Excuse me, where's your tofu?

For some obscure reason, Js and I decided to do our shopping at Sobeys this week... and man what an epic fail!

Deli-dude: Can I help you?
Me: Yes, I'm looking for tofu.
Deli-dude: Uh... what?
Me: Tofu. I can't seem to find any...
Deli-dude: Hum... let me get you someone who can help.

Someone-who-can't-help: You're looking for what...? Tofu?
Me: Yes.
Someone-who-can't-help: Wow... hum... hold on.

After a quick inspection of the sausage display, dairy and the cheese section (!!), Someone-who-can't-help decided to go looking for a manager. I hang around and wait while Js goes looking in the produce section.

Someone-who-can't-help: You're looking for tofu, right?
Me: Yes. It's white, normally comes in a brick like cheese.
Someone-who-can't-help: Micheal said to look in produce.

I followed Someone-who-can't-help to the produce section. She stared at the peppers and mushrooms for a solid minute.

Someone-who-can't-help: I don't think we have any...
Me: Well there's ground-round there but I need the plain tofu.
Someone-who-can't-help: Ground what?
Me: Ground round. *picks up package*
Someone-who-can't-help: Oh. Well... I can't see any, but I have seen some at other stores. Have you tried Bulk Barn or Superstore.
Less-and-less-patient-me: It's not rare. I know I can go buy it somewhere else, my goal here is not to.

This would be totally normal if we were at a little mom-and-pop grocery ... but really Sobeys? And not only that, but from the staff reaction (read: repulsion) I'm pretty sure it wasn't just sold out temporarily.

They also didn't have any kind of dairy-free coffee-creamer-type-deal. However, there were three fridges full of flavored creamer. We promptly gave up on finding the rest of our items and headed to the till...

Cashier-n00b: Did you find everything you were looking for?
Js: Nope.
Cashier-n00b: *blank-stare-of-fear-and-confusion*
Js: Never mind. Yes, yes we found everything.

Then we got to the produce on the little scale and all the confusing numbers and codes. I'd like to start by saying that I totally admire cashiers who know every single code. Their minds have clearly evolved to a higher state of knowledge and awareness... Cashier-n00b, however has not.

Cashier-n00b: Do you know what this is?
Js: A red onion.
Cashier-n00b: And this?
Js: Cilantro.
Cashier-n00b: ... hum... and this?
Js: LIMES! They're limes.

At this point, I give up on trying to hide my face and I have to turn around to wipe the laughter tears rolling down my face. Are you serious?! I get you probably don't know the code but have you never seen a lime before?

Cashier-n00b: Will that be debit?
Js: No, credit.
Cashier-n00b: Ok.
Js: It says "card not supported".
Cashier-n00b: Oh, try again.
Js: Still nuthin'.
Cashier-n00b: Is that debit?
Js: No. No. It's credit.
Cashier-n00b: Oh. It's a different button. There try again.
Js: But that's what I... you asked... *facepalm*

Baked Brie Deliciousness

A friend of ours hosted a Wine and Cheese on Friday and we decided to make a most delicious baked brie. :) I would totally share my secret recipe with you guys but the thing is, I don't have one. I tend to just throw whatever I have on hand at it and hope for the best. So far, I have not been disappointed once. I mean, how can a ton of cheese and delicious flavors warmed together go wrong?

Here's my latest winning combination:

Slice the brie horizontally so you have two "wheels". Score the crust on one of the wheels with a star pattern. Lay crust down in a brie maker and top with ingredients.

2 parts pecan nuts
2 parts dried cranberries
1 part maple syrup drizzled
Sprinkle with roasted garlic.

Top with the second "wheel" of cheese, crust side on top. Score the crust with a star pattern. You can set aside some of your ingredients to stuff throughout the star pattern but keep in mind these might get a bit burnt when you stick the whole thing in the oven.

Set oven to 325-350F and bake until the cheese is smooth but not bubbling.

The scores make it super easy for your guests to scoop out a portion and indulge! :)

Serve with toasted baguette rounds.

It was a total hit! :)

Meal Planning - How's it going?

