and enjoy these as well:

• Collected Poems for Children by Ted Hughes--Hughes is best known as the ex-husband of poet Sylvia Plath and most of his work is most appropriate for adults. This collection, however, is terrific for kids.

One of our favorite poetry books turned out to be a double duty find. We were able to combine punctuation practice with reading and poetry in Punctuation Celebration by Elsa Knight Bruno. I was expecting this cute little collection to be dry and boring, but we loved it!

And, finally, we loved all of these fun little books--even though my son is 18 now, we still have a few of these in our home library, and every now and then, I catch my son still pulling them out! How's that for an endorsement?

• Giant Children by Brod Bagert and Tedd Arnold
• The Dragons Are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky
• For Laughing Out Loud edited by Jack Prelutsky
• Vile Verses and Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
• Science Verse by Jon Scieszka

While my little family of myself, my son, and my mom enjoyed reading aloud to one another at the dinner table, there are many ways you can encourage your kids to read more--we hope a read aloud session is just one of many methods you will use to increase the reading that happens in your home. 

No one--child or adult alike--is ever too old to read aloud or to be read to. Grab your family and a giant stack of pillows and make yourselves cozy on the living room floor if reading over dinner isn't your style.

Pitch a tent in the backyard, fill it with sleeping bags, stuffed animals, and a lantern and add several stacks of books for a Friday night read along.

Snuggle up with the family pets and take turns reading to Fido and Fluffy.

However you do it, keep reading to each other and simply enjoy the process of bonding over books. 

What's your favorite book to read aloud? Tell us about it in a comment!

Did you enjoy this post? Be sure to check out these additional articles:

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Two super simple soups and a time saving kitchen tip for the cold winter months

If you've read our previous cooking-related posts, you'll know that McKenzie and I love soups and so do our families! 

Today, I have two super simple soups and a time saving tip for you!

The first soup is a slight variation on a pureed soup recipe sent to me by a friend after I had a stomach problem and was stuck on a liquid diet for several weeks. The second one resulted from a pantry and fridge clean out when I had lots of odds and ends without any clear meals jumping out at me. 

Get your stove tops ready and lets get cooking!


Creamy Broccoli and Asparagus Soup

Ingredients
1/2 bunch of asparagus, steamed
1/2 of a large crown of broccoli, steamed 
1 small baking potato, peeled, cubed, and either steamed or boiled
1 to 2 Tablespoons of sauteed diced onions
1.5 Cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1/2 Cup full fat coconut milk
Salt and pepper

Steam your asparagus, broccoli, and potato using your preferred steaming method (I like a basket steamer in a pot with a lid on the stove; my stepmom uses her microwave). Saute your onions in a small frying pan. 

Combine the vegetables, broth, and coconut milk in your blender or a food processor and blend until smooth. Or, place everything in a stock pot and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. 

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ham and Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Cup diced yellow or white onion
1 Cup diced celery
1 Cup diced carrots
1 Cup diced, pre-cooked ham2 tablespoons flour 
1/2 Cup wild rice mix
3 Cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
3 Cups water
Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and add onion, celery, carrots, and ham. Saute and stir over medium heat until onion and celery are translucent. Avoid browning the vegetables. Sprinkle with flour and stir to coat, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. Add wild rice milk.

Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of broth and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of broth and stir some more. Add the remaining broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the rice is cooked--about 15 to 20 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper as needed (the ham was salty enough that we didn't need to add much additional seasoning).

And, now for a tip...
My son and I absolutely loved both of these soups and will be making them several times more in the future! Before I wrap up, I also want to share a time saving kitchen tip with you! 

Have you ever seen mirepoix mix at the store? Several stores sell it, but it costs a lot more than buying the individual three ingredients and simply making it yourself! 

Maybe you haven't seen it and are wondering, what in the world is mirepoix mix?

