It has been forever since I've written to you guys! A lot has happened in our life that precipitated big changes for us, but things have settled down now and I am so happy to be back to blogging!
I love food. I love to eat, I love to read about food, I love to research food. I just really love food. Most days that is. Some days I would much more prefer to think about food than to actually buy it or fix it. Some weeks, or in this last case months, the last thing I want to do is to think about food, let alone fix it.
When I started this blog, food prices were very different than they are now. Some foods have come back down a little in price, but most of it has not. Some things, like margarine and cream cheese, doubled in price and are probably never coming back down. As I went back through the blog, I saw our eating patterns changing. I was hoping two meals on the weekends was going to be temporary, but unfortunately, that style is here to stay as it is only staying hard to feed a family. Now more than ever I find myself spending more money for less food each week. Sale prices now are what full price was a year or 18 months ago, or more. I try to follow the Nutrition guidelines for kids as best as I can, a cup and a half is a lot of vegetables though! I don't think if we had unlimited amounts of free vegetables available my younger kids would eat a cup and a half everyday, unless it was mostly mashed potatoes! But I do my best to make sure fruits and vegetables are eaten every day, limit processed food as much as possible, everyone drinks plenty of water and gets a little protein and dairy.
Even though we haven't changed some things about the way we eat, like two meals on the weekends, we have changed some others. Here is a list of things we have started doing differently.
- I use this recipe for Oatmeal Pancakes now instead of my other pancake recipe. The addition of oatmeal makes the pancakes heartier and last a little longer in tummies. This is important as my kids are growing and we plan to keep to the two meals a day on the weekends.
- We serve and eat rice on the side A LOT now. I make sure everyone gets a good helping of the protein and vegetables, then rice cooked in bouillon, butter and garlic is offered in addition. If they finish their plates and are still hungry, I can warm up rice. Sometimes that means ones in a growth spurt might get mashed potatoes, a slice of bread AND rice all in one meal, but hey, its fuel, right?
- I am learning how to use the cheapest fruits and vegetables to my advantage. I have introduced more cabbage into our diet and have been slowly upping the amount that I use. We had cabbage today in our cream of vegetable soup that I bought for 29 cents a pound and I have been adding sweet potatoes to things since I got them for 19 cents a pound before Thanksgiving. I don't know any other food you can get that cheap per pound, not even the cheapest rice. I bought A LOT at those prices. Both take a long time to go bad so I felt confident that we could find ways to use them. I didn't grow up eating sweet potatoes or cabbage, but found a few recipes as an adult to at least introduce those foods and a few more, like broccoli to my kids. Now I am on the hunt to fill our meals out with them as much as I can this winter. Over the summer I was filling everything out with zucchini, as everyone and there mom had extra zucchini to give away.
- I am slowly building a spice cabinet. I have been buying them one bottle at a time. At this point I have Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, Cumin, Cajun Seasoning, Italian Seasoning, Paprika, Rosemary, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Chicken bouillon and Cinnamon. The rest of my list I am working on- Ginger, Nutmeg, Red Pepper Flakes, Beef Bouillon, Basil, Oregano. Most of them I bought at Dollar Tree or Save a lot. I always kept a few basic spices, but decided that I was by passing a lot of recipes because I didn't have the spices they called for. So I have been adding one at a time as I have the money. I noticed that Italian Seasoning had a lot of regular spices on the internet lists, so I started with that and Cajun Seasoning as they made it so I could have those flavor profiles without having to buy a bunch of different containers to start with. As time goes on I'll add more spices, but am confident in knowing that I have them in at least one way.
- The stores I have easy access to have changed. I have less access to a big grocery store like Kroger, and the Walmart is 40 minutes away and not on the way to anything, so will not be going unless I need to make a special trip. Same with Dollar Tree. What I have close to me now are a Family Dollar, Dollar General, IGA and a Save-a-lot. I miss the good deals I used to get by strategically shopping Kroger, but it just doesn't make sense to go so far out of my way usually. I did go when Turkeys were 49 cents/lb if you spent $25 and I spent that $25 strategically. I went through the marked down meats, breads, freezer section and produce first. Then grabbed cheese that was on sale. I spent more than the $25, but everything I got was at a price point I couldn't get locally plus the turkey, so it made it worth it to make that special trip. But I can't see me doing it all of the time, maybe when the sale ad makes it so very tempting. In the mean time, I have to figure out what the best prices are on things locally, but my grocery bill has definitely gone up, its just a balancing act between food budget and gas budget.
I am really looking forward to getting back to blogging and sharing my thoughts with you guys again! If you have any ideas you would like to see me talk about, or really any thoughts to share, please feel free to leave me a comment!
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