I shop at Trader Joe’s almost exclusively, with an occasional extra run to Albertson’s or, less frequently, Whole Foods for the few ingredients I couldn’t find at TJ’s.

Breakfast is generally chopped fruit, plain yogurt, and 1/4 cup of granola, french toast made with Ezekiel cinnamon-raisin bread with sliced bananas, or an egg muffin made with a poached egg, a slice of cheese, and a toasted english muffin, served with a piece of fruit.

I don’t mind leftovers for lunch if they’re good… I often take whatever yummy thing we had for dinner, a salad, and a piece of fruit. The Teenager generally gets half a sandwich (veggie slices, cheese, & greens or the ever-popular PB& J), nuts & fruit for lunch, and every other week we get a bag of baked chips because she is, in fact, a Teenager. We buy a six-pack of sugar-free, caffeine free soda and each of us takes one three per week… the rest of the time we drink filtered tap water with lemon in our water bottles, and a couple of times per week, we make lattes at home. Oh, she also gets a different bottle of juice every week that she mixes with mineral water.

We cook for real about twice a week, I make a different pot of soup every week, and on Mondays, dinners come from the Crock Pot. Tuesdays & Thursdays are my late nights, and the Teenager forages in the kitchen. One night a week, we order in, go out, or have frozen pizza and watch a movie. Because we’ve been inviting dinner guests on Wednesdays, occasionally, someone will offer to take us out to dinner to repay the hospitality. We don’t count on it, but it’s a nice treat when it happens!

The meat-free thing sounds extreme to die-hard carnivores, but it’s actually been loads of fun, much cheaper, and I’ve dropped several extra pounds in the last month. I still eat meat when I go out, and I find myself getting a turkey sand at Subway every ten days or so… what I used to take for granted has become a real treat!

Good luck on your grocery journey… it’s an important one!