Breaking the Bank?

One thing I’m still trying to figure out is how to eat healthy without breaking the bank or my back! LOL

I’ve spent a small fortune on groceries this month plus I made a few big purchases including a water filter because you can’t use chlorinated water for kefir and I also splurged and bought a VitaMix. 

The VitaMix is an amazing invention that allows you to process your own foods to maintain freshness, whole nutrients and no worries about preservatives.  I can make my own almond, peanut or any nut butter, ice-cream, smoothies & coffee drinks (this is actually the same machine Smoothie King and Starbucks use). I’m super excited about all the possibilities.  My sister has had one for 14 years and loves it!  However it wasn’t a cheap investment.  I was lucky enough to find a used one that was in a coffee house that went out of business, however I’ve discovered there’s always a cost and to do may of the foods I want to do I need to purchase more accessories…

Oh, I can also can make my own flour…did you know processed white flour has already lost 88% of it’s nutrients by the time you buy it?

Check out the Great Grain Robbery: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+great+grain+robbery:+the+whiter+the+bread,+the+quicker+you're+dead-a0133411456

So, as usual I’ve got big ideas but implementing them is never as easy as one would think.

I went through my bank account and couldn’t believe the $ spent at Sprouts, Central Market plus grocery stores…so how do we eat healthy and not break the bank?

I think one of the most important things would be making a menu and grocery list so you know exactly what you need and how much…this requires time! I usually keep an ongoing list on my desk through the week of menu ideas and ingredients or at least take some time before heading out the door to really think about what I need.

The beginning was the hardest trying new things and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. What we’ll eat and how much of everything we really need.  It’s definitely a work in progress but I think I’m getting to a point where we have figured out what we actually need. I’ve been doing as much shopping as possible at Aldi, they have the best milk prices in town and carry a decent selection of veggies.

We also started a little garden, herbs and a few veggies.  Maybe next year we will be able to grow more of our own vegetables.

And of course the time and energy spent…it was great fun to begin with but now it’s become work LOL! I do envy stay at home mom’s that can be at home to implement these things into their days.  But for those of us that work it can be a bit harder.  I’m trying to get up earlier in the morning and use my crock pot probably 4 or 5 times a week.  At least now we have some tried and true recipes that I know the family likes.  It just takes some planning which is not my strong point but I think we are getting there.

Here are a few of my more reasonably priced healthy meals.  Hope you enjoy them as much as we have.  Have a great day!

Beef & Barley Stew

1-2 lbs of stew meat (seared to keep in the yumminess)

¾ cup of barley

1 bag of frozen corn

1 bag of frozen green beans (or any veggie)

1 can of all natural tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

Garlic & onion powder to flavor

6 cups of water (I use half water half broth to add extra flavor)

Brown the meat in a few tablespoons of olive oil to sear in the flavor.

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cook for 8 hours on low.

The nice thing about this recipe is you can change it up to make something different each week – add carrots, rotel, different frozen veggies, use ground meat, turkey, chicken…pretty much anything you can imagine. You could probably play with the base and rather than tomato maybe milk for a creamy stew?? I might try a creamy chicken stew next week...
It has become a family fav!

Cabbage Roll Casserole

(There are no rolls in this recipe but its easy and tastes just like cabbage rolls without all the prep)

1 head of cabbage

1-2 lbs of ground meat (I use turkey)

1 med onion chopped

1 cup of rice or barley (uncooked)

1 can of all natural tomato sauce

1 1/2 - 2 cups of water or broth (all natural)

Onion & garlic powder, seasoning salt to taste

I roughly chop the cabbage head into large pieces. 

Brown the meat with the onion and some seasoning (salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder).

Layer ½ the cabbage in the bottom of the crock pot, ½ the meat add remaining ingredients and top with the remaining meat and cabbage add a little seasoning with each layer.

Cook on low for 6 hours.