Really, each family has their own little food personality. I mean what is normal for us may not be normal for you. Even healthy food differs from family to family a little. There are many food allergies and sensitivities lending to the eating style you and your family choose. We have some food sensitivities, but we are mostly just trying to eat a healthy, balanced diet. We mostly avoid high fructose corn syrup and limit food coloring and sugar and absolutely no artificial sweeteners, such as "sugar free" candy. We avoid gummy, sticky food for our dental health. :) We do not do all organic or gluten free or grass fed or anything like that. We try to eat well balanced, but all in all, we all do our best, right? All parents want to keep their kids as healthy as possible, right? Parents aren't going to purposely feed their children junk all the time. Anyway, my reasoning for the way we eat is for another post. :) This post is for my grocery lists.
I typically shop at Meijer, Sam's Club, Walmart and occasionally Aldi's and County Market.
Meijer is my all time favorite!!
They have excellent sales and even better produce! Their produce is always fresh and they offer a great variety. Their generic brand food that they offer has NEVER let me down. In fact, we prefer most of it over the name brand. *Did you know that most name brand ketchup has HFCS in it? Meijer brand does not* They often have "10 for 10 with the 11th one free" sale for items like bread, buns, pasta, crackers, pasta sauce, salsa,yogurt,....These are stock up prices! :)
Sam's Club
Obviously, you have to have a membership to shop here and that costs. I think I pay $30 per year for a membership. I recently saw deal where you purchase the membership and get a $25 gift card back. DO IT! :) Anyway, the items I buy here are usually the staples. I buy things here that I know we'll use, that don't often go bad, and that aren't often on sale. My list usually includes: flour, sugar (hit and miss), cereal (we only buy Honey Nut Cheerios and 1 other kind-remember we are picky about sugar and HFCS), chocolate chips, frozen chicken breasts, eggs (hit and miss), coffee, peanuts,oats,peanut butter, and V-8. Remember you can look at the prices and it will tell you at the bottom how much per ounce, per item, etc. This makes it easy to compare. The Sam's Club prices on cereal equal out to about $2 per box (name brand) the last time I figured it out.
Aldi's
I only go here to purchase fresh produce and a few extra snacky things. I shop here when I cannot go to Meijer, but overall I have found Meijer to be a better deal and better quality for the things I use for my family. :) Both Meijer and Aldi's carry great gluten free snacks. We buy rice crackers, rice cakes, etc because we like them, not because we are gluten free! :) Their sales on produce are great! It's just not worth it to me to go unless that is all I need.
Walmart
I only go here when necessary. We don't care for the quality of their generic foods. I don't mind going there to price match if I need to but it's not my favorite place. If I need a lot of non-grocery items, this is where I go. They have more variety of snacks but we don't really buy a lot of that so it doesn't benefit us much to go there.
County Market
They are more pricey than the other stores in town, but it's a great quick stop for those times you just need a couple of items. Their produce is good and they have good sales. If there is enough of what I need on sale, I shop here. They also send good quarterly coupons out in the mail. If you don't get them, you can ask for them at the service desk. I like to support local business, so I do try to shop here when I can. If we don't go to the butcher shop, we buy our meat here. It's definitely comparable. :)
I typically shop at Meijer, Sam's Club, Walmart and occasionally Aldi's and County Market.
Meijer is my all time favorite!!
They have excellent sales and even better produce! Their produce is always fresh and they offer a great variety. Their generic brand food that they offer has NEVER let me down. In fact, we prefer most of it over the name brand. *Did you know that most name brand ketchup has HFCS in it? Meijer brand does not* They often have "10 for 10 with the 11th one free" sale for items like bread, buns, pasta, crackers, pasta sauce, salsa,yogurt,....These are stock up prices! :)
Sam's Club
Obviously, you have to have a membership to shop here and that costs. I think I pay $30 per year for a membership. I recently saw deal where you purchase the membership and get a $25 gift card back. DO IT! :) Anyway, the items I buy here are usually the staples. I buy things here that I know we'll use, that don't often go bad, and that aren't often on sale. My list usually includes: flour, sugar (hit and miss), cereal (we only buy Honey Nut Cheerios and 1 other kind-remember we are picky about sugar and HFCS), chocolate chips, frozen chicken breasts, eggs (hit and miss), coffee, peanuts,oats,peanut butter, and V-8. Remember you can look at the prices and it will tell you at the bottom how much per ounce, per item, etc. This makes it easy to compare. The Sam's Club prices on cereal equal out to about $2 per box (name brand) the last time I figured it out.
Aldi's
I only go here to purchase fresh produce and a few extra snacky things. I shop here when I cannot go to Meijer, but overall I have found Meijer to be a better deal and better quality for the things I use for my family. :) Both Meijer and Aldi's carry great gluten free snacks. We buy rice crackers, rice cakes, etc because we like them, not because we are gluten free! :) Their sales on produce are great! It's just not worth it to me to go unless that is all I need.
Walmart
I only go here when necessary. We don't care for the quality of their generic foods. I don't mind going there to price match if I need to but it's not my favorite place. If I need a lot of non-grocery items, this is where I go. They have more variety of snacks but we don't really buy a lot of that so it doesn't benefit us much to go there.
County Market
They are more pricey than the other stores in town, but it's a great quick stop for those times you just need a couple of items. Their produce is good and they have good sales. If there is enough of what I need on sale, I shop here. They also send good quarterly coupons out in the mail. If you don't get them, you can ask for them at the service desk. I like to support local business, so I do try to shop here when I can. If we don't go to the butcher shop, we buy our meat here. It's definitely comparable. :)