Grocery Top Three

Oh, Natasha...you have saved the blog today. 

We devoted our day yesterday to throwing a surprise party for one of our tenants. It was fun, but between prep, party, and cleanup, it was a full day! And then I sat down with zero brain cells left and zero idea of what to blog about for today. As I read posts from yesterday, I found Natasha's idea and decided to borrow it. She's right...it is fun to see how people feed their families and what they love to buy/cook/eat most!

Favorite Food Stores
(Natasha interpreted this as stores she would love to shop at, rather than where she actually would. I'm going to go with where we actually shop.

1. Aldi. We get everything at this store that we possibly can, which sometimes changes from week to week.

2. Wal-Mart. At this stop, we get the things Aldi didn't have.

3. Sam's. There are a handful of things that we like to purchase in bulk, so we get those at Sam's. 

Least Favorite Food Stores

1. Wal-Mart. Ironic, isn't it? We go here because it's more convenient, but I'm still not a fan.

2. Save-A-Lot. To be fair, this isn't really a least favorite store. It's the tiny grocery store in Grabill, and we only go there when we run out of something between shopping trips and need to grab it in a hurry. We don't actually find their prices to be a significant savings, so we don't make this a regular stop. 

3. I don't think I have another least favorite! 

Always on My List

(There are actually several things that fit this category! I'll pick three at random.)

1. Coffee creamer. Of course.

2. Honeycrisp apples. My nighttime snack.

3. Chicken tenders. We cook with a lot of chicken.

Rare Purchases

1. Bread. We usually have a loaf of bread in the cabinet - mostly for Ryan, but we go through it very slowly, so it's not often on the list. 

2. Sparkling grape juice. Only on special occasions. I'd drink it all myself.

3. Ice cream. We used to buy it all the time, but it's a rarity now. 

Never on my Grocery Store List

I asked Ryan to help me think of things that might be staples on a lot of people's lists, but we never buy them. 

1. Frozen dinners. I borrowed that from Natasha's list. But it's true! We never ever buy a premade frozen dinner.

2. Snack cakes. For our own home, we never buy any kind of prepackaged snack cake. We have gotten them for WillowBridge, but never for our house. 

3. Ramen. Not since college. 

Cereal

We actually gave up purchasing cereal entirely last fall. We used to eat it every single night for our snack, but when we did our 5 day sugar fast, we stopped eating it and never picked it back up. But...

1. Great Grains. When we did eat cereal every night, we ate Great Grains - usually the cranberry or pecan kind. 

2. Fruity Pebbles. This would be Ryan's pick if he could pick any cereal at all. 

3. Captain Crunch Berries. This is what I lived on in college. Well, that and Mountain Dew. And if you saw my college pictures, it showed. ;) 

Crackers

1. Veggie Rounds. I think that's what they're called. It's the Aldi brand of Ritz crackers that has a bit of a seasoning on it. I may have one or two, but Ryan is the main consumer of them - during chili season.

2. Cheese Its Extra Toasty. One of Ryan's favorites. We used to get them every week, but he finally decided he was tired of paying the high price for them, so we just get them on occasion now. He likes how burned they taste.

3. Graham Crackers. S'mores, baby! 

Spices

1. Seasoned Salt. I make my own, and I use it to season almost everything.

2. Garlic Powder. One of my most often used spices.

3. Cinnamon. Love it! Not with garlic powder, though. 

Fruit

1. Grapes. We love to snack on them throughout the day.

2. Bananas. We put them in our smoothies every afternoon.

3. Strawberries. One of three things we put in our homemade smoothie packs. 

Condiments

1. Organic ketchup. I cook with it almost as often as I use it for a condiment.

2. Chipotle sauce. Ryan loves the bottled Taco Bell brand sauce and uses it for chip dip sometimes. I also put a tiny bit of it inside our ham and cheese quesadillas when I make those. 

3. Avocado salsa. Ryan just discovered this at Sam's Club and is IN LOVE with it. Delicious. 

Frozen Vegetables

1. Onion and pepper mix. It has been a game changer for me to find this when I want fajitas in a hurry!

2. Sweet potatoes. I get frozen cubed sweet potatoes at Aldi. No more peeling and chopping!

3. California blend. We steam this for a quick side when we're in a hurry. 

Frozen Fruit

We don't buy it - because it's so expensive! We do make our own frozen smoothie packs using fresh strawberries and blueberries, plus canned pineapple. 

Do we have any common food loves???