Slimming World Grocery Haul - Sam's Club and Target - August 2017

Take a peek inside my grocery cart for this week's Slimming World  Grocery Haul - Sam's Club and Target. Perfect items for anyone following Slimming World or a healthy eating programme.

Back in 2010 in the early days of Slimming Eats, I used to post my weekly grocery haul on the blog. It was beneficial to those living in Canada and the USA for ideas of things to buy and what to use them for, but I kind of got slack and stopped doing it, instead only sharing my grocery haul pics on my Facebook page and Instagram instead.

However, with Slimming World growing fast across this side of the Atlantic. I get more and more requests and messages for Slimming World friendly items.

So with that in mind, I'm starting them up again, after all grocery haul pics are great, right?

The added bonus to sharing these, is that some items are just generic stuff you can get wherever you may live, be it the US, Canada or elsewhere in the world and where it might be a unique branded item, there is often a similar versions to find where you are.

Incase you are new and stumbling across my blog. I live in Canada, but am also close enough to the US, that I am able to grocery shop there two. So much variety!!

Some of my favourite places to pick up a few groceries in the US are Costco, Sam's Club, Target, Aldi and my most favourite store of the all - Trader Joes. Oh, how I wish we had one of those in Canada.

We tend to go to the US maybe once a month or once every two months, and usually just grab a few items which we can't get here.

So here is the first NEW instalment of grocery hauls and this one is a Slimming World Grocery Haul for Sam's Club and Target.

If you have any requests for certain stores in the US or Canada, feel free to drop me a comment and I'll see what I can do. That is all providing the store is available in my area of course.

This week (or should I say last week, as it's taken me over a week to finally get this up on the blog), we popped over to the US for the day.

On the way home, we made a stop at Sam's Club and Target, just to grab a few items that we can't get in Canada and also anything else that grabbed my attention and that I thought might be Slimming World friendly.

First up was Target, where I grabbed the following:

1. Silk Cashew Milk - Original and Chocolate

If you are looking for a great dairy free milk, then I highly recommend Silk Cashew Milk, it's the only non-dairy milk that I like in tea. It comes in both a sweetened and unsweetened version, including a vanilla flavoured too. Today I spotted  this chocolate version, so grabbed some of that to try along with the regular, as figured it would be good in oatmeal and overnight oats and you get a much bigger serving for your Healthy Extra A. Normally I wouldn't buy sweetened versions, but if I use it in my coffee I don't need anything else to sweeten, so it saves my syns.

Silk Cashew Milk can also be used a Healthy Extra A on Slimming World.

• Unsweetened: 5 cups as a Healthy Extra A
• Sweetened: 2 cups as a Healthy Extra A
• Chocolate: 1.2 cups as a Healthy Extra A

Silk Cashew Milk is also available in Canada.

For those in the UK wanting to try cashew milk. There are a few brands available such as this Nude Health Organic Cashew Drink, Plenish Organic Dairy Free Cashew Milk  and Provamel Organic Cashew Drink on Amazon, you would need to check with Slimming World to see if any qualify for a Healthy Extra A choice.

2. Elli Quark - Brownie Batter

I finally managed to get my hands on some Elli Quark to try. This is available at various stores across the US, check the Elli Quark website for stockists. Unfortunately, they didn't have the plain in stock today, only some of the flavoured variety, so I just grabbed this one flavour to try. This brownie batter flavour is 1.5 syns for the tub.

I loved how creamy it was, but sadly this wasn't chocolatey enough and the sweetener (stevia) taste was a little overpowering for me. However, if I can get hold of some of the plain version next time, I will definitely be grabbing a few tubs. As it will be perfect in savoury dishes and when adding my own fruit/flavouring.

For those in Canada, the only quark available is by Liberte, I used to be able to get this easily at most Loblaws stores here in Canada, but I haven't seen it in stock for a while. I keep meaning to ask my local store manager. I am hoping they haven't stopped producing it, it is still available on their website.

