We have had a membership to Sam’s club for a few month’s now. I enjoy having one, and have found that I stick with just a few main staples when I go. Our Sam’s club is located right by our church, so I stop there on the way home from church each week. I am amazed at how just these few food items really help make healthy eating easy, and get us through the week.
As far as food goes, it is not easy finding healthier options at Sam’s club, but it is possible, and they are adding more and more organic options, which makes me happy.
As far as our eating goes, I am finding we have settled into a ‘perfectly imperfect’ way of eating. It has to be all about balance for us, and as much as I would love to be feeding my family only whole, unprocessed, organic, and all homemade food; it just isn’t doable. It has felt good to let go of perfection and embrace balance, and at times, convenience.
I also have compromised with my 3 daughters as they have gotten older. They have certain requests and I try to hear them and learned I can’t force them to eat exactly what I would like them to. A good example of this is the bread above. I would love them to eat the super grain bread, as it is organic, no preservatives, and has a ton of amazing omega’s and power seeds in it. They will eat this bread as toast or french toast, but for their daily lunchbox sandwiches they prefer the softer, Oatnut bread.
Another place I compromise is with lettuce. They prefer the crunchy iceberg garden mix, but I prefer they eat power greens like spinach and kale. We meet halfway and I mix the two almost every evening as we eat a green salad with almost every meal. It helps that Sam’s sells the iceberg garden mix for only $1.99 a HUGE bag. I use the kale medley in salads, smoothies, and soups. This container is really large and it is always fun to find ways to finish it by the end of the week!
The veggie tray is another area I have chosen convenience over perfect, organic veggies. This tray is loaded with vegetables, has delicious great ranch yogurt dip (which keeps my girls very happy and crunching on their veggies) and is a steal at $9.99. Most grocery stores sell them for $12-15 and only have about half of the veggies in it. I set this tray out after school almost daily, when appetites are most hungry and they are ready to snack. I often will grab it at dinner and chop the veggies up even further to throw on our salad. So easy!
Oh, how I wish those grapes were organic, but they are pretty seasonal so we are enjoying them for this season. They are amazingly sweet and are great for my girls school lunches and snacking.
The Garden Veggie Straws are a hit with my girls in place of greasy potato chips. There is nothing healthy about them, but they satisfy any salty, crunchy cravings and are a step up from chips. The bag is huge and lasts the week, even when using in lunches and for evening snacking.
I often make my own granola bars, but lately have been buying this box of Organic Cascadian Farms Granola bars. The girls like them a lot. I also will buy a box of KIND granola bars from Sam’s, which are my favorite.
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What do you buy from Sam’s club? What foods do you compromise on when it comes to convenience?