I dream of frijoles
Hey guys! How are ya? Hope your day is going well <3
Thank you so much for the awesome feedback on the Summer Shape Up so far! Please keep cheering each other on and posting your workout triumphs and how you’re doin’ in the comments section 😀
Today has been a weird day. I think I told ya’ll about the car accident I was in a month and a half ago. Well after fighting with the insurance people (her adjuster was trying to say it was my fault even though the lady backed into me), I finally got everything settled (and WON) and dropped my little car off to be fixed. I couldn’t get the key out of my rental car!! I had to drive back to the rental place and have them help me… embarrassing.
Also, as I’m thinking you may have seen this already, the blog crashed. Thankfully, everything is back to normal with my blog baby.
Weird day!
I did have an awesome bfast though 😉
Cherry bomb + an apple and two apricots + water on the way to the car-fixer-uppers
Fun smoothie celebration news: SUN WARRIOR IS NOW IN MY OPENSKY STORE! About time, eh? 🙂 Great price, too! Edited to say: The Sun Warrior has been added, but isn’t showing up yet. It should be visible tomorrow- sorry for confusing ya’ll! See? Weird day.
I started cleaning the casa, did Insanity and had a lil snack:
Millet with strawberry Meyer lemon jam, the other half of my smoothie bananner and an almond butter drizzle 🙂
I have plenty of almond butter, thanks to this lovely friend <3
Lunch was smaller since I’d been eating pretty queenly all morning- I wasn’t that hungry.
The star of the show:
Goat gouda
It’s so so gouda 😉
I made a 3 egg white stada with goat gouda, spinach, Gahhhhlic gold, roasted tomatoes and onion
It was pretty face-rocking, but not nearly as good as these…
My auntie’s homemade frijoles. She cooks them with cloves of garlic and I had a small bowl before leaving Orlando yesterday. I dreamt about them last night…. Might have to *attempt* to replicate them soon 😉 Maybe this Thursday.. the pilot requested homemade horchata 🙂
I’m off to teach spin and Zumba!
xoxo,
Gina
Today’s tip: You tell me 😀 I was supposed to do a post on food budgeting, and when I stopped to think about what to write, I realized I’m pretty horrible at it. We have a set amount of dinero that we stick to (more or less) each week, but I also spend $13 on goat gouda at Publix and a ridiculous amount when we go to Whole Paycheck.
Here are some of the best tips I can think of:
– Shop around (I know for a fact that an organic cucumber at Publix is 3.99 –for a single cucumber!- and is 1.97 at Wizzle aka WalMart, frozen organic cherries are less expensive at Publix than Winn Dixie, etc)- I usually have to go to multiple grocery stores anyway, so I might as well buy what’s least expensive at each store
-If you see a coupon you like, hold onto it! The last 3 gallons of almond milk that I’ve picked up have been FREE thanks to the Silk Almond Milk coupons they had at Winn Dixie.
–Buy from local farmers or farmers markets. Not only are they usually organic (just talk to them about their practices, but most don’t use harsh pesticides but can’t afford the price and hassle to become USDA Certified Organic), but you’re directly supporting the people who work hard to the grow the products and are protecting the environment by buying local.
–Buy frozen. Frozen organic produce can be even MORE nutritious than fresh, and is usually far less pricey.
That’s really all I’ve got… how do you save money on food??
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Have you heard the Vampire Weekend Song – Horchata. I’m thinking you would love it!! 🙂
haha no! i need to download that 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad Sun Warrior is in your opensky!! I started using it ever since I saw it on your blog and I love it! I’ll be buying more of it for sure 🙂
Those frijoles look amazing. Your aunt’s awesome!
Sorry about the weird day, but glad to hear the car drama is donezo 🙂
hahah yes, my aunt is awesome 🙂
Oh gosh, since I started eating less processed, more fresh, more organic and almost no meat/dairy our grocery budget has skyrocketed! Thankfully my husband doesn’t shop with me and I’m the one who balances the checkbook/handles all of our finances so I don’t really think he knows how much I spend on food 😉 (He isn’t on board with my eating style yet so I’m sure he would think its a waste of money…)
Mmm…those beans looks super good! I love garlic!
I spend way to much on groceries as well, but I feel like you do, Gina. It’s for my health…
One thing where I seem to save a lot of money is with beans. I always cook my own instead of buying then in cans. I can buy a pound of chickpeas for $2.99 (sometimes cheaper!) vs. a can of cooked chickpeas for $1.00. I cook them in my slowcooker when I am running low, and store them in the freezer. I do the same with black beans…and you could do it with anything! A pound of dry beans makes so many cooked beans! It’s got to be at least 10 cans of the cooked ones, which would come out to be only .29 cents per can!
I think meal planning is the easiest way to save money. Also, I limit eating out. I pack my lunch for work and bring snacks. Eating out is typically planned in advance and is a treat. That really helps on budgeting.
My family makes frijoles negros that are insane! 🙂
My husband and I love to eat out, so as long as we’re not eating out I can spend a little more for regular food. Plus we go to costco and try to buy the items that we really like in bulk to save on dinero. We tried the whole meal planning thing, but that didn’t work well for us at all!!!
The huzbeau and I usually spend between $30-50 on groceries per week since he’s doing a master’s program and I don’t have a secure job. D: Mostly buy at Fred Meyer’s and TJ’s.
We eat well, but I can’t buy organic everything. I stick to circulars and coupons, and we get a lot of really great free food from my parents (garden veggies, home canned goods) and the in-laws (elk, venison, trout, eggs, wine, and *tons* of asparagus). Last night we had trout, wine, and couscous. The only thing we paid for was the couscous and peas and carrots that went into it.
If you know a hunter or a fisher, hit them up and see if they’ll give you extras for free or small sum.
Side note: I realized that I don’t actually need to do the whole grocery trip every week and buy things just because they’re on sale (unless it’s something like organic milk or mangoes for .50). I actually have at least 2 weeks worth of meals in the kitchen already, so why should I go buy more except milk, greens, and fruit? Sorry for the long
postcomment. 😀loved your long comment 🙂
We eat out ALOT because I’m not a fabulous or creative cook. So when I buy food – even at Whole Food – SO expensive, it’s ridic! – and I USE it (as opposed to letting it rot in the fridge)then we sort of break even.
We have a great local grocer that we use instead of the chain stores. I like to support local business and the veggies are actually much better and only provided seasonally. It’s our way of combating the cost of food
when i first started this clean eating, i spent way too much at WFM etc., because I didnt know how to shop for the week…i mean it didnt go to waste early on..i made sure of that, but now i plan MUCH better, andlike someone else said, i decide before i go whats going to be snacks etc for the week and buy like that. too many choices means TOO MUCH MONEY SPENT!!! :O)
A tip for keeping track of grocery prices between stores: start a price book (I use a spreadsheet in Google Docs for mine). A price book is basically a list of the things you buy and the prices at various stores (I just list the store where it’s cheapest). More details here at a site with which I have absolutely no affiliation: http://www.familycorner.com/family/frugal/price_book.shtml
I also made a shopping list template and printed out about 25 copies…my template includes the foods we tend to buy every week (kale, carrots, bananas, tempeh, oatmeal, things my fiance eats for lunch at work, etc.), all grouped by their location in the grocery store. This template cut way down on impulse purchases and all those little trips to the store for things we forgot during our big weekly shop.
I LOVE goat gouda and recently introduced it to my boyfriend (I’ve been selfish and hoarding it haha). My biggest way to save money on food is to cook at home, bring lunches, etc instead of eating out. I am also a big fan of making grocery lists and planning meals, so when I stick to the plan, I stick to the budget too 🙂
I know this was posted forever ago, but I have definitely been wondering how you can afford to eat so healthy on top of all the eating out and the coffees and juices. Plus the nice house and clothes etc… I am a military wife too and money isn’t exactly abundant. I really would love to eat so healthy but it is hard enough to buy regular milk, let alone organic. I can buy almost two gallons of reg. milk for the price of a half gallon of organic. Are a lot of the things you get sponsored? You get the items sent to you for free and then talk about them? I definitely love your blog and i look forward to reading it every day! so i hope i’m not coming across rude, only totally confused and curious!
hey girl,
so cool to hear from another military wife! <3
i actually have 4 jobs (teaching fitness, blogging, opensky and lululemon) so we use the money i make as "fun and save" money and the pilot's covers all of the bills and living expenses.
we have the budgeting thing down -i majored in finance and get a thrill out of meal planning, finding deals and budgeting- so we can still save money for later, but also have fun with it.
i don't have anything sponsored on the blog, unless it's clearly noted. everything on the blog is paid for with our own money, because i never want it to turn into an advertisement.
hope this helps a little!
Hey, thanks for getting back to me! That is awesome that you guys have your finances so together and are still able to splurge! I know that is the #1 stressor in a marriage! Do you have any tips for eating healthy on an itty bitty budget? I am a stay at home mom of soon to be 3! (another reason we’re broke 🙂 We are stationed in Germany so buying healthy with euro is even more unrealistic for us. Are there any websites you recommend with good deals/reasonable shipping? Your breakfasts and snacks always look so yummy! Would love to see some more lunch and dinner ideas 🙂 Thanks again!!