This is actually the first official day but last night I made dinner using the normal portion quantities and had a pleasant surprise. Thought I'd share. A little back story first...
I don't waste much, especially food, and I plan things out to use things up. Last week I bought 2 turkey thighs in a package for $5.53, threw them in the crockpot with 1 med-lg size potato and 2 carrots cut into chunks, onion and crushed garlic. Out of that I got 4 dinners, 1 taco and had meat left over that inspired dinner last night.
The left over turkey and the congealed juice left in the bowl with it was miraculously turned into turkey & dressing for one. I sauteed a little onion & 2 skinny hearts of celery in a dash of olive oil and a smidgen of bacon dripping (for added depth of flavor). Reading labels is required and I found out 1 cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of dry stuffing mix is a serving of each.
Now, I was dismayed by the 1/2 cup info because I was hungry and this seemed inadequate to my tummy.
Once the veggies were semi-tender (I do not like soggy veggies & prefer a bit of crunch to my food) I made room in the center of the little skillet and put some poultry seasoning and 2 dashes of crushed red chilies in the bottom of the hot pan to 'bloom' the flavors. This literally takes only a couple of seconds! Next went in the chicken stock and the chopped turkey. Once it was heated thru, I added the stuffing mix, stirred it in and turned off the heat. ...If I had not been starving I would have taken a few minutes to bake this in the toaster oven for texture sake and next time I will...
Meanwhile, I heated 1/2 cup of mixed greens in the microwave. This, too, seemed inadequate when reading.
I served the turkey and dressing with greens on my plate. I was wildly surprised by how much food that turned out to be! My tummy was, too. It was far more than adequate, it was very filling. And tasty! YES, if I had made more, I would eaten more because my mouth was begging for it even tho my tummy was saying NO!
So, just sharing the need to keep an open mind and stick with discipline. It was my 'thinking' which said that was not going to be enough and my 'habits' of indulging my mouth that made me want to eat more than I should.
A couple of side notes:
The crushed red chilies served two purposes. Added a tiny dash of heat and interest but the main thing is that it wakes up your taste buds and allows you to more fully enjoy the depth of flavors of your food.
Second, remember to keep your receipts from the grocery store to help build you data base on the cost of food per serving. I have started a log in a spiral notebook and will build on it for future reference.
Food cost per serving....
Stuffing mix..........less than 10 cents
Mixed greens.....................23 cents
Turkey..........................$1.00 appx
Chicken stock...................33 cents
Total meal cost..........$1.66
I'm taking a field trip to HEB today to get the cost of foods I have on hand so I can keep track of what it is each meal costs. Don't you wish your life was this exciting!!!! PLEASE!! LOL
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Friday, July 4, 2014
Let the Frugal Adventure Begin!
So here we are!
When I wrote the last post of Food Tweaked a Bit, life was very different for me. I am now a single-again woman living in the Austin area in a tiny but lovely apartment. Life is neither better nor worse but it is different. Adjustments happen as they come up.
Apparently, I am just weird enough to think outside of the box in advance of needing to live outside the box. While still at Hacienda, I decided to see if I could live in one room, make my footprint smaller, see just how much I could downsize...I moved microwave, counter-top oven, TV and the other necessities (coffee pot!) into the back bedroom. I ate, slept, worked, cooked and was entertained in the one room. It IS do-able. It's amazing just how little you actually NEED rather than that you think you need. I basically was in training for my baby apt! My apt isn't one room but it is small and I love it.
Another past outside the box experiment of mine was to live on a food budget of $5 a day. It, too, is do-able. Takes a lot of creativity, self-discipline and a complete change of mindset but once you get geared to the mentality, it isn't so bad at all. Did I mention self-discipline? Eating habits are just that ...habits. For me, portion control has always been the problem. I eat well, mostly healthy and yet I am about 20 pounds over where I want to be and should be for my height and bone structure. Stinkin' portion control issues!! LOL
This being the case, I must also adjust my mentality to eating normal portion sizes rather than what we consider to be normal. If I am going to be doing the $5 a day food budget, I might as well use the same opportunities to get more healthy by losing the weight I need to shed at the same time!
Today I went to the grocery store to prepare. My past experience in meal planning on $5 a day was most beneficial because I have enough knowledge base to stock my pantry and fridge for this first run. I spent $42.00 today. Now, it isn't as simple as saying you divide the 42 dollars by 5 and say you have 8 days worth of food.
