Payday & The New Plan

A word to the wise... don't update your blog while you have a squirmy baby on your lap. I just spent the last 20 minutes typing out my new awesome plan as well as an update of how this last month went when my cute little Marsa deleted everything I had written with one quick keystroke.. still not sure what she pushed. To my horror... "Draft saved" immediately after her clever little trick. Arrgh! Ah well, here we go again... (This time I’m typing it out on Word first.. Copy & Paste for the win!)


Today is payday and overall I think we did pretty good this last month. With our $250 budget we were able to eat well (too well!) and my freezer and pantry are more full than when I started. My refrigerator as usual is not. We've been out of milk for almost a week which is no big deal since the boys have been camping and the girls and I enjoy rice milk anyway. We've also been out of lettuce (sort of) but I've been growing sprouts for a substitute. (I actually have loads of lettuce in the garden, but it's infested with tiny little green bugs. They haven't damaged the lettuce {yet} but I hate hate hate bugs and I'm not willing to spend an hour washing, washing, washing & RE-washing lettuce for a salad. I know.. Pathetic.. But we have been enjoying peas, carrots, and spinach from the garden.) I was able to add to our long-term storage and I even have several dinners, breakfasts and snacks in the freezer for next month that we didn’t end up using.

The Plan:

So I’ve decided to continue my silly little blog this month, but with some changes. First off, the time limitations are GONE. I’ll admit it’s been tough limiting my cooking hours. Tough, but do-able. I kept track of my cooking time and found that I spent about the same amount of time cooking last month as I usually do- which is about 1-2 hours per day. Not too bad, but I really like doing my cooking in the morning versus night. Also, I’ll be dipping into my food storage this month. This will allow me to demonstrate my normal cooking and shopping. I’ll still be adding to my food storage as well of course. And lastly… Remember how I said we’ve been eating too well? Well, turns out I’ve been having so much fun baking and taking pictures of food … and eating it… that I gained FOUR pounds last month. Which doesn’t help when I’m still trying to lose the baby weight... from my last two kids... (Yes, I realize that’s not a valid excuse anymore, but that’s not going to stop me from using it!) So lastly, next month you are all going to join me on my diet.

The diet:

I've sorted through my recipes and am choosing out the most healthy and delicious ones possible for next month's menu. It's a bit of a challenge because, as it turns out, I really like sugar. And butter. And cheese. And chocolate... ok moving on! I'm going to try to eat more fresh vegetables and more whole grains. For the first couple of weeks I will try to cut out sugars, etc. And just so you know- I really hate dieting. So expect me to try to dress things up as much as possible. Celery is just not as photogenic as cinnamon rolls... so there may be less pictures! So for now, here are some of my favorite "diet" recipes that I'll probably try this month.

Dinner: Chicken & Snow Pea Stir-fry, Blackened Salmon, Chicken Burritos, Chicken Curry, Hawaiian Chicken Kebabs, Turkey Burgers, Veggie Burgers, Oriental Bbq Chicken, Poached Chicken, Fajitas, Turkey Meatloaf
Lunch:  Roast Beef Reuben Sandwiches, Tuna Salad, Protein Berry Smoothies, Turkey Sandwich w/sprouts, Turkey & avocado Wrap, Chicken Pita, Turkey & hummus pita, Chicken Salad
Breakfast: Granola, Berry Smoothie, Multigrain Waffles/Pancakes, Turkey sausage, Egg white omelets, Cottage cheese and fruit
Snacks: Baked chips with Mock Guac, Celery with peanut butter, Smoothies, Almonds, Frozen Yogurt, Pita Chips and salsa

I haven't made my shopping list yet, but most likely the bulk of my budget this month will be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. I usually spend a big chunk of my budget on dairy which hopefully I'll be able to cut. That'll be tough.. I LOVE cheese! I wish I were more enthusiastic about this... but I really do hate dieting and I'm not very good at it (obviously!). So any hints, tips and/or recipes would be VERY welcome. You can email me at mikeandsheryl@q.com or just leave me a comment! :)