Saving Money on Lunch

Did you know that lunch time is where a lot of Americans waste money and calories?  When you are working it is so easy to just grab something on your morning/afternoon break and lunch break.  

My husbands place of employment is a perfect example of this!  Everyday 95% of the people he works with go down to the gas stations for their morning break.  Then at lunch they generally go back to the gas station, or order burgers from one of the restaurants in town. 

They figured on average they are spending at least $10 a day on food and pop.  That is $50 a week, or $200 a month!  Oy!  Those numbers are on the conservative side as well.  

My husband works with no one who has a concept of a healthy lifestyle.  These guys live off cigarettes, beer, Mountain Dew, and Little Debbies.  No joke.  

In the last few years my husband has lost nearly 50lbs.  All of this has been done through proper diet and cutting out pop.  After seeing our family doctor last month he is now on a mission to maintain this wonderful weight loss.  She wants him losing no more weight because where he is at now is perfect and healthy.  I am so proud of him!  

One of the easiest ways to cut the fat is by....get this...are you waiting for it?  BRING YOUR OWN FOOD TO WORK!  :)  

Every night I pack his lunch for the following day.  For his morning snack he generally likes fruit, celery with peanut butter, or a homemade yogurt parfait.  For lunch I generally just make extra of what we had for dinner the night before.  If we have no leftovers then he LOVES salads.  I wish I loved salads as much as he did!  Otherwise, sometimes he will request a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Nothing fancy here!  

He also only drinks water at work.  We have a reverse osmosis system and a filtered water pitcher at home.  He takes a 32oz water jug with him in the morning and drinks that at his desk until lunch.  Then he will drink the 24oz water bottle you see in the picture above.  

We save so much money just by him taking his snacks, lunch, and water to work everyday.  I am fortunate enough to be home by 1:00 in the afternoon, so I eat lunch at home as well.  I just can't imagine us spending $200+ a month on eating lunch out.  I think it is a waste of money and calories!  

Do you take your lunch to work? 

Weekly Meal Plan 1.13- 1.19

 We are armed and ready for the week.  How about you?!

Yes, we will go through all that fruit in one week.  We love fruit.  Plus we also love eating healthy.  We feel better and have so much more energy when we consume healthy foods.  

Here is what we will be eating this week.  Enjoy!   

Weekly Meal Plan:

Sunday: Homemade chicken veggie soup.

Monday: Tacos with all the fixings.

Tuesday: Chili.  Yes, we had this last week, but we love it so much I am making it again!  

Wednesday: Roast chicken, quinoa, and steamed veggies.

Thursday: Chicken broccoli rice casserole.

Friday: ??? I am going to be gone all day, so it might be huge salads or leftovers (if we have any).  If all else fails there are always eggs. :)

Saturday: ???

Nutritional Yeast

Have you ever heard of nutritional yeast?  I hadn't until last April when I went to our local Natural Living Expo.  My husband and I attended a cooking demonstration put on by a raw food chef.   She made us Cheesy Cauliflower Popcorn.  It was delicious!  The star of the show was nutritional yeast.

You might be wondering WHY I would want to eat yeast?  Well, nutritional yeast isn't really yeast.  It is a great source of protein, amino acids, iron, B vitamins, and potassium.  Can I just tell you how much this stuff rocks?!

My favorite way to eat it is sprinkled on popcorn.  Nutritional yeast has a cheesy taste and is great to use as a cheese replacement.  We also like to add it on top of our pasta sauces.  

I cannot find it in my local grocery store (my small town organic store closed), so I order mine on Amazon.  Their are several different brands, but I use Red Star.  This is the brand the chef used in the demonstration, so I have just stuck with it.  

If you are trying to get healthier, lose weight, live a cleaner lifestyle, ect then I would recommend trying nutritional yeast as a cheese replacement for certain dishes.  

 

Let me know what you think of nutritional yeast!

Side Note:  If you live in the middle of nowhere, like me, then it might be hard to find some of these products in your local grocery store.  Amazon is a GREAT way to get these food products.  If you don't have Prime I HIGHLY recommend getting it.  We get free two day shipping on almost everything we buy!  And we buy a lot from Amazon.  I hate having to drive 30-50 minutes (one way!) to get to a store that carries what I need.

Healthy Smoothies

I absolutely love smoothies.  I love making them in the morning because they are healthy and packed full of protein.  Perfect for keeping baby and me healthy and fueled all morning long.  

There are tons of smoothie recipes out on the world wide web.  Some of them sound amazing to me and some of them sound down right gross.  I thought I would share my favorite smoothie combination with you.

To make two smoothies (one for my husband and I) I use:

 1 cup yogurt (try homemade!)