For those in the UK, quark is readily available at most grocery stores, in fact it is a staple in most Slimming World members shopping carts, being a Free Food and SP friendly.

3. Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Soft Taco's

Also from Target were these Misson Carb Balance Whole Wheat Soft Taco's which is a Healthy Extra B choice on Slimming World.

I don't often buy packaged bread, I tend to stick to a small fresh whole wheat loaf in the bakery section. As the majority of the time, I can get 2 slices for just under 60g which qualifies as a Healthy Extra B and it tastes amazing. But occasionally whole wheat English muffins go in the shopping cart, or Pitta Breads for a pizza base or a kebab night and rolls if I am planning on a burger night -  Like this delicious Big Mac and Fries Fakeaway.

I knew these tacos were a Healthy Extra B choice, so I grabbed some to put in the freezer, handy for a pizza base or wrap.

One word of advice though, when freezing anything like this, make sure you remove from bag and add a square of wax paper in between each one and then place back in the bag, otherwise, they will all stick together and you will have to defrost the whole lot.

The closest to these in Canada which qualifies as a Healthy Extra B choice is the Flatout Wraps. I only tend to see them at Walmart. There are also Joseph Bakery Lavash Breads, but those are hard to source in Canada, I think they are imported from the US at my local fresh food market. I am not aware of any other wraps/tacos that qualify in Canada.

For those in the UK - there are only a couple of brands which qualify, check the healthy extra B list for those.

As well as the above I also picked up a dozen free range brown eggs from The Happy Egg Co and a couple of apples.

Then after Target, it was on to Sam's Club. For those are not familar with Sam's Club, it is very much like Costco, but part of the Walmart brand, You need a membership to shop there, but they often have some good deals on a membership, so keep an eye out for those if you want to give it a try. Christmas time is a great time for shopping at Sam's Club, as they generally have in lots of non food and food Christmas items. If you are worried about Sam's Club and Costco being too similar, they actually both tend to have different products, so it's worth sometimes checking out both, although probably not worth having a membership to both at the same time.

So the first few bits I grabbed at Sam's Club was just a few fruit/veg items, all of course Free Foods on Slimming World.

Then I also grabbed the following which are some of the items I regularly add to the shopping cartż when we stop at Sam's Club

1. Member's Mark Black Forest Uncured Ham

We really like this ham from Sam's Club, it is really thinly sliced and perfect for sandwiches or adding into frittatas, like this Syn Free Ham and Hash Brown Frittata I also like to use it for this  Ham and Broccoli Quiche.

2. Chobani Non Fat Greek Yoghurt

As well as Sam's Club own Member's mark food items, they also do some other branded products and I couldn't resist grabbing a tub of this. If you hate the taste of some free flavoured yoghurts, start buying Fat Free Plain Greek Yoghurt instead. It tastes so much nicer, has nothing artificial added and you can sweeten by adding your own fresh fruit, which is free (so long as you don't blend, cook or puree). If you want a bit more sweetness, mix in a little bit of honey or maple syrup for a few syns, so worth it for the taste.

There are many different brands of Fat Free Plain Greek Yoghurts, so you can choose any brand as all are Free on Slimming World. Remember though flavoured yoghurts are completely different, some will be free, but many have a syn value.

3. Member's Mark Raspberry Chipotle Dip

Last time I was in Sam's Club they had samples of this to try and it was so good it just had to go in the shopping cart, so on this trip I grabbed another tub. It is like a sweet cream cheese dip (from the raspberry flavour) with a spicy Chipotle kick and only 2 syn a tablespoon, I love it with salads, grilled meats etc

4. Cooper Street Orange Cranberry Cookies

At only 5 syns for 2.5 cookies, these are perfect when you fancy a treat with a cuppa or some fruit. They have a hint of orange flavour, little pieces of dried cranberries and are kind of like a biscotti with lots of crunch.

And that's it. Not a great deal bought this week, as the fridge and  freezer were prettty well stock up already.

Come back for more instalments of my grocery hauls and don't forget to check out my Slimming World Essentials for lots more handy shopping lists and tips.

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