I’ve mentioned recently that I haven’t been grocery shopping as much as usual so far this year. Partly because I’m needing to use some food items up, but also because I am organizing my space better and need to create a plan for what I want to stock up on. I want to stock foods my body can handle that won’t adversely affect my blood sugar. I have diabetes, and this means I don’t cook or eat the same way I used to.
I have had a few weeks when I used foods on hand and was able to come up with plenty of balanced meals. Now I’m at a point where I still have food items left, but there is no full meal to be made from what is on hand. My food stash is getting small. I have what I stocked with the Hannaford gift card I was given at the holidays, but I’m not using those items yet. They represent the beginning of my new stock up journey. I am stocking for healthy eating.
Let me tell you something. Shopping to eat healthy isn’t cheap, and I don’t even buy everything organic even though I prefer to. I try to follow the Dirty Dozen, Clean Fifteen lists, which they update each year. I am not perfect at this, but I do what I can according to my budget. Also, I don’t always buy organic meats, though I do try to when I can. Some of the few canned goods I buy are also organic. Not all.
I just went grocery shopping and spent almost $71.00. My heart sank. I felt nauseous. I know I can’t afford to do that often. A few things that raised the price for me this week: 1. I bought corned beef. This roast cost me almost $14.00. I could have gotten a smaller one, but I wanted enough for 5 meals. It’s just me at home. It shouldn’t cost this much. 2. I bought organic Paprika and organic Parsley. It’s just the store brand stuff, but they cost me $4.58 each. My goodness! 3. I bought deli meat and cheese for my work meals next weeks. These each came in at just under $5.00.
I don’t buy those items very often. Thank goodness. Actually, I only eat corned beef once, very rarely twice, in the spring. And I rarely ever eat deli meat or cheese, I was just craving pickle rollups and decided to make them for work next week.
But even the items I usually get are going up in price. I didn’t bother with eggs. I still have eight left and paid almost $7.00 for a dozen last week. Before that I hadn’t bought any in weeks because the prices have sometimes been even higher. I do understand about the bird flu and all, but egg prices have been ridiculous.
So, this week I have some food items on hand I want to use up: Eggs, diced tomato, frozen tomato paste, a little pasta, mild cheddar cheese, corn, peas, celery, a little bit of Paleo pancake mix, and peanut butter.
I plan to use the eggs for an egg bake with a little deli meet and mozzarella for breakfasts. One of the days I will also have the pancakes with the egg bake, the other I will have celery with peanut butter. I’ll also have celery and peanut butter for snacks this weekend.
Then, on Sunday, I am going to make pasta for lunches the first four days of next week. I will use the tomato products, pasta and cheddar, as well as some of the corn and peas.
These are all easy to make. I’ll be using some stuff up. And I didn’t have to buy everything to fix them this week. This is great considering how much I paid for the roast I am making.
What would you do with the items I am using up this weekend? I am always interested in how others use things up and make affordable meals.
~ Shannon