I'm curious to know if anyone's tried to meal plan since my series of posts earlier this month? I'd like to know what you think and steal your tips and give them a try...

I came across this article about Meal Planning by Helen Jane on Offbeathome.com during my weekly catch-up-with-the-internet Friday afternoon session and thought I'd share. :)

Meal Planning – Grocery Shopping

After you’ve planned everything you’ll be eating for the week; there comes the daunting task of grocery shopping. Ugh.

Firstly, here are a few shopping tips I’ve come up with to make it easier for you.

1. Write a list. On our fridge, we keep our meal plan menu and our shopping list on separate pieces of paper as well as our “Costco list” on an erasable board. We like to add to the list as we use the last of something to save some time when meal planning time comes. Once we’ve figured out our menu, we like to go over all the ingredients we’ll need then one of us goes searching and the other one writes stuff down. As we normally do our shopping on Tuesday nights, we usually end up doing this Monday right after dinner when the coffee is brewing.
2. Bring your list. Don’t forget it at home, on the counter, in the car or at work. Write it in your cell phone if you have to! I like to keep it in my day planner that I carry everywhere with me.
3. Stick to your list. Don’t wander. Don’t buy stuff because it’s on sale unless it’s on your list. Check everything on your list and run outta there! Grocery stores are made to make you wanna buy more than you came for. It’s not a scam or anything – it’s just good business sense! You’re a savvy shopper, you have a list, and you can do this!

We all tend to stock up for a rainy day when we see good deals on food especially stuff that doesn’t expire. We think, what harm can it do, just sitting there in the pantry? If you look back at your inventory exercise, you’ll see what an impact stock-piling has can have on your house and budget! Yeah, it’s only $5 but you could have that $5 in your pocket instead of in your pantry. Ask yourself this: Would you leave a $20 bill just sitting on a shelf in your fridge? Then leave $50 to accumulate dust in your pantry?

Try to stick to the “outside walls” of your grocery store. Most stores keep all the major items and perishable goods like meat, produce and milk in fridges and shelving that flows along perimeter of the store. Save the isles for last and only go down those you must according to your list then run to the check out! The isles are jam packed with cans, boxes and pre-packaged (and not to mention over-priced!) stuff you don’t need.

You’ll save money, time and a whole lot of guessing out of grocery shopping! You know you have enough food for the week, you know you’re not spending more than you should and you know you can afford a nice latte for the drive home.

This may seem odd at first but trust me, you’ll feel so liberated after a few times doing this, and grocery shopping will become so easy and fun – almost like a top secret mission except your list won’t self destroy – you’ll look forward to it a lot more. I always thought grocery shopping was therapeutic because I was doing something good, something to provide for myself and my family and it was almost hypnotic looking at different items and comparing prices, trying to save pennies! Now, I know for sure that I’m saving money and I feel much better knowing I can go home and I can hang with Js and play fetch with the dog.

Meal Planning – Week 1

Now the fun begins! You’ve listed everything in your house and now you’re ready to start planning. It might seem like a daunting task but trust me; it’s about one third as complicated as it sounds - even less than that, actually.

 

If you’re a big breakfast family, then you might want to plan for your breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Otherwise, you can stick to planning lunch and dinner like we do. Because our schedules are so different and vary so much day to day breakfast sort of became a “you’re on your own” kinda meal which I rather enjoy because I don’t have Js breathing down my neck telling me it’s chocolate is not considered a “breakfast food”. I can just munch on my granola bar in the car and ingest insane amounts of coffee.

 

Again, this is another situation when you have to do what works best for you and your family. If you have a hard time the first week sticking to your plan, don’t give up! Figure out what didn’t work; talk it out with your partner (boring, I know), rinse and repeat.

 

Our planner has a section for lunch and dinner every day, and then there is a small box on the bottom of the page for “breakfast stuff” and “snacks”.

 

Start by looking at your inventory and priority list of what needs to go first. During the first few weeks, you want to try and use up as much as possible from your own personal “grocery store” (aka pantry, fridge and freezer). The first week we went from spending at least 90$ at the grocery store to a wee 35$ - if you have a lot of food stashed in your house, this can represent significant savings.

