posted by Caroline

Lisa probably has her own Part II for her  great post about marketing, but I’m sneaking mine in while I’m thinking of it. I, too, am more of a big weekly shopper than a daily shopper. I like to get in, fill the cart high, and get out fast. I like to have a well-stocked pantry so that we’re never at a loss for dinner, and always have the ingredients we need for muffins. The farmer’s market is the place to linger and chat, but I don’t get there as often as I’d like, so for now I subscribe to a CSA (and also, more recently, pick up Mariquita Farms’ fabulous mystery box), get the bulk of our groceries at Trader Joe’s, and fill in the missing odds and ends with a walk to Andronico‘s, our lovely (but pricey) local market.

Over the last year or so, Tony and I have gotten our TJ’s shopping down to a science; we keep the list on the computer, updating as necessary, and it’s arranged in order of where the items are shelved, so we can cross things off as we go.

So here they are, the items that anchor our food life. I can’t quite resist the urge to annotate and explain, but for the most part I’ll just lay it out there:

Pantry staples
Capers
Olives
White beans
Black beans
Chick peas
Lentils

Pasta
Quinoa
Rice

Olive oil
Canola oil

Breads
Sandwich bread
Tortillas

Dairy
Yogurt
Regular nonfat
Fage nonfat
Milk
Butter

Peanut butter
Jam
Honey

Dried fruit and nuts
Cashews
– Roasted, unsalted
– Roasted 50% salt
Dry roasted unsalted almonds
Peanuts, Roasted, unsalted

pine nuts

Dried mango
Chili spiced mango
Dried Apricots
Raisins
Dried Cranberries

Granola fixings (I make granola every week)
Almonds, Raw, sliced or slivered
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Ground flax
Whole flax seeds

Baking
Vanilla
King Arthur Flour (all purpose white; whole wheat)
organic brown sugar
organic white sugar

Freezer
Frozen garlic (I know, I know. We use the real stuff, too. This is just very handy)
Frozen pizza
Ice cream
Frozen edamame
Frozen organic Raspberries (for smoothies)
Veggie Bacon

Chocolate chip cookies (TJ’s makes great, addictive little chocolate chip cookies. Sadly, the organic variety is not as delicious. Too crispy.)

Vegetable stock

Eggs
organic tofu

Cheeses
Grana Padano
Jack (Organic)
Mozzarella (logs)
Cheese sticks

Cereals:
O’s
Puffins
Hearts & O’s (this Kashi cereal has a different name which I now forget; this is what we call it)
Oatmeal
Multigrain cereal

Snacks

Golden Rounds (apparently discontinued –we haven’t seen them for months — but we love these Ritz cracker knock-offs too much to take them off the list!)

Kashi crackers
Luna bars
Z Bars
Honey Wheat Pretzels
Sesame Sticks

Household
Dishwasher detergent
Dishsoap
Laundry detergent
Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste
Vitamins

Wine
Beer