How to Stay on Budget: Not Wasting Food

So my 400$ - $500 grocery budget was blown out of the water April, May and it looks like June as well. By blown out of the water I mean it was closer to the $500-$600 range. April was around $540 and May was a whopping $620. So far June is sitting around the $600 mark. What I am noticing is that 3 things seem to have really affected my budget:

1. Not having a detailed enough budget. Ex, how much should go towards the pets? How much spent on dairy? How much spent on produce? etc.... I have been keeping track of where exactly my grocery budget goes this month and it has been pretty eye opening. (My family really, really, REALLY likes dairy!) After June wraps up I will do a more detailed post about how I am managing, tracking, and allocating the money in my grocery budget from now on.

2. Not meal planning ahead of time because I'm too lazy/pregnant/busy.... and going along with that..

3. Letting food go to waste!

It is really hard to see food in my kitchen go to waste simply because of poor planning or a complete lack of planning on my part. For the first time in history, there is enough food on this planet to feed everyone on it. Yet people are still starving... why? Because they can't access the food they need, while others of us live in what the Pope has referred to as a "culture of waste." In fact, he has actually stated outright that "Wasting food is like stealing from the poor." Whatever your thoughts are on Catholicism, the man has a point. Here's a couple of links for those that are interested:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/world-hunger_b_1463429.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-francis-condemns-culture-disposes-good-food-article-1.1365486

It is actually kind of disturbing when you think about it, how conditioned we are in North America to just mindlessly throw away food without even thinking about it. I mentioned before how I'm sure my depression-era grandfather is probably rolling in his grave looking at all the food going to waste in my fridge. We just seem to have a different mindset. I know for myself, I grew up spoiled when it came to food. It was always so abundant in my childhood home, always at least 6 cereals to choose from, 8 kinds of pop to choose from, fresh bread and milk at all times.... lack of food was not something that I ever worried about. I know for a fact I was one of those kids who would stare at a completely full fridge, close the door and then grumble "There's nothing to eat around here!"

There was a post that made the rounds on facebook a while back, and it really speaks to this notion of different cultural attitudes and traditions around food. For those of you who haven't seen it, a photographer traveled around the world and took photos of what a weeks worth of food looks like in different countries:
http://fstoppers.com/what-a-week-of-groceries-looks-like-around-the-world

It really is something to think about. Not just for budget reasons, but for philosophical reasons as well (wow, I'm really getting deep right now!)

That all being said, I set a goal for myself this next month to not have to throw any food away! Not one Ziploc container full! I plan to do this by firstly, planning my meals out in advance. Secondly, I will look in my fridge to see what needs to be used up, and plan my dinners around that instead of what I feel like eating. Lastly, I plan to follow a more structured budget, so that I don't needlessly buy food that will not get used. Also, I think I will try a hand at freezing some produce, so I'll let you know how that goes as well. That's about all from the Stewart house for now, time to get off the computer and go be a domestic goddess.

Preggo Cravings Vs. Clean Eating

Love is sitting together on the couch while your husband watches So You Think You Can Dance with you. Love is watching the commercials together, and feeling your heart skip a beat when a Reese Peanut Butter Cup commercial comes on. Love is looking over at your husband.... and having him know, without saying a word, that he is about to drive to the store to pick up Reese Peanut Butter Cups.... Love is having only to say "Baby wants...." before watching your husband sigh, put on his hat, and then walk out the door to the car. For me, last night, love was Reese Peanut Butter Cups.... 

So, I guess the point of this post is to ask, where do pregnancy cravings and "treats" fit in with clean eating and real foods? How much do you deny? How much do you indulge? Am I a hypocrite? Am I setting a good example for my daughter? Questions questions questions.

This is an often discussed topic on one of my favorite blogs: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/05/10/i-dont-want-my-daughters-to-worry-about-food/

She recently took on the topic in the link I posted above, and I have to say I agree with her on several points. It gets really hard to avoid processed food when you leave the safety and comfort of you own home. Your kids get invited to a birthday party, and are inevitably offered tones of processed foods full of sugar, preservatives and food dye. Get invited to a family member's home for dinner, and don't even think about asking what is organic and if they have cheddar cheese that isn't dyed orange unless you want to look like a huge asshole. Successful trip to the doctor? Here's a sucker. Bank teller thinks my daughter is cute, offers her a candy. The list is really endless. All the while the comment I commonly hear is "once in a while isn't going to hurt anything..." 

