Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Birthday party prep!
Well, it's been a long-ass week. The baby is teething like crazy and the big boy turned 7! So it was a shitty week of sleep (3 nights of basically no sleep because of teething), then two days of plugged milk ducts (because the only way I could get the baby to sleep was to nurse him) = a really awful week. On top of that the big boy had a sore throat the night before his birthday and has been tired and cranky all week.
So what is my cooking prep this week? Nothing! Seriously. I walked a breast cancer walk this morning with the baby in the stroller. We are going to be baking cupcakes for the 7 year old's birthday party tomorrow. Tonight we are at a different birthday party (husband did the shopping while I was walking with the baby). We tend to overdo it on food. We've ordered sandwiches, but husband also got snacks and veggies. The party is at the YMCA - simple, because it's an hour in the pool, an hour in the kids' gym, and an out in the party room. But it's not frugal unless you are comparing it to some crazy-ass stuff. Pretty much any party around here is going to set you back 200 bucks minimum.
Anyway, I'll be lucky to get any prep work for the week done at all. I figure there will be leftovers tomorrow, so I won't need to cook either night. But I still will have to figure out what to do with the greens, turnips, carrots, etc from the CSA. I'll have to wing it I guess.
So what is my cooking prep this week? Nothing! Seriously. I walked a breast cancer walk this morning with the baby in the stroller. We are going to be baking cupcakes for the 7 year old's birthday party tomorrow. Tonight we are at a different birthday party (husband did the shopping while I was walking with the baby). We tend to overdo it on food. We've ordered sandwiches, but husband also got snacks and veggies. The party is at the YMCA - simple, because it's an hour in the pool, an hour in the kids' gym, and an out in the party room. But it's not frugal unless you are comparing it to some crazy-ass stuff. Pretty much any party around here is going to set you back 200 bucks minimum.
Anyway, I'll be lucky to get any prep work for the week done at all. I figure there will be leftovers tomorrow, so I won't need to cook either night. But I still will have to figure out what to do with the greens, turnips, carrots, etc from the CSA. I'll have to wing it I guess.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Time vs. Money vs. Health
I'm not sure why I've been thinking about this the last few days. Perhaps because I heard it on the radio or read it on the internet. Perhaps because I don't have very much time. Perhaps because I'm trying to keep my family healthy (but on a budget). Perhaps that I keep reading about how expensive it is to eat healthfully (note: it can be, but isn't always...)
I think that there's a give and take among all three.
I want to eat healthfully. I read blogs such as "100 Days of Real Food" and "Clean Eating". I try my best to feed my family healthy food. I am inspired by the homemade, frugal, and healthy foods you find on "Penniless Parenting" and "The Prudent Homemaker".
But here's a little tidbit (which comes to no surprise to most of you): I have a job. And two kids. And I'm breastfeeding (which means I spend a HUGE part of the day with a baby or machine attached, not to mention the time spent washing and sterilizing bottles and pump parts. Can I say - I am SOOOO over it.)
I really would love to go "cold turkey" on the processed food. But that can take a lot of effort and time...that I don't have. However, I *do* try to minimize it. The tricks I have to do this are pretty simple:
1. Change WHAT you eat
2. Change HOW you shop
Let's go through a few examples.
Example #1: Breakfast
Option 1: Homemade oatmeal. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: good. Time factor: medium.
Option 2: Homemade bread. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: good (depends on what you put on it). Time factor: higher than oatmeal, because you have to make the bread and it needs toppings.
The toppings can make or break you here: butter, homemade jam, peanut butter, almond butter, cheese, eggs.
Option 3: Homemade granola. Frugal factor: medium (it's the nuts). Health factor: medium (depends on what you put on it). Time factor: medium (you have to make it).
Option 4: Cold cereal. Frugal factor: medium to low. Health factor (varies). Time factor: great.
Lately, I've been going with option #4. We eat Kellogg's Raisin Bran and buy it at the big box store. We get 4 lb for about $9 and it lasts two weeks. That means that breakfast for the adults costs $18 every 4 weeks, plus the cost of milk (which is about 12 oz per day). It's processed. But you know...it's easy and not too bad for you. The ingredients list is rather small. So trick #1: I choose a cereal that has fewer ingredients and #2 I buy it in bulk.
