I discovered something this morning. Apples no longer reign as my favorite fruit. The crispy satisfaction of chomping my way through a pile of apple slices no longer commands my attention on a daily basis. And although I will always welcome them back with open arms mouth every summer, berries and mangoes inevitably let me down when that chill starts to creep in the air. So if they can’t play nice, I can’t play nice and call them my favorite. Enter banana.

After I realized an entire container of strawberries had turned rotten on me before ever getting my hands on them, I had to resort elsewhere for my daily bowl of oats. So, I did the inevitable and scooped up a banana to slice over my bowl with the standard blob of peanut butter and sprinkle of raisins.

And then, I entered tasty heaven. That banana made my bowl more filling and literally left me mmmming out loud on more than one occasion. I’ve had banana with my oats before, but something about today solidified banana as my favorite.

What makes banana gain the title of “Tina’s Favorite Fruit” even more solidly? I can’t get over how versatile they are! Bake with them. Eat them straight up. Gulp them in smoothies. I only wish my already finicky…”regularity” shall we say…could handle numerous bananas every day. Alas, I will have to choose. Oatmeal or smoothie? Oatmeal or smoothie? Oatmeal or smoothie? Or banana muffins??? As you can see, endless possibilities for a happy belly!

Today’s lunch also featured endless possibilities for a happy belly.

But more on lunch in a second. My good friend, Nikki, came up to my neck of the woods for some shopping, girl time, and lunch today. We met up at a local outdoor shopping area around 10 am to beat the heat for a gentle stroll while hopping in and out of the shops. I’ve mentioned my touchy relationship with shopping before, so I tried to reign in the wallet today. But LOFT always gets me with their special deals – like $6 basic tees that I live in. I love LOFT!

After walking around for about an hour, we headed in to the sandwich shop Which ‘Wich to pick up an easy and delicious meal. I have three favorite foods: 1) pizza, 2) ice-cream, and 3) sandwiches! So, I cheat and pick foods that you can have in a million different flavor combinations. They’re still my favorite. :p <--- that would be me, being mature and sticking my tongue out at you

I mean how can I not love sandwiches? Look at this bad boy!

Every time I have gone to Which Wich I end up with a different sandwich and every time I cannot get over how good it is! Today’s sandwich included a black bean patty, hummus, black olives, mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Talk about a flavorful combination. Let’s take one more look, shall we?

Yes. Versatile food delights me. Versatile food wins my complete adoration. I heart you, bananas and sandwiches! Now, where’s my pizza and ice-cream?

• Tell me your three favorites: FRUIT? FOOD? STORE?

Truth. 47.229% of my long run thoughts cover grocery lists and dinner meals plans. During my Saturday morning runs I am both a) hungry and b) trying to simplify the venture to the grocery store after I get home and showered.

Last Saturday when I mentioned getting my grocery list ready to hit up the store, Brittany from the blog Suburb Chic gave me a new blog topic idea:

Right now, we have a weekly budget of $85 for the family’s groceries. Let me tell you something. That $85 has to get streeeettttttcccchhheeeeddddd out and it also means that sometimes I have to put away little extras that I love – like the avocado I had to say adios to this past week. Sad. 🙁

It also means that I have figured out the basics and essentials for our weekly groceries, which I’m happy to share. So, thanks for asking Brittany!

PRODUCE

I always hit up the produce section as the very first stop on my shopping. On my list, I have veggies we need for our dinners, the fruit we (okay I) feel like snacking on that week, and the standard produce we almost always have on hand.

• Favorite Veggies/Dinner Produce: broccoli (M’s favorite!), zucchini, mushrooms, onions, sweet potatoes, brussels, fresh green beans
• Favorite Fruits: apples and whatever else in season – mango, melon, and plums are big favorites right now!
• Standard Produce: fresh spinach, bananas, carrots, cucumbers, avocado (if it fits in the budget), and berries

The Refrigerated Section of the Store:

For this section, I really cut down the spending by buying less meat. We have meat in our basement’s freezer from the cow share we received at the beginning of the year and have turned to more vegetarian dishes. Occasionally chicken will be on the menu, so I will purchase a pack of organic, local chicken. We will use half that week and freeze the other half for later to cut down on the cost. My main costs in this area come in the form of dairy:

• one gallon 1% milk for Peter and Makenzie
• one carton unsweetened vanilla almond breeze for myself
• one pack Stonyfield Farms organic yogurt for Makenzie
• 3-4 Chobani yogurts for myself (because I just can’t go back!! and sometimes that means $$ coming out of my personal budget)
• cheese – a block every few weeks to slice for snacks for Makenzie, deli slices of swiss or cheddar for sandwiches to stretch over 2 weeks, shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese for English muffin pizzas or our regular taco nights
• eggs – I love eggs!
• hummus – and yes, I need to suck it up an make my own, but I love Sabra’s Roasted Pine Nut flavor just so much…and roasted pine nuts would not make making my own cheaper. 😉

The Inner Aisles

This is where extras for snacks, dinners, etc usually come into play and I try to stick to the essentials here.

• oatmeal – basic rolled oats
• raisins – because I need them in my life
• cereal – usually store brand cheerios or if a particular favorite goes on sale
• snack bars – larabars and lunabars when they go on sale
• Makenzie snacks – Annie’s bunnies and fruit bars (I let the kid snack like a kid when I’m not feeding her fruit, cheese, yogurt, green smoothies, and hummus)
• peanut butter – unless we buy a ton of jars for a steal off Amazon, of course

• dinner canned/frozen veggies/fruit – corn, mixed vegetable bags, peas, canned beans, crushed or diced tomatoes, jar of applesauce for the kids
• breads – 1 pack of sandwich thins, 1 pack of flat out or other whole wheat wraps, 1 loaf of whole wheat bread, 1 pack of whole wheat english muffins (not to go through all in one week, but we always have these types on hand)
• whole wheat pasta and natural/no sugar added sauces
• frozen pizza – we always have a pizza in the freezer…and it usually gets consumed every Saturday night we don’t have plans [I know this is supposed to be my healthy grocery staples, but it’s on my healthy grocery list because mental health - if I want pizza and don’t feel like cooking, I’m having it! 😉 ]

Well, I am pretty sure that covers the basics of our trips to the store.

What are YOUR grocery staples? What section of the store do you start shopping?

FFF Spotted: Check out my guest post about stress-free vacationing on my friend Katie @ Healthy Heddleston’s blog!