Cost cutting

One thing is certain- eating according to this plan is allowing us to save money on groceries. By focusing on what is on sale, exchanges and calories instead of points , health goals and "clean eating", our grocery bill has dropped by almost 100 dollars. Think about it- would having an extra hundred dollars reduce your stress level as well as your environmental impact ( needing to commute to work less and not having to chase to as many stores to find those products) ? You bet !

Breakfast was pumpkin oats topped with flax oil, crasins, coconut and sunflower seeds. This will be the end of the pumpkin oats for a few weeks. We buy our solid packed pumpkin at Aldis and they finally ran out of their supply for the year. Last year was not very good for pumpkins, and they got a smaller supply for the year. Pumpkins will be coming back in season in a few weeks, and the supplies will be replenished. It's interesting to note that we live not far from the pumpkin growing capitol of the world, and the main processing plant for the majority of the canned pumpkins on the shelves is processed about two hours drive from here.

Lunch was grabbed during our grocery run part 2. The produce store has a great deli/hot foods bar and it is both affordable and sensible to grab food from them. I had a roast beef and cheddar sub- I did not feel like a salad or soup, and all of the hot entrees looked too heavy. This was the one thing that seemed to appeal. I only wish there were more veggies on this !


They had a special purchase of something different - greek yogert made from a small local company in large 4 cup containers at 2/5.00. We had already bought the yogert needs for the week, but I could not resist buying one tub to give the guys a taste. We had some later in the afternoon topped with blueberries. Do you know how hard it is to photograph white food in a white bowl ??? I wish I would have known about this sale earlier- I would have bought all greek yogert for the week !

Daddy had to sing at the Saturday evening Mass, mom had a ton of paper cutting and son decided to tag along with dad, so dinner was kind of quick- open faced Rubens ( turkey pastrami, smoked swiss and saurkraut) minus the thousand island dressing on pretzel hoagie rolls with carrots, celery, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. This may have been a mistake because I could not find a calorie count on the rolls, and some of these are as high as 400 calories per roll. We have tried them in the past and LOVED them, so when they wen on sale and I was planning the rubens, they sounded like they would be great together. They were not- rubens are much better on dark rye bread, and probably less calories.

Dessert was our new favorite- berry parfait. Take a tub of pudding, add a cup of assorted fresh berries and top with whipped cream . It is sweet like ice cream, creamy like ice cream and is just right for satisfaction.

Today will be more cutting, doing a freezer session of breakfast burritos, library run and hopefully a walk in the woods this afternoon. Hubby's singing commitments on Saturday combined with only one car make it very difficult to get in anything more than shopping on Saturdays any more , but it's what has to be done.