Example #2: Snacks
Option #1: Salty snacks: pretzels, crackers, chips. Buy them. Frugal factor: poor. Health factor: poor. Time factor: great.
Option #2: Salty snacks: make your own. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: bad to good, depending on what you put in them. Time factor: poor. I keep thinking about trying to make my own crackers. I just...don't.
Option #3: Salty snacks: eat nuts. And, low salt or no salt if you can. You still get the crunch.
Option #4: Salty snacks: eat baby carrots and storebought hummus.
Option #5: Make your own hummus and make carrot sticks.
Option #6: Sweet snack: Buy yogurt cups - expensive and they usually have sugar
Option #7: Sweet snack: Buy big tubs of yogurt (plain) and add fruit - healthier but a little bit more labor intensive
Option #8: Sweet snack: Make you own yogurt - much cheaper but a lot more work.
Almost any time you are going to try and save money by "making your own", you are going to add time. Almost any time you are going to try and get healthier by making your own snacks, you are going to add time. If you want to SAVE time by buying healthier snacks, you are going to pay more. So my method: Trick #1: I choose to eat plain, unprocessed foods. Trick #2: When possible, buy in bulk (I buy carrots in the 2lb bag).
If you are living a life right now of unhealthy processed food and want to get to less processed food, I think it's useful to try and do it slowly.
As much as I'd love to make my own crackers, it just isn't happening. So I buy a box of crackers now and then, and I buy a tub of hummus and a 2lb bag of carrots every week.
I peel and cut my own carrot sticks. And MOST of my snacks are carrots and hummus, plain yogurt and fruit, nuts, and plain fruit. I'd LOVE to eat fruit salad...kiwi, pineapple, strawberries. You know what I do eat? Apples, bananas, and tangerines from my tree. Frozen mango or blueberries in my yogurt.
The advantage to this is that it's REALLY easy to throw 3 pieces of fruit into my bag in the morning. Yeah, it's a bit more work to make carrot sticks out of a pound of carrots (which doesn't even last two days). But they taste better than baby carrots.
I'd also LOVE to eat composed salads of many ingredients. What do I actually eat? Lettuce, olive oil, vinegar, and whatever else is around (olives, cheese, fruit, nuts).
I'd LOVE to shop around for the best price on quality produce...broccoli when it goes on sale for $1 a pound, asparagus for $2 a pound. What do I really eat? The pre-cut broccoli florets from Trader Joe's at $2.29 for 12 ounces. I microwave for a few minutes, and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Weekends are spent making a bunch of big meals (from scratch, and from the CSA produce). Weekdays, when we run out of produce, it's on to the frozen vegetables and whatever I pre-made over the weekend.
I COULD be eating more frugally. I COULD be eating more healthfully. I COULD be eating more simply. But I have to balance the three. My husband teases me that sometimes I seem to be trying to eat local, organic, on a budget, and all from scratch...well, I DID try to do that before baby #2 came along. NOW, I don't even bother. I've given in at breakfast with the boxed cereal, but I am now sticking to fruit and vegetables and nuts for snacks.
I think that there's a give and take among all three.
I want to eat healthfully. I read blogs such as "100 Days of Real Food" and "Clean Eating". I try my best to feed my family healthy food. I am inspired by the homemade, frugal, and healthy foods you find on "Penniless Parenting" and "The Prudent Homemaker".
But here's a little tidbit (which comes to no surprise to most of you): I have a job. And two kids. And I'm breastfeeding (which means I spend a HUGE part of the day with a baby or machine attached, not to mention the time spent washing and sterilizing bottles and pump parts. Can I say - I am SOOOO over it.)
I really would love to go "cold turkey" on the processed food. But that can take a lot of effort and time...that I don't have. However, I *do* try to minimize it. The tricks I have to do this are pretty simple:
1. Change WHAT you eat
2. Change HOW you shop
Let's go through a few examples.
Example #1: Breakfast
Option 1: Homemade oatmeal. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: good. Time factor: medium.
Option 2: Homemade bread. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: good (depends on what you put on it). Time factor: higher than oatmeal, because you have to make the bread and it needs toppings.
The toppings can make or break you here: butter, homemade jam, peanut butter, almond butter, cheese, eggs.
