$90 and a New Attitude – I Feel Rich!!
I went walking last night and I feel GREAT today!! Although it’s icey and cold out, I don’t feel like a loser being stuck in the house. I view the downtime as a deserved day of relaxation, instead of trying to figure out what I “should” be doing so I won’t feel lazy.
I had eggs and toast for breakfast, and few hours later, yogurt for my morning snack. Since we need groceries, I have to pantry shop to find something to cook for lunch and dinner. All we have is ground beef in the freezer, leftover chili, and leftover gumbo. We may end up eating the rest of the ground beef and probably rice and a veggie. Not sure yet.
So far, I’ve spent $209 of this month’s $300 allocated for groceries and essentials. With a week remaining, I’m going to take that $90 and make a trip to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. I’ve never shopped at either before, but based on your suggestions, I’m going to give it a try. From now on, I plan to limit our meat intake to chicken, turkey, and ground beef. I’m allergic to fish and seafood. No more pork and no more red meat. I’ll also add more fruit (I’m allergic to most skin), fresh green leafy vegetables (instead of canned or frozen), and healthy snack varieties to avoid the hunger pains throughout the day.
I am not ready to sign up for any websites or track what I’m doing. I know me, forcing myself to “think” about it everyday will become too overwhelming. If I begin to “measure” myself in any way, I’ll get discouraged and quit. However, I do intend to put forth an HONEST effort to make better food choices, exercise, and continue progressing on my own terms.
Happy Friday!!
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Fabulous Financials » Life is Not a Fairytale, Unhealthy Aint Cute (Pingback), 2 March 2008, 16:30
[...] was finally time to join the cool kids. After having an epiphany, she developed a new attitude and added regular exercise to her previous sedentary lifestyle. In addition, she cleaned house to [...]
well don’t track it.. just track your spending :) LOL right now all that matters is that you are making small changes for you. that’s enough. everything else will come with time. either way that $90 wont’ go far in trader joes or whole foods..they are expensive! IMO
Tracking spending is a given. I’ve never been to either (TJ or WF), so I’ll check ‘em out. $90 is my limit, no matter what, so my choices are limited to what $90 can buy. In March (another week), my $300 is replenished. [-SM]
Um.. ground beef is red meat, you know.
As I was drafting this post, how did I know some smart ass would say that? Of course I KNOW. All beef is from the cow. I meant red meat as in steak, stew beef, and other red meat that takes a long time to cook. I didn’t feel like re-writing that sentence and it’s going to stay the way it is. [-SM]
Happy Friday to you as well. Glad that you enjoyed your walk. Have fun at the food stores. I like trying out new stores, even if it is just for interesting condiments or spices to put on the same old ingredients.
If things are too expensive, condiments and spices may be the ONLY thing I buy. LOL [-SM]
Trader Joe’s is a great choice! Your money will go further there than in Whole Foods. However, you can keep your bill down at Whole Foods by buying their 365 store brand items. I usually don’t have a problem staying within my monthly food budget when I shop regularly at Trader Joes.
Since this will be my first trip, I’m really excited about visiting both. They’re right down the street (across from each other), so I don’t know why I’ve never considered them before. I think the newness will temporarily replace my need for retail therapy. LOL [-SM]
Can I ask why no pork? It’s usually considered a reasonably healthy meat, is it just a taste thing? Also I really enjoy buffalo instead of beef either as mince or steak, it’s much lower in fat and tastes much better, it’s usually just a little more expensive but well worth it IMHO.
Pork is “reasonably healthy” compared to what? I’ve never tried buffalo before. Hmm…never know. [-SM]
i’ve never heard pork described as healthy before….i would try to skip the ground beef and just use ground turkey, it’s cheaper to buy than beef, esp. at costco or giant (i always see it on sale there for $1.99) and of course it’s healthier. sounds like you are doing great so far. you are very smart to recognize what things will and won’t work for you and I wish you much success!!
ps. good luck at whole foods, i once spent $8 and change on three fuji apples, a newspaper and some bananas. i almost passed out. i’ve found that Giant’s Nature’s Own line has alot of healthy and organic options and for less than Whole Foods. that being said, whole foods is a gorgeous experience of the senses and they set you up to drop cash like crazy. good luck!!!
We’ve tried ground turkey. I thought it was “ok” but not the greatest. BabyGirl, on the other hand, hated it. [-SM]
Hey Single Ma,
You should try ground chicken. I’m not a big fan of poultry, but I do like ground chicken. I use it for spaghetti and I make chicken burgers, they turn out MUCH better than turkey burgers..:(! As for pork, if you eat pork loin, it is considered the other white meat. I personally eat anything. I just don’t eat anything in excess!
I’m amazed at the many things you can do with chicken. Ground chicken? Chicken in spaghetti? Chicken burgers? Hmm, that doesn’t even sound appealing. LOL But I’ll try almost anything once. [-SM]
SingleMa,
You can go to Trader Joe’s website at http://www.traderjoes.com to get the fearless flyer–a pdf sales flyer for their store. Click on it from the main page and indicate where you are to get you local version. I recommend the Roasted vegetables in balsamic butter sauce because it’s easy to make and gives me the feeling that I’m eating healthy.
