🛒 Can groceries be fun AND easy? 🫢
A summer snack inspired by my food coop + GreenStar Discount
Skip below for details on a juicy discount to GreenStar Coop from July - Sept, plus a summer snack you’ll want to have on-hand!
Hi my friends!
There’s recently been a lot of attention on the ways our country fails families through insufficient public policies like paid parental leave, postpartum care, workplace accommodations, and childcare subsidies.
But what about the lack of family-friendly amenities in public spaces like restrooms, restaurants, and above all, supermarkets?
Grocery shopping in the U.S. is typically anything but family-friendly.
More often it resembles a giant escape room, where parents must strategically navigate aisles to avoid end-cap displays that market candy and toys to kids, while planning a week’s worth of meals in their head, hunting for respective ingredients (and always forgetting something crucial), saying “no” a thousand times to cookies their child pulled off the shelf or when the cart is about to tip because both kids are standing on one side, and praying, praying, praying their kids don’t have a meltdown and they can get out of there efficiently without a massive bill.
Can you relate?
But grocery-shopping is unavoidable.
Food delivery services can be a lifesaver, but for people in rural areas and food desserts, it’s not an option. Curbside pickup can also be helpful, but it requires a car, as well as making and meticulously inputting a list so you don’t get one banana.
Let me make your shopping list!
One of my main tricks for saving time, money, and headaches (!) shopping, is meal-planning, which inevitably starts with a shopping list.
A meal plan allows me to make an accurate shopping list and use it to stay focused at the store, or while inputting it online.
For paid subscribers receiving monthly, seasonal meal plans, I include two shopping lists to support 8 recipes and a meal prep calendar:
A printable checklist: organized by grocery departments for ease when shopping
An Instacart list: review the items, select your store, and order
The recipes are designed to use the same ingredients, so you can avoid that leftover carton of cream or other food waste. For example, in the July Meal Plan (coming Monday, July 1!!!), I include grilled corn in 3 recipes. You only have to grill the corn once, to prep it for two other days. And if you don’t have a grill or want to fire it up, I include instructions for oven-roasting to get the same char effect.
And I always recommend cross-checking the shopping list with your pantry to avoid doubling up on ingredients you have.
But what about the grocery store…?
Snapshot of a family-friendly grocery
I’m lucky to have a grocery near me that is family-friendly in many ways, GreenStar Food Coop, and want to share a snapshot of how they accommodate caregivers and children as a model to share with your local store manager.
(Psssst: GreenStar is offering a 20% discount in-store or on Instacart from July through September for paid subscribers!!!)
I’ve been shopping at GreenStar since I first arrived in Ithaca, in July of 2011. At first I was attracted because of the quality of ingredients. My nervous system also loved that the store was small. (I’m easily overwhelmed in large supermarkets.) But when I became a mother, several other benefits came on my radar.
GreenStar has several features that make shopping easier for parents and caregivers, including:
A cushioned, cozy indoor kids’ play area with a book nook, toy kitchen, and tactile toys, conveniently located next to bathrooms and eating area: lunch + playtime for the win!
An outdoor playhouse conveniently located next to an outdoor seating: more lunch + playtime!
Healthy, varied hot and cold food bars so everyone in the family can snack, lunch, or dine on something they like (my kids love the avocado sushi…yum!)
Co+op Explorer’s Club: baskets near the entrance contain apples for snacking, coloring pages, stickers, and a “fruit and veggie passport” booklet filled with coloring, puzzles, and activities.
Staff that are supportive and attentive towards families, and engaging with kids.
If pressed for time, you can use the Instacart service from 9:15 am to 8 pm at no markup in price, while still popping in for lunch and playtime. OR, request curbside pickup where staff will shop and take groceries right to your car!
I wish I could beam a store like this to every neighborhood! If you know someone who works at your local grocery, perhaps you can forward them this email as a nudge to implement one or more of these benefits?
GreenStar discount for Ithaca-area locals
GreenStar is offering a 20% discount in-store or on Instacart from July through September for paid subscribers!!! If you’re interested in organizing a discount with your local food coop, please connect me!
You’ll need to be subscribed to receive the discount code this coming Monday, July 1. (Remember, first month’s meal plan is FREE).
Keep your eyes peeled: I’ve been working hard on the recipes for the July Meal Plan and am really excited to share them with you this coming Monday.
And as always, I’ll leave you with a recipe below, a perfect snack for summer road trips and picnics—Lemony Almond Thumbprints—inspired by a former go-to cookie and kid snack at GreenStar Coop.
With berry-stained fingers,
♡ Emma
PS. I’d love to hear your thoughts below on the topic of “grocery shopping in America, with kids!”
Lemony Almond Thumbprints
Recipe from Feast by Firelight
Yield: 16 cookies ⎹ Prep time: 10 min ⎹ Cook time: 12 minutes ⎹ Level: Easy
Not long after my daughter, Ayla, started eating solids, she gummed a fresh-baked thumbprint cookie from our local grocery store. She loved it, so I set to making a less crumbly, travel-friendly version that we could take on hikes and road trips. This Italian-inspired thumbprint is one of the easiest, sweetest, nuttiest, protein-packed treats you’ll ever come across. For little ones under the age of one year, swap the honey with maple syrup. If you’re baking for a crowd, double or triple the recipe.
Ingredients
1 1⁄2 cups almond flour
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1⁄8 tsp fine salt
1⁄4 cup tahini
1⁄4 cup honey
1 tsp olive oil
1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
12 whole almonds or chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, lemon zest, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the tahini, honey, olive oil, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well until combined. Use your hands to form the dough into a large ball.
Pinch off about 1 tablespoon of the dough at a time and roll into a small ball with the palms of your hands. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls 1 to 2 inches apart. Gently press your pinkie finger (or a toddler’s thumb) into the center of each ball to lightly flatten the cookie until it is about 3⁄4 inch thick. Don’t worry too much about the shape; whether your version is flatter, thicker, or rounder, the cookies will be just as good! If desired, press an almond or chocolate chip into the center of each cookie.
Bake until the bottom edges of the cookies are toasted brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks (though I can promise you they won’t last that long), or freeze for up to 3 months.
Missed the June Meal Plan?
Upgrade to get the June Meal Plan and next week’s release, July! (First month is FREE).