2 cups frozen fruit (we really like strawberries and blueberries)

2 scoops protein powder (I use this because it tastes the best and isn't gritty like some powders)

2 big handfuls of spinach (yup, I use spinach!  I promise you CANNOT taste it!)

and a splash of milk

Blend everything up until it is smooth and creamy.  

Voila you have the perfect smoothie with out all the added sugars and cost!  Buying smoothies at specialty shops is EXPENSIVE!  I make my own to stay healthy and save money.  :)

The blueberries and spinach are both really high in antioxidants.  Again, I PROMISE you cannot taste the spinach.  :)  This would be a great way to sneak some veggies in your kids diet.  

 

22 Weeks!

Holy baby belly!  

It is hard to believe I am already 22weeks!  It feels like I have so much time left, but then when I think about it I start to panic a little.  I have very little time left!  I have been knee deep in re-organizing everything in my house.  My house is already organized, but I want it super organized before little man gets here.  :)

My next O.B. appointment is next week, so I will have more "stats" to update on then.  For now here is what has been going on...

I CAN FEEL HIM MOVE!!!  Finally!  The first time I felt him was at 20 weeks 4 days.  I didn't think much of it because it was just tiny and weird feeling.  Then the next few days I was certain it was him.  He sure likes using my bladder as a trampoline. ;)  

I have also started retaining water.  I have been really watching my sodium and how much I am on my feet.  I fear my wedding ring is going to have to come off soon.  This is something I will bring up at my next appointment.

I have also failed my glucose testing.  I have been following a "loose" diabetic diet since 12 weeks, but my pancreas just isn't picking up the slack (so to speak).  I now test my bs 4 times a day and my urine once a day.  Friday I will call in my blood sugars and see if they want me on medication.  I am on a low sugar, low carb, low sodium, high protein diet.  This is kind of tricky since I only tolerate chicken.  I had the dietician school me on a vegetarian diet because meat just isn't very appealing right now.  

I cannot get enough fruit!  Lucky for me my diet allows me to have fruit.  

That is about all that has been going on.  I have been purchasing a few things here and there, but for the most part we have everything bought.  I am now organizing everything.  

I will update again at 24 weeks!  :) 

Weekly Meal Plan 1.6--1.12

I feel so on top of things this week!  I have my groceries bought, put away, meal plan done, and my house is clean!  Plus I am pretty sure I have started the nesting phase...a bit early.  LOL  I just can't help it.  I have been re-organizing everything in this house!  It feels so good.

Here is my EXCITING grocery haul for the week. ;)  As you can see, we don't eat much processed food.  Instead we focus on lean protien, fruits, and veggies.  Breakfast consists of oatmeal, steel cut oats, hard boiled eggs, or smoothies.  Lunch is always leftovers of some sorts, or salads.   

Weekly Meal Plan:

Sunday: Chili.  I make a huge batch and we will eat it for lunches basically all week.  We LOVE chili!  

Monday: Pita Pit.  I have been craving it and I have a late doctors appointment, so it is a perfect night for Pita Pit.  :)

Tuesday: "Loaded" lettuce salads.  Basically, we throw as much stuff as we can on them. I will try to take a picture.  ;) 

Wednesday: Paleo stuffed peppers

Thursday: Spaghetti with homemade sauce, steamed veggie.

Friday: BBQ chicken drumsticks, sweet potato fries, steamed veggie.

 

Saturday: ???  In case you are wondering.  I never plan for Saturday.  Sometimes we go out to eat and sometimes I cook.  Just depends on our weekend plans!

10 Random Facts

I thought it would be fun to start the new year off right.  Here are 10 random facts you may, or may not know about me!  :D

1. I am a HUGE Minnesota Vikings fan.  Win or lose, I will always be a fan.
2. I have a weird obsession with keeping my floors clean.
3. I would rather clean a toilet than dust.  Yes, I despise dusting that much.
4. I HATE leftovers...with the exception of soup.  I usually pawn all the leftover off on my husband. :)
5. I love cats and tolerate dogs.  :)
6. I am obsessed with cute little cloth diapers.
7. Pancakes are my favorite food.
8. If I am in a public restroom and I see someone not wash their hands I will tell them to.  It is just so GROSS!  Why would you not wash your hands?!
9. If a cashier is being extremely rude to me, I will be extremely nice to them!  It makes people so mad when you are nice to them when they are being mean.  I say "kill'em with kindness"!
10. Mouths and lips gross me out.  The thought of putting my hands near someones mouth makes me want to puke.   I could NEVER be a dentist! 

There you go!  Ten not-so-important facts about me.  I bet your day is now complete knowing these little tidbits.  ;)