JB
I guess that was an ambiguous statement, I meant compared with beef. Pork is high in protein, vitamin B6 and zinc, low in sodium and the right cuts (loin) are not much higher in fat than chicken. I was just curious as I know that I personally enjoy variety in my diet so I try not to rule out too many items, everything in moderation. I would recommend if you start cooking from scratch frequently to find a good independent butchers shop, they are usually much better than in-store butchers.
I definitely recommend going to TJs BEFORE going to WF. WF is way more expensive (though there are things there that you can’t get at TJs). It’s fun to price compare. Enjoy; but watch out; it’s extremely easy to walk out of WF (and if you buy booze, TJs) spending more than $90. I recommend the nuts and dried fruit at TJs (the orange flavored cranberries are good). TJs lettuce generally lasts a long time and in the refridgerated section they have really good salad dressings (they used to have a Gorgonzola pear and also a cranberry walnut). The veggies at TJs are pretty good but their fruit is of a lesser quality than WFs. If you get the organic lowfat strawberry yogurt in bulk at TJs it’s extremely easy to transfer into tupperware. Ok, so I love TJs; it’s where I do almost all my shopping. I’ll stop raving now…
I LOVE TJs with an all-encompassing passion (esp. the one on Hwy 7). Love, love their sauces and marinades with the organic chicken – love the mojo sauce. If you like edamame, it’s really cheap there. They also have good juices. Also, I *think* they still have this policy — but you can return anything you don’t like so i always feel safe in trying things (then again, i always feel v. sheepish returning food so i don’t know that i ever have…).
OH and they have this twisted marinated mozzarella(sp?).
Ooh, cheese! Yum! [-SM]
It’s interesting to read about your preferences and what you all eat. Mojo sauce? LOL Nuts and dried fruit, not only am I allergic to nuts, but dried fruit sounds gross. LOL I still can’t get over the chicken burgers. LOL Farmer’s markets, private butchers, etc…man I live in the ‘BURBS! HA HA
I’m such a plain jane with a vast array of allergies, so my diet is pretty limited anyway. I’m just shifting from poor eating to healthy eating. Nothing extreme. Cooking from scratch? Perhaps, when time allows. During the weekdays, it’s rare.
You can stick with the frozen veggies. They’re generally just as healthy or more so than fresh bc they’re frozen at their peak. Steam ‘em up and you’re good to go.
Corey, are you a guy? What you know ’bout veggies? LOL [-SM]
I know the first time I looked at ground chicken in the store I was like WTF? I took it home and seasoned it up with some Tony’s or Lawry’s, a little bit of garlic powder, a little curry powder and if you have some on hand cut up a bit of cilantro. Put it in the pan and fry it up! On the bun/bread I use Grey Poupon,curry mayo, onions and lettuce. As for the spaghetti, I take the ground chicken, season it up with, Lawry’s, Oregano, garlic powder then cut up some onions, green peppers, mushrooms and cook. When finished stir in with the sauce. Both recipes are delicious!!!!
They call Whole Foods “whole paycheck” for a reason. I don’t know if you’ve ever checked out my “frugal food” posts, but I do a lot of stuff about eating healthy, delicious food for minimal cost and effort.
Someone else has mentioned, but I’d just like to second: pork is a great lean meat, and there’s no reason to cut it out of your diet (especially not when your diet is already so circumscribed by food allergies!). You could look into brining to preserve flavor and juiciness without adding fat–it’s not hard! And as to ground poultry–I really do recommend it. This week, I made a big batch of turkey chili for me and my boyfriend–took very little active prep time, and made us about eight servings of hearty, delicious food.
But Trader Joe’s, in particular, is a GREAT place to start when you’re looking for inexpensive, healthy convenience foods. Try their frozen turkey meatballs (mmm…) and chicken gyoza. Their stir-fry mixes are great too, and their frozen veggies are great. A big bowl of edamame with some salt sprinkled on top is a fabulous snack. Their Greek yogurt is amazing. The frozen fruits and whey protein got me through my senior year of college (scoop of yogurt, scoop of whey protein, handful of frozen mixed berries, blender on, pour into cup, leave).
It sounds like you have a lot of dietary restrictions, but if you’re open to taking this in baby steps and expanding your food horizons slowly but steadily, you can totally find a way to do this that works for you.
I think it makes sense to differentiate between ground beef and whole steaks/roasts. Ground beef can be spread thin in the meal. Like we had burritos with a small amount of ground beef and a lot more beans. But the beef really added a flavor…it was almost like an afterthought.
I love Whole Foods. However, I have to agree that it is on the expensive side. I went to Trader Joes once but they didn’t seem to have the selection that Whole Foods did but then again the store I went to was kind of small so there may be bigger ones out there. If you are looking for organics and need to cut back on the bill, a lot of the regular grocery stores like Safeway and Giant Foods are carrying organic foods now.
I prefer ground turkey to ground beef but I also use a lot of seasonings on it. However, if your lil diva won’t eat it than it’s no use wasting money on buying it. :)
It’s so great to find you’re under budget on things, isn’t it? I’m thinking of switching to the monthly-budget system for groceries as a test run for March. Currently, I’m using the weekly system and I’m just…meh. Not sure that it’s for me :)