I read a post/rant from a doctor a while back: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2013/02/20/why-is-everyone-always-giving-my-kids-junk-food

In it he makes the conservative estimate that his kids were offered, on average, about 600 calories of "sugar-spiked junk food" each and every week from non-family sources. So really, that "once in a while" isn't really once in a while. Add holidays such as Christmas and Halloween to the list I just mentioned above, and its easy to see why so many kids and adults seem to be struggling to eat healthy and maintain a healthy weight. While I don't want to push my views of eating on any of my friends and family members, it gets hard to stand up for what what I believe in about food and eating without coming across like a judgmental asshole... the kind that no one wants to be around. So.... how do you do it? Where do you strike a balance?

More importantly, as talked about in the 100 days blog, what do I want my daughter to learn about food? Do I want her to politely refuse a treat from her grandmother with a reply of "Gramma, do you KNOW how much processed white sugar is in that!?!" Do I want her to be one of those kids under the age of 10 reading food labels and counting how many calories come from sugar? Do I want her to grow up with the notion that there are "bad" foods and "good" foods and that some foods are strictly off limits? 

Well, no. I don't want to raise a little food nazi. I want her to be aware of her food choices, to be aware of the implications of choosing humanely raised beef over the less-humanely raised beef. To know where her food comes from, to know that yogurt doesn't really come from a tube. I want her to be aware but not obsessed. And really, it starts from me. Since she was 16 months old she has wanted to eat whatever she sees Mommy and Daddy eating. If we are eating spinach and salmon, that's what she wants. If we are eating hot dogs and Doritos, that's what she wants. Is it healthy for her to eat good food at home, and see mommy cooking tortillas from scratch so as to avoid all the preservatives in the store bought ones? Yes it is. Is it also good for her to get handed a few sugar/cinnamon coated mini doughnuts from Mommy at the farmers market on Saturdays? Yes it is. 

Though she will inevitably be offered "treats" from sources other than myself and my husband, I think it is important to let her grow and navigate her own waters on that matter. Just as it is important for her to know that Mom and Dad like to keep a house full of healthy foods, its also important for her to see Mom and Dad indulge once in a while. I could just be justifying my pregnancy cravings, but really, whose going to argue with a hormonal pregnant lady? One thing that has been made glaringly obvious, is that I am going to have to start baking and having some "healthy" treats on hand. One chocolate bar once in a while is one thing.... but these preggo cravings sometimes seem to take on a life of their own!

The Evolution of Bread

     The evolution of bread.... (riveting I know...) Did anyone else ever make bread and buns with their grandma when they were little? I did. I remember standing on a stool in her kitchen and helping her. I remember how she cleverly  made me "tuck" the dough in for a nap when it needed to rise, only to turn around and tell me that I needed a nap as well and could get up when the dough's nap was over. (smart woman!) I remember how much fun it was to punch the dough down after it had risen up. I remember watching it rise up in the oven window, anticipating the warm, soft, pillow-like buns spread with butter and home-made strawberry jam.... suddenly I am very hungry... 

     Flash forward about 25 years and you find me, in my kitchen, attempting to recreate the soft, pillow-like mounds of heaven from my childhood. What I inevitably end up with are hockey pucks.... 

     Does this sound familiar to anyone else? You mix the ingredients and leave it to rise, only to come back and see that it hasn't really risen..... so you leave it a while longer... and after 2 and a half hours you give up and realize that it isn't going to rise up like the dough from your childhood. It's not soft and yielding when you go to punch it down and knead it. You shape it and put it in the pans, thinking "Surely this will rise up more during its second rise..." Then your husband walks in and asks you to stop calling him Shirley... You come back and see that the bread is exactly. the. same. size.... you put it in the oven hoping against hope that some magical science will happen with the heat of the oven and you will make your grandmother proud.... only to be faced with a very dense hockey puck when all is said and done.... Do these things happen to anyone else?

     While I am still far from the soft, beautiful bread that my grandmother made (to be fair, she used white sugar and white flour!) I have come a long way in the last 4 months or so. When I started this journey I saw that one thing I really needed to do was start making my own bread. Not only for the health reasons but for the cost reasons as well. You can get gorgeous bread at the farmer's market on Saturdays that has absolutely nothing bad in it, but, you also pay at least 4$ a loaf for it. Compared to how cheap it is to make your own, this has become a no-brainer when you are trying to eat well on a budget. Thus I give you the Stewart's evolution of bread:

My first attempt at bread I didn't even take a picture of, I was too disheartened. I got some new yeast hoping that would help, and made the loaf on the left. Not a hockey puck, but close. After some reading on the Google I tried adding some Vital Wheat Gluten, which is apparently a must when you are using Whole Wheat Flour. This resulted in the loaf on the right, a little bit better, but not quite there yet....

