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“There are only two kinds of people in this world: The Irish and those who wish they were.” Okay, that’s probably not true but it’s kind of cute for the season, right? I think I’m Irish – er, eat least 23andMe says I might be. And I have a soft spot for the country, having visited somewhat recently.
It’s March, which means St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are afoot. Americans love this holiday embodied by all things green – probably because a lot of us actually have Irish roots. But this is a Sprouts haul – why am I talking about this? Well, we like to celebrate Irish culture ourselves with a good hearty meal and maybe an Irish-inspired drink or two.
Don’t worry – I also got our regular groceries too. We actually had some pretty great non-Irish dinners born from this haul! I’ve been trying to keep things interesting and deviate from our “usual” meals, which has produced some really great results thus far.
Here’s a recap of my Sprouts Haul from March 2024!
Haul Date: March 10, 2024
Haul Cost: $295.01
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
- Bagels/bagel sandwiches
- Protein cereal and almond milk (cereal from Thrive Market)
Lunches
- Pesto & hummus turkey wraps
- Hummus & veggies
- Leftovers
Dinners
- Chicken and poblano enchilada casserole
- Sausage & veggie skillet
- Ground beef tacos
- Ground pork noodles
- Poblano pork burrito bowls
St. Paddy’s Day Meal
- Colcannon
- Beef & Guinness Stew
Breakfasty Things
This month’s breakfasty things haul from Sprouts was pretty light, given that I still had loads of stuff leftover from previous hauls (including eggs, sausage patties and links, and bacon). So, I just picked up some bagels for bagels and cream cheese or breakfast sandwiches, along with an almond milk to have with my Seven Sundays protein cereal from Thrive Market (which I loooove).
Lunches
Pesto Turkey Wraps w/ Hummus
In addition to leftovers, I went with my trusty turkey wrap ingredients; however, I decided to change it up based on a recipe suggestion from my health coach. I picked up some pesto and hummus to add some new flavor to my wraps. I have to say, these were delicious! A little pesto goes a long way and the Ithaca brand of hummus was delightful.
- Ingredients Bought: Turkey, pesto, hummus, red onion
- Ingredients on Hand: Low carb wraps (from Trader Joe’s) and lettuce
I do want to note that I think lunch meat at Sprouts in California is wildly overpriced. I can get the same quality of organic turkey breast at Trader Joe’s for $4.00 less per package. That is a huge savings to me, and the reason why I balance out my shopping trips between the two stores.
Veggies & Hummus
So technically this is more of a snack instead of a full lunch, but it would make a great lunch side as well. Nice crunchy carrots and fresh, crisp celery always pair well with hummus. Ithaca is a new brand I tried this month based on a friend’s suggestion and they were even on sale too!
I mean, how pretty does that red beet hummus look in contrast with the carrots and celery. Eating colorful things = happiness.
Dinners
Chicken Poblano Enchilada Casserole
Last month, I got ingredients to make a chicken fajita casserole that sort of ended up more like an enchilada casserole. We loved it so much, we decided to repeat the meal.
This time, we made a few edits by adding poblano peppers (instead of red bell peppers) and diced green chiles. I also added more sauce this time and more chicken breast meat. Extra protein is always good!
Our casserole was so big, it made three full meals for us. And this absolutely makes the best leftovers.
- Ingredients Bought: Tortillas, chicken breast, shredded cheese, enchilada sauce, poblano peppers, onion, guac/avocado, cream cheese, diced green chiles, green onion
- Ingredients on Hand: Fresh Jalapenos
Sausage Skillet
Hello, easy meal! All you need to do here is chop up some veggies and cook them up in some butter in a skillet, and then split and add the sausages to the pan to sear up. So delicious and super easy.
Cooking bell pepper and onion (and whatever extra veggies) in butter with salt and pepper is a game changer. There is so much flavor going on with simple ingredients. Plus, eating two links of the Sprouts Chicken Smoked Andouille sausage nets you 40 grams of protein.
- Ingredients Bought: Smoked Chicken Andouille Sausage, zucchini, yellow onion, and red bell pepper
- Ingredient on Hand: Butter
Pork Noodles
Asian-style noodles are our greatest achievement in the past year when it comes to cook-at-home meals. Just a few ingredients makes it so easy to whip up a really tasty meal!
