WinCo Grocery Haul: A Healthy Haul

I've mentioned before that I go to WinCo every other week. It had been slightly over 2 weeks since I last went. The store is way down the highway, using gas and precious time to go there and back. From the time I left the house to the time I finished putting everything away, 3 hours had elapsed for this shopping trip.

Anyway, this is pretty typical of what I buy twice a month, with variation for season (like stocking up on sale canned veggies or buying seasonal produce), variation for those months when I buy a large bag of brown rice or whole wheat or all-purpose flour or other stock-up item, and for when I've simply run out of an item, like this time vanilla flavoring.

I titled this a "healthy haul" because I've recently seen some really unhealthy looking grocery hauls, filled with some of the worst of processed foods. Those other hauls are also a lot more expensive than simply buying the basics and cooking from scratch. But we all know that. 

This isn't everything we eat in a two-week period, as we have lots of other foods on hand at all times. And I buy some of our food directly from vendors/ranchers, such as our beef, our greens/beet powders for smoothies, and soy milk powder. Our actual total cost to eat all meals and snacks each month is between $375.00 to $400.00 for a household of 4 adults, for one month (I said that twice, I know). And that includes those extra purchases through a rancher and other online vendors/manufacturers.

Here's the haul.

From left to right, front to back, this is what I bought:

large bulk bag of roasted peanuts

large bulk bag of raisins

2 pints of freshly ground peanut butter

2 12-oz cans tomato paste

6 cans corn

6 cans green beans

small bulk bag sea salt

small bulk bag iodized salt

2 lb bag powdered sugar

small bulk bag flax seed meal

vanilla flavoring

4 boxes frozen turkey breakfast sausage

2 1-lb bags frozen petite peas

1 small bulk bag peanut butter powder

1 small bulk bag onion powder

2 whole chickens

2 3-lb bags onions (weighed 6  5/8 lbs total)

2 dozen eggs

4 avocados (hard to see against dark countertop)

8 Fuji apples (3.89 lbs)

1 head of cabbage

2 lb bag tangerines

4 lb bag oranges

5 bananas

10 lb bag carrots

1 bundle celery

2 lb block cheddar cheese

4 lbs butter

2 gallons milk

Total spent -- $114.75

My one regret, I only bought one bag of oranges. I wish I'd bought two bags. I think we could do with a little more fresh fruit this time of year. 

What's missing here? Not a lot of meat this time. I still have canned tuna, beef, pepperoni for pizzas, more chicken, and more breakfast sausage at home. 

What else is missing? I didn't need much in the way of baking supplies, except the vanilla and powdered sugar. I have plenty of flour, granulated sugar, spices, molasses, yeast, baking powder, etc. 

You know what else is missing? Packaged snack foods. I just don't buy them. Chips, crackers, fruit rolls, cookies, pudding cups, other commercially-baked goodies, sodas, or individual servings of anything -- I bake our own snacks from what I've bought. Or else we snack on foods as they are, like a spoonful of peanut butter, a slice of cheese, handful of raisins, handful of peanuts, stove-top popcorn, piece of fruit or a raw veggie. When we have our weekly movie night, we eat homemade pizza while watching the movie. When we want something salty like fries, I make them in the oven using whole potatoes or sweet potatoes. It works out better for me and my wacky body, and it saves us a bundle of money each month. 

I also don't buy pre-made meals or parts of meals, like bagel bites, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, frozen waffles, boxed cereal, lunch meat, bottled salad dressings. I cook from basics.

Maybe this sounds weird, but I don't like soda pop. My husband and I prefer coffee, tea, water, homemade lemonade, hot apple cider, or juice over soda pop. The exception is about once each summer we buy the ingredients for root beer floats. And if we have people over, we buy sparkling or mineral water. My daughters will occasionally buy themselves a soda when they're out doing things.

We eat well, here. We're healthy. We enjoy good food. 

How long will this last us? For most foods, 10 days to 3 weeks for 4 adults. Other foods, more than a month (vanilla flavoring, salt). I will need more bananas in a week. We use them in smoothies. I make a Walmart run for bananas every other week. I may pick up more tangerines or oranges when I get the bananas. I like for us to be able to have about 1 piece of fresh fruit each day (preferably a citrus fruit this time of year) and a serving of frozen fruit or dried fruit each day. I pick up other things that are Walmart specific for us at those times, too -- bathroom tissue, facial tissues, dish and laundry detergents, any OTC pain meds, chocolate chips, unsweetened baking chocolate bars, instant coffee -- all are great prices at Walmart. 