So I decided to try a new recipe.... You know when you read a recipe and you think to yourself "I think they left a step out..." but you are too insecure to really question it and end up following it exactly only to be horribly disappointed? Does this happen to anyone else? The recipe made no mention of greasing the baking pan.... so against my better judgment I didn't. As you can see the silicone one was fine, but the one baked in the traditional pan didn't fair so well.... I hate it when recipes leave steps out! 

And then, a miracle happened.... I got a breadmaker!!!! I know I probably sound lame but this was seriously a game changer for me. I literally dump the ingredients in and then walk away. I know this is not nearly as romantic as how I made bread when I was little, but to be fair I wasn't pregnant with a crying toddler clinging to my legs with a sky-high pile of laundry to do and dirty floors needing to be washed. 

I. Love. This. Thing.

     Another thing that has really helped the quality of our bread was me finding that I could get Stone-Ground Whole Wheat Bread Flour at Bulk Barn. That coupled with the addition of Vital Wheat Gluten has been key in having more "normal" looking bread instead of hockey pucks. We can at least have normal sized sandwiches now. And that my dears, is the riveting tale of bread evolution in the Stewart household :)

Is it possible? Sort of....

     Is it possible to eat whole, healthy foods when you are insanely busy. For the most part, yes. Is it possible to cook, bake, eat, grocery shop and blog about everything while you are insanely busy? Not so much.... Coming off a busy couple of months for this gal. Coupled with my ever growing belly, my time has been stretched. To be honest, when I have extra time I have been napping. I say that very unapologetic, I have a rule that pregnant women should never apologize for napping.
     I will admit that there has been some eating out that has happened over the last two months and (gasp!) some fast food once or twice. All in all considering how much my family has had on our plate the last little while, I think we are doing quite well! One good thing that has come from being so busy, is finding new, fast dinner recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less with a crying toddler clinging to your legs. A big winner was this one here, courtesy of my new favorite person, Ree Drummond:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/beef-with-snow-peas-recipe/index.html

One thing that has really helped me out is my anniversary present, a brand new breadmaker! (You know you're getting old when...)

Other favorites have been:

Really, anything stuffed into a crepe and topped with whipped cream can't be all that bad. 

Frittatas have been a lifesaver, both because they are super fast but they also use up leftovers and veggies that are about to turn

Cous Cous cooks in about 10 minutes, and my daughter loves it. 

Taco night is fun, provided I have homemade tortillas on hand in the freezer. They are time consuming to make I'm not going to lie, but oh.... soooooo good! Oh, and that is homemade veggie ground round there! (also a make ahead item)

Been Chili in the slowcooker is a godsend. Really, anything that can be made in the slowcooker is a godsend. 

Who doesn't love a salad?

And a big favorite, homemade pizza, with pizza dough made for me in the breadmaker :)

So all in all the last couple of months have been going well, all things considered. I am trying a new, more organized food budget for the next little while. Instead of just making a regular grocery budget, I am trying to track exactly where my money goes. It has lead to some insights.... anyone else spending over 100$ a month on dairy products? My family sure likes cheese and sour cream!!! (We are Ukrainian after all!)

That's about all from the Stewart house for now. I am going to go now and convince a toddler to nap (ha ha ha) and see if I can clean up my kitchen. Well, maybe my whole house, but we'll start with the kitchen.

Deeper down the Rabbit Hole...

     So, something rather interesting happened to me last night while I was making dinner. On Wednesday nights I teach a dance class so little bean stays at Gramma's house until I pick her up around 7. Gramma is very nice and both feeds and baths little bean, so that all I have to do is pick her up, listen to her snore on the drive home, and then plunk her into bed as soon as we get there. Because Sean is usually still at work, this usually means that Wednesday evenings are a bit of a freebie for me, in that I can indulge whatever my preggo cravings want. Last night it was Nachos... don't judge....
     So there I was in my kitchen, organizing my organic nacho chips on a baking tray, shredding my local organic cheese, cutting up my organic olives, green onions and tomatoes... when low and behold I noticed something....

Now, my first reaction went something like this: Are you freaking kidding me? Israel? My freaking tomato is from Israel? How the hell did it get here?

