Tag: smart shopping

It has been 111 Days since I began my Daily Food Diary.   That is not long,  but living in Saskatchewan we have cycled through all four seasons already.   Today we have returned to winter.  Yay snow! 🥶☃️   (For anyone who missed our summer, it happened on Easter Sunday, and lasted for the better part of an hour). 🙄

To date, my Daily Food Diary has focused on the quality, quantity, and nutritional value of the food we eat.  Today, I am focusing on the cost.

Food security is a major concern around the globe.  Even in Canada,  food affordability  has become a major issue for many.   The cost of nutritional food, is seