Sprouts Haul January 2024: First Haul of 2024 & Prepping for Fat Loss!

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Hey there hungry friends! I’m back doing grocery hauls after a bit of a break! A pause was much needed to give myself some time to find balance when it comes to eating. I’m happy to report success! The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the past couple of years is that all foods fit, in moderation of course. I’ve also learned to stop obsessing over ingredients and to be okay with just doing my best when I can. It’s not about perfection.

In this haul from Sprouts, I shopped with having a calorie deficit/fat loss phase in mind. A fat loss phase for me means I try to focus on leaner proteins and less carbs but I never ever cut anything out completely. I still find ways to treat myself because life isn’t about restricting yourself from eating something you love!

Yes, it’s January when everyone is jumping on the healthy eating bandwagon. And really, it’s easier to get into that mindset after all the holiday treats we’ve consumed. It’s not for everyone and if it’s not for you, that’s cool too! Personally, I find January is a good month to reset myself mentally. It’s the start of a new year when things typically are quiet in terms of travel and activities (mostly in part due to winter weather – which is generally just rain for us in California).

So, here’s a recap of my first Sprouts haul of 2024 with a fat loss phase in mind. I hope you can get some easy meal ideas from it!

Haul Date: January 14, 2024

Haul Cost: $338.59 (damn, groceries are getting expensive)

Meal Plans

I generally shop at Sprouts once a month, alternating with Trader Joe’s and supplementing items from Thrive Market. I do keep other ingredients on hand to incorporate with these meals and some ingredients are also leftover from my previous hauls.

Here’s what I planned for this haul in terms of meals:

Breakfasts

• Sausage and potato hash with fried eggs, onion, and bell pepper (for the weekends)
• Quick scrambled eggs & chicken sausage
• Bagels and cream cheese

Lunches

• Asian-style chicken salads
• Salmon rice bowls
• Albacore tuna salads

Dinners

• Cheeseburger salads
• Taco salads
• Chicken parm & asparagus
• Stir fry

Breakfasty Things

Breakfast for me needs to be pretty simple. Even though I work from home, mornings are typically the busiest and before I know it, it’s lunch time and all I’ve had is my coffee! I will typically grab a bagel and cream cheese and like the Dave’s Killer Bagels as they have 12g of protein for one whole bagel. Alternatively, I’ll scramble up two eggs and fry up some frozen Applegate chicken sausages and that typically takes about 10 – 15 minutes.

For weekend breakfasts, I’ve been loving a potato and pork sausage hash my husband makes with a couple fried eggs over it (of course topped with some Yellow Bird hot sauce). This isn’t exactly a fat loss-friendly meal, which is why its a weekend treat for us (I have a bump up of my calories on the weekend to account for small indulgences).

And of course we can’t forget about my favorite coffee creamer. This creamer has minimal, organic ingredients and is always in my fridge (whether the hazelnut or vanilla flavor)!

Lunch Items

For me, lunches also need to be easy! If I don’t meal prep ahead of time, I want something fast to throw together on my lunch break. If I don’t have leftovers to heat up, I’m looking at salads, wraps, sandwiches, or a quick one-pot meal to heat on the stove.

Asian Chicken Salads

This was my first time buying a rotisserie chicken from Sprouts and I’m a fan! It only took me 15 minutes to take all of the meat off the bones and have it readily available to throw on some salads for the rest of the week. I already had some Organicville miso vinaigrette in my pantry that I used for these salads and it was a nice light lunch with a good amount of protein from the chicken.

• Ingredients bought: Herb-roasted rotisserie chicken, English cucumber, romaine lettuce, green cabbage, red onion, and shredded carrots
• Ingredients already on hand: Organicville miso vinaigrette dressing

Salmon Rice Bowls

Another super easy lunch to throw together is salmon rice bowls using canned salmon. For these, it’s easy to pre-cook rice in bulk and heat up a scoop with a can of salmon and a little soy sauce (and sometimes gochujang paste, which is a Korean pepper paste (I get mine from Trader Joe’s)).

Because I like some texture with my food, I add cucumbers on top, along with green onion, which adds a bit of zing for flavor. Sometimes, I will also add some edamame which I get in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s.

• Ingredients Bought: Wild Caught Pink Salmon (canned), organic Jasmine rice, English cucumber, green onion
• Ingredients on Hand: Soy sauce and gochujang

Tuna Salads

Tuna salads are one of my go-to easy, high-protein lunches and they are pretty easy to throw together. This is also easy to meal prep ahead of time! I also add hemp seeds (from Sprouts), sunflower seeds (from Trader Joe’s), feta cheese (from Trader Joe’s), and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. All of these ingredients bulk my tuna salad up to a whopping 46g of protein!

• Ingredients Bought: Romaine lettuce, canned Albacore tuna, and English cucumber
• Ingredients on Hand: Hemp seeds, roasted sunflower seeds, feta cheese, and balsamic vinegar

Dinner Items

Dinners are always tougher for me to plan, and that’s mainly because I’m not the primary chef in the house – my husband is! He says to just buy ingredients and then let him know what I want him to cook. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I try to pick things that are easy for weekdays and don’t require much prep or cook time. That makes it much easier for me to get him to cook what I want. Lol.

Cheeseburger Salads

I crave cheeseburgers regularly but when I’m in a calorie deficit/fat loss phase, there are some things that I limit for certain meals (like extra bread). Enter the cheeseburger salad! It’s everything you’d put on your basic cheeseburger minus the bun. I had my husband cook up some mini smash burger patties and one pound of ground beef was perfect for the two of us.