Quite simply, it is a mix of equal parts diced carrot, diced onion, and diced celery. It is so incredibly simple to make and cheap too! Next time you are making soup, grab a bunch of extra onion, celery, and carrots and chop them into the same size diced pieces. Aim for an equal amount of each and then store them in containers in the fridge until you are ready to use them. While making the ham and veggie soup today, I chopped an extra 1.5 cups of celery, onion, and carrots (packed in containers of 1/2 cup of each ingredient) so I'm ready to go when we make another soup in a few days!

Making mirepoix mix ahead of time is super fast, super cheap, and will save you time chopping veggies in the future!

What are your favorite soups and kitchen tips? Share in the comments or over on Facebook! We'd love to hear from you!

If you love soups, your slow cooker, or casseroles, check out this terrific cookbook--Taste of Home Casseroles, Slow Cooker & Soups! My mom gifted me this cookbook years ago at Christmas and we have loved the heck out of it! The recipes are hearty, warming, and delicious, perfect for the winter! Click HERE* or on the image to get your own copy on Amazon:

 

*This post contains affiliate links.

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Make your meal prep and planning even easier with this cute set of 5 colorful weekly meal plan pages from our Etsy shop:

A healthy, fun, one "pot" meal that your kids will love

This isn't our typical post, but with the holidays around the corner and just general life business, I thought I'd share an easy, one pot dinner for your family!

My kids aren't super picky, but they definitely go through phases where they will eat pretty much anything and then only have ONE food that they will eat. When I can find something that everyone likes and will eat, I am always thrilled--especially if it's healthy like this dish!

First, I just took took pieces of aluminum foil and shape them together to make a little bowl. You don't want to scrunch up the ends too much as you will be folding the foil over the top and making a little packet of food when you are done. I made four of these little bowls so everyone in my family could have their own. I set everything up buffet style and let my kids prepare their own dinner. 

I've found that when I give my kid some control over putting together their meal, they tend to eat more and they LOVED eating out of a little tin foil packet when it was done!

For our buffet options, I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, zucchini, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli and green beans. I kept the chicken breasts whole and then I chopped up the veggies into manageable pieces. The process of constructing our foil bowl meals was pretty simple: put the chicken down first and then top with any veggies that look appealing. We then sprinkled some seasoned salt, pepper, and onion powder over the contents and I put in a few teaspoons of chicken broth to each packet keep the chicken moist and to steam the veggies.

Once we had our packets loaded up we tented the foil and pinched it shut over the top. I baked the packets for about an hour at 350F. 

Once they were done, I opened the tops up just a tad to release the steam and let them cool a bit before I served them to my kids. The chicken and veggies were super tender and pulled apart with our forks.  

The results? DELICIOUS! 

My husband and I ate all of ours and my kids actually ate (almost) all of their veggies. 

{{I will admit that my son only put one green bean and a chunk of carrot in his packet, but that battle is for another day.}}

The great part about this meal is that you can mix up the veggies and meat and it would still be just as tasty! It also was a meal that didn't take a lot of clean up which was a huge bonus in my book! Since the food baked for an hour, I also had time to clean up the kitchen and then sit back and relax while waiting for dinner to be ready! I even cut up some apples to round out our meal! 

Win!

Have you ever done this before? Is this something that you think your children would enjoy? Do you have any recipes to share that we should try?

And, be sure to check out our post about crockpot meals for more easy ways to feed your family!

Love this post and want more recipes? Try these:

 

Real moms in the kitchen--crockpot ideas

It's officially fall here in Northern California and that typically means comfort food and crockpot cooking at my house! There is nothing better than throwing everything in a single pot and having dinner ready on time. 

I dusted off my crockpot this past week, and so far every meal in it has been a hit; however, as I noted HERE, my family and I get tired of the same meals day in and day out. I'm not a very good recipe follower and I don't ever measure, but I thought I'd share some of my tried and true recipes that you may like as well!

In return, please pass your favorites along to us as well by leaving us a comment!

