Grocery Wars

I am working on the new eating/cooking plans that I have been writing about for the past week or so, and I have some successes to report!

First, I have used up nearly all of our veggies for this week, with a few veggies left that can easily get used before the end of the week.

I have made a couple of really good, inexpensive meals. I want to pass on 2 points of wisdom that have really helped me do better with the meal planning, not wasting, etc. One of these I learned from my friend Amber, whose budgeting prowess never fails to amaze me.

Amber's tip #1: Have handy catchall dishes that you can put almost anything into. She suggested soup and fried rice, which are nearly always ready for a random vegetable, bit of leftover meat or fish, etc. In fact, it's hard to think of any vegetable or meat that wouldn't fit into one of those two dishes, with the possible exception of iceberg lettuce and hot dogs. Luckily I don't have those two around anyway.

My tip #2: Plan exactly what you will do with everything you buy, and process it immediately when you get home. For example, this week when I got our veggie shipment, I immediately made a huge salad with all of the salad-type ingredients. The result was that I ate a lot of salad and none of the ingredients went bad before I ate them. This might not sounds like a big deal but I was always finding vegetables all nasty in the produce drawer. So, yay for not wasting food!

Then, with regard to the crazy idea I had about not eating flour or added sugar, it has actually gone well. On the first day, I had to cheat and eat pizza, because I didn't plan ahead and that was all that was available. But I ate two pieces, the end. I have a lot of energy. I don't know if it is a coincidence, because a lot of people are talking about having a lot of energy because of daylight savings time. But I really do feel good. We'll see how it goes. It's actually less hard than I thought it would be to avoid flour. Strangely enough I feel like I don't want cake and cookies anymore because I feel so good now. This is probably temporary, though. I am sure that I will start craving it again. ;D I do have to eat more often because (maybe?) I am "using up" what I eat, so I have to refuel a little more often. Any nutritionists out there who want to contribute their insight?

Today I made a really good vegetable soup with beans. Maybe a sort of minestrone. Yum! :)

Now, I have a bunch of potatoes because Ben doesn't eat them right now. Any ideas for something interesting to do with a bunch of potatoes?