 

Tip: For fun, you can add up the approximate cost of items on your inventory lists to see how long you can go and how much money you can save eating from what you already have. All this money is money you’ve spent in the past that’s been sleeping in your pantry. Think of it this way: the only can of soup you should keep this long in your house is on a very expensive painting. Don’t buy something unless you intend on eating it in the next few weeks otherwise it turns into very bulky house décor.

 

For the first week, you want to start right on the next day you write out your plan. We found it worked best if we planned the day before we did our shopping. This week, we did the planning on Monday so we went shopping on Tuesday. This way, we figured out everything we needed for the entire week to save us a couple trips.

 

Also, stick to basics. Especially at first, you’ll want to give yourself a little bit of time to get accustomed particularly if you’re used to eating out a lot. As much of a time and money saver meal planning is, it can get a bit overwhelming if you plan a three course meal every day.

 

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind:

1. There are awesome websites that can help you combine some ingredients and find recipes to use up the odds and ends.
2. Don’t get caught up in the complicated. Stick to basic foods and recipes that you know.
3. Try to spread out your frozen stuff – if you make a stir fry to use up some frozen veggies, toss in a few fresh ones to give your stir fry a bit of texture and also to eat through your fresh stuff and save it from the garbage can doom.
4. If you’re planning on eating out – include that in your plan. Give yourself a break!
5. Don’t freak out if things don’t work out perfectly the first week – you’ll get the hang of it I promise.

Here’s an example of what our meal plan looks like with notes:

 

Monday Lunch: Tuna Sandwiches 
Monday Dinner: Stir-fry with shrimps

 

We normally do our shopping on Tuesday evenings, so by Monday, we’re all out of the fresh stuff so canned tuna and frozen shrimp it is!

 

Tuesday Lunch: Stir-fry left-over
Tuesday Dinner: Chicken Fried Noodles

 

We buy the BBQ cooked chicken at the deli counter so it’s quick and ready after the grocery shopping is done and put away.

 

Wednesday Lunch: Left-overs Chicken fried noodles or salad with cranberries and chicken
Wednesday Dinner: Breakfast for dinner

 

Thursday Lunch: Soup and veggies
Thursday Dinner: Chicken breast with rice or potatoes

 

We like to give ourselves options sometimes. It’s still easier to figure out “do you want potatoes or rice?” than “what’s for dinner?” and also gives you an easy option if you run short on time or supplies.

 

Friday Lunch: Left-over chicken or Chicken salad sandwiches
Friday Dinner: Home-made pizza and oven fries

 

Saturday Lunch: Left-over pizza or falafel wraps/salad
Saturday Dinner: Beef roast and rice

 

Sunday Lunch: Pancake brunch
Sunday Dinner: Tacos

 

You can see that by the end of the week, we’re giving ourselves a few more options and we’re figuring out meal preparation times in our schedule. Like Saturday, if we hang around the house all day, we’ll make a roast or lasagna but if we’re going to be running around, we’ll make a roast in the slow-cooker. Both very similar ingredients but two totally different dishes. Plus, we ALWAYS have supplies to make pancakes on hand – as every household should.

 

Now make your plan, using as many items from your home as you can and get crackin’. I’ll keep up with the posts for tips and tricks and menu ideas but by now, you should have most of the tools you need to successfully plan a week’s meals.

 

Keep track of your savings and menus and feel free to share with me! I’m curious to see and can’t wait to read all your inspiring ideas!

Meal Planning - Inventory

The first step is to inventory everything you have in the house as far as food goes. You can probably list off the top of your head most things you already know you have but it’s crucial that you take a bit of time a pull everything from your pantry and list it all down to the last snack. Same goes for your fridge and freezer or anywhere else you store food.

Take this opportunity to check the expiry dates on everything and toss out old or expired items. At our house the salad dressings, jams and sauces tend to survive longer than they really should in our fridge so it’s nice to clear up the space and pick out new ones at the grocery store. This will also help you clear out some stuff from your freezer and pantry so you can keep a better pulse on what you have in stock and make planning easier down the road.