We will still have some tomato paste and canned veggies remaining at the end of 2 weeks. They've been on sale at WinCo the last month, so I pick up a few cans each time, hopefully to have enough to get us through winter. For us, canned corn and frozen corn feel interchangeable, so I buy the canned (less expensive). We prefer canned or fresh green beans over frozen. So when the garden is no longer producing fresh green beans for us, we opt for canned. Two large (12-oz) cans of tomato paste is enough for 4 family meals of spaghetti sauce or 8 family meals of pizza sauce or 4 to 6 family meals (depending on what else I add) of homemade tomato soup. Tomato paste also can be turned into BBQ sauce or ketchup with the addition of a couple of other ingredients.

The flax seed meal and peanut butter powder are for breakfast smoothies, and those 2 bags will last 2 weeks. I keep both fresh onions and onion powder on hand. Onion powder adds a great boost of flavor to sauces, gravies, and soups. But we also like to use fresh onions in dishes. Both are good and have their own best uses. The 2 bags of frozen peas are enough for 4 family meals. The butter was also on sale. I picked up 4 packages, which will last through mid-December, including lots of holiday cookie baking for the freezer. Ordinarily, we go through about 1 pound every couple of weeks. 

With the milk, as I open each jug I pour off about 1 1/2 quarts to freeze. When both of the jugs are gone, we use the frozen milk for the last part of the two-week period. The sea salt is one of our table salts (pink Himalayan is our other) and the iodized is our baking and cooking salt. These two bags will last a few months.

I like buying pre-bagged produce for one reason. I pick out several bags and weigh each one. The 2-lb bag of tangerines really weighed about 2  1/4 pounds. The onion bags both weighed well over the stated weight. Ditto on the oranges. With celery, I look for the freshest bundles that are also very full, since they're priced each. For apples this time, the individual apples were a much better deal than the bagged apples, and I got to select the very best of the ones that were there, no hidden bruised apples which would cause disappointment.

I shop with a list that I put together over the course of the two weeks since my last big shop. I don't deviate much from my list unless I suddenly remember an item that should have been on the list. I'm a get in and get out sort of gal when it comes to grocery shopping. WinCo is usually crowded, and that in itself motivates me to just finish up and get out.

I want to add, I don't mean to shame anyone who buys a different selection of food. However, I wanted to post one of our typical shopping stock-ups to show what exactly we buy and how I use it all. Could we spend more on groceries? Yes, we could. But that would cut into our savings goals, such as in-home care for late in life and providing some financial security for our children after we're gone.

Just for fun, here are some possible meals I could make with what I bought this week (plus a couple of staples from home). Each dinner meal has at least 2 servings of produce, a carb, and complete protein. Each breakfast has carbs, fruits/vegetables, and protein. Each lunch has at least 2 servings of produce, carbs, and protein. For snacks, I try to incorporate fruits/veggies into almost all of our snack foods, as well. Doing so lowers the total calories and refined sugar, plus it crams just a few more nutrients into each day.

14 dinner possibilities

1-roasted whole chicken (leaving lots of leftovers), gravy, bread/celery/onion stuffing (adding bread from scratch), canned green beans, apple wedges 

2-chicken (using leftover chicken) in Italian-style tomato paste-based sauce, brown rice (rice had at home already), frozen peas, cabbage slaw, tangerines

3-Brinner -- sausage, eggs, pancakes (from scratch), carrot-raisin salad, orange segments

4-tomato-celery (use tops of celery) soup, toasted cheese sandwiches (bread from scratch), apple wedges with peanut butter, scratch vanilla cornstarch pudding

5-chicken, bean, cheese, avocado burritos (beans and tortillas from scratch), salsa (homemade) on the side, caramelized onions, carrot sticks

6-burrito bowls -- canned corn, brown rice (from home ingredients), chicken, salsa (homemade in summer), avocados, cheese along with celery sticks and orange segments 

7-frittata -- eggs, greens from garden, onions, cheese, along with roasted potatoes (from garden), sautéed and spiced apples (from garden or the fresh ones I bought), steamed carrots

8-chicken in peanut sauce with veggies, using some of cooked chicken, peanut butter plus chopped peanuts to top, celery, onions, curry powder (from home), garlic (from garden), carrot slices, over brown rice (from home), with chutney on side (made last summer) and tangerines