- Ingredients Bought: Ground pork, bell pepper, onion, green onion, garlic, and zucchini
- Ingredients on Hand: Thai Wheat Noodles (from Trader Joe’s – already cooked), fresh ginger, carrots, and sauce ingredients (gochujang, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce).
I actually think this version with the ground pork is one of the best my husband has made! It’s super easy to switch up the protein too – you could do ground turkey, chicken, shrimp, or beef with this. And it generally makes three to four servings, which means delicious leftovers!
Ground Beef Tacos
If you’re new around here, I buy taco ingredients in every grocery haul. And if you’re not new around here, sorry (not sorry!). Ground beef tacos are the easiest weeknight meal for us. And if you’re too heavy on carbs for the day, it’s easy to pivot to a taco salad instead (omitting the tortillas).
- Ingredients Bought: Ground beef, tortillas, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, salsa, and red onion
- Ingredients on Hand: Shredded lettuce, pickled jalapeno, and taco/hot sauces
Poblano Pork Bowls
If there’s one thing I love more than tacos, it’s a burrito bowl, and this week, I changed things up a bit and got some lean ground pork. It was fantastic!
- Ingredients Bought: Lean ground pork, poblano peppers, onion, avocado/guac, cotija cheese, and sour cream
- Ingredients on Hand: Jasmine rice, pickled jalapenos, and Siete Botana sauce
We used our Siete Botana sauce that we got from a Thrive Market Haul for smoky guajillo flavors for the pork, which also added extra moisture for the lean meat. For the veggies, I sliced poblanos and onions and cooked them fajita style, making sure the poblanos were still al dente for texture. I also wanted some salty cotija cheese, which packs a good flavor punch as a topping. So yummy. We made a double batch for lunch leftovers too!
Cheeseburger Bowls
Lastly, I also got some ingredients for cheeseburger bowls to have those cheeseburger and fries flavors without the bread!
- Ingredients Bought: Ground beef, shredded cheese, gold potatoes, and avocado
- Ingredients on Hand: Lettuce, onion, pickles, and mustard
Desserts
To satisfy my sweet tooth, I grabbed some new flavors of Enlightened Greek Yogurt Bars and I’ve found my favorite so far with the Fudge Brownie. I’m not usually a chocolate ice cream gal, but this one is a winner for me!
The Kookie Dough, unfortunately, is my least favorite flavor so far. It just has an odd taste to it – but I’ll still eat them. And my husband enjoyed the Strawberry Frozen Fruit bars by Sprouts.
St. Paddy’s Day Feast
The star of my Sprouts Market Haul from March 2024 was our St. Paddy’s Day feast ingredients! On the menu: Beef and Guinness Stew and Colcannon. I know people like to cook corned beef and cabbage, but did you know that’s not even traditionally Irish? Corned beef is a more Americanized version of boiled bacon and cabbage, which is the true Irish dish.
Irish food is very nostalgic for me at the moment since we visited Ireland in October 2023. And I’m also not a huge fan of corned beef anyway. So, I told my husband we were going to make something different (which we actually made once before so I knew it would be good).
I settled on Beef & Guinness Stew (which was my second favorite thing we ate in Ireland next to seafood chowder) and Colcannon, which I think makes an excellent companion to Irish stew.
- Ingredients Bought for the Stew: Stew meat, yellow potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, beef broth, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Guinness beer, parsley, bay leaf, and Italian seasoning
- Ingredients Bought for the Colcannon: Yellow potatoes, kale, cabbage, garlic, cream, yellow onion, and green onion
Recipe links: Beef & Guinness Stew and Colcannon
*We loosely followed the above recipes, making edits where we saw fit. Season, taste…season, taste. Add more butter, add more salt. Make that s#!t taste good!
Our finish product was a masterpiece, and gave us three full, hearty meals for two people. I highly recommend this over corned beef and cabbage!
As spring has now finally arrived, I’m looking forward to some more warm-weather oriented meals and BBQ’d meats with side salads and good company. What are your go-to warm-weather meals? Help me with some inspiration!
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