Just a note, if the process seems like it’s taking forever, don’t give up! The longer this part takes, the easier it will be for you to adapt. Also, don’t do this right before you go grocery shopping – do this on a day when you know you won’t need to go shopping for a few days. You might want to start planning on the day after you do your inventory or maybe wait for the next Monday or something – do what’s most logical for you and your family. Just make sure to cross off the things you’ll use from your inventory list until then.

You can find some “freezer inventory” or “pantry inventory” templates online for free – or some for purchase but don’t feel like you need to spend a lot of time picking out a template that would work for you. You’ll figure it out as you go – personally, I like to start with a blank page and then figure out what’s best for the second time around. All you need is a pen and paper. It doesn’t matter what you write it on as long as you can keep that info neat and tidy in a binder or a box for reference later.

Here’s what I came up with – if anyone’s interested, I can send you a copy for printing. They are in French though so if you need an English copy, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do. ;)

I keep a separate list for the pantry and for the freezer. The freezer being downstairs, this comes in handy when I don’t feel like running up and down to figure out my meal plan for the following week.

Freezer Inventory

On the top of your list, write today’s date. List all the items in your freezer along with quantity and the date (or approximate date) it was frozen. Put a star or an arrow or something next to the items that have been frozen the longest.

I like to divide my lists in categories: prepared meals, fruit and veggies, meats and seafood, snacks and misc. This makes it easier for me to plan meals and prioritise but you can do it however works best for you.

I like to put a star on the top 5 items that have been frozen the longest – later, I’ll be able to tell at a quick glance which items I need to use first.

Pantry Inventory

Same as for your freezer inventory, write down the date on top of your list. List everything you can get your hands on and make sure to look for expiry dates. Some stuff you wouldn’t even think expires like soups, cookies, crackers and cereal.

Put an arrow or a star by the products that expire first to help you prioritize what you need to use first and what you can keep longer.

Now that you have everything listed and you’ve already disposed of everything that’s freezer burnt or expired, you are looking at your “grocery store” for the next week.

If you have anything that’s huge like a turkey or a huge bag of potatoes, you might want to consider what would be the best way to go about using them up. If you’re going to be alone at home all weekend, please don’t make the entire turkey just because I suggested you use it first. Always look at the big picture and do what’s best for you and your family.

Make the most with what you’ve got and you’ll do just fine. Next step - the fun starts!

Meal Planning Awareness Exercise

In order to save yourself some precious time and money, you want to keep this simple principle in mind: Make the most with what you have.

If you’re able to stick to this idea, your meal planning will be successful and you will be amazed at home much money, time and energy you used to spend on something as simple as lunch and dinner.

The first awareness exercise I recommend on doing is figuring out how much time you currently spend on meal planning. Here is the conclusion we came to when we started looking at the numbers:

Every day, we spend at least 10 minutes in the morning to figure out what to bring for lunch. Then same for dinner so another 10 minutes there.

Week’s total: 140minutes

Twice a week, we need to run to the store because the sour cream isn’t “best before” anymore and because we ran out of eggs. 35 minute trip including round trip and shopping time only.

Week’s total: 210minutes

At least 4 times a week, we need to thaw some meat or fish which adds another 10 minutes to our prep time that could have been avoided if we’d planned our meal in advance.

Week’s total: 250minutes

So a total of 4 hours and 20 minutes a week of our time are invested in our current meal planning process. Note that I didn’t count in here the grocery shopping trip because this varies for everyone but you can definitely add it in there once you figure out how long it used to take you and how long it takes you with your meal planning list. If you already shop using a list, you can simply add this amount of time to your total – just remember to add in it again at the end of the process.

Big picture snap-shot: that’s 16 hours and 40 minutes a month, over 8 days a year – that’s more days than some people go on holiday each year.