9-a quick dinner -- scrambled eggs w/cheese, frozen peas, cooked pasta (from home) with butter and herbs (from garden), apple wedges and celery sticks

10-corn and sausage soufflé, using canned corn, sausage and eggs, baked potatoes (from garden or bag I already have), Cole slaw, fruit cup of orange, apple, banana (mixed fruit cup is a good side/dessert to plan for end of shopping period, when down to just singles of each fruit)

11-chicken in BBQ sauce (made with leftover chicken, tomato paste and other ingredients), oven-fries (potatoes from garden or from bag already have at home), oven-roasted carrot sticks, canned green beans

12-fried rice with egg, cabbage, carrot, peas, onions, chopped peanuts plus rice, soy sauce and garlic (from home/garden), tangerines

13-scratch pizza (all but tomato paste from other purchases or garden), cabbage plate vegetable dish (retro 50s recipe using carrots, cabbage, onions, celery), fresh fruit or stewed prunes (garden) or sautéed apples (garden)

14-Spanish beans and rice (beans, rice from other purchases, tomato sauce based on tomato paste and spices, plus caramelized onions), carrot-apple-cabbage-raisin slaw in mayo (from home) dressing

bonus dinner possibility -- tuna melts (canned tuna, bread, mayo from home supplies, celery and cheese from haul), carrot sticks, frozen peas

5+ breakfast possibilities (we repeat breakfast ideas more than dinner)

daughter's favorite -- overnight oats (oats and cinnamon from home, with milk and raisins) OR homemade granola (oats, sugar, spices from home, smidge butter and peanut butter from haul) with milk, topped with chopped apple 

my favorite -- breakfast smoothies, using peanut butter powder for protein, bananas, leftover steamed carrots, flax seed meal, blackberries (from garden), puréed pumpkin (from garden or bought in Oct), greens powder (had at home), beet powder (had at home), smidge of peanut butter or avocado for fats with or without toast or sausage on the side

husband's favorite -- sausage, toast (from scratch) with jam (made last summer), milk, orange

pancakes or French toast (from scratch), spiced apple topping, boiled eggs or glass of milk for additional protein OR scratch apple-carrot-raisin muffins (baking staples from home) and a boiled egg for a take and go breakfast

baked rice pudding (rice, sugar, spices/flavorings from home, eggs, raisins, and milk from grocery haul)

5+ lunch possibilities (we repeat lunch ideas more than dinner)

cheese or egg salad or peanut butter or chicken salad sandwiches (bread from scratch, mayo from home), celery sticks, carrot sticks, fruit

chicken and vegetable (carrots, celery, peas, green beans, onions) soup from scratch (adding potatoes from garden, noodles, barley, quinoa, or rice from home for carb), fruit, cookies (from ingredients at home already)

curried peanut butter and pumpkin soup, biscuits (scratch) and fruit on side

snacky lunch -- raisins, peanuts, cheese slices, apple wedges, celery sticks, carrot sticks, bread (from scratch) and butter 

salad lunch -- enhanced slaw-type salad with shredded cabbage, grated carrots, chopped peanuts, cubed cheese, raisins, apple chunks, cooked garbanzo beans (from home), mayo (from home), vinegar (from home), salt, with toast (scratch) on side

snacks using what I bought

muffins -- variation possibilities from this haul only: 1) apple, 2) carrot, 3) raisin, 4) peanut butter, 5) whole orange, 6) banana, and 7) corny corn

cookies and snack cakes -- oatmeal raisin drop cookies, carrot-spice drop cookies, peanut butter cookies, apple-spice snack cake, carrot snack cake

peanut butter-raisin protein balls (using powdered milk and honey from home) 

no-bake shredded carrot-peanut butter-rolled oat-honey energy balls

for a candy treat -- chocolate covered raisin clusters, about 1/4 cup chocolate chips, melted and mixed with a little coconut oil and a large handful of raisins. Could also be done with peanuts for peanut clusters.

plain raisins, plain peanuts, cheese cubes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, fresh fruit

I'm not saying we will definitely be having these meals and snacks in the next couple of weeks, as we have lots of other foods in the freezers, pantry, and fridge that we can draw from. These were just a handful of suggested meals I could make, based on this shopping trip. The foods from my haul that don't get eaten before I shop again will simply be rolled over into use the following shopping period.

So that's what a healthy haul from WinCo, on a limited budget, looks like for my family and how it all winds up in our meals.