Option 3: Homemade granola. Frugal factor: medium (it's the nuts). Health factor: medium (depends on what you put on it). Time factor: medium (you have to make it).
Option 4: Cold cereal. Frugal factor: medium to low. Health factor (varies). Time factor: great.
Lately, I've been going with option #4. We eat Kellogg's Raisin Bran and buy it at the big box store. We get 4 lb for about $9 and it lasts two weeks. That means that breakfast for the adults costs $18 every 4 weeks, plus the cost of milk (which is about 12 oz per day). It's processed. But you know...it's easy and not too bad for you. The ingredients list is rather small. So trick #1: I choose a cereal that has fewer ingredients and #2 I buy it in bulk.
Example #2: Snacks
Option #1: Salty snacks: pretzels, crackers, chips. Buy them. Frugal factor: poor. Health factor: poor. Time factor: great.
Option #2: Salty snacks: make your own. Frugal factor: great. Health factor: bad to good, depending on what you put in them. Time factor: poor. I keep thinking about trying to make my own crackers. I just...don't.
Option #3: Salty snacks: eat nuts. And, low salt or no salt if you can. You still get the crunch.
Option #4: Salty snacks: eat baby carrots and storebought hummus.
Option #5: Make your own hummus and make carrot sticks.
Option #6: Sweet snack: Buy yogurt cups - expensive and they usually have sugar
Option #7: Sweet snack: Buy big tubs of yogurt (plain) and add fruit - healthier but a little bit more labor intensive
Option #8: Sweet snack: Make you own yogurt - much cheaper but a lot more work.
Almost any time you are going to try and save money by "making your own", you are going to add time. Almost any time you are going to try and get healthier by making your own snacks, you are going to add time. If you want to SAVE time by buying healthier snacks, you are going to pay more. So my method: Trick #1: I choose to eat plain, unprocessed foods. Trick #2: When possible, buy in bulk (I buy carrots in the 2lb bag).
If you are living a life right now of unhealthy processed food and want to get to less processed food, I think it's useful to try and do it slowly.
As much as I'd love to make my own crackers, it just isn't happening. So I buy a box of crackers now and then, and I buy a tub of hummus and a 2lb bag of carrots every week.
I peel and cut my own carrot sticks. And MOST of my snacks are carrots and hummus, plain yogurt and fruit, nuts, and plain fruit. I'd LOVE to eat fruit salad...kiwi, pineapple, strawberries. You know what I do eat? Apples, bananas, and tangerines from my tree. Frozen mango or blueberries in my yogurt.
The advantage to this is that it's REALLY easy to throw 3 pieces of fruit into my bag in the morning. Yeah, it's a bit more work to make carrot sticks out of a pound of carrots (which doesn't even last two days). But they taste better than baby carrots.
I'd also LOVE to eat composed salads of many ingredients. What do I actually eat? Lettuce, olive oil, vinegar, and whatever else is around (olives, cheese, fruit, nuts).
I'd LOVE to shop around for the best price on quality produce...broccoli when it goes on sale for $1 a pound, asparagus for $2 a pound. What do I really eat? The pre-cut broccoli florets from Trader Joe's at $2.29 for 12 ounces. I microwave for a few minutes, and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Weekends are spent making a bunch of big meals (from scratch, and from the CSA produce). Weekdays, when we run out of produce, it's on to the frozen vegetables and whatever I pre-made over the weekend.
I COULD be eating more frugally. I COULD be eating more healthfully. I COULD be eating more simply. But I have to balance the three. My husband teases me that sometimes I seem to be trying to eat local, organic, on a budget, and all from scratch...well, I DID try to do that before baby #2 came along. NOW, I don't even bother. I've given in at breakfast with the boxed cereal, but I am now sticking to fruit and vegetables and nuts for snacks.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Another beautiful weekend
Don't hate me, it was in the 80s this weekend.
I'm really getting into this whole "weekend cooking prep" thing. However, I'm not really getting into the "taking pictures of my food" thing. Not that my photos were any great shakes when I did remember. We've been busy child-proofing, since the baby can now get places pretty fast with his army crawl. Bedroom and bathroom doors stay closed, need to pull out the baby gates.