     So.... ya... when I stopped to think about it, I realized it probably came here on a big jet plane, and then inevitably went driving around on a truck before finally getting to Save on Foods. And so... deeper down the rabbit hole I go. Not that I have anything against food from Israel, I just think that it should be, you know, feeding people in Israel, not North America. So really, as much as I want to buy organic, non GMO tomatoes, I also really (and maybe even more so) would like to buy food that is grown LOCALLY, like, preferably no more than a province or two away, but at least on the same damn continent as me. I have had a few people message me and tell me about an organization here in Red Deer called Pure Earth Organics, which seems to be sort of like a CSA thing. I am thinking I may need to give them a try. At first I was a little resistant to the whole CSA thing, because I am realizing that I have been spoiled and am used to having whatever I want, whenever I want. Be it tomatoes or blueberries in the dead of winter, or asparagus in November, I am not used to eating what is in season at ALL!
     The thing that I am really beginning to realize, is that I DO NOT LIVE IN SOUTH AMERICA and I do, in fact, live in CANADA. What I am getting at is that I live in a climate that will not grow tomatoes and blueberries for 10 months out of the year. So, in order to eat local, I am beginning to see that I will need to begin to eat seasonally as well.... Sigh... further down the rabbit hole.... Just when I think I am beginning to reach the bottom, deeper down I go.

Things that go Bump...

     Well well well.... it's only been about a month since my last post. In my defense, I can now let you guys know that I have had a rough last few months, thus my sporadic blogging. By "rough" I mean I spent most of the last four months with my head in the toilet (this is my ever so cute way of letting you all know that I am 18 weeks preggo). Yes that is correct, baby #2 is on route and due to arrive this September. After losing a pregnancy in the fall I was super excited to get pregnant again, although less excited to get sicker than I have ever been before in my life. The good news is that the nausea and such has subsided quite a bit, and I can begin to get back to some semblance of a normal life again (that is... until I get a newborn... and little bean turns 2... and I will never know "normal" again...)
     One of the biggest challenges I've had in the last few months was just trying to keep up with little bean and everything around the house, cooking being one of them. Not going to lie, it would have been way easier on most nights (especially when I was puking) to just toss a frozen pizza in the oven and be done with it. It was far more difficult to push through and make pizza dough from scratch... I am proud to say that I pushed through and, 90% of the time, was able to stick with our new way of eating. There were a few slips, like Easter dinner at both my mom and in-laws, one night where we ordered a pizza from Panago, and a birthday celebration for Sean's Grandma that saw me eat take out chinese food, cake, and 3 glasses of root beer. The day after the birthday party I was rewarded for my indulgences with a giant migraine that made the surface of my head sore to the touch for 3 days afterward. Needless to say, I probably won't be going quite so overboard like that again. Maybe it was the chinese food, the red dye in the cake icing, or the god-knows-what in the Root Beer. Regardless, I think I can safely say that my pop drinking is behind me. It just doesn't seem worth it anymore.
    I have noticed a couple of things in the last while. I can definitely notice a change in my tastebuds, and I don't seem to need food to be quite so sweet or salty anymore. I feel like I am beginning to really TASTE my food, which probably sounds a bit odd. What I mean is that, I can eat a grapefruit for breakfast without needing to coat it in sugar....things like that.
    I've also noticed HOW MUCH I NEED TO BE ORGANIZED! Really, doing a weekly menu is a must. Because so much of what we eat is made from scratch, I have to be really on the ball with things like taking meat out of the freezer at night, soaking beans overnight, etc... I have to really keep track of what I buy and plan menus accordingly so that everything gets used up and nothing gets wasted. Before I started making these changes I really had no idea how much food I wasted. Like, horrible amounts of food. Leftovers that wouldn't get eaten up and go bad in the fridge, produce that wouldn't get used and inevitably go green and furry..... potatoes that started to grow more potatoes.... you get the idea. It really makes me sad how much food we had been wasting with absolutely no idea. Enough that I'm sure my depression-era grandfather was rolling in his grave. I get sadder still when I think of all the people on this earth who don't have enough to eat, and here I am letting things rot in my fridge. Eating unprocessed, organic food on a budget has DEFINITELY made us a lot less wasteful, so another benefit there!
    For all of you wondering about our fur babies, we also made the switch for them as well. The poor little things were eating Beneful and Fancy Feast... which until I looked into it I didn't realize I may have just as well been feeding them anti-freeze. You may not agree with me on this one, but I feel a lot better sleeping at night knowing that ALL of my babies are eating healthy. Yes, it will mean our grocery budget will have to go up a bit, but I feel it is well worth it. I went to Global Pet foods on the north end of Red Deer here because it is closest to me. They were very sweet and took a lot of time talking to me and answering all of my questions. The sweet manager didn't even seem to mind when little bean walked over to a wall and proceeded to remove all of the doggie toys.... sigh.... (I helped put them back!)
     I will do a post in a couple of days and let everyone know how our budget for April went. I will also try to do some more in the next while and let everyone know what we have been eating, as that seems to be a big question (so.... what DO you eat?) Answer: FOOD!

