I mentioned recently that it hasn’t been as expensive as I anticipated it would be to eat healthy. It’s all about buying what’s on sale and what’s in season. Obviously, this is going to be harder during the winter months. But right now, during these glorious summer months, enjoy all the fresh produce you can!
Last week, I went shopping to stock up on produce and some meat to replenish my freezer with. I did not buy a single boxed or canned food. Nothing processed went into my cart. I got enough meat and veggies to feed our entire family for at least a week … and I spent about $50. My cart was full to the brim, and we are eating like kings!
Two things helped me do this:
1) buying produce in season and at it’s lowest prices
2) buying meat from the discount shelf
I am a huge advocate of going through that discount meat section. Sometimes it’s just junk that’s not worth buying. But you can often find some amazing buys. This week, we had buffalo meat for the first time. Found it in the discount bin for $2.99, and it was enough for one full meal. Also had some London broil … got it for $1.99, and it fed us both. I found so many good buys in the discount bin that I splurged and bought some fresh tuna steaks which were not even remotely on sale. If I’d skipped those, our grocery bill would have been closer to $40. But I figured we deserved a yummy treat for finding such good buys and losing the weight we’ve lost so far.
So, it IS possible to eat healthy and stay within a budget. Challenge yourself to try something new that you find on sale. Try a new veggie that you might not normally buy – do it just because it’s on sale for 79 cents a pound. It also gives you a chance to challenge yourself with a new recipe, which is always fun. And it never hurts to try new things!
At-Home Spa Treatments For Summer
I’m not feeling overly creative today … so, I’m going to pass along a link to some fun ideas I just read about. Not only are these good tips for taking care of your skin, they’re great money-savers!
At-Home Spa Treatments For Summer
Fishy times
Okay, folks, I need your help! I need ideas for what to do with various forms of sea life at dinner time! I have never been a big fish eater. The closest I usually get to seafood is a big ol’ batch of fried shrimp …. and I’m pretty sure the whole deep-frying part takes most of the healthy out of them! However, most shellfish and lower fat fish are super good for you. So I am trying to incorporate them into our dinners more often. But I am totally clueless on preparing a healthy fish dinner that still tastes good. The shrimp salad was totally yummy, but it apparently used up all my creative juices, and I’m at a standstill in the kitchen again. Help!
On a completely different and random note, I have a new mystery plant in my garden! After hubby turned over all the dirt for me to start planting, more stuff sprouted! We’re pretty sure it’s something in the squash family, and I’m rather hoping for zucchini, since we can use it in tons of stuff. But I’ll take whatever.
And since my last gardening mention, I have planted potatoes, corn, eggplant, and green beans! Actually, Matilda and I planted the green beans together. We found these adorable Sesame Street vegetable starter kits at Home Depot a few weeks ago. So we planted green beans and tomatoes (more on those in a minute). After only 3-4 days, I came out on the back patio to find the cover busting off the green bean “greenhouse”. They were already about 4 inches tall! So, we transplanted them into our garden and have started a second batch.
As for the tomatoes … I now have to eat my words about never having a tomato grow from scratch. Our Elmo tomatoes have all sprouted! Every single seed produced a plant. And they are now big enough to transplant as well. If these actually produce fruit, I may have to quit buying the plants! Maybe my brown thumb is even greener than I thought! If the plants produce, I promise to post pictures … as well as posting a few pics once the garden has really taken off. I figure we should have a nice late summer/early fall crop of goodies to enjoy. Yay!
Saving on extras
Yesterday, I found a way to save money on some things that aren’t quite necessities. I stopped off at my nail salon to get my brows waxed (like I said not quite a necessity). When I was paying at the end, the owner pulled out a sheet of coupons to use for the next time I got my nails done or a pedicure or another wax job. I had never seen coupons for getting your nails done! I realize this is an extra, but sometimes a girl needs some pampering. And if I can get something fun and pay less … I’m all about that! So, don’t forget to look for “creative” coupons. You never know what you might find that you can use to have fun for yourself or your family!