First off, I don't have a fancy crockpot. I have a very inexpensive one (THIS one and it's only $9.99) that I found on Amazon and it works great! I really don't think it matters what type of crockpot you use, but mine has three settings: low, high, and off.

Tonight was an extraordinarily long day in my house and called for a crock pot meal! I drove for a field trip and had a lot of my own work, plus kid stuff, to catch up on this afternoon. Knowing I would have a crazy day, before I left with my son, I laid out some ingredients and my husband threw was able to throw them all into the crockpot and get things started.

The meal turned out amazing and with minimal work. All my husband did was throw in a pot roast, a handful of baby carrots, chopped onion, peeled and chopped potatoes, and an envelope of onion soup mix with the appropriate amount of water. It was a great one pot meal...meat, veggies, and carbs.

Win!

To round out our dinner, I cut up some fruit and dinner was served.

Easy-peasy!

Another family favorite is to throw several boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot with a packet of taco seasoning and some salsa. I don't measure, instead throwing in a few heaping spoonfuls of salsa. Once the chicken has cooked and is falling apart you just use a fork to shred it. We also enjoy adding a can of black beans to the chicken. With or without the beans, you can use this shredded chicken for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taco salad or whatever else you choose.

Last week, I was hunting through my freezer trying to find something to make for dinner, and all I could find was a pork roast, but I wasn't sure what I should do with it. I ended up throwing it in the crockpot and it turned out to be delicious and the whole family enjoyed it! I simply chopped about half of an onion, added several cups of bone broth that I had in the freezer, minced carrots, two cups of dried beans (I think they were Northern beans), a dash of cumin, and salt and pepper. I just let the roast cook on low all day and by dinner time, the meat was shredded and the beans were perfectly cooked. It ended up being a really good bean soup, especially when I made corn bread to go along with it. Both of my kids , especially my son, LOVED this. My little guy even took some to school the next day in his thermos!

I haven't made it yet this year, but another family favorite is to peel and core several apples and literally just throw them into the crockpot on low for several hours. I usually just add a dash of apple pie spice, but not always--this makes a yummy applesauce with or without the apple pie spice! This has to be the easiest, no fuss way to make applesauce that I've ever found. Instead of buying prepackaged applesauce cups, I bought a set of THESE or THESE single serve, reusable containers and use them to portion the applesauce out and then pop them in the refrigerator. My kids love having single serving foods and something easy enough to open themselves is always useful. Plus, you know the applesauce is not full of sugar and other junk!

{{Note from Malea: I STILL use the same little plastic containers for snacks for myself and my son! They are great for single portions of nuts, dips, hummus, salad dressings, and so on!}}

Well there you have it--a few of my go-to crock pot recipes!

I'm going to challenge myself to use my crockpot several days a week this winter to free up some time for myself. I'm planning on trying several new recipes and will come back and share the good ones! I'm in love with Pinterest right now and may be going a little "pin" crazy! I've also noticed that there are several planning sites that suggest you precut and measure all of your ingredients and put them into freezer bags, so all you have to do is pull it out and throw it in your crockpot. That may be a meal planning day for me in the future!

{{Note from Malea: My favorite cookbook for crockpot recipes is THIS one! It has crockpot recipes, soups and stews, and casseroles. We especially love the spiced lemon chicken!}}

Please share your tips and recipes you have for your crockpot. I'm looking forward to expanding my go to recipes!

And, while you are at it, consider a meal plan--make it a lot easier with this set of colorful weekly menu planning worksheets from our Etsy shop:

 

Did you love this post? Check out these other articles too:

• How to use conversation starters with your children
• The importance of family  meals
• Build up your mom tribe
• 5 reasons why you need downtime
• Life IS education

This post contains affiliate links. 

Get one of our favorite crockpot and casserole (and soups and stews) cookbooks HERE or click through the image:

 

When life gets crazy: Start meal planning

Life has been throwing me (Malea too) for one loop after another, and when things get chaotic the only thing that helps me is to get organized.