For example, if I'm a good girl and stick to normal portion sizes, the $1.36 I spent on a box of Old Fashioned Oatmeal will produce 13 servings at 11 cents each. The $6.44 for the bag of fish fillets will give me 5 different fish meals @ $1.29 each. You just have to do the math and plan ahead. It's not hard.
Sample Menu.....
Oatmeal....... 11 cents
Toast............12.5 cents
coffee...........72 cents a pot, bye-bye Starbucks!
Fettuccine.........16 cents
Alfredo Sauce ...22 cents
Fish fillet.........$1.29
Roasted Yellow Squash....52 cents
Glass cold water...Free
Apple/Ginger/Carrot Soup....75 cents
Garlic Toast......................12.5 cents
Sliced vine ripened tomato...56 cents
Glass cold water...Free
Raw Almonds snack.....44 cents
Total Food Cost for day....$4.92
All these costs are based on standard servings for one person. This is where the disciple comes in. ONLY eating a single portion size of whatever to maintain the cost and the impact on my weight. Also, for me, I have found that cooking only a single serving size helps. If I cook more, it is tempting to eat more. Fill your plate and walk out of the kitchen. I use my nice dishes, cloth napkins and cut crystal glasses every day. It makes the meal nicer to me. I may eat alone most of the time but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be enjoyable.
That's it, the intro to my $5 a day journey. Stay tuned and let me hear form you!
When I wrote the last post of Food Tweaked a Bit, life was very different for me. I am now a single-again woman living in the Austin area in a tiny but lovely apartment. Life is neither better nor worse but it is different. Adjustments happen as they come up.
Apparently, I am just weird enough to think outside of the box in advance of needing to live outside the box. While still at Hacienda, I decided to see if I could live in one room, make my footprint smaller, see just how much I could downsize...I moved microwave, counter-top oven, TV and the other necessities (coffee pot!) into the back bedroom. I ate, slept, worked, cooked and was entertained in the one room. It IS do-able. It's amazing just how little you actually NEED rather than that you think you need. I basically was in training for my baby apt! My apt isn't one room but it is small and I love it.
Another past outside the box experiment of mine was to live on a food budget of $5 a day. It, too, is do-able. Takes a lot of creativity, self-discipline and a complete change of mindset but once you get geared to the mentality, it isn't so bad at all. Did I mention self-discipline? Eating habits are just that ...habits. For me, portion control has always been the problem. I eat well, mostly healthy and yet I am about 20 pounds over where I want to be and should be for my height and bone structure. Stinkin' portion control issues!! LOL
This being the case, I must also adjust my mentality to eating normal portion sizes rather than what we consider to be normal. If I am going to be doing the $5 a day food budget, I might as well use the same opportunities to get more healthy by losing the weight I need to shed at the same time!
Today I went to the grocery store to prepare. My past experience in meal planning on $5 a day was most beneficial because I have enough knowledge base to stock my pantry and fridge for this first run. I spent $42.00 today. Now, it isn't as simple as saying you divide the 42 dollars by 5 and say you have 8 days worth of food.
For example, if I'm a good girl and stick to normal portion sizes, the $1.36 I spent on a box of Old Fashioned Oatmeal will produce 13 servings at 11 cents each. The $6.44 for the bag of fish fillets will give me 5 different fish meals @ $1.29 each. You just have to do the math and plan ahead. It's not hard.
Sample Menu.....
Oatmeal....... 11 cents
Toast............12.5 cents
coffee...........72 cents a pot, bye-bye Starbucks!
Fettuccine.........16 cents
Alfredo Sauce ...22 cents
Fish fillet.........$1.29
Roasted Yellow Squash....52 cents
Glass cold water...Free
Apple/Ginger/Carrot Soup....75 cents
Garlic Toast......................12.5 cents
Sliced vine ripened tomato...56 cents
Glass cold water...Free
Raw Almonds snack.....44 cents
Total Food Cost for day....$4.92
All these costs are based on standard servings for one person. This is where the disciple comes in. ONLY eating a single portion size of whatever to maintain the cost and the impact on my weight. Also, for me, I have found that cooking only a single serving size helps. If I cook more, it is tempting to eat more. Fill your plate and walk out of the kitchen. I use my nice dishes, cloth napkins and cut crystal glasses every day. It makes the meal nicer to me. I may eat alone most of the time but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be enjoyable.
That's it, the intro to my $5 a day journey. Stay tuned and let me hear form you!
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