A look inside my refrigerator and pantry

Here you have it folks, a look inside my fridge.  This is shortly after grocery shopping, so it is rather full. 

I buy 95% of our groceries from Aldi.  When Steve went mainline and we took a 57% paycut that first year, Aldi was a necessity. Now, I just love it.  Their prices are beyond fair, and I can get mostly everything I need from there.  Sure, you have to bag your own groceries, but if that means I spend $140 a week on groceries rather than $200 at a "fancy" grocery store, then I don't mind at all.

At any given time, our fridge is filled with:
 - almond milk (we prefer vanilla or dark chocolate)
        *from the Eat to Live mentality, i keep animal protein to a minimum.  I believe I can get all the goodness of cow's milk with almond milk.  I have grown to believe that cow's milk is made for a baby calf to grow a ton in a year, so it doesn't quite make sense to give it to my kids.
- orange juice. I buy it fortified with calcium and vitamin D.
- kefir (which is sort of like a yogurt drink)
- "bubble water" we call it.  It is sparkling water with lime flavoring.
         *I do not like artificial sweeteners.  I just don't.  Sure we have drinks like Diet Coke and Crystal Light at times, but day-in day-out I prefer to keep as natural as possible.
-  eggs
     *I have lately gotten into cage free eggs...this is mostly for consideration of the hens. Surely, a happy hen lays a better tasting egg, right?
- fruit
     *we always have bananas, apples, and oranges. We also usually have grapes.  Seasonally, we adjust.  Now we have watermelon all the time...can't.get.enough.  We also have other summer fruits like peaches and plums, berries, ect. 
- vegetables
     *we always have carrots and some sort of greens.  I also buy items like broccoli and mushrooms. Squash and zucchini are also staples.
- shredded mozzarella cheese.  I don't want to go vegan, since I am kind of afraid for taste reasons.  So, I stick with cheese that is lowest in saturated fat. 
- hummus. Can't.get.enough.of.this.stuff.  I tried my go at making it myself, but I didn't do well at all.  I buy three containers a week, and they are all eaten.  I used carrots as dippers, and this is one of my go-to snacks.
- flax seed.



Now for a look inside my pantry:

Let me first focus on all the good items we always have in there.
- whole wheat pasta
- tomato sauce
- grains (quinoa, brown rice, and barley)
- nuts (pistachios and almonds and cashews)
 - granola
- oatmeal
- beans
- corn
- diced tomatoes

And for the not-so-good stuff:
- tortilla chips.  This is Ben's favorite snack, so I do buy one bag a week.  Salt is my weakness, so I will treat myself every once in a while to chips, but I really do need to stay away since I like to polish off an entire bag in one sitting.
- flour tortillas.  This is a necessary evil.  Wraps are the best palette, if you will, to add healthy items and make quick meals.  Aldi doesn't have anything more nutritious than this.  I am sure any other grocery store has whole wheat wraps, but I just don't bother.  
- mac and cheese.  Sometimes I really just have no energy for anything more than just mac and cheese.  I do try to add flax seed to it, to make it a bit more healthy. 
- cereal.  We don't really eat a lot of cereal, but we always have it around.  Since we don't eat a lot, I don't always tend to stick to the healthy stuff.  My go-to boxes are raisin bran, frosted shredded wheat, and cheerios.  I will buy fruit loops and lucky charms at times. 
- cereal bars.  The kids always eat one in the way to school. 
- fruit chews.  With little kids, you need to have portable snacks that you can always keep in your purse for those "urgent" situations.  These fit the bill for that.

There you have it...my fridge and panty exposed. 

Now, let's get started on some meal ideas...