We even went out for our first real family dinner out. It was fun! We'd been at the park and I didn't feel like making my preplanned dinner. However, we barely survived the aftermath. Baby was up too late, his meal times were off...he woke at 12:30 am. Then I was up for 1.5 hours afterwards (he wasn't, I just have insomnia...) And he woke again at 5 am. So...a 3 hour stretch of sleep...not so good. Ah well, I'll survive.
We ate at California Pizza Kitchen. I have a love affair with their Moroccan Chicken Salad. And hummus. I'm striving to eat more Mediterranean these days...with the recent heart disease results. I have a great cookbook (written by a friend of mine).
Thus, this week's menu does resemble Mediterranean...trying to get more fish.
Tilapia with lemon and olive oil and capers
Roasted vegetables (onion, fennel, asparagus, beets, romanesco)
Mediterranean chickpeas and rice
Salad
Hummus and carrots
That's about it. I'm sure I'll be thoroughly sick of all of it by the weekend!
I'm really getting into this whole "weekend cooking prep" thing. However, I'm not really getting into the "taking pictures of my food" thing. Not that my photos were any great shakes when I did remember. We've been busy child-proofing, since the baby can now get places pretty fast with his army crawl. Bedroom and bathroom doors stay closed, need to pull out the baby gates.
We even went out for our first real family dinner out. It was fun! We'd been at the park and I didn't feel like making my preplanned dinner. However, we barely survived the aftermath. Baby was up too late, his meal times were off...he woke at 12:30 am. Then I was up for 1.5 hours afterwards (he wasn't, I just have insomnia...) And he woke again at 5 am. So...a 3 hour stretch of sleep...not so good. Ah well, I'll survive.
We ate at California Pizza Kitchen. I have a love affair with their Moroccan Chicken Salad. And hummus. I'm striving to eat more Mediterranean these days...with the recent heart disease results. I have a great cookbook (written by a friend of mine).
Thus, this week's menu does resemble Mediterranean...trying to get more fish.
Tilapia with lemon and olive oil and capers
Roasted vegetables (onion, fennel, asparagus, beets, romanesco)
Mediterranean chickpeas and rice
Salad
Hummus and carrots
That's about it. I'm sure I'll be thoroughly sick of all of it by the weekend!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The Weekend Cooking Extravaganza
It's another Saturday, time to cook and prep for the week. The sad thing about my cooking plans is that I generally don't have time to make a menu plan until Saturday. It's a bit sad because there are three great grocery stores (Fresh and Easy, Trader Joe's, Smart and Final) very close to my baby's daycare. And I rarely have my grocery list made up in time to go after work. That would be best...stop at one on Weds, one on Thurs, one on Fri. No shopping or extra driving on Sat.
I did get 2 of the 3 done yesterday, but that's only because I had been randomly planning my meals in my head in the car. So at least I am able to do that.
How did I plan my meals? Well, this last week I ate a LOT of pasta with chicken and vegetables, and a ton of rice and lentils (that stuff was AWESOME), so you know that neither will be on this week's menu. It has been a LONG time since I've made pizza. So, I decided to make pizza. The next thing I do is look at our CSA for the week. The hubby picks that up now, so I have to make an extra special effort to see what we got. We have butternut squash, so soup is on the menu too. And Kalli has been posting delicious meals with sweet potatoes on Facebook, so I have to go buy some. Also, turkey breast was on sale, so it's turkey sandwiches for lunch this week.
Here's a summary of what I'm cooking this weekend:
Vanilla Chai scones (just add water...)
Crockpot refried beans from 100 days of real food (for burritos at dinner a few nights)
Pizza! (Saturday night will be tomato-based sauce, Sunday will be CSA-parsley-pesto)
Butternut squash soup with ginger (the very first post I ever did on this blog)
Crockpot tri-tip (for burritos)
The rest of the CSA food includes carrots (for carrot sticks and hummus at lunch), lettuce (salad), kale (kale chips because my friend hasn't sent me the quinoa/kale salad recipe yet), spicy greens (salad, and maybe on our turkey sandwiches for lunch).
I did get 2 of the 3 done yesterday, but that's only because I had been randomly planning my meals in my head in the car. So at least I am able to do that.
