1 Store, 1 Week: Is Trader Joe's Enough for This Gresham Writer’s $100 Budget?

Welcome back to Rose City Receipts, where we take you behind the scenes of how your fellow Portlanders manage their grocery budgets and meal plans. This week, fellow food writer Becca Knowlton is walking us through a week when she relied entirely on Trader Joe’s and her pantry. It’s a fascinating experiment to see if Trader Joe’s can be a cost-effective primary grocery stop for Portlanders. 

Who are you? Becca Knowlton, a foodie and Portland-based freelance writer
Where do you live? Gresham
What’s your weekly grocery budget (roughly)? $100
How many people are you shopping for? 1
What are your favorite stores? Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer, Walmart, Costco
What’s your top priority when it comes to grocery shopping? Finding the sweet spot between cost, convenience, and items that are relatively healthy.

My relationship with the kitchen is complicated. I love food, but I hate cooking. Additionally, given my health challenges, I need grocery shopping to be simple and efficient, relying on prepared foods and versatile staples that stretch across multiple meals.

For one week, I tested whether Trader Joe’s could function as a one-stop shop during a low-energy stretch. Between the simple ingredients, pre-made meals, and globally inspired products, it has become my favorite grocery store. I set a $100 budget and focused on versatile items, incorporating a few pantry staples to avoid repetition with leftovers.

Honestly, I didn’t follow a rigid meal plan. When energy dips, elaborate meal planning goes out the window — the goal is simply to eat without overthinking it. If I can avoid takeout or junk food, that’s a win in my books!

Weekly total: $96.61
Eating out total: $0
Groceries total: $96.61
Most-expensive line item: Trader Joe’s Kung Pow Chicken, $6.49
Least-expensive line item: Trader Joe’s Organic Sour Cherry Fruit Wrap, $0.49
Number of grocery trips: 2
Number of meals out: 0
Stores visited: 1

My energy started crashing on Sunday, so I made a quick Trader Joe’s run to pick up a few basics to help me start the week. I leaned on ready-made items, so I wouldn’t have to cook the next day. 

Monday, I made an oatmeal breakfast with Trader Joe’s rolled oats, cocoa almond spread and frozen mango chunks which ended up being an easy meal I repeated several times during the week. For dinner, I heated up some Trader Joe’s butter chicken with basmati rice and a side of naan.

Monday total: $36.60 (purchased Sunday)

Tuesday became my meal prep day. After a second Trader Joe’s trip, I spent a couple of hours cooking the frozen meals, making potatoes and rice from the pantry, prepping vegetables from the fridge, and putting together side dishes and snacks so meals would be easier to assemble throughout the week.

For dinner, I had half of a package of Trader Joe’s BBQ pork fried rice, with a side of their arugula salad, dressed up with Green Goddess dressing and carrots.

Tuesday total: $60.01

By Wednesday, I was assembling meals from what I had prepped. Leftovers and pantry staples made lunch and dinner easy to put together without much effort. I mixed up my morning breakfast oatmeal bowl by using apples in place of frozen mangos. For dinner, I made an arugula salad with tuna, Persian cucumbers and Green Goddess dressing. I made a chimichurri dense bean salad on the side.

Wednesday total: $0.00

Thursday was another low-energy day, so I leaned on quick and easy meals. For breakfast, I scrambled some eggs and served them with Trader Joe’s frozen hashbrowns and some salsa. For lunch, I assembled a quick soup using their miso ginger broth, some prepared bok choy, and frozen potstickers, and ate it along with my leftover chimichurri dense bean salad from last night’s dinner. 

Dinner was a turkey burger with cheese and pickles, and a side salad made up of leftover arugula tossed with Green Goddess dressing. 

Thursday total: $0.00

By Friday, I was working through the remaining portions of the week’s meals. Having prepared components made it easy to remix leftovers into something slightly different. For the breakfast oatmeal bowl, I opted for frozen mango chunks and some granola to mix it up. Lunch was leftover kung pao chicken with rice and broccoli, and dinner was leftover harvest chili with some potatoes I prepped earlier in the week, along with leftover chimichurri dense bean salad.

Friday total: $0.00

Saturday became more of a mix-and-match day. I combined a few remaining items from the fridge and pantry to stretch the groceries further while still keeping meals simple.

Sunday was mostly about finishing off what was left from the week. I kept meals simple and assembled a snack-style lunch from the remaining items before closing out the challenge. Featuring a mix of veggie & flaxseed tortilla chips, yogurt spinach dip, stilton cheese, orange slices, dark chocolate corn kernels, sweet onion pretzel twists, feta stuffed olives, and pickles.

I polished off the rest of the leftover chimichurri dense bean salad plus the arugula for dinner. 

Sunday total: $0.00

Trader Joe’s may not be the cheapest or healthiest grocery store option in Portland, but I was still able to purchase a week of food for under $100. There’s a common perception that it’s all overpriced items or filled with novelties, but pricing really depends on what you buy. This challenge taught me to shop more strategically. 

For example, I buy my fresh produce at Fred Meyer, where discounted bags of fruits and vegetables are $1.50. Trader Joe’s produce often costs more and tends to expire faster, so I prioritize buying shelf-stable and frozen items there. In this challenge, I found that their frozen mango was actually less expensive per ounce than other stores:

While the Rolled Oats, on the other hand, were more expensive per ounce:

So, it really depends on the item. When you’re navigating a low-energy week, sometimes a one-store trip can be more cost-effective than chasing the lowest price across multiple locations. Convenience also has value!

I’ve started meal-prepping variations of the viral dense bean salad, so I always have a side dish ready. My go-to is a simplified meat-free version of the chimichurri edition that only requires a few ingredients:

I simply mix everything, and it’s ready to go. It’s filling, high in fiber, and an easy way to add something fresh to meals throughout the week.

I was immediately intrigued by Becca's Rose City Receipts concept: shopping exclusively at Trader Joe's for a week. While I've noted that Trader Joe's isn't ideal for meat or fresh produce, their packaged and frozen selections are exceptional. They offer a great balance of price and quality, going beyond typical frozen meals.

Trader Joe's is a valuable resource, especially for single people and families seeking quick meal solutions (like frozen rice ready in minutes) and irresistible snacks (such as those highly addictive dark chocolate peanut butter cups). As Becca rightly emphasized, time is precious. If consolidating shopping at a single store is necessary, Trader Joe's remains a perfectly acceptable option.

Just keep in mind: buying produce at Trader Joe's means paying a premium for their convenience. 

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