My Pantry/Refrigerator Essentials

My absolute least favorite thing that happens is when 5 o’clock rolls around, I have a plan for dinner, only to realize that the ingredients I thought we had in the pantry weren’t in the pantry! Ugh. The worst. So, in an effort for this to NOT happen, I’ve been working on keeping my pantry stocked so that when we run out of something, I already have the next box, bag, carton, etc. in the house. There are certain things I get at specific stores as well, so it takes some time to get in a rhythm of staying on top of it, but it’s been so helpful. With a one-year-old, it’s not super easy to run out to the store at 5:30 when I realize I’m missing that one vital ingredient.

In an effort to make this list a little organized, I listed out my pantry items by store. There are three main stores we shop at for food because different stores carry different brands or products we need.

COSTCO

We like to use Costco for products that last longer or that we will eat quickly. We don’t have a big enough family yet to buy vegetables or salad greens from Costco because it goes bad before we can finish it. On the other hand, we buy our fruit at Costco because they have a good Organic section with good pricing. We like to buy seasonings and dry foods like rice and flour from Costco because it’s priced better and lasts longer!

Our Costco Shopping list:

Organic Fruit

Organic Chicken

Apple Sauce

Organic String Cheese

Almond Flour

Maple Syrup

Garlic Powder

Pepper

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

Kombucha

RX Bars

Last July Tortilla Chips

Organic Peanut Butter

Almond Butter

Organic Brown Rice

Frozen Organic Fruit

TRADER JOE’S

We do most of our week-to-week shopping at Trader Joe’s. It’s where we get our vegetables, snacks, canned goods, and nuts/seeds. We go there pretty frequently, so we are able to switch up what we get each time. We don’t buy ALL of these products every time we go to Trader Joe’s, but if we need one of the things listed below, we will get it at TJ’s.

Our Trader Joe’s Shopping  list:

Coconut Oil

Organic Coconut Sugar

Organic Vegetables

Vegan Pesto

Perfect Bars

Organic Milk

Sweet Potatoes

Organic Lettuce

Dried Fruit Bars

Nuts and Seeds

Veggie Chips/Straws

Salsa

Whole Milk Yogurt

Organic Herbs

Gluten-Free Pasta

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Beans

LOCAL HEALTH FOOD STORE

If you’re lucky enough to have Whole Foods, you can buy these products there. We do not have a Whole Foods where we live, but we are blessed to have a few local health food stores where we can get specialty ingredients like dairy-free cheese and allergen-free chocolate chips. My favorite store to go to is called New Earth and we get just a handful of items from there.

Our New Earth Shopping List:

Califia Almond Milk

Gluten Free Sourdough

Allergen Free Chocolate Chips

Vegan Cheese

Sugar-Free Pasta Sauces

Gluten-free cookie dough

Canned Tomatoes

Brown Rice Thai Noodles

Red Thai Curry Paste

Canned Coconut Milk

I love going to grocery stores, so I don't mind going a couple times a week to the different stores. I try to go to Costco during the week with Knox because it's something we can do during the week when there are less crowds and he loves to eat the samples. We typically try to do the other stores over the weekend because that's when I meal plan and when we are starting to run out of food.