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How My Grocery Cart Looked After a Week of Travel (And is Price-Matching Going Away?)

June 12, 2016 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Our family just rolled into town (at 1:30 this morning!) after a long but quick trip to Arkansas for a family reunion. We get together once every two years – and this year we celebrated our Nana’s 90th birthday! Look at this beautiful lady:

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There were aunts and uncles and cousins (and even a doggie), food, and games all weekend. We all had lots of catching up to do!

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We made it home just in time to do several loads of laundry, then send the teenage boys off to their first church camp of the summer. This leads me to my grocery shopping dilemma:

  1. We were all starving for fresh fruits and veggies after a road trip.
  2. Most of the boys will be gone all week.

I do not even know how to grocery shop for three people.

I am so used to buying half the store for my family every week that when I only have to buy for a few, I feel lost. I settled on “only” 8 pounds of strawberries, 4 pints of blueberries, 4 containers of raspberries, and only 1 watermelon and 1 pineapple. I got a bunch of mixed greens, carrots, peppers, nectarines, and peaches. I’m quite sure I bought more than 3 of us can eat. But after a week of travel food, we’ve been feasting on berries and greens all day – so maybe we’ll finish it off without a problem.

reunion1

We’re also joining with friends to take a meal to our local mission tonight, so some of this fruit is going there. :)

Have you heard anything about Wal-mart taking away Price-Matching in your area?

I’ve caught wind of a new policy rolling out for Walmart in which they will no longer offer a price-match guarantee. Boo-hoo. Some stores are already affected by this, though thankfully, my store still price-matches – at least for now.

I can’t find any official information on which stores are taking away their price-matching perk. What have you learned about this?

I’ve become quite spoiled by price-matching, so to think we might not get to anymore is quite a bummer! We’ll see how it plays out, and if I hear any more, I’ll keep you posted!

With that, I’m off to enjoy some more berries and glasses of water to counteract the french fries I ate on the road last night. :)

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Twelve More Pounds of Strawberries and a Whole Lotta Green Food

March 8, 2016 by Laura 18 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It wasn’t very long ago that our family didn’t go through many fruits and veggies in a week. Even during the first few years of our real food journey when I was learning more about nutrition, I never made fruits and veggies a big part of our meals.

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Slowly but surely, we’ve added more variety of produce to our diet. Gradually, we’ve noticed our bodies crave more and more fresh food. It’s pretty fun actually! (Don’t be thinking we’re all that though because we also still like chips. Meh.)

I love strawberries

I’ve probably already been pretty clear about how excited our family is that it’s strawberry season again! We recently went through 16 pounds of them in less than a week because they were in our house for the first time in months and we could not stop. As we ate the last few berries from that stash, we all started freaking out about being back down to zero strawberries again. (I exaggerate. No one was actually freaking out. Not even me. I was perfectly calm. Who even cares about strawberries?)

The next day, I went to the store with a plan to price-match a good deal on strawberries. While there, I found that the store had two-pound containers at a better deal than the one-pound price-match. I only put 6 containers in my cart because I’m nice and wanted to leave some berries for the other customers. Twelve pounds of strawberries ought to hold us for a few days, I think.

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I’ve officially decided this is my favorite time of year to buy food. Oodles of goodness is starting to become available again at good prices. Not only did I get a cart full of strawberries, I also got pears, avocados, asparagus, mixed greens, cantaloupe, and spinach. You’ll see in the picture that I also got cream and cottage cheese. The cream is for the berries and the cottage cheese is going to taste marvelous with the fresh pineapple I got last week.

The post without a point

I would appear that I’m just rambling here, showing you all my berries and other fresh produce. What am I actually trying to say?

  1. Buy fresh produce!
  2. Eat fresh produce!
  3. Have fun trying new fresh produce items.
  4. Challenge yourself to enjoy more fresh produce than you might typically eat each day.
  5. I love strawberries.

If you aren’t eating many fruits and vegetables, you aren’t fueling your body with enough nourishment. Period. I care about this so much that if you came to my house, I would actually share my strawberries with you. Now that is a true friend.

Don’t just nod and smile and walk away. It’s time to commit. Leave a comment here telling us about some of your favorite fruits and vegetables, and let us know what you’re going to buy at the store next time you go. Increase the fruits and veggies, friends! Let’s do this!

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“We eat a lot of veggies because they’re cheap” – A Young Bride’s Perspective

February 22, 2016 by Laura 5 Comments

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Veggies are cheap? How’s that for a young bride’s perspective?

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She said it as she sat in our living room beside her fiance. Matt and I have been meeting with them once a week since November, offering mentor-ship and guidance before they tie the knot in March.

This particular visit, we were discussing finances. Were they on the same page about spending and saving? Did they have any questions about necessary line items in a budget? Did they plan to have joint accounts? How did they plan to communicate about spending? How might they handle potentially lean times? What challenges had they already encountered? What might offer the most financial peace in their marriage?

Somewhere in there, one of them brought up grocery shopping. They already cook many of their evening meals together, either at her apartment or his – so beyond paying for all the aspects of an upcoming wedding (oy!) they had definitely experienced times of figuring out money and spending and budgeting together in the area of food. Imagine our shock, then, when this young couple offhandedly said, “Whenever we find we’re spending too much money on food, we also recognize we’re eating less healthy, too. So we cut back by buying more vegetables since they’re so cheap. Then we’re saving money and eating better too!”

I guess she hadn’t heard (the myth) that it costs too much to eat healthy. That they needed to skimp on the grocery budget by avoiding the fresh produce. Instead, she’d already figured out the truth:

Vegetables are a great way to stretch the grocery budget and stay healthy too.

This young bride-to-be went on to share that she’s found it easy to buy several different kinds of veggies to make soups and stews and stir-fries for very little money. Certainly this is much cheaper than eating out! But they found that it was also cheaper than shopping most of the aisles in the grocery stores. When they stayed on the outskirts of the grocery store – mostly getting veggies, fruits, meat, and dairy – the savings really showed.

As far as I could tell, this couple hadn’t read this information in any article or book. They’d simply learned by experience. Eat out – spend more, feel worse. Walk the aisles and throw tempting boxes and packages into the cart – spend more, feel worse. Fill the cart with vegetables and a little meat then make homemade meals – spend less, feel better.

I’d say “out of the mouths of babes” but I believe this really is more of a case of “wise beyond their years.”

Great Ways to Save on Fresh Veggies and Fruit at the Store

Gardens, farmer’s markets, and orchards aside – here are the best ways I’ve found to save oodles of money at the store on produce.

1. Comparison shop or price-match.

Last week, a pint of blueberries was marked at $3.54 at Walmart. A store within my price-matching range had them priced at $1.69/pint. Yes, please. I bought four. Twice.

2. Buy “in season.”

When it’s strawberry season, I can get them for $1.50 or less per pound. When it isn’t strawberry season, they look terrible and cost almost $6.00!

3. Consider the staples.

Carrots, onions, cucumbers, and lettuce (different varieties) are almost always low in cost – on sale or not. We keep those on hand at all times and we go through them like crazy. While not fresh – I’ve found that it’s also financially savvy to always have a supply of frozen peas and green beans on hand. I supplement these staples with produce in season and on sale – but I know that if all else fails we have carrots and green beans.

What ways have you found to be most effective to save money on vegetables and fruit? Do you find that buying fruits and vegetables actually helps you save money?

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Menu Plan for the Week and What to do With Beets??

November 9, 2014 by Laura 54 Comments

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You know how dads are supposed to “bring home the bacon?” Well this week, my husband brought home some beets and collard greens. That’s almost the same thing as bacon, right?

Matt’s been working over at a gentleman’s house, painting a shed. As he was leaving Friday, a neighbor handed him an arm full of awesome produce. Awesome – except for beets and collard greens are two veggies our family isn’t very fond of. We’re determined to find creative ways to eat them though as we know they are very good for us. That’s where you come in. A little beet and collard green help please??

After an internet search Friday night, I made smoothies with shredded beets, pineapple, orange juice, avocado, spinach, and strawberries. They were actually pretty tasty, and the beets made them beautiful. I’m not sure my family will go for another round of them though. Tell me what you do with beets and collard greens. :)

In other produce news, I loaded my cart at the store on Saturday so that I’d have plenty to work with for our meals this week. A lady at the check-out was like, “Wow, stocking up?” I’m so used to plowing through loads and loads of food each week, I forget what my cart-fulls must look like to others. I had to tell her, “Nope, I have teenage boys. This is all for just this week.” ;)

Sorry about the picture quality. The sun was shining on our kitchen table (yay sunshine!!), which caused a glare on my plastic containers. Below, if you could see beyond the glare, you would find:  Baby Spinach, Mixed Greens, Petite Carrots, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Romaine Lettuce, Raspberries, Zucchini, Asparagus, Clementines, Cabbage, and Sweet Peppers.

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I’m excited that at least for right now, our Wal-Mart and another small local grocery store in town  are carrying more organic varieties of produce for very reasonable prices. Here are the meals we’ll be eating this week:

Sunday –  Matt teaches a college age Bible class on Sunday mornings, and I try to take home-baked goodies to share with the students. This week I’m taking Apple Crisp. We’re having company after church, so I’m making Chicken Noodle Soup, a plate of Carrots, Sweet Peppers, and Cucumbers, Olives, Dill Pickles, and Butterscotch Bars. Tonight there is a church fellowship, so I’m taking two Apple Pies. (Yes, we still have lots of apples at our house!)

The rest of the week, here’s what we’ll be working with:

Breakfast

  • Bacon Cheese Muffins
  • Blueberry Coffee Cake
  • Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
  • Crepes with fruit and/or Cream Cheese Filling
  • Scrambled Cheesy Eggs
  • Pumpkin Pie (will be a great breakfast since I’ll be cutting down the sugar in this recipe quite a bit)

Lunch

  • Hamburger meat cooked with cabbage and onions, served on a bun
  • Corn Dogs (hoping to make extra to stash in the freezer)
  • Chili with cheese on baked potatoes
  • Chicken Salad
  • Hamburger Sauerkraut Dip with chips
  • Leftovers

Dinner

  • Chicken Pot Pie
  • Cheeseburger Macaroni
  • Flounder (Thanks to you, we tried this last week. It turned out ugly, but delicious!)
  • Italian Pasta Bake
  • Homemade Pizza
  • Salmon Patties with rice

Fruits and Veggie Sides and Snacks

  • Clementines
  • Apples
  • Raspberries
  • Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes (If you haven’t tried these yet, you should. Amazing!)
  • Sweet Potato Fries
  • Roasted Asparagus
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Green Beans
  • Peas
  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Stir fried broccoli, carrots, asparagus, and zucchini
  • Applesauce
  • Homemade Dill Pickles
  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Beets and Collard Greens, apparently  ;)
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How to Store Fruits and Vegetables to Keep Them Fresh

February 18, 2014 by Laura 24 Comments

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We’re in fruit and veggie mode around here. You are too, right? I mean, I’m just assuming that while you’re reading this, you’ve got a slice of pear hanging out of your mouth. That’s what I thought. Okay, let’s continue.

How to Store Produce and Keep it Fresh

As I’m encouraging you to always have a great supply of fruits and vegetables on hand to eat and serve, many of you are asking questions about how to store them to keep them fresh. I’ll share what I do, then everyone leave a comment to share what works best for you, too!

1. Eat them.

First, I want to say that once you fill your cart and get home with loads of fruits and veggies, don’t hold back on eating them. The surest way for produce to go bad is for it to get stuffed into the back corner of the fridge and forgotten. Chow down. Don’t hold back. Ration if you must, but make eating this good stuff a priority.

2. Don’t wash it until you’re ready to eat it.

While there are some exceptions that I’ll share below, this is particularly important with berries and lettuce. As soon as I wash raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries – the countdown to mold and squish begins. I try to only wash what we will eat for that particular meal or snack. If we don’t eat all of the berries I’ve washed, I get them back out for the next meal or snack so that we can finish them off quickly.

Lettuce is best washed and prepared immediately before serving. Don’t want to spend much time making salads before a meal? Do what I do and let everybody tear their own lettuce while fixing a plate for dinner. It’s fun, easy, fresh, and crispy.

3. When you come home from the store with a variety of produce, serve the most delicate fruits and vegetables first.

Apples, oranges, and pears will stay good for several days if not weeks. I always set out our supply of berries, peaches, and grapes first – saving our apples, pineapple, clementines, and the like until later in the week when the rest is gone.

4. The refrigerator is your friend.

While apples, pears, oranges, and kiwi will be fine for a while on the countertop or table, refrigerating them will help them last even longer.

5. However, the top shelf of your refrigerator is your enemy.

Never store produce on the top shelf of your fridge. It gets too cold up there, causing these dainty beauties to freeze and get wilty. The bottom shelf or the crisper drawer works best.

6. Store prepared fruits and veggies in glass so you can see what you have.

There are some vegetables that will store well for a few days if you’d like to prepare them ahead of time (slicing cucumbers, carrots, or peppers; chopping onion or broccoli). But be sure they are dry and air tight. I love storing prepared veggies in glass dishes with tight lids. (These are my favorite.)  That way I can see what I have, know how much I have left, and they stay dry and fresh.

What to do when produce starts to go bad?

1. Eat it quickly.
2. Make it into a fruit salad or tossed salad.
3. Freeze it. Berries, peaches, pineapple, mangos, and bananas can be washed, dried, sliced, and placed directly into a freezer bag for smoothies. Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and green beans need to be blanched first. Read how to blanch vegetables here. It takes two minutes.
4. Make bread. Here are recipes for Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Strawberry Bread, Zucchini Bread, and Apple Bread. If only you could make Broccoli Bread. Eew, just kidding.
5. Scramble it into some eggs. Mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, onions, peppers getting soft? Chop them up and sauté them in butter. Add eggs, scramble, and you’ve got a delicious way to eat veggies.
6. Throw it into soup. Make it into fajitas. Toss it into stir fry.

What are your greatest tips for keeping produce fresh and using it up before it goes bad?

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Fruits and Vegetables – The Ultimate Convenience Foods

July 4, 2012 by Laura 11 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

No time to eat healthy? I beg to differ.

However, I do completely understand the desire to grab a cookie (or three) on the fly, rather than an apple. What is it that draws us to choose the less nutritious treats, instead of simply grabbing a piece of fruit? Yeah, yeah, it’s likely the chocolate and the sugar. I know. The stuff is addicting and it tastes sooo good.

But we’re deceiving ourselves if we think we don’t have time to eat healthy food when ultimately, fruits and vegetables are the easiest, most convenient food items ever. Really. Did you ever stop and think about that?

We all like food that is fast to prepare and easy to eat. We often need to eat on the run or in a short amount of time. Does food get any easier than a banana? It’s pre-packaged for goodness sake! And the list goes on for dozens of delicious, grab and go fruit choices.

Now vegetables – that’s a different story. Often they take a little bit of time to prepare. But how about baby carrots, sugar snap peas, or grape tomatoes for a grab-and-go snack? And really, it just doesn’t take long to throw frozen vegetables into a pot and steam them to accompany your lunch or dinner.

I would say, in my experience, the most time consuming vegetable preparation involves those that I have to clean, peel, and slice…then steam or stir fry. But even that takes a max of about ten or fifteen minutes of brainless work.

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Yes, fruits and vegetables are convenient, easy, delicious, and packed with wonderful nutrients our bodies crave. If you feel that you really don’t have time to eat a healthy diet, I encourage you to at least be intentional about eating several fruits and vegetables each day. You can do it!

~TIP~ Spend a few minutes after you get home from the store washing and preparing your vegetables. Slice, peel, dice, and put in air tight containers in your fridge for easy access all week long. You’ll be amazed at how easy it will be to then add great vegetables to your meals or to grab raw veggies from your fridge for a snack.

This is one of our favorite treats, packed with lots of nutrition –
Strawberry Peach Slushies (with hidden spinach!).
This takes about five minutes to prepare.

What are some of your favorite fruits and vegetables that you like to have on hand?

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Be Intentional about Eating (and Serving) Fruits and Vegetables

May 19, 2011 by Laura 61 Comments

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While we’re in the middle of talking about Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating, I just want to offer a little bit of encouragement and motivation once again in the area of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. I think this is one of the most well known and understood aspects of healthy eating and still one of the most difficult for many people.

If only corn chips or french fries counted as a serving of vegetables. I’m not saying, “don’t ever eat corn chips or french fries”. I’m just saying they don’t offer much in the way of vitamins and other nutrients our bodies need.

We really need a lot of fruits and vegetables. I know this. You know this. (Right? You know this?)

I’ve talked about this here quite a bit, and I tend to bring it up during the times I feel like I myself am in a fruit and veggie rut. Writing this is my little way of kicking myself in the pants (which takes an incredible amount of talent; please feel free to picture me attempting this). I’m also hoping to kick you in the pants (which of course is easier, but not nearly as nice, so please be aware that I am only using that term figuratively, and also you don’t have to worry because I’m not very strong and don’t kick very hard).

All kicking aside, we all need to veggie up. Yes? Do you agree?

farmers_market

So how do we do this? How do we make fruits and vegetables more of a priority? How do we ensure that we are eating enough and feeding our family enough fruits and vegetables?

I’ve thought long and hard and come up with a detailed checklist for us to live by as we focus on eating more fruits and veggies. Are you ready?

  1. Buy fruits and vegetables.
  2. Eat them.
  3. Repeat.

Did you catch all of that? Go back and re-read the list as many times as you need to. Take your time. Let it all soak in.

I think that list sums it up quite well. If we don’t actually purchase fruits and vegetables, they are very hard to eat. Ever noticed that? But don’t just buy them and think they look pretty in your fridge or freezer. You’re going to need to actually eat them if you want them to benefit you the way that they should.

And don’t just serve them to your kids. You need to eat them too. Eating them in front of your kids is highly recommended. Saying lots of things like, “mmm this tastes really good” while you eat them in front of your kids is also a very good idea.

If you don’t really like many fruits or vegetables I’m going to go out on a little limb here and kindly and gently say, “Get over it and eat them anyway”. You’ve got to eat fruits and veggies whether you like them or not. Start with the ones you do like, then keep trying and adding new ones to your diet. I’ve learned to like all kinds of new foods as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve actually given good foods a fair chance. Sure, maybe I like chocolate better than artichokes. I can have chocolate too…I just need to focus on the veggies. I think not eating vegetables because we “don’t like them” is kind of silly, because we are grown-ups, are we not? I’d say “don’t get me started” but I guess I already got myself started. See what happens when I start trying to kick myself in the pants?

Here’s an older post I wrote, the first in the Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating series I’ve been writing, encouraging you to eat more fruits and veggies. You’ll find several ideas to encourage you to eat more of these colorful foods, so I very much encourage you to go read that post. I also want to remind you that eating fruits and vegetables does not have to be expensive and is very worth the money.

Now, let’s chat together and motivate each other to eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables.

My favorites are broccoli, green beans, fresh spinach and other leafy greens, carrots, frozen peas, asparagus, tomatoes, apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe and probably some others I’m forgetting at the moment.

What are your favorites? Do you ever find yourself in a veggie rut? What will help you out of that rut? 

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Investing Money in Good Food

August 24, 2010 by Laura 48 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

simplesteps

As our family was making our way toward a more healthy lifestyle in the beginning stages of our healthy eating journey, one of the biggest obstacles I had to work through in my brain was that I had to actually spend money on groceries. I didn’t like spending money on food. I had figured out ways to use coupons to get almost all of our food practically for free so spending money on food seemed crazy to me. 

I’ve done a complete about-face on that issue now. Not that I don’t work hard to keep our grocery spending low…I do. I work VERY hard as a matter of fact so that our family of six can eat a healthy whole-foods diet on a limited budget. But I’ve changed my way of thinking now about spending money on food. And…I’d like to encourage you to do the same as you make some simple steps toward healthy eating.

I see money spent on food as an investment. I understand now that food is meant to nourish us…not just fill a hole and satisfy hunger. I feel like when I spend money to buy top knotch food, I’m actually investing in a healthy future for my family.

I’d like to challenge your thinking just a little bit if you fall into the category of one who thinks that “you can’t afford to eat healthier”. You may not have much extra in your grocery budget, but that doesn’t mean you have to feed your family unhealthy foods. 

It does mean you may have to work a little harder to find good, whole foods. You may have to change some of your habits. You may have to cut some other unnecessary spending out of your budget. But you don’t get to cop out with excuses about not being able to afford healthy foods. (I know this first hand as our family was barely scraping by a couple of years ago, yet we did not have to compromise the quality of food we ate. We just had to be creative!)

I’ve just about come to the conclusion that eating real food costs less than eating processed food if you go about it the right way. Now, does grass fed beef and free range chicken and raw milk and organic produce generally cost more than the “regular” beef and chicken and milk and produce from the store? Sure. (Although I’ve found many ways to save on those items too which I’ll address later on in this series.)  But just hear me out on this. My boys and I did a little research one day when we were out shopping. Then we came home and did the math. We were shocked at the results we found!

The reason, by the way, that we did this little experiment is because I’m tired of people telling me that fresh produce is too expensive. So instead of giving their kids fruits and vegetables, moms (the ones complaining to me about “expensive” fruits and vegetables) fill them up on “cheaper food” like crackers and fruit snacks. I wanted to see if indeed crackers and fruit snacks were cheaper than fresh produce.

My boys and I went down the snack aisle, writing down prices and ounces of some popular snack items. Then we wrote down prices of some of our favorite fresh fruits like apples, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, oranges, peaches…

The cost for the best in-season produce averages to be around $1.00 to $1.50 per pound (or even much less in many cases). 

But check this out: 

  • The cost for a box of cheese crackers…$3.20/pound (yes, we actually calculated how much the cost was per pound!)
  • The cost for chocolate sandwich cookies with the white filling inside that you lick out and dunk in milk (yeah, you know what I’m talking about)…$3.84/pound
  • The cost for an off brand of fruit snacks…$2.56/pound
  • The cost for a box of granola bars…$4.18/pound

Now, I know this price comparison isn’t apples to apples (literally!). I recognize that you can use coupons to cut the cost of the boxes of snacks. I realize that when you pay for a watermelon, you’re paying for the rind that you cut away, so that part shouldn’t really count when you’re figuring cost per pound. Yes, I realize all of the variables that make this experiment not exact.

But I hope you kind of get the idea that when you break down the cost of processed foods (that do practically nothing to nourish us) compared to the cost of fresh produce (which do quite a bit to actually nourish us)…you aren’t really right on track if you think that buying “cheap” boxes of snacks is saving you money. Produce, if bought in season, is really quite reasonably priced. 

Alrighty…this post is getting long!! I’ll stop there and we can talk more later about all kinds of other things you can do to save money as you switch to a healthier lifestyle. There’s so much to talk about as we break down Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating!

But do give some thought to your mind-set about spending money on food. Are you looking at it in the right way? Are you really saving money when you avoid some of the “more expensive” healthier foods and instead buy “cheaper” food?

And what about the long term effects of not eating healthy now? Will health care costs outweigh what we might be saving in groceries?

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Should I Get a Juicer?

May 28, 2010 by Laura 60 Comments

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My friend Valerie is traveling quite a bit this summer. I miss her already, but while she’s gone…she left a little piece of her behind for us to remember her by. 

Yep, she left us her juicer. Isn’t that exciting? (Well, it’s exciting for me. I’m weird though, remember?)

For the past couple of years, we’ve tossed around the idea of investing in a juicer. Would it help us get more fruits and vegetables in our diets? Would we use it enough to get our money’s worth out of it? Do we want to deal with one more appliance in our kitchen? Is it even good for us, since drinking just the juice of the fruit has the potential to make us overdo our intake of fruit sugar?

So, with Valerie’s juicer in our home for a few weeks, we’re playing around with different yummy combinations of juices. We’re using it to help us decide whether or not we may want a juicer of our own some day.

So far, I’m having a lot of fun with it. I ordered a big 40 pound box of oranges from Azure Standard. Plus, I ordered 25 pounds of juicing carrots. Um, that’s a lot of carrots.

juicer
Here I am, making orange-carrot juice. And yes, I am just about to overflow my glass. 
But check out my fascinating photography ability. 
See that drop of  juice just about to drip off of the spout?
It takes a lot of skill to get a shot like that. Simply amazing. 
(And very, very lucky since actually I am as good at photography as I am at soccer.)

The kids weren’t big on the orange/carrot juice combo. Matt and I liked it just fine though. And, I used the leftover pulp that the juicer caught to make an orange/carrot cake. The results on the cake were so-so. I think I should have run the pulp through my blender first to make it less chunky. It’s all about experimenting. Trial and error.

power_juicer

The juicer we’re using is a Jack LaLanne JLPJB Power Juicer Juicing Machine. It is very reasonably priced and seems to be very high quality. So far, I’m very impressed with how easy it is to use and how easy it is to clean up. All of the parts go right into the dishwasher! Well, except for the motor. That would be a bad idea.

So, for all of you juicing kind of people out there, I’d love to hear what you have to say about this. Do you like your juicer? Do you use it often? What do you make with it? What do you do with the leftover pulp? Do your kids like it? What kind of juicer do you have?

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Heavenly Homemakers Super Ebook Package Special

July 8, 2009 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Super eBook Package

Purchase four of Heavenly Homemakers healthy recipe ebooks for a discounted package price! Receive “Think Breakfast…Outside the Box”, “Have Your Fruits…and Veggies Too!”, “Have Your Cookie…and Eat it Too!”, and “Fill ‘Em Up!” for one great package deal!

Don’t miss out on this fabulous deal!

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