How did I plan my meals? Well, this last week I ate a LOT of pasta with chicken and vegetables, and a ton of rice and lentils (that stuff was AWESOME), so you know that neither will be on this week's menu. It has been a LONG time since I've made pizza. So, I decided to make pizza. The next thing I do is look at our CSA for the week. The hubby picks that up now, so I have to make an extra special effort to see what we got. We have butternut squash, so soup is on the menu too. And Kalli has been posting delicious meals with sweet potatoes on Facebook, so I have to go buy some. Also, turkey breast was on sale, so it's turkey sandwiches for lunch this week.
Here's a summary of what I'm cooking this weekend:
Vanilla Chai scones (just add water...)
Crockpot refried beans from 100 days of real food (for burritos at dinner a few nights)
Pizza! (Saturday night will be tomato-based sauce, Sunday will be CSA-parsley-pesto)
Butternut squash soup with ginger (the very first post I ever did on this blog)
Crockpot tri-tip (for burritos)
The rest of the CSA food includes carrots (for carrot sticks and hummus at lunch), lettuce (salad), kale (kale chips because my friend hasn't sent me the quinoa/kale salad recipe yet), spicy greens (salad, and maybe on our turkey sandwiches for lunch).
Monday, February 18, 2013
Carbolicious and Vegetarian
Well the main cooking meals this weekend were heavy on the carbs and greens and light on the meat.
I did a short inventory of my fridge, freezer, and pantry and decided to start cooking from it.
Saturday night we had greens...I used the spinach, beet greens, and dandilion greens from our CSA and made spaghetti with the greens, lots of garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and feta. On the side: roasted carrots, beets, broccoli, and baby fennel. The spaghetti was supposed to be whole wheat, but I sent the hubby and he probably didn't know what "ww spaghetti" was.
We had the same on Sunday with kale chips on the side.
On Sunday I cooked up lunches for the week. Spouse had today off with the kids and is headed to Boston for two days (brr...we don't own winter clothing anymore). I was looking for a way to use my lentils, so I made Arabic lentils and rice. It was amazingly easy. You serve it with browned onions on top (sorry Biz!) I also sauteed up a ton of diced carrots (okay, maybe only 1.5 lbs). I have already portioned out the rice, lentils, onions, and carrots into individual containers. Half in the fridge, half frozen. I am putting Chobani Greek yogurt (plain) on top. Delish!
I did a short inventory of my fridge, freezer, and pantry and decided to start cooking from it.
Saturday night we had greens...I used the spinach, beet greens, and dandilion greens from our CSA and made spaghetti with the greens, lots of garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and feta. On the side: roasted carrots, beets, broccoli, and baby fennel. The spaghetti was supposed to be whole wheat, but I sent the hubby and he probably didn't know what "ww spaghetti" was.
We had the same on Sunday with kale chips on the side.
On Sunday I cooked up lunches for the week. Spouse had today off with the kids and is headed to Boston for two days (brr...we don't own winter clothing anymore). I was looking for a way to use my lentils, so I made Arabic lentils and rice. It was amazingly easy. You serve it with browned onions on top (sorry Biz!) I also sauteed up a ton of diced carrots (okay, maybe only 1.5 lbs). I have already portioned out the rice, lentils, onions, and carrots into individual containers. Half in the fridge, half frozen. I am putting Chobani Greek yogurt (plain) on top. Delish!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The week's meal plan - with links!
Well, as it so happens, we ate lots of delicious meals this week. And I didn't take pictures of any of it. I know if you visit my blog, though, you certainly don't do it for my photographic skills. Yep, I spent my time taking pictures of my adorable 7 month old.
Yeah, I need to repaint the toenails.
So, here's what's on the menu this coming week. This CSA started up again, so that means a ton of work.
Saturday: fish and pea curry, brown rice, and carrot ginger soup from this book
Sunday: baked lemon chicken and chickpeas and spinach from this book (I used chard, fava leaves, and spinach from the CSA)
Monday: leftover chicken and chickpeas
Tuesday: chicken fingers and roasted beets
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: leftover carrot ginger soup and pasta with last week's meatballs
Lunches: bean burritos with crockpot refried beans from 100 Days of Real Food.
I also washed lettuce and spicy greens, washed 2 bunches of radishes, washed blueberries. Still have to make carrot sticks for lunches.
The only CSA veggie work to do the rest of the week is roast the beets with some carrots on Tuesday.
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