We haven’t even begun talking about dollars and cents yet. Because money is a trickier and much more personal topic, we’re not going to dig right in there at this point but if you’d like to do the same exercise to figure out the extra money you are currently spending, here are a few things you can include:

• Cost of pre-packaged/frozen bought to save time.
• Gas for those last minute grocery store trips.
• Last minute fast-food meals.
• Food you toss out because you didn’t use before the expiry date or left too long on the bottom of your freezer.

Now that you have those magic numbers, keep them handy for the first weeks of your meal planning when it seems like such a pain... or every time you’re tempted to order take out. You can even write them on a sticky note and keep it on your fridge door as a friendly reminder of how much money and time you’ll save. Pick a goal – it can be anything from a new art class you want to take or a new purse you’ve been eyeing and figure out how long you need to meal plan to be able to attain this goal.

Next step, we are going to inventory everything you have in the house. Well... not everything... just food stuff.

Meal Planning 101

As promised, a detailed step-by-step process of our meal planning initiative that’s absolutely exceeded all our expectations both financially and in saving our sanity.

First, here’s a bit of back story. We’re always trying to find ways to simplify our lifestyle I wasn’t entirely convinced that planning out our day-to-day meals would simplify anything. What if we’re in the mood for something else? What if we run out of something and have to run to the store? How about lunches and breakfasts and snacks, are we going to have to plan those also to make it worth our while? Js wasn’t too convinced either. He’s more of a “spur of the moment” and “steak and potatoes” kinda guy so I didn’t envision our meal planning endeavour to last us very long.

One faithful day, while we were out grocery shopping and talking about our finances, we realized we spend way too much money on groceries and time trying to figure out what we’re in the mood for. I took up the challenge to stretch out our current groceries until the end of the month as much as possible.

Meal planning was my only option to make sure we didn’t:

A) Run out of food.
B) Run out of money.
C) Run out of patience.

We’ve been meal planning now for about 3-4 weeks now and it looks like we’ve got a nice rhythm going so I’ve come up with these step-by-step instructions for those who’d like to give it a shot. To make it easier for everyone, I will be posting a series of entries for each step so that you can figure out what works best for you before moving on to the next step rather than giant post.

Here are the basic things you’ll need before you get started.

Pen and paper;
Calculator; and
A book, binder or box would work just fine.

Freezer bags are not necessary but nice to have handy if you normally use them.

Meal Planning

I'm working on a series of posts right now that'll be published soon, I hope. We've decided to give meal-planning a shot and so far, it's been absolutely awesome even if it was a bit hard to get used to at first. Once we get a better hang of things and we actually know what we're doing, I'll make sure to keep you all updated with info and tips if you want to give it a try. :)

Food : "Pizza en Gumbies"

When we were little, Maggie's mom would make us "pizza en gumbies" and it was the most delicious thing. It's become a childhood staple and we still call it that every time we make it. I hadn't bought any in the longest time before moving to Saskatchewan because well, our oven was probably assembled by Mr Kenmore himself.

With the move out here, away from friends and family, nothing cures a homesick moi like a little taste from home. We started buying the kit to make "pizza en gumbies" as a once in a while thing but now, we always need a back stock of at least one box or Js fears for the future of humanity.

It should be noted that I've never actually made "pizza en gumbies" in it's traditional form for Js. We've always tried to make it a bit healthier by adding veggies and some lean pepperoni or something.

"Pizza en gumbies" is actually made with using only the ingredients provided in the kit. It has to be square and cut up in long rectangular shapes.
Like Gumby :

It sounds a bit lame but it's actually one of the best (and cheapest) comfort foods I can think of. I'll have to make some actual "Gumby Pizza" for Js and kick the whole "healthy" stuff eventually. I promise to blog about it when I do but until then, here's our latest chef d'oeuvre of home made pizza. Cheese stuffed crust with olives, onion, tomatoes, peppers, pepperoni and mozzarella.

*noms*

Baking and Wedding Update : SK Reception Cake

Red velvet with cream cheese filling covered with fondant.

We decided to host a pot-luck dinner for friends out here in Moose Jaw so we could celebrate part of our wedding with them. It was a great night and it was a great excuse for friends to drive a "couple" hours for a weekend visit! :) I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make my own wedding cake. 

This cake was absolutely delicious. It was my first attempt at red velvet cake and I have to admit it was a lot easier than anticipated. The ingredients were pretty simple too so that helped. I had planned a whole morning to do it but what ended up taking the most of my time was the decorating.

The filling was delicious. I did have a small problem with it being too soft so next time I think I will prepare it a day in advance and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. 

For the decorating, I used store bought fondant because it's just so much easier and much much quicker. I used basic cutting tools and just gave 'er.

I wouldn't use butter cream with this type of cake as I didn't feel the red velvet was very flavorful - you need something with a little kick. However, I'd been looking for a good cream cheese filling recipe for some carrot cake and I think I found the perfect one. Stay tuned... ;)
 
PS: I cannot take the credit for the little lemon tartelettes. My friend Julie made them - I suggested she bring a desert in case anyone didn't like red velvet cake. They were absolutely amazing and I will definitely be making some as soon as she sends me her recipe. :)

PPS: Please forgive the very poor quality of the first picture. I totally forgot to take a picture of it before we cut the cake and I snapped this one to send in a quick email to Maggie - thank goodness!

No-Eating-Out Dealio - WE DID IT!

Woohoo! We did it - a whole month of no-restaurant!! It wasn't always easy but we stuck to it.

We had to get pretty creative at times :

• Pack a lunch - save time and money! If we had to go to Regina to run errands all day, instead of having lunch when we got there we packed a lunch and ate it on the drive there. We made it back home in time for dinner where our BBQ patiently awaited. Normally, we'd leave home around 11am and come back around 6 or 7pm. This time around, we left home at 12noon and we were back here by 5h30pm but we somehow accomplished more while we were there.
  
• Make plans that work. We would plan our entire day around having to be home for mealtimes and quite frankly, our days turned out way more productive and fun. We had more of a schedule than we normally do and it forced up to get up earlier and to limit our errand trips. We saved a ton on gas and on random spending money or impulse buys.
• Friends don't let friends eat out. Our friends were well aware of our challenge and quite understanding. They didn't ask us to meet them for dinner somewhere, they didn't tempt us with some take-out while we were at their house and they encouraged us to stick to it! I think it's important, when you attempt something like this to let your friends know so they don't lead you to your demise. We'd eat home and then meet them later for drinks or simply bring something we made at home as our contribution to the take-out food.
• Free food is good food. Let's face it now, this whole challenge had some health benefits but the main thing was financial. Free donuts at a little work party - BRING IT! We satisfied our cravings with food we got for free. We didn't crash any wedding buffets or anything but it made us enjoy the free-ness even more. Not only was it free but it was also a thousand times more delicious to us than it really was!
  

...but we managed to learn a couple lessons along the way :

1. Eating out costs a shwack load of money!!
   Well, I think we already knew that but we never really stopped to figure out exactly how much money it cost! ...and it's not always worth it. I haven't received any income or compensation (arg! but that's for another post) over the last month and a bit yet we were still able to save up as we normally do and haven't dug into our savings nearly as much as we anticipated. We're counting on some sick leave benefits to come in soon so it'll put our savings account right back on track for wedding expenses.
   
2. Eating at home is just as fun!
   We realized that eating out had become a hobby for us. Therefore, it's not a necessity - we have a ton more hobbies to choose from to occupy our Saturday nights. Yes, it might be a bit lame to play Scrabble but have you met us!? We thrive on lame. It's also inspired me to try new recipes and stock up on frozen-left-overs. So in the long run our efforts will keep saving us even more money - who doesn't like that?!
3. Doing something together!
   Yes, it was fun cooking together more and spending more time at home together. Most fun though was actually doing a challenge together. Working at something, putting our heads together to come up with solutions or ideas and accomplishing something together. Hurray!!
4. Good health starts at home.
   It's insane how large restaurant portions are and I don't think we notice exactly how that affects our food intake in a week. I feel super healthy and I have much better portion-control-skills now than I've ever had my entire life. Eating only at home helped me kick the habit of stuffing my face until I explode. We also normally buy the "light" version of things when available and not disgusting (aka PC Blue Menu Butter Chicken Sauce *vom*) so we cut back on lots of calories, sugar, fat and a ton of that kind of stuff.
   

All that being sad, today, June 1st - we are having Burger King for dinner. As a reward and because we've been talking about it for the entire month.

Moving forward, we've decided to limit our restaurant outings to twice a month. Once from the 1st to the 15th and then one more time from the 15th until the end of the month. We definitely will be doing the no-eating-out dealio again - it won't have as much of a huge impact but maybe we can cut back on coffee purchases or something like that again next time.

I definitely recommend giving this a try to anyone who's trying to save a bit of money, anyone who wants to get some good eating habits back on track or anyone who simply wonders if they could do it.

No-Eating-Out dealio - DONUTS!

Js got a promotion today and - you guessed it - they served DONUTS and coffee!

I didn't clue in right away that this was restaurant food that I could actually stuff my face with. Glee!

I was good and only had one while all the important people were there. I think it was the best donut I've ever had my entire life. We got to take home some left overs and so far I have inhaled two with my post-dinner coffee.

I guess Timmie's donuts were never a luxury before and this whole dealio. It's making me realize how much of a treat resaurant food should be as opposed to a hobby or an easy way out of having to do the dishes. I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to that last Honey Dip before Js.

No-Eating-Out Dealio - PMSing is not cool. Ever.

I would step over a box of kitties to get a fry right now... with salt.

When I PMS, I get massive cravings for junk food (who doesn't?) and it's like my mind goes blank on all things that are not covered in salt or gravy. It's like in those cartoons when everyone turns into a walking turkey.

It's been especially difficult with our N0-Eating-Out dealio. I've tried to make some fries at home to kill the craving to no avail. Tonight it's burgers on the BBQ and nachos - let's hope it helps!

I'm trying to think of salty-junky style food we can make at home that will help sooth my need for greasy goodness.

On the menu over the next 14ish days :
- Fish and chips
- Mac and Cheese
- Poutine with real poutine sauce
- Chicken burgers

Any other suggestions or recipes are welcome! :)

No-Eating-Out Dealio - Week 1 down!

It wasn't easy to kick the habit of eating out but we're 1/4 of the way to our goal. Oh man!

This week was good because I was able to make a ton of food - I made a huge lasagna (even made a smaller batch for friends), banana bread with chocolate chunks, chicken fajitas and a whole ton of delicious stuff. Luckily, I'm off work right now so I had plenty of time to figure out meals and actually prepare them. I enjoy cooking and baking so I didn't have a problem with that.

Today it's the weekend and there isn't much to do. Js is a tad hungover, he had drinks with friends last night so he doesn't want to go anywhere. I'm itching to get out of the house though so we're trying to find inexpensive things to do in town. Normally, on a day like today, we'd do stuff around the house or take the dog to the park and then go somewhere for a nice dinner. No dice. Not this weekend - and not for the rest of the month. It's not going to be easy!

I would kill for lemon grass chicken vermicelli right now. Kill.

To top it all, our worst fear and biggest challenge we'd envisioned came true. Last year, we were ADDICTED to the Angry Whopper from Burker King. It's a limited time thing and they normally only have it during the summer. As we predicted, it's back this summer and we have to wait a WHOLE month to get one. Oh hell.


You'll know where to find us at 12:01am on June 1st. ;)

No-Eating-Out Dealio

In our efforts to save some money considering the upcoming wedding and my non-working for a month, we have made a deal with ourselves not to eat out at the restaurant at all for the whole month of May. Oh my, it won't be easy.

We're on day 5 now and so far things are going good. We're trying to stay positive and here's what we're doing to keep sane :

- We're keeping our weekly junk food nights but having frozen pizza or Qing up some burgers. This way, we're not craving junk food as we normally would if we cut it all out of our meal planning.

- Bringing some variety to the mix. Trying new recipes is *almost* as exciting as eating out.

- Making huge batches of freezer friendly foods for the lazy nights.

- Inviting friends over instead of meeting them at the restaurant.

With our action plan in mind, I'm sure we'll be able to stick to it. :)