Shrimpy delight
Tried another variation of my stir fry recipe last night … with shrimp! We bought a pound of shrimp back when we bought our house, and were going to break it out to celebrate. It got lost in the back of the freezer. Oops! However, I found it and added it to this week’s menu. This variation is not quite as cheap as my usual stir fry. However, it is about as healthy as you can get, since shrimp falls into the leanest of meats category. Plus, it has all kinds of great things in it that are good for you! So, here’s the new variation:
1 lb shrimp, de-veined ($3.99)
2 cups chopped zucchini ($1.00)
2 cups chopped white mushrooms ($0.75)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper ($0.75)
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning
Remove the shrimp tails & peel shrimp (I bought it already de-veined, so this was pretty quick). Throw shrimp in a pan with 1-2 tbsp olive oil (or cooking oil of your choice). Add Mrs. Dash seasoning to shrimp. Stir fry until shrimp is almost completely done (should be pink & “butterflied”). Remove shrimp from pan. Add bell pepper, saute until softened. Add zucchini, saute for a couple minutes, then add mushrooms. Once veggies are all softened, add soy sauce and lime juice. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add shrimp back into the pan. Let it heat through (a couple minutes), then plate and serve!
Cost per serving is about $3.25. The veggies will cook down to about half their size, which is why the portions seem so large to start with. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand. These were the ones in my fridge that I thought were closest to “going with” shrimp. Hubby and I scarfed this down in no-time flat! Super yummy, very healthy, and fairly easy on the budget. Enjoy!
Veggie marinade
My new favorite thing to do with vegetables … is add soy sauce. Since we are trying to limit our sodium and “extras” these days, I use the low-sodium soy sauce, and I use a little less than I used to. But it’s a yummy way to spice up dinner. For example, the other night we had a veggie mixture of asparagus, zucchini and mushrooms. I chopped up 3 cups worth (1.5 cups for each of us), put it in a tupperware container, added 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning, shook it up really good so everything was coated, and let it sit in the fridge for about and hour or so. When I took it out later, I spread it on a baking sheet, put it in the oven at about 380 for 15’ish minutes (I started at 10 minutes, then kept adding time as I checked on the veggies), and voila! They actually turned out almost like they’d been grilled. In fact, my hubby thought I’d fired up the grill just to do the veggies!
A couple tablespoons of soy sauce is a pretty cheap addition to the meal. What are some of the ways you spice up veggies so that your family will enjoy them? Or, if you have kids, what are some of the creative things you do with veggies to keep them healthy but still get the kiddos to eat them? My kiddo loves the soy sauce marinade, but I’d love some more ideas to keep her eating those good veggies!
Saving $$ on salad
I know this is going to prove to the world that I am a complete genius, but I have discovered a brilliant new way to spend less on the salads I make. More greens, less carbs and dairy!
Until now, a salad set before me had a couple of requirements: 1) it must have some sort of cheese on it, and 2) croutons were a must! I love me some cheese! And the combination of cheese and tomatoes in a salad is just heavenly to me. But have you noticed how much the price of cheese just keeps going up and up and up? It’s insane. And croutons seem to have risen in price lately too. Plus, I’m really picky about my croutons. They have to be bite-sized. I hate those “restaurant-sized” croutons. Seriously – who can enjoy one of those with a bite of salad without breaking it apart? And my personal rule about croutons is that there must be one for every bite of salad … which adds up to a lot of croutons!
With the new eating plan that hubby and I are following, a salad consists of up to 3 cups of low carb veggies and up to 2 tablespoons of low-cal/low-carb salad dressing. Last night’s salad was 1 cup romaine lettuce, 1/2 cup tomatoes and 1/2 cup mushrooms. Not an ounce of dairy and no croutons to be seen. And I enjoyed every bite! It’s amazing how you start to enjoy real food when you eliminate some of the stuff you don’t need to be eating! And the bonus is that last night’s salad cost about 75 cents per serving. My normal salad, with all the extras would have been more like $1.25-1.50 per serving. I realize that’s still not a lot. But every bit adds up these days, doesn’t it?!
Stir Fry
We had another yummy concoction last night. I am digging the extra challenge of this whole healthy eating thing. It seems to be even more satisfying if I meet a goal or beat my old record. I’m rather competitive that way. Which is probably why I enjoy those silly Facebook games so much, getting the chance to beat a bunch of other people. But I digress … We had some super yummy stir fry last night. Normally, I would serve this over rice, but we are in the (mostly) starch-free part of our new eating plan. In the past, I would have served it with white rice – in the days to come, we will be using brown rice. You can use whatever your family enjoys. Or, like we did last night? Eat it without the rice!