• Ingredients Bought: Romaine lettuce, organic grass-fed ground beef, avocado, shredded cheese, roma tomatoes, red onion and pickles
• Ingredients on Hand: Mustard and balsamic vinegar (which we used to sauté the onion in)

Chicken Parm & Asparagus

Chicken breast is one of the best proteins for a fat loss phase, so I’m always looking for different ideas to change up the way we eat it. Yes, chicken parmesan is fried in oil but we use organic olive oil and a very minimal amount, finishing the parm off in the oven to melt the cheese and keep the batter crispy. For the breading, my husband uses an egg wash, a little bit of flour, and panko bread crumbs, along with his special concoction of seasonings (typically oregano, basil, salt and pepper, and some paprika).

I bought shredded mozzarella cheese this time around – why, I have no idea. I recommend getting the mozzarella balls for a better melty cheese experience.

• Ingredients Bought: Chicken breast, eggs (not pictured here – I forgot), mozzarella cheese & asparagus
• Ingredients on Hand: Flour, panko flakes, and Yo Mama’s marinara sauce to top on the parm

Taco Salads

Ya’ll, I am pretty obsessed with tacos. We eat them once a week (no joke). They are super easy to make and you can swap out the protein to change it up (ground beef, shrimp, ground turkey, and shredded chicken). When I want to cut back on the carbs, I just turn tacos into a taco salad!

• Ingredients Bought: Romaine lettuce, grass-fed ground beef, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado mash, roma tomatoes, jalapeno peppers (love the Jeff’s Garden brand), and salsa

Stir Fry

We’ve really been enjoying stir fry dishes over the past year and they are actually pretty easy to whip up! We typically stock up on frozen shrimp (either from Sprouts or Safeway when they are on sale), which I think is the easiest protein for us to use. They defrost fast and cook even faster! My husband also has an easy sauce recipe that includes soy sauce, gochujang, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger and it tastes amazing.

Our stir fry will either end up served over rice or tossed with Trader Joe’s Thai Wheat Noodles (which are the easiest thing in the world since they are pre-cooked).

• Ingredients Bought: Broccoli, yellow onion, red bell pepper, and green onion
• Ingredients on Hand: Frozen shrimp, Thai Wheat Noodles (from Trader Joe’s), garlic, ginger, soy sauce, gochujang, rice vinegar, and sesame oil

Snack Items

Snacks and after dinner treats make me happy, plain and simple. I like to reward myself with a little something in the late afternoon just to say, “hey, you’re almost there. You’ve almost made it through the day!” And a little treat after dinner never hurts too.

For my husband, afternoon snack time generally means chips and salsa and we love the Lucky Habanero brand that we get at Sprouts. Sadly, it is also pretty spendy – like $7.99 for one salsa!! I buy three of them because we also use it for dinners…but dang, I’m spending $24 plus tax just for salsa.

Fun fact: chips and salsa snack time also our old lab’s favorite time of day – she comes running out whenever she hears the chip bag crinkle since we allow her a chip or two from time to time.

For my after dinner treats/desserts, I bought two new-to-me ice cream treats to try. First up, the Vanilla Brookie Dough ice cream bar by Enlightened. With only 90 calories, these are usually easy to fit in my day. These are SO good. My husband even asked if I was sure they were low calorie! You get a few extra grams of protein from these as well.

My second buy was the Strawberry Cream bars from Alden’s. At 100 calories, these are also easy to budget for in the calorie intake. These ice cream bars are really creamy and delicious. Thumbs up.

Protein Smoothies

I will be the first to admit I’m not a huge protein smoothie fan so I tend to keep mine very simple. For fruit, I’m a berry girl – specifically, strawberries and raspberries. And raspberries give you extra fiber too! I add Three Trees Almond Milk which is one of the cleanest almond milks you can get (very minimal ingredients). It is expensive but I think it’s worth it. For protein powder, it’s Sun Warrior vanilla for me and I’ll add a scoop of grass-fed collagen (from Thrive Market) if I haven’t added collagen to my coffee for the day.

• Ingredients Bought: Frozen strawberries, frozen raspberries, and Three Trees Vanilla Almond Milk
• Ingredients on Hand: Sun Warrior vanilla protein powder and Thrive Market collagen

Recipe: 1/2 cup of strawberries, 1/2 cup of raspberries, 1/2 cup of almond milk, 1 and 1/2 scoops of protein powder, optional scoop of collagen, and about 1/2 cup of water. Blend and enjoy!

Miscellaneous Items

Last but not least are my miscellaneous items from this haul:

• Spindrift Blood Orange Tangerine sparkling water: a new flavor for us! Sparkling water is helpful for me in a calorie deficit because I cut back on alcohol consumption and like to have a beverage in my hand every now and then to sip on.
• Yellow Bird hot sauce: This stuff is just amazing. We go through it so fast because I put it on anything I can.
• Jalapeno verde salsa: We use this in our shredded chicken recipe which we will either use for tacos or a burrito rice bowl.
• Chili Beans: I used up my previous cans on various meals and I wanted to make sure we had all the ingredients to do a beef chili soon.
• Ecos Laundry Detergent: I’m really picky about my detergents and thankfully, Sprouts has my favorite brand. If I don’t get a chance to order from Amazon, I can always grab one here.

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And that’s it for my first Sprouts haul of 2024! What do you think of my meal plans? And have you tried any of these items I got in my haul this month?