More On Meals

Or....meals for morons, if you read it that way....

Oh, Dear GOD, pull me away...

I just totally got pulled into and distracted by Pinterest! 

NEVER go there if you have anything else that NEEDS to be done!!  

NEVER!  

Either way, apparently I have been busy this week. I could've sworn I posted about one of my favorite soups, however, it is to be found NOWHERE.  Well, it will be found this week, as I got all the necessary components at the store last night, and it is now officially AUTUMN.  That is NOT what I will be discussing today.

Today is about planning ahead.  There are certain and very specific benefits in doing such a thing:

• Saves time
• Saves money
• Saves frustration
• Makes control freaks (not like me at ALL) happy

After several months of adjusting to a new way of life (working at home, being alone 98% of the time), one thing has definitely come to light. There's not a huge need for profuse amounts of food to be purchased and consumed here in our home.  The man of the house eats approximately the same thing five days a week, and when I'm home alone, I'm lucky if I have the compunction to eat one, let alone two meals during the course of the day. 

Don't get me wrong, I adore food.  Food loves to live ON me.....in the form of fat cells....but the fat storage is based more on lack of proper eating (both occurrences and content) and lack of movement than on eating profuse amounts of food.  Essentially, I have sucked my metabolism's will to function dry. So, in an effort to STOP sabotaging my lovelier self, the one that's currently hiding, I'm devising an eating plan that will change all this.  

All it takes is baby steps.  

• Small breakfast-maybe grapes or a banana and a yogurt (Yoplait Whips...can't really stand regular yogurt. Makes me gag. 
• Lunch-typically a sandwich or a salad 
• Dinner-probably should be something more substantial, but usually it is also a sandwich or salad, about 6-7 hours after lunch.  
• Iced tea and coffee for beveraging. Coffeemate creamer and Stevia in the Raw for sweetening. 
• Vitamins. Daily. I'm bad about this. Need to NOT be bad about it.  

Regardless of THAT diversion, back to planning we go.  I am slowly getting away from all forms of processed foods, eliminating high sugar and sodium content. It really does require thought and preparation though.  That and cooking and also spending more time shopping the produce department than the frozen food aisles. 

A typical week of shopping for two consists of: 

• assorted toiletries....which you can pare down if you don't buy buy buy in bulk and go crazy.  
• pet foods and supplies (litter, treats and foods)
• household items...again, can be pared down if you stick to what you NEED as opposed to stocking up. Though it really is cheaper, especially if you have a coupon, to buy a 12-pack of tp than a 6 pack or even a 4 pack..WHO BUYS THOSE?  
• Basic food supplies (spices, baking stuff, butter, milk, etc.) Here, a small tub of butter can last up to 2 months when you only cook on weekends and use more extra-virgin olive oil as your fat source
• Meat  (ground turkey, ground chicken, chicken in parts or in boob form and the occasional red meat)
• Frozen veggies, frozen pizza.  I run screaming from the ice cream...as I adore it way too much.  
• Bread (buns, breads) 
• Peanut butter (and Polaner All-Fruit, because other jellies are either entirely too sweet or too chemically sweetened) 
• Chips (tortilla, Popcorners and sometimes actual tater chips for his lunches)
• Produce (typically lettuce, grape tomatoes, bananas, clementines....then specific items such as onions, kale, etc...for recipes)
• Pop, water, coffee

It sounds like alot..because some of it IS alot...and some of it we could definitely do without....like the processed cookies and the chips....and I so very badly want to find a way to stop buying bottled water. I am horrified by what it does to consume so many bottles. Have to work on convincing the beloved that we would be better off with a filtration system.  

So, you see the first step in making a killer, take-no-prisoners, effective menu plan is to assess what you actually use and buy.  THEN you make adjustments. Which I will address in the next installment. For now, tell me what YOU buy. Where are your weak spots? What can you NOT live without?