The shockingly long grocery list of five female middle distance runners

A full jar of peanut butter gone in 4 days. I must be picking up my training. #hungryrunner

— Dana Larson (@danallarson) April 11, 2018

My name is Madeleine Kelly and I am an 800m runner. I run for the University of Toronto Track Club. This week I am at a training camp and living in a house with four of my teammates. We’re a group of women aged 19-24 who run the 800m and 1,500m.

I come from a family of big eaters. I grew up doing multiple grocery store trips a week and almost never having leftovers after a meal. You couldn’t take your time eating dinner because if you did, the food was gone. 

I know my own eating habits and I am used to shopping for a group that eats a lot, so I thought I knew how much food we would need. But I severely underestimated what our collective caloric intake would look like. For example, I didn’t take into account that we would each require an individual jar of peanut butter to get us through the week. 

I have never seen the likes of this week’s grocery list. Below is what five female middle distance runners consumed in one week. We ate out once for dinner but made everything else at home, with the exception of a few snacks. 

Grocery list

Produce: 

80 bananas

40 apples 

6 bags of spinach 

2 bags of kale

1 kg of carrots 

5 red peppers

5 cucumbers 

5 500g containers of tomatoes 

1 bag of onions

3 heads of garlic 

40 avocados 

5 mangos 

2 kg of frozen berries 

20 sweet potatoes 

Grains:

4 loaves of bread

2 bags of quiona

1 bag of farro

1 kg of brown rice 

2 litres of oatmeal 

24 corn tortillas 

5 bags of penne pasta 

Meat:

2 rotisserie chickens 

20 chicken breasts 

2 kg of stewing beef 

3 packs of extra firm tofu 

20 pork sausages 

Dairy:

2 litres almond milk 

6 litres 2% cow’s milk

2 bricks of cheddar cheese

1 tube of goat cheese 

2 litres of whole milk yoghurt 

Treats:

1 pack of cupcakes

2 packs of chocolate peanut butter cups 

Extras:

2 bags of coffee 

1 container of honey 

4 jars of peanut butter

2 jars of almond butter

5 bags of trail mix 

35 granola bars 

2 containers of salsa

3 bags of tortilla chips 

3 bags of pretzels 

2 jars of pasta sauce 

1 jar of hot sauce