Monday November 8, 2010

First, have to wish my brother happy bday! He is 60!!! I don't have a recent pic - sorry. Hard for me to believe that my oldest sibling is that age & at the youngest, I will be 53 this month.. OMG!!!!

I’m certain it can be done.. but for me, the hurdle is breaking habits - from Alyson. 

From Jody: YUP, breaking habits is the hard thing!

Some people’s bad food habits have to do with swinging by McDonald’s on the way home from a busy day at work, mine is mindlessly grabbing super-organic-blessed by a holy deity-all natural-will cure your & the worlds problems-and may be the best thing you’ve ever consume-foods from pricey supermarkets. I like to think of it as ‘particular’ taste. Others might call it snotty :p I probably go to the grocery store 4 times a week, and there’s a good chance that those are 4 different grocery stores. I like one brand of this, another of that; one store doesn’t have it, another does.. yadda yadda. I buy good, high quality, often natural and organic foods.. but it’s expensive!! I recently took a closer look at where all my money was going, and was not too surprised to find that the majority was going to groceries.. but I was a little shocked to see just how much. It’s embarrassing to admit, but lets just say, it’s a ridiculous amount for a 25 yo, single girl, to be spending. And considering I know I rarely waste any food, I must have eaten it all.. but how?! Good grief.. yeah it’s a lot..

From Jody: When I shop, and I do have a few stores I like, I plan all my errands in one direction for the day. I make sure I am not driving about haphazardly & that I am AWARE of prices!

From Alyson: The thing is, I know it’s possible to eat most of the same things I eat now, and definitely eat completely healthy & clean, much cheaper than I am now. As the excessively left-brained individual that I am, I decided I needed a plan. So where to start..

From Jody: YES, A PLAN!

By happen chance, I also stumbled on Cooking Light’s ‘Healthy Budget Cooking,’ and this is what they recommend. Alyson's comments in bold next to the bullet points.

• Brown Bag It √
• Do It Yourself √
• Eat In, Not Out √
• Make a Meal Plan √
• Stock Your Pantry √ I have my essentials.. protein whey isolate’s an ‘essential’ right? :p
• Stretch Your Protein Dollar: Needs to be a big improvement for me. I eat a ton of tilapia, salmon, chicken, turkey, egg whites, yogurt & tofu.. I need to be a better comparison shopper here
• Eat More Meatless meals: I think I’ve moved as far to this point as I can. I think I could be vegetarian or even vegan pretty easily at this point if I wanted to.. but I don’t.. and for competition prep I think it’s just way easier and you get way more variety if you’re eating meet.. and I think it’s probably cheaper too (there’s only so much tofu & vega a girl I can put up with!)
• Buys Seasonal Well I always buy seasonal.. I just buy the out-of-season stuff too :p

From Jody: I do all of the above but I am not the best with meatless unless I am having oatmeal infused with protein powder.... Something to think about!

Other tips I (Alyson) came across:

• Hit up the sales: Definitely need to be better about watching out for them!
• Clip coupons √ Loving that you can “load” coupons onto your shopper card!
• Plan trips: I need to plan 2 grocery shopping trips a week, not random stops practically every day
• Buy store brands √ Not for everything, but for the thing that it really doesn’t matter
• Buy bagged fruit Probably won’t do this because I can never eat the portions in time, so half of it ends of going bad anyway
• Skip ‘single-serving’ sizes √
• If out of season, go with frozen berries & veggies: Could be better here. I tend to the mindset that if it’s healthy, and I want it, I get it. I
• Not  necessary to buy everything organic: Instead just be sure to go organic with the ‘Dirty Dozen’ √ Pretty good about this one, but I’ll be better!
• Buy in Bulk √ I’m pretty good about this for anything that won’t go bad.
• Shop at Farmer’s Markets √ Unfortunately they aren’t as prolific in Arizona right now because it’s so damn hot.. but there are a couple.. planning to check’em out next week
• Make more one-pot dishes: This one’s hard for competition dieting down reasons. A lot of one-pot dishes are carb heavy.. so that just means I need to get creative! .. will definitely work on this one.

From Jody: I watch sales but make sure the sale price is really a good one... be careful there! Also, if you clip coupons, don't buy just because it is a coupon. Many people waste money this way as they don't need or use the item. Clip only for what you will use & need! I already am buying frozen veggies & fruit to save money. I also buy things I can use for just the two of us at Costco & places like that.

From Alyson: And more, that I categorize as.. if you’re not doing these already, you’re not eating healthy anyway:

• Limit your intake of junk food and alcohol
• Drink lots of water (at least 8 cups a day)
• Limit salty and sugary foods
• Avoid eating many foods that are high in saturated fats

From Jody: I do those above!!!!