Organic Shopping on a Budget

     Ok so here is the deal for this month. Usually my grocery budget is $400, and I broke it down for you in the last post where that money usually goes. This month I did my usual big shopping trip at the beginning of the month at Superstore, spending $270.81 so I could get the 25$ gift card. Now, unfortunately, this shopping trip took place BEFORE I decided to overhaul the way we eat. Though about $70 of it went towards things like diapers, cat litter and toilet paper, about 200$ of it was wasted. Wasted? Maybe lets not call it that... lets call it a $200 donation to the food bank! So, if you want you can count the full $270.81 but I am only going to count $70.81. Call it a grocery shopping Mulligans.... So now, here is how the rest of the month has gone so far:

First stop, Costco! First trip there I spent $93.94 on these goodies:

Best deals? The giant box of wipes on sale for 15$. Plus Kirkland brand doesn't use animal testing, so I like them! Also the coconut butter and Lara Bars, which I mentioned last post. 

That same day I also went to Save On Foods and picked up all of these goodies for $168.63. Though the organic whole wheat flour was on sale and I had a store coupon for 2 for 1 toilet paper, I will definitely save my shopping there for 15% off Tuesdays. Right there I would have saved about 25$.

They had not a bad selection of organic produce. Definitely better than Superstore's. 

That shopping was done on the day that I cleaned out my kitchen. Upon seeing how bare it was, I went back to Costco the next day and spent $35.80 on these goodies:

That huge bag of organic coconut sugar was a steal for under 12$. Cheaper than the other places I looked. 

I also stopped in at Big Bend Market that day, since it is on the same side of town as Costco. It is an awesome store that stocks products from local farmers. Sylvan Star farms is where the cheese is from, and I drive past it on the way out to Sylvan Lake. Great products that are local, and lots of organic, antibiotic and hormone free options. It is more expensive though I won't lie, here is what $32.83 looks like shopping there:

Have to say, the cheese is amazing!

My last shopping day included a trip to Superstore and then to Bulk Barn. I went to Superstore last, and wish that I wouldn't have because I went a little crazy at Bulk Barn and bought some stuff that I could have gotten for a little cheaper at Superstore, not to mention that I had a 25$ gift certificate that I used. Though my total at Superstore was $54.29, I only paid $29.29 because of the gift card (I also had a coupon for the Almond Butter!). Here is what I got:

I needed the big jug of bleach to do laundry with. Haven't been able to find organic yeast anywhere (is there such a thing?) so I had to go with the regular stuff. I also picked up a bag of Vital Wheat Gluten for 7$ that is supposed to help my bread be more fluffy and less like a hockey puck. 

Lastly, I went to Bulk Barn and let loose. The whole time I walked around and put things in my cart I had an overwhelming feeling that it was going to be a pricey trip. Now that I've been there once I have a little better handle on it and I know what I need to get there, what is a good price for what I'm getting, etc... As you can see I got lots of nuts and seeds, some pasta, dried beans, cereal and flour. Here is what $75.41 looks like at Bulk Barn (after I used my 3$ coupon from the newspaper flyer... love my coupons!)

One thing I will say is that they had a few really hard to find items. Best buy was that big bag of whole wheat pastry flour for about 4$. I made pizza dough with it last night as well as brownies and they both turned out awesome! 

      Now for those of you adding along with us at home, my total for the month thus far is $506.71 ($706.71 if you count my food bank donation). So yes, I made some allowances this month and had to dip into my own pocket money to make this month work. I had to buy a lot of "start up" products that I won't normally have to buy every month. The real test is going to be next month, to see how far $400 will go when I have a fresh start with the budget and a properly stocked pantry. If you are wondering how I am going to make the rest of the month work right now, well I have a little trick up my sleeve! I actually have another 25$ gift card to Superstore that didn't get used a couple of months ago and is still kicking around in my purse. I plan to use it for some milk and produce towards the end of the month, and maybe some cheese and yogurt too. I have a bit of meat in my freezer that was also bought before this kick started, so I plan to use it up by the end of the month. Call it cheating if you will, a Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do.... 

In a few days I will do another post on some of the meals we have been eating. How easy they are to make and if my family eats them or not! Now, time to go start thinking about supper....

Update: I just realized that all those numbers I crunched aren't right. I actually spent 15$ on a pizza stone at Save on Foods and $3.50 on a chocolate mold at Bulk Barn. Because I would't count those items as groceries but instead as "household misc." they would come out of a different budget. So, what I have actually spent on groceries thus far is actually $488.21 and not $506.71.... hey, every penny counts!