I’ve been purging extra clutter in my home, trying to finish loooong unfinished projects, and just being more mindful about how I am spending my time, energy, and money. Some of these projects have been successful while others have left me pulling my hair out and rocking in a corner.

Seriously.

But, one thing that has always been important to me is food--and not just because it’s life sustaining! For so many of us, food is comforting, tastes good, and is fun to prepare.

I love to cook.

I also love to grocery shop.

I used to be really good at meal planning, budgeting, and keeping the items in our freezer rotated.

But lately…..it’s been a disaster.

One random trip for ONLY bananas may turn into a 100 dollar splurge on who knows what!

Lately, I’m cooking based on cravings which means even more random and EXPENSIVE runs to the store and wasting a ton of food. Wasting food is a huge pet peeve of mine. Not so much if my kids don’t eat what is on their plates, but rather having prepared food go bad in the fridge or letting fruits and veggies just rot away.

Yet, for the last couple of days, our fridge has been looking bare. I’ve purposely let it get that way so that we could use up the last of the random items in there and so I could start fresh with a large grocery haul.

Last night I sat down with my laptop and made a grocery list and a meal plan for the week.

I got up this morning and drove to three separate stores and was able to stock our fridge completely. This haul should last our family of four just over a week. I was so focused this morning that I didn’t even stop for coffee which is HUGE for me!

Seriously, Malea and I both are major coffee addicts. Caffeine might run in our veins instead of blood... {Malea commenting here: No coffeeeeee before the grocery store? McKenzie has lost her mind! I would never!}

Another thing that I struggle with is coming up with new meal ideas that everyone in our family will eat.

My daughter and I are the least picky in the house. However, my son and husband can be difficult to cook for (my husband is the pickiest in the house even though he will tell you otherwise!). I often get stuck in what I call the dinner rut. We have a few go to meals that everyone likes, so I end up preparing them over and over again. In theory, that sounds great, but inevitably everyone gets burned out on this small stable of meals, and then we’re pretty much back to basics with cold cereal and toast.

It’s a cycle I'd like to end.

So, I thought I’d share some of the meals I’ve planned for this week with the hopes that it may inspire some of you! 

I’m also shamelessly begging you to share your tried and true family friendly recipes so that I can add them to my rotation as well.

This week, some of our meals include: 

• shrimp tacos with black beans (we had these tonight and everyone gave them a thumbs up)
• flank steak and homemade potato wedges
• chicken drumsticks and corn on the cob
• Swedish meatballs and rice
• homemade pizzas
• and, a leftovers night.

These meals are not overly fancy, don’t take much time to prepare, and are all things that my kids (and husband) will eat...hopefully!

Since I’ve been in a cooking rut lately, I didn’t throw in any of our standby meals because we all really needed a break from them. However, some of our favorite typical meals are: stir fry (chicken and veggies) with white rice, tacos or deconstructed tacos (eaten with chips), salad bar, spaghetti, and BBQ chicken.

Do you feel like you end up preparing the same meals over and over? How do you break up the monotony? Do you tend to do one larger grocery trip for the week or stop several times for fewer items?

We would love your tips and tricks for meal planning and recipes. I’m experiencing a new challenge this year with planning for school lunches and finding things that pack well, that my son will eat, and that are semi portable.

Oh, and meals that won't elicit negative comments from my son's fellow kindergartners... 

Last week, my son asked for seaweed, berries, and naan bread in his lunch. I know he likes those foods, but I struggle with feeling like he’s going to be the kid with “that” lunch. That discussion will be a blog post for another day. {Malea commenting again: My son became the kid with "that" lunch thanks in part to his preferences and in part to food allergies! I'll have a whole lot to say when we have that discussion on the blog!}

In the meantime, share your meals with us. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Be sure to check out these blog posts:

• The importance of family meals
• Connect with your kids or students with conversation starter cards
• How to use conversation starter cards with your children...using them with my sweet Delilah

Make your meal planning easier with this set of 5 weekly meal planning worksheets from our Etsy shop: