Food for Thought: Off-Menu-ing

Do you ever go off-menu-ing?

Here's an example: last weekend was Valentine's Day (Friday) and my husband's birthday (Saturday).  In an effort to be frugal, I planned to cook both days--Drunken Risotto for VDay and Pork Tenderloin for the birthday dinner.

I encountered my first bump in the menu road when I was grocery shopping that Monday.  I had saved my pork tenderloin purchase for my last store, and lo & behold, Whole Foods was out of pork tenderloin.  I had a lot to do that day, and I was out of time to run to an extra store, so I told myself I'd grab some later that week.

Friday rolled around, and after a long week, I just wanted to sit down with my Valentine, some take-out, & Netflix.  We postponed the risotto dish and treated ourselves to take-out.

As a birthday gift to my husband, our family spent the day raking up an autumn's worth of leaves from our backyard, and we were all happily tired and sore after we knocked out that monster chore.  We decided a birthday dinner at a restaurant of my hubby's choice would be a better option, thus postponing the pork tenderloin.

I normally would have made one of the postponed dishes on Sunday evening, but after a trip to the park with our daughter to enjoy some rare sunny weather, we decided sharing a pizza would be a good way to use up our budgeted restaurant money.

This might sound like a confession, but you probably identify with it as plain ole' real life.

Instead of feeling incredibly guilty that I wasted those days or those meal ingredients, I'm scheduling them into this week's menu plan for our family.  I cut one of the planned recipes from my grocery list, I'll buy ingredients for the other three meals, and I'll end up with enough ingredients for five meals.  I'll cook four of the meals during the weekdays (eating leftovers on one of the weekdays), and I'll make the final dish this weekend.  (I could have cut two meals, but an extra meal will save us some restaurant money this week.)

I love structure & schedules, but the flip side is that when I get "off menu," I end up stuck in the mud of my cravings and whims for the rest of the week.  If this happens to you, don't worry--it's not hard to reschedule and jump right back on the menu without losing money.  And if you find yourself unmotivated to get back in the kitchen, remind yourself that some happy music and a glass of wine (or any favorite treat) can make the "chore" fun again!

Food for Thought: Fruit for Breakfast

Last January, as a first step toward eating more healthfully, I started serving fruit for breakfast.  It started out as a few strawberries, some orange slices, and a banana.  

A couple of things happened:

1. We were surprised to learn we did not feel hungry again until lunchtime.

2. This new practice helped us begin losing weight.

3. My husband said he could not eat another orange or banana again...ever.

So we might have overdone it with the bananas.  (Itt was winter--not a lot of "in season" fruits!)

But I definitely noticed that eating fruit for breakfast made me feel much better than anything else, particularly cereal.  When I ate a bowl of cereal (even "healthy" cereal) with any kind of milk (even almond milk), I found myself getting shaky-hungry around 10:30 later that morning.  I could not make it until lunchtime without having a snack--whereas with the fruit, I was fine until lunch, without any shakiness.

Then came along another gamechanger: the Blendtec.  I cobbled together some money in our budget this past summer to purchase a high-powered blender.  I debated and researched Blendtec vs Vitamix vs Ninja vs Magic Bullet, and Blendtec came out on top for us.  Yes, it is on the pricier side, but it was well worth it.  I chose Blendtec because it was higher-powered than Ninja or Magic Bullet--I decided that meant something to me, because the power to make a whole juice or blend my own almond milk appealed to me.  I chose Blendtec over Vitamix for several reasons: it sits lower on the countertop and thus fits under my cabinets, its blades were not sharp like Vitamix's--they are blunt and just spin at a very high speed, there was no fiddling with it during blending--no tampers, and it had settings that allow me to push a button and walk away from it as opposed to standing there and pulsing it until blended.  And it looked cooler.  Just kidding.  Kind of. 

You guys, I LOVE this blender.  And it took my fruit-for-breakfast habit to the next level--I was able to add spinach and other vegetables, ice, and chia seeds or berries with seeds and end up with a super-smooth drink.  I wasn't just eating a few pieces of fruit--I was eating a lot of fruit PLUS veggies & seeds.  Triple the nutrients!  

If you can budget for a high-powered blender, I highly recommend it.  And even if you can't, I used my inexpensive Black & Decker blender for several months (before the rubber seal broke and the bottom fell out!) with adequate results. 

Depending on what you put in your smoothie, it can save you money on breakfasts.  For 3 of us to eat cereal everyday for a week, we used up about 3-4 boxes of cereal plus a carton and a half of almond milk.  I've done more "elaborate" smoothies some weeks, with lots of different kinds of produce--or even a different kind of smoothie every day.  But what works best for us is something simple that we have everyday for a week...then, I switch it up to something different the next week.  In the picture above, I made fresh spinach + frozen strawberries + fresh pineapple (that I cut up and then froze) + frozen banana.  The pineapples were on sale that week at Aldi for 99 cents--I bought two and they lasted me all week and into the next.  I buy packages of overripe bananas on clearance for 40 cents a bunch at EasyWay every few weeks.  I almost always use plain old (free) tap water for our liquid.  

No blender and no money to budget for one?  Buy a bag of oranges & a bunch of bananas at Aldi (usually around $3 a bag & 44 cents/lb for a bunch) and get started with some fruit for breakfast!  It's the cheapest, healthiest way to get the most nutrients and the lowest calories into one meal!

Food for Thought: Supermarket Tricks

Here is the link for next week's grocery list!

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So, I went over-budget at the grocery store last week, and the reason amounts to three thrilling and powerful words: renovated Whole Foods.  Our new Whole Foods, under renovation for the last several months, opened last week--complete with freshly made, hand-cut pasta, a BBQ bar, and fresh gelato with quirky Memphis-y names.  Oh yes.  

While I'm thrilled to have this gem of a store practically across the street from my house, I reminded myself this week that I was going to have to practice some self-discipline.  And that, I did!  I came in under-budget, balancing out last week's splurges.  

I was armed with the knowledge of these 5 ways supermarkets trick consumers plus my general cost-saving rule-of-thumb: Aldi, then EasyWay (our local small produce market), then the catch-all store (in this case, Whole Foods...because I couldn't stay away)!

Were you surprised by any of the tricks mentioned in the link?  The picture of the "healthy food" marketed on the label gets me (almost) every time!