Is the Economy to Blame?

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your weeks are off to a great start.
Today was just another Manic Monday for me. Nothing spectacular or unordinary, just the usual work day. I am already looking forward to the weekend, so I am really hoping that this week flies.

One highlight of my mid-work day was lunch. Can I just say that leftover Thai food is 10 times better the next day! I love how the tofu absorbs so much of the sauce and flavors as it sits longer. Mmm, mmm, good!

Another noteworthy tidbit I came across over my lunch was an interesting article in the new April edition of Self Magazine. It was an article entitled “Is the Economy Making you Fat?” and talked about how many Americans just feel it’s too expensive to manage a healthy lifestyle. Although I agree that fresh and organic produce can appear more pricy in the stores, this idea that being healthy is unobtainable because people can’t budget for it is CRAP! It’s just another excuse that people use because they truthfully don’t have the desire to take the energy and time to make it work.

Now granted, I do admit that Toly and I budget a little more than most for our groceries; however, this is because healthy eating and food is very important to us. We consume breakfast, lunch and dinner at home almost every day! Breakfast is eaten every single morning, I pack our lunches every day and I make dinner every night. Compared to what we would be spending if we ate these meals out, we are DEFINITELY saving money in this area. We do enjoy going out on occasion and when we do go out, we are able to splurge a bit! We like good food and nice restaurants, so we’ve decided that if we are going to go out for a special occasion, it’s going to be well worth it!

I am also pretty crazy when it comes to wasting food too! I do one shopping trip every week and make sure I have every meal planned out for the entire week. I make it an avid attempt to use almost EVERYTHING I buy and not to waste anything. It definitely takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it if it’s something that is important to you.

Anyways, the article gave a few suggestions for cheap snacks that I found intriguing.

Here they are…

A Dozen Smart Snacks for Under a Dollar

Brown Rice- .022$ per ½ Cup
Raisins- .027$ per 1 ½ oz box
Snap Peas- .028$ per cup
Green Tea- .031$ per bag
Broccoli- .033$ per cup
Plain Yogurt- .037$ per ½ cup
Bananas- .039$ each
Black Beans- .042$ per cup
Whole-Wheat Penne- .050$ per serving
Apples- .071$ each
Lentils- .080$ per cup
Sweet Potatoes- .099$ each

Dinner tonight was my variation of stuffed peppers. I’ve come to the conclusion that I love making anything “stuffed” because it’s extremely versatile. I am such a fan of a TON of flavors and many ingredients combine into one dish, so anything with the word “stuffed” in the title, usually allows for much creativity.
I made my pepper with a combo of spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes, olives, diced tomatoes and feta.
Toly had ground turkey, tomatoes, rice, feta and cheddar (oh and minus the pepper!)

I also roasted some veggies (parsnips, butternut squash, and Brussels ) in a honey balsalmic sauce alongside.
Deeeeeelicious!

Time to call it a day. Have a good night!

(His and Hers)

(Toly got leftover mac and cheese instead of veggies...his favorite!)