12 oz chicken tenderloin, diced (about $2)
1 cup chopped celery (25 cents)
1 cup chopped white mushrooms ($1)
1 cup chopped tomatoes ($1)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
olive oil
Mrs. Dash chicken seasoning
Pour 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan to heat, then add diced chicken. I added a pretty good sprinkle of the Mrs. Dash seasoning to it and cooked it up, flipping chicken partway through. Once chicken is cooked through completely, remove it from the pan. Leave drippings and remaining oil in the pan, and add the celery to it. Cook for at least 5 minutes, or until it is starting to soften, then add the mushrooms. Once the mushrooms have started to soften and shrink, add the tomatoes. In the meantime, combine the soy sauce and lime juice – set aside until the veggies are done cooking. (A good addition to this is to add some minced garlic to the sauce, but I didn’t have any on hand.) Once the tomatoes have cooked down some, add the soy sauce/lime juice mix. Let it cook with the veggies for a minute or two, then add the chicken back into the pan.
Hubby and I split this evenly again (and I actually cooked a little extra for the munchkin, cuz she loves stir fry too). Cost per person is just over $2, possibly cheaper if you get a good deal on chicken. I have been using variations of this recipe for years with my family, and they love it. It is super easy and fairly quick. You can add in whatever veggies your family likes – we have used carrots, zucchini, bean sprouts, etc. in the past. Something about mixing that soy and lime juice makes the best sauce.
This is one of those recipes that is perfect when you are cleaning out your fridge, by the way. I have often done this dish with whatever veggies I can dig out of the bottom of my crisper and whatever meat is left in the freezer. I’ve even done it with ground beef before! The seasoning really makes the dish, so it’s a great one to get creative with. If you try it, let me know which veggies you used and what type of meat … and how your family liked it!
Healthy AND inexpensive!
Hubby and I have officially started our new eating plan. So, keeping dinnertime affordable has become a bit more challenging. So frustrating that eating healthy seems to be more expensive than eating all the pre-packaged crud the stores try to sell you. Anyway … I am now on a mission to find some new healthy recipes and good deals on produce (while I wait for my garden to truly take off). Here was last night’s dinner:
2 cups Romaine lettuce ($1.29/head – so about 25-30 cents worth)
2 cups baby spinach ($2.99/bag – about 75 cents worth)
1/2 cup sliced cherry tomatoes (used about 6-7 of them, so maybe 50 cents worth?)
1/2 cup sliced zucchini (about 50 cents)
3 cans white tuna in water, drained (from my pantry, but probably bought when they were 4/$1 – so, 75 cents worth)
2 tablespoons (each) low fat/low carb salad dressing (minimal)
Split this between the two of us (Matilda had PB&J), total cost per person was about $1.50. Now that I see it broken down, it doesn’t seem so expensive to eat right! It was really, really filling too. I added a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash southwest chipotle seasoning to the tuna, which was a yummy addition. Hubby added a couple splashes of hot sauce. Not my thing, but whatever floats your boat!
How have you used tuna in your cooking? I would love some more ideas, since it’s fairly cheap. Preferably recipes that don’t involve lots of mayo or dairy products. If I come up with any other new ideas, I’ll be sure to pass them along!
The blueberries are out of control!
Okay, so I just started harvesting blueberries about 5 days ago. Between a gift from a relative, the blueberries I’ve already harvested, and what will obviously be ready in the next 24-48 hours … we have too many blueberries! Especially since the kiddo is the only one allowed to eat them right now (and too many blueberries in one sitting does NOT make for pleasant diaper changes!!). So, I’m going to try my hand at canning. Check out this link: http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/new_products/258.php.
Thanks to a coupon that I randomly clipped weeks ago, and then walking past an aisle display at the home improvement store that had a pile of these, I decided to make an impulse buy and try it out. I probably won’t get to it until later in the week, but I’ll keep ya posted on how it goes. In the meantime, I have 3 bags of blueberries already frozen and many more to come. Guess I better not wait too long, eh?
What are some of your family’s favorite ways to use blueberries? I plan to make some jam, as well as just can some by themselves. But I’m wondering if there are other creative ideas out there that I could “borrow” from my friends. Please share whatever ideas you have!
my new pantry challenge 