Steal my grocery list (+ 10 recipes on rotation)
Shortlist Vol. 8
I love cooking. I really do. On a good week I’m scrolling through my saved Instagram recipes Sunday afternoon, adding new ones onto my weekly meal plan.
But right now I’m in the middle of multiple new studio build-outs, a packed events calendar, planning MNT’s Portugal retreat, prepping to take the whole family abroad for the summer, and getting deliverables to brand partners on time. So that Sunday meal planning session has very little time or mental creativity behind it these days.
What I default to instead: a rotation of recipes I know I’ll always have ingredients for. And on the hardest days, we do bowls: chicken or ground turkey, whatever vegetables we have, rice or quinoa, a sauce from Trader Joe’s. Done.
I always have ingredients on hand because I order Costco delivery every Sunday or Monday morning, the same order, every single week. (I am not spending two hours in Costco and then hauling groceries up two flights of stairs.) Once a month I do a Trader Joe’s run to restock the staples.
The decision fatigue around feeding your family is real, and it’s taking up way more mental energy than you realize. I didn’t know how much until it was just gone. Here’s the full blueprint, steal whatever works.
The Weekly Costco Haul
Same order, every Sunday, automatic. I don’t think about it. I just receive it.
Produce Blueberries, grapes, mango, oranges or mandarins, bananas, strawberries, apples, plums, cantaloupe or melon, tomatoes, avocado, yellow onions, green onions, whole carrots, cucumbers, garlic, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, spinach
Dairy & Fridge Butter, eggs, egg whites, Greek yogurt, cheese… lots of it (slices, Babybel, string, Pecorino, Manchego), individual hummus cups, individual guacamole cups, frozen mini pizzas
Meat & Seafood One of: shrimp, salmon, or black cod, rotates weekly. Plus: ground turkey, smoked salmon, Amylu breakfast sausages, fish sticks, chicken gyoza
Pantry Marinara sauce, avocado oil spray, seaweed snacks, Everything But The Bagel seasoning, shelled pistachios, organic bone broth, Goodles, organic extra virgin olive oil
The Monthly Trader Joe’s Run
Once a month. One trip. The staples that make everything taste like you tried harder than you did.
Vegan Kale, Cashew, and Basil Pesto (refrigerated)
Butter Lettuce Pack
Vegan Caesar Dressing (refrigerated)
Vegan Dill Dressing (refrigerated)
Greek Chickpeas with Cumin and Parsley (canned)
Grecian Style Eggplant with Tomatoes & Onions (canned)
Brazil Nuts
Bamba
Tahini
Coconut Cream (canned)
Soyaki
Korean Style Yangnyeom Sauce
Thai Style Peanut Dressing
Tri-colored Quinoa
Organic Rice
Shelf-stable Gnocchi
Miso Ginger Broth (cook rice in this!!)
The 10 Recipes We Rotate
No new recipes. No searching. No “what sounds good tonight?” Just: which one is it this week.
Sheet Pan Herb Crusted Salmon + Oven Baked Rice by Food by Maria
One Skillet Greek Chicken and Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Tzatziki by Half Baked Harvest
Tomato Basil Soup by Ina Garten
Portobello Romesco Burgers by Dishing out Health
Marry Me Chickpeas by Kale Junkie
Marry Me Italian Soup by Kale Junkie
Thai Peanut Chicken Bowls by Pinch of Yum
Thai Basil Sesame Cashew Chicken with Coconut Rice by Half Baked Harvest
Crispy Roasted Cauliflower with Creamy Pesto Pasta by Half Baked Harvest
Sheet Pan Roasted Lemon Garlic Butter Salmon Feta and Olives by Half Baked Harvest
Two Recipes I Make Almost Weekly
The Perfect Frittata
On Sundays, I love to throw whatever leftover vegetables I have into a frittata to have breakfast prepared for the week. No food-waste and meal-prep all in one? Sign me up.
Ingredients:
3-4 vegetables, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried sage
2 teaspoons minced garlic
10 eggs
½ milk of choice (we use almond)
1 jar drained sun dried tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cut vegetables into small cubes
Preheat oven to 350
Toss vegetables in a bowl with olive oil, dried oregano, dried sage, minced garlic, and salt and pepper.
Add to a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 20-30 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking, until golden and slightly crisped.
While vegetables are roasting, whisk egg mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix together eggs and almond milk.
Once combined, add sundried tomatoes and salt and pepper.
Grease a 9x13 baking dish with oil or oil spray
Place roasted vegetables in the baking dish, then pour egg mixture on top in an even layer.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the eggs have puffed and it is firm in the center.
“Whatever’s Left” Sheet Pan Gnocchi
At the end of the week I toss any remaining vegetables with chickpeas and gnocchi on a sheet pan for a quick and easy dinner (this works great for lunches throughout the week as well)
Ingredients
3-4 vegetables, chopped (I like eggplant, peppers, onion and tomatoes)
1lb gnocchi
1 can Cumin Chickpeas from Trader Joe’s
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp oregano
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
½ cup Vegan Pesto from Trader Joe’s
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400
Cut vegetables into cubes
Add vegetables, chickpeas, and gnocchi to a parchment lined baking sheet
Add olive oil, vinegar, oregano, and salt and pepper. Toss to combine
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
Top with feta and pesto
The best part of this system isn’t the food. It’s what disappears when you have one: the daily low-grade anxiety of what are we going to eat tonight.
That’s bandwidth I’d rather spend on literally anything else.
A one-second favor?
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Thanks for joining me on this journey,
Barbara
