Tag Archives: cheap

Braving a World of Junk Food: Packing a Lunch

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As I last posted, I’ve been working the Morton Pumpkin Fest for the last several days. If any of you know of the festival, you know it’s full of some seriously delicious junk food; including but not limited to: pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin funnel cake. Everything delicious, in pumpkin flavor!! It’s my own personal temptation hell.

However, it’s so important to learn how to brave these situations and so that you can join the rest of your community celebrating awesome things like Fall!

Some Tips:

1. Choose one thing to treat yourself to and wait until the end of your trip to do it. The buildup will make sure you don’t violate your own rule.

2. Make sure, before you leave the house, that you eat a big, healthy meal. Being full means you’ll be less tempted by anything other than your planned treat.

3. Bring some snacks! This is where dinner leftovers make things quick and easy.

 

Here was mine for an 8 hour shift at the fridge:

– Sandwich – gluten-free bread, sunflower butter, and blackberry jam we found at the farmers market.

– Smoothie – coconut water, 1 banana, handful of frozen fruit, handful spinach, scoop of protein.

– Salad – whatever is in your fridge. Mine was tomatoes, spinach, pinto beans from the chili last week, and humus.

Tools that make it easy:

– Resealable container like a Tupperware.

– Blender bottle for the smoothie. It’s not only easy to drink out of but it has a little spring ball that you keep in the liquid and when you’re ready to eat you just shake it all up.

– Lunch box/ bag keeps things cold or hot and easy to carry.

^ My handy dandy lunch box.

I was full and happy with my lunch and this morning, as a treat for resisting for 5 days, I had a giant pancake breakfast!

Enjoy your Sundays. Don’t forget to smile!

Produce: Where and How…

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Happy Saturday! Holy Bajolies this week has been crazy. I seriously can’t believe it’s Saturday already. Saturday morning is my grocery shopping time and I have a full day of work this afternoon so I woke up bright and early (and not too happily), did a quick spot of yoga to loosen up my stiff joints, and headed across the street to Peoria’s best farmer’s market.

 

A few awesome things about farmer’s markets:

1. You know exactly where everything comes from.

2. It’s all fresh.

3. It’s mostly organic too, although you have to check on this one.

4. You’re supporting the local farmers and keeping out the unhealthy, mass farms.

5. You get outside and interact with your community.

6. The food is SO much tastier than the grocery store produce.

7. You’re eating seasonal which varies your diet and provides inspiration in the kitchen.

Some things to be cautious of:

– Keep an eye on pricing, sometimes one or two items can be very expensive.

– Don’t over buy. It can be tempting with all the beautiful colors in front of you. But here’s a tip, go with a certain amount of cash (I take $25) and leave once you’ve spent it.

– Scan the whole spread of vendors before choosing the stands you will buy from, you may get to the end and realize one was much better than another.

Other than that, enjoy! I buy 50% of our fridge stock from our market and it’s made our diet so much better. I’ve come to look forward to it every week.

Check this site out for almost all the markets in the US: http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/

For those outside the US, just google “Farmer market [name of your town].”

^ pretty!

don’t forget —>  🙂

Friday Design: Remember the Love.

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I have piles of Birthday, Christmas, and Graduation cards from loved ones. You know the cards that they’ve really put some effort into writing? The ones that you can’t bear to throw away. I thought of a solution!

This is in our hallway, across from the bathroom door. It’s great at taking up wall space without seeming too imposing. Our hallway is tiny and this fits just right.

^ This is the literal version of Pintrest! Pinned to it are lots of special cards, postcards to remind of places we’ve been, and happy photos of us. I smile every time I look at it.

^ Just some hemp cord, wooden clothes pins, and thumbtacks. All bought at Kmart!

I hope you’re all having a happy Friday. Even if you don’t have room for this, take a look through your old cards, its sure to put a smile on your face.

Our Office (corner of the living room)

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There is one space in our apartment that, after six weeks, I finally feel is finished. Our “office.” Before we moved in I had three goals for whatever space we decided to put our desk:

1) A library! I think it’s so interesting to look through other people’s libraries and I’m proud of my book collection. Also it really encourages me to read instead of watch TV.

2) Two distinct spaces for Mike and me. We need our space when we’re working and I didn’t want this to be something we resent each other for.

3) A secluded area to focus completely but with enough natural light to stay awake during the day. I do a lot of my real job work at home so it’s important that I feel encouraged to work.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the blank living room corner before we populated it with stuff but I can assure you, it was a definitely a blank living room corner. Our living room is huge (compared to what we’re used to in Boston) so it was the perfect opportunity to develop a little space tucked away in there.

^ It’s in the corner between that wall on the left and the door.

