The Grocery List

Being that I am a full time student with my own fully equipped kitchen, I thought it was necessary to really take advantage of that opportunity to actually cook. And by cook, I don't mean boiling water, chopping up lettuce, or making fried eggs and Easy Mac. I'll actually be spending time reading and picking out suitable recipes for the typical college student. I may get a little excited and go 'lights out' one day and whip out my Julia Child cookbook and try something I couldn't even fathom trying a week before- but isn't that the fun of cooking? I'm sure the roommates wouldn't mind either. :)

My first time in the grocery store since I attained my own kitchen was overwhelming. Like, holy shit. When I was younger I could just chuck random items into my Moms grocery cart, not thinking twice about the price or whether or not it could be used multiple times throughout the week. Hell, let's be honest, I wasn't throwing fruits or vegetables in the cart...It was more along the lines of processed foods and candy. One time I even hid a box of Gushers on the rack below the cart underneath a gigantic package of toilet paper thinking I was so sly. Needless to say, by the time my Mom and I reached the checkout lane, she noticed my creativity and awarded me. With a box of Gushers. Score!

Anyways, I knew I had to be a responsible college student and completely skip over the chip, candy, and Gusher aisle. I headed right over to the fruit and produce section and got extremely excited. There were so many combinations and meals I could make using all this fresh produce! The hard part was deciding what to get. And how much.

This is what I ended up getting under $60:

1 lemon
a bag of potatoes
cilantro
bread crumbs
package of chicken breast
parmesan cheese
goat cheese
a bag of clementines
rice
1 tomato
1 avocado
3 apples
cranberry juice
orange juice
turkey sliced lunch meat
milk
water chestnuts
sunflower seeds
eggs
1/2 loaf of whole wheat bread
sliced almonds
a can of coconut milk
asparagus

** I did cheat a little bit: I headed over to my parent's house and stole some carrots, broccoli, and some penne pasta. My roommates also have the basic baking and cooking necessities and the cutest spice rack. I'd say I got a pretty good head start!

At this point, I had no idea what I was going to cook. It just seemed to me that these particular ingredients could be used interchangeably and could provide tasty, quick meals during a busy school week. And how right I was!

I'm excited to show you what I've concocted with these basic and healthy ingredients...But I'll have to expand in another posting. Gotta' run to class!