If you bumped into our family at the grocery store, you’d probably see us with one of those humungous car-shaped grocery carts that are impossible to push. Tim can’t stand them, but I usually convince him because the girls love it in there – laughing all the way.

Here is what you would find in our cart:

PRODUCE - We like fruits & vegetables. We eat bananas, berries, melons, tomatoes, avocados, broccoli, peas, carrots, asparagus, corn, sweet potatoes, and pineapple. All 4 of us. We would eat produce all day long if we could. Unfortunately, good produce is expensive and hard to find. Whenever we can, we buy organic. If the price differential is too much, we buy regular.

BAKERY - We make homemade bread in our bread machine several times a week. Today, I made it twice – one loaf for lunch, one for a bedtime snack. That said, we don’t make all our bread from scratch. We buy rolls, bagels, french bread, sandwich bread, buns, and more. We don’t, however, buy cookies, muffins, cupcakes, cake or cake mix, pies, pancake mix, or waffle mix. I make all of those things from scratch – healthier, more affordable, and tastier.

DAIRY -

We buy:

• organic, whole milk…despite the high price. I’ve read up on the benefits of raw milk and would love to buy that, but most grocery stores only sell the pasteurized stuff so we make do.
• block cheese – preferably Tillamook.
• cream cheese – the Philadelphia brand.
• tubs of plain yogurt – I like Mountain High.
• parmesan cheese – for sprinkling on noodles.
• real, salted butter (never margarine).
• real whipping cream (never cool whip or the stuff in the can).
• ice cream, but not as often as we used to. We scour high and low to find brands that have the fewest ingredients and that don’t have HFCS. (An ice cream maker is one of the things on our wish list).
• Also? We’ve learned to steer clear of generic brands for dairy – they tend to be disappointing.

If we could, we’d buy all of our produce and dairy products from local farms…and all of our bread products from a real bakery. We’re on the road so we do the best we can – grocery stores can be hit or miss.

Do you buy your bread or make it? What kind of milk do you drink and why? What brands of cheese and ice cream do you prefer?