weekly habits and keeping the spread thick

I’ve often been asked about my weekly grocery shopping…. and what an average week looks like.  It’s kind of hard to write a post about it, as this changes week to week.  Variables will include: what’s cheap, what’s available, and how much of a budget we have to play with. We are trying to “eat on the cheap” more and more these days…. making things from scratch such as nut milks, bread, snack bars and the likes makes a big difference to our weekly food budget.  On richer weeks, Viper gets beer and I get to go to the health food store… but this fluctuates.  Such is life. Anyway, there are a few staples that we NEED in our house, or else we are all very sad.

Now this isn’t some kind of “holier than thou” expression of my shopping habits.  Far from it – we are a pretty average family trying our best to eat well and stay healthy.  I would love to be able to eat exclusively organic, but honestly, it’s just not affordable for us…. organic meat, eggs, some beans/grains, some fruit/veg and supplements is what is do-able for us, and I’m happy with our efforts.

Personally, I think buying in season, locally-grown, spray free where possible is more important – plus at the end of the day, I’m totally going to eat a non organic apple over NO apple at all.  Healthy food is healthy food.

Lou’s Needs:

• Dry beans/pulses – poor man’s protein for sure.  I will buy at least 1kg of dried beans a week… I buy a different variety every time so I have a nice little selection on hand.  Chickpeas, black beans, aduki beans, pinto beans and red lentils are my favourites.
• Dates – I use these so much.  In snack bars/raw treats/baking for everyone…. sweetening home made nut milks…. straight up (Viper refers to them as chewy cockroaches, ick).
• Oats and buckwheat – these are my staple favourites…. plus I make muesli and snack bars from these.
• Almonds – for nut milk, butter, and just general snacking/baking.
• GOOD salt (generally Celtic sea salt)
• Coffee beans
• Vanilla stevia liquid
• Carrots
• Herbal teas
• Apples
• As much seasonal fruit and veggies as I can muster.

Viper’s Needs:

• Organic, free range chicken (we tend to buy about 500g a week).
• Organic, free range beef mince.
• Avocados (he is obsessed).
• Some sort of seafood.
• Eggs (organic, free range).
• Bread (I usually make it – my bread maker sure is a little trooper… Viper + Misty will eat a loaf a day!)
• Salad things (leaves, tomatoes and the likes – bless, Viper makes salad at work)
• Cheese, oh so much cheese.
• Treats such as chocolate covered raisins, peanuts and licorice bullets (he does eat my healthy “treats” but this guy loves his sugary milk chocolate goodies).

Misty’s Needs:

• Bananas
• Milk (any kind, whether it be home made almond/tahini/rice milk, or straight up cow juice… he will knock it back no probs)
• Eggs (as above)
• Peas – his favourite.
• Vegemite and bread (little Aussie)
• Cheese (as above)

• 1C medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 1/2C water (if you want a thinner spread, you can increase this to 3/4C)
• 1C nut meal (I used macadamia, but plain almond will work well too…. pecan would be lovely – if you don’t have pre ground meal then just whizz whole nuts in the food processor until a fine meal has formed).
• 1/2C vegan, raw unsweetened vanilla protein powder (or whatever you like/use)
• 1t lemon juice
• 1/2t vanilla extract
• 1/4t sea salt

1. Whizz everything (including date soaking water) together in a food processor until smooth.
2. Scoop into a jar (it’s pretty thick and claggy, but trust me, the thicker the spread, the better).
3. Spread away.