I remember when I was younger I could always count on there being eggs in our house. When all else fails there were eggs in the fridge. They were my goto, My old faithful. Whenever mom was out grocery shopping and there was no food in the house eggs and rice it was to tide me over until she got back with the rest of the food. Coming home from school and I wanted a little something something before dinner egg sandwich to the rescue. On Saturday mornings without question, I would head downstairs to make my scrabbled eggs before I plopped on the sofa to watch my cartoons. I don’t think there was I time I did literally see eggs in the fridge when I use to live at home. And it wasn’t like she got some crazy Costco size supply. There were twelve, large, brown regular old eggs. It was like there was a magical vertex from the grocery store to the back of our fridge that would just restock our egg supply whenever the heck it got low.
It has happened. I swore it never would but yes y’all. In more than one way I have turned into my mother LOL. Related to this particular post always have certain items in my fridge. No matter what. Now if you guys have been following my blog for awhile now you know I’m a “list girl”. I do not go to the grocery store without a list and a plan of what we are eating that week. It's just not gonna happen. I am not following into that trap and haven’t done so in a year. So, it's absolutely crazy to me that there are certain items I purchase just because. There’s no rhyme or reason. Don’t ask me why I don’t even think about it these items just end up in my shopping cart yall. There not grocery list and yet week after week I end up buying them.
Onions & Pepper
Maybe its because both sides of my family are originally from Louisiana but I always, literally always have a large Sweet onion (which is my onion of choice) and Bell pepper in the house. Now, for the most part, its nine times outta ten its’s a green bell pepper. I do switch up the color. Heck, sometimes I have all four colors green, red, orange, and yellow. Being that I grow up and cook a lot of Cajun and Creole-style food I always have to have the “holy trinity” (minus the celery and not a huge fan of celery) on hand for most of our meals. Honest to God just about everything I cook has onions & peppers in it LOL.
Cheese
I an admitted cheese head y’all. I’m one of those people that can cut up some cheese and just have that as a snack. Cheese is big for me around lunchtime for the most part. I often try to have salads & sandwiches for lunch both of which I have to have some kinda cheese on. Also like I said before snacking. I often like to have cheese some kinda Italian hard salami and crackers. Or maybe dome fruit and cubed cheese. I keep it simple yall. I prefer to get a block cheese. I find they taste and melt better than the pre-shredded cheese. In a pinch or depending on the grocery budge, I will get a back of shredded it just depends on the week.
Frozen Pizza
Not the healthiest thing to buy I know but I’m keeping in one hundred as I always do. This is a must. My wife is a pizza freak no lie. When I first went over her house when we were dating all she had in her fridge was two pizza boxes and beer. She also told me every Friday night her mom use to order her & her brother's pizza for dinner. Now if pizza was outlawed for the rest of my days I honestly would miss it. I’m not really into pizza at like that. I will say the personal size pizzas are a quick no-mess lunch. And the larger sharable sizes are haven sent on a busy weeknight where you just don’t have it into you to really cook. Plus it keeps the wife happy.
White Rice
Not the healthiest thing to buy I know but I’m keeping in one hundred as I always do. This is a must. My wife is a pizza freak no lie. When I first went over her house when we were dating all she had in her fridge was two pizza boxes and beer. She also told me every Friday night her mom use to order her & her brother's pizza for dinner. Now if pizza was outlawed for the rest of my days I honestly would miss it. I’m not really into pizza at like that. I will say the personal size pizzas are a quick no-mess lunch. And the larger sharable sizes are haven sent on a busy weeknight where you just don’t have it into you to really cook. Plus it keeps the wife happy.
Frozen Veggies
I know that nutrition-wise fresh is always better. I totally agree with that however when it comes to veggies my wife and I couldn’t be further apart on what we want to eat. My wife is an extremely picky eater. The only two veggies he will go near are peas & corn. And corn really isn’t a veggie LOL. Her mom told me she's been that way since she was little. Now I can get with her on the corn but peas are gross. So I always pick up a big frozen bag or two of peas for my wife's dinner. Me on the other hand love veggies. I love broccoli, green beans, zucchini, carrots, asparagus, brussel sprouts you name it. Since I’m obviously the only one eating these buying them frozen it just the only way to go.
Eggs
I told you I’ve turned into my momma LOL. I guess its I’m so used to them. I honestly love eggs. I find them really versatile. I have them almost every morning in some way, boiled, in an omelet, my current breakfast of choice is two eggs scrabbled with spinach with a said of salsa. Also like I said before I try to eat salads & sandwiches for lunch. I often take half the carton and boil the eggs at the beginning of the week for my salads. I also like to make tuna or chicken salad for my sandwiches which I also use boiled eggs for.
Broth
The last thing I always have on hand is broth. Sometimes it's chicken other times its beef. To be honest most of the time it's both. It’s rarely vegetable broth. I’m big on flavor and broths just can make any dish better by enhancing or adding favor. Baking or roasting a protein. Adding to a soup or even a sauce. It's even great to boil my favorite side dish in, rice! I do tend to buy broth in bulk. Since it's in a can it keeps for a long time and the price point is so affordable there’s really no reason not to. The frozen veggies I get range from $1.00 to $2.29 depending on if it’s a steamer bag. The dozen large organic cage-free brown eggs I get are only $2.99. A single can if store brand chicken or beef broth $0.50 with a name brand like Campbell's is $1.50. I buy my broth in bulk at Sam’s Club so a twelve count of chicken broth is $6.48 making it $0.54 each. You can't beat that price with a baseball bat!
There you have it y’all. I tend to always have and buy these things. I will say in my defense all these things are some of the most affordable items in a grocery store. I mean onions & pepper are a $1.50 at the most if you buy organic which I do. The personal pizzas I buy are $1.00 whereas the large Newman’s Own brand we prefer is $5.45. Bag Rice (due to the fact I’m currently shopping for a rice cooker) is $2.99 a box. When I do finally pick the rice cooker I want a bag of rice is $2.50, $1.89 for the store brand. And the specialty boxes of rice such as Rice-A-Roni & knorr I often get are a whopping $1.00 each. The most expensive thing being cheese. I only buy a block or shredded. Now if I’m just opting for the regular eight ounces of shredded cheese a bag is running me $2.50 for the store brand $3.50 for a name brand like Sargento. Now when it comes to my block cheese it could get a little pricey. I tend to buy from Trader Joes and a good block of a specialty cheese it could run me anywhere from $6.99 to $15.00 just for about eight to ten ounces. Still a good prince for a specialty cheese if you ask me.