We bought a ton of our hardware and basic needs at Menards. I had never heard of this place until moving to the Midwest but its AMAZING. Its like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, and Best Buy all rolled into one much, much cheaper store. On top of all that, the people that work there are so nice. I think they may actually enjoy their jobs. Its pretty much heaven. One of our purchases there was the shelving. Which cost about $40. It was steep for us but that and the picture frames for our degrees (Menards-$8 each) were the only things we bought for this space!

Everything else:

– Table = My contribution from a previous apartment. Perfect for our two individual spaces. And so easy to fold up and move.

– Plastic drawer set and computer monitor = free from the previous tenant in our last place and free from Mike’s parents!

– Two Red Lights = Free from a great friend of mine who moved to China the same time we moved here. When we finally decided to move, I sent out a blast email to all our friends in Boston asking to check with us before they threw anything away. This particular friend donated almost her entire bedroom. Her stuff is scattered throughout our apartment. They’re plastic too which is extra cool.

Anyway, here are the photos. I’m pretty stoked on the space. Definitely accomplished all our goals for a total of $64. Heck yes.

^ The overall look. I wish that we could afford nicer, matching chairs and non plastic drawers but I think it still looks pretty put together.

^ The “library.” The only negative about this is we want to buy more books! The positive is that if we do we can adjust the shelves and add another one.

^ It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s the miraculous folding desk! Love this thing. Expensive when my ex and I bought it back in 2011 but so worth it. Solid cherry, comes with 4 folding chairs that store in the middle, and has wheels. What more could you ask for? FYI, we bought it on Amazon as a Valentine’s day present to ourselves. $300. Thank goodness he gave it to me when we broke up because I’m in love with it and could never afford another one!

^ Just a little detail but makes all the difference. Now my cords don’t get lost when I unplug them from my laptop!

I feel like this post was full of exclamation points but I just love this stuff! !!

Hope you’re all having good days. And don’t forget to smile, they’re contagious.

Airport Eating

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Today I am slowly making my way back to Peoria from San Diego. Yesterday we spent 8 hours in the car driving from Santa Cruz and today I will spend 11 hours on planes and in airports. Those of you that can’t afford flying direct everywhere you go will understand how time-consuming travel can be. I feel like I could have driven to Peoria faster!

Anyone that has traveled through airports knows how difficult it can be to make healthy eating decisions. Everything is either very unhealthy or very expensive. The other problem is that you never know when you will have the chance to eat again. What, if anything, will be offered on the plane? What if my flight is delayed and I don’t have time to check out eating options during my layover? I’m not particularly hungry now but what if I get ravenous  in the middle of my five airborne hours?

Here are some facts that we all know but don’t much think about when we’re stressed and getting ready to fly:

– there will ALWAYS be food available

–  you are going to be hungry during the flight but it may just be because you’re bored

– it may just be necessary to choose the lesser of the evils

I am a little ashamed to say that I completely forgot all of these rules this morning. I was in a big rush before I left the house so was forced to get breakfast to eat on the plane. Instead of grabbing a piece of fruit to stave off the hunger until my next layover, I chowed down a croissant with egg, cheese, and ham. On the plus side I felt like crap within ten minutes and remembered, as I have to every once in a while, that its better to be a little hungry than put that gluten, dairy, and processed meat into my system.

So I have forgiven myself for that little slip up and here are some tips for you (and me) to follow from here on out:

1. Try as hard as possible to pack some easy food in a Tupperware to bring on the plane. It can add bulk to your carry-on but it only gets smaller as your day goes on! Also, it’s so much cheaper. For example: chopped raw veggies, popcorn chips, raw nuts, a sandwich (I do Udi’s gluten-free bread with almond butter and natural jelly), and a couple of pieces of fruit.

2. If you can’t pack food and are in a big rush, grab a few quick, unprocessed (if possible) things from whatever places are available. Stagger them throughout your trip so you’re never too full and never really hungry. For example: a salad or veggie platter if you can afford it, raw almonds, popcorn chips, fruit, etc. The closer to raw, the better.

^ There is always a news stand to pick up some quick eats.

 

^ The lesser of the evils but they always come in huge packages! Make sure you eat them in small portions and just save some for home.

3. If you’re having a long day of travel and want to sit down for a meal, choose something green and leafy, or if you just aren’t in the mood for salad, make sure whatever you eat is not fried. Also include some protein in there. For example: greek salad with grilled chicken, burrito bowl (no tortilla), non-dairy based soup, a burger minus the bun (a lot of places will wrap in lettuce so you can still manhandle it).

 

^ A typical airport meal is often the same price as a few packaged goods from the news stand.

It takes a lot of will power to do these things. With so many options for deliciously bad food and a great seat to sleep for multiple hours, it can be very tempting to chow down. But you will pay for it in more ways than just lethargy and its never really worth it. Being healthy feels so much better than food tastes. And I love food!

Questions: How many of you have struggled with this recently? Did you succumb or hold out? How did you feel after?