Grocery Haul: What I Spent & What I Made

Welcome back to What I Spent & What I Made! For this week’s grocery trip, we spent some time camping with friends in Mt. Rainier National Park. We bought some items that we didn’t end up using because our friends chipped in and brought some groceries to share, and we did buy more snacks than usual since we did lots of socializing.

Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s list…

Walmart in Port Angeles, WA. Walmart again! We drove from Olympic National Park to West Seattle, where we met my college best friend and her husband before we all took a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park for two nights of camping. We were hitting a bit of a burnout point this weekend, and Meg and I had a little bit of a meltdown (this happened early/mid June, so we still had more than 2.5 months left of our trip). We were just about at the halfway point of our road trip and we couldn’t take it anymore. The constant driving, constant decision making, the extra chores that come with living in a camper, and being around each other literally 24/7 with little to no separation. It’s been a lot.

I was really excited to spend some time with my friends this weekend to hopefully lighten our moods. It was really nice to have friends step in to drive us around the park and help make decisions on where to hike and what to cook. The decision fatigue is REAL when it comes to living on the road full time. I feel like I have no mental energy left to take care of myself in other ways.

We made some really delicious meals this week. My grocery list below shows everything I made, and I have a blurb at the bottom sharing what I didn’t end up using and what my friends ended up contributing. If you’re a paid subscriber, then the paid version of this grocery list and all the recipes that go with it include recipes for what we actually made—of course, I include substitution ideas, because not everyone wants to spend $$ on nice cuts of steak the way my friends did!

• THIS WEEK’S TOTAL: $206.11

  • Snacks: $37.57 (18%)

  • Meat & Poultry: $32.46 (16%)

  • Household: 32.18 (16%)

  • Produce: $30.56 (15%)

  • Frozen: $28.16 (14%)

  • Dairy: $19.84 (10%)

  • Pantry Items and Restocks: $11.29 (5%)

  • Bread: $9.86 (5%)

• TOTAL FOR FOOD WITHOUT SNACKS: $136.36

Bread

• Corn tortillas ($2.48)

• Flour tortillas ($2.46)

• Sourdough loaf ($4.92)

Dairy

• 12ct eggs ($1.47)

• 1/2 Gallon Whole Lactose-Free Milk ($3.08)

• Tillamook Greek Yogurt 32oz tub ($4.64)

• Colby jack cheese block ($1.87)

• Butter ($3.06)

• Parmesan ($5.72)

Meat & Poultry

• 2x rotisserie chickens ($11.94)

• 1 lb ground pork ($4.82)

• Thick cut bacon ($4.97)

• Deli turkey ($5.48)

• Pepperoni from the deli ($5.25)

Produce

• Mixed greens ($3.98)

• Bananas ($1.18)

• Limes x4 ($1)

• Strawberries ($2.13)

• Cilantro ($0.93)

• Red cabbage ($2.26)

• Red bell pepper x3 ($3.04)

• Baby spinach ($2.18)

• Green onions ($1.17)

• Zucchini ($1.35)

• Large caesar salad kit ($4.97)

• Shredded carrot ($1.93)

• Grape tomatoes ($2.78)

• Garlic ($0.64)

• Red onion ($1.02)

Pantry Items & Restocks

• Orzo ($1.24)

• Roasted peanuts ($2.58)

• 32oz chicken broth ($1.27)

• Green enchilada sauce ($4.97)

• Small can of corn ($1.23)

Snacks

• Club crackers ($3.97)

• 2x Kraft Mac and Cheese ($2.48)

• 5 pack Buldak Noodles ($7.48)

• Peanut M&Ms ($5.48)

• Assorted meats and cheese ($7.47)

• Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar ($5.38)

• Hard boiled eggs ($1.96)

• babybel cheese ($1.48)

• Pepperoni and mozzarella panino ($1.87)

Frozen

• Just Bare chicken nuggets ($10.56)

• Frozen beer battered fish filets ($6.86)

• Frozen turkey sausage patties ($10.74)

Household

• Lysol ($6.97)

• Disinfecting wipes ($2.98)

• Disposable gloves ($14.97)

• Kleenex ($2.28)

• 4 gallon trash bags ($4.98)

I had a number of items already in my pantry and leftover in my refrigerator that I used for the recipes I cooked this week:

• Soy sauce

• Peanut butter

• Rice vinegar

• Sesame oil

• Chili crisp

• Maple syrup

• Ginger paste

• Brown sugar

• Salt & pepper

• Seasonings

• Pesto

• Dijon mustard

• Apple cider vinegar

• Olive oil

• Hot honey

• Baking items (flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, chocolate chips, vanilla)

What my friends contributed:

• Guanciale

• Steak

• Chicken thighs

What we didn’t end up using:

• Enchilada sauce and corn tortillas (we used these a few weeks later)

• Just Bare chicken nuggets (our friends contributed chicken to a salad recipe - but we did have a “kid dinner” night with nuggets and mac and cheese)