Welcome to another Wellness Wednesday here on the blog. I wanted to share my journey of adapting to a healthier lifestyle from exercise to completely changing what I eat. I noticed that previously when I’ve taken on a journey such as this, I would be fine for a couple months and fall off, hard. This time I’m taking baby steps. I’m not striving for perfection. I don’t have a particular goal in mind at this moment. I have long term goals, but I’m trying to find what works and really get into a rhythm. In this edition I’ll be sharing my first ever Trader Joe’s Haul. Nothing major, but worth sharing my experience.
I have passed by Trader Joe’s plenty of times. I think I might’ve went into one with a friend before. I know for a fact that I’ve watched plenty of Trader Joe’s hauls, BUT I’ve never purchased anything from there before.
When I grocery shop. I’m very particular about what I buy as I primarily need items for lunch. I think breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I knew of some items that they had, but as for the layout of the store, I walked around a good 2-3 times before putting anything in my cart. Although this was my first time buying from Trader Joe’s, I had a list of what I needed and I stuck to that. As tempting as it is to buy everything that looks good, having a list is crucial to stick to my plan, plus sticking to my budget.
What did I buy?
As noted, I needed items for lunch. When making my list I knew that I had food in my freezer that I needed to use so I planned my meals around that. I really needed snacks and I knew that I could find healthier alternatives at Trader Joe’s. As for what I did purchase:
- Fruit Bars (apple) – These are a filler snack, but a good breakfast option as well.
- Veggie Chips – Snack
- Sour Cream & Onion Puffs – Snack
- Ground Turkey & Shredded Cheese – I had taco shells at home, my nephews are over for the weekend, buy what they like!
- Romaine Hearts – I plan to use these a number of way from as a substitute for bread, to add to sandwiches, and even chop up for salad.
- Bananas – I should have purchased more since these were only 19 cents each, but I got a weeks worth.
- Watermelon – For $4 I couldn’t leave this baby behind. My favorite snack!
Typically when I’m shopping, especially for snacks, I think how can I stretch out my snacks to last 2 weeks. In combination with some other items I bought, the total was a little over $35.
I typically like to shop at Aldi’s. Locally there’s a ShopRite and a Stop & Shop although I’ll pick ShopRite over the latter. Would I go to Trader Joe’s again, sure why not. Would I go out of my way to Trader Joe’s, probably not. Aldi’s and ShopRite are closer and Aldi’s has great options and prices that I feel I got from Trader Joe’s.
