A new way
Ok, so for the past few months I have given myself the challenge of keeping to a monthly food budget and making our menus more healthy. Have you ever tried this….YIKES! It amazes me how the foods that are the most healthy are also more expensive. My wonderful God given husband Paul and I were at Good Harvest Market this past weekend doing some shopping. As we traveled up and down the isles of this wonderful health and organic grocery store, Paul says to me “you’d think since this stuff is healthier and less crap added it would be cheaper”. I had to laugh because there have been so many times I have thought the same.
I have found that a greener and healthier lifestyle is a challenge. In the financial sense at first. I am learning that I can save money by buying healthier food. For example, on our menu this weekend for Paul and I were quesdillas. Now, normally I can eat 1.5 – 2 of these puppies loaded up with cheese, meats and sour cream. We bought 2 packs of whole wheat organic tortillas as there are only 6 in a pack for about $4.5o. Ouch… I am looking at these knowing full well I can purchase the white tortillas with 10 in a pack for like $2.80 at Pick N Save, but I get them, figuring we will need at least 8 between the two of us for 2 quesadillas each. We finish our shopping, paying our ouch bill at Good Harvest and finishing up at Pick N Save for some other items. We get home and I reheat some whole wheat rice and some chicken chunks from supper the other night. We put this mixture in the quesadillas. When they are done, I top them off with some fat free organic sour cream, shreds of organic lettuce and organic tomatoes. We were both stuffed after one! I was shocked! So, I really only needed one pack of tortillas. Paul and I were joking that it seems people who eat organic seemed so skinny because they couldn’t afford to eat much….lol, now we are starting to realize that the better the foods we eat like the whole wheat noodles, rice, bread, etc the more they fill you up and the better they are for our health.
My next ambition is to make our bread instead of buying it. Again, more healthy as I will be using the whole grains and no preservatives added. I will have to see if I can somehow put a picture on here of my attempts at bread making in the next few weeks. If you too are thinking of trying to make healthier food choices, start slowly. Try buying one or two organic fruits or vegetables. To switch to whole grains, try adding some in with your normal items and slowly converting to whole wheat to avoid any anarchy you may experience from you unsuspecting family members.
I hope you come back to read about my successes and “this needs improvement” moments I am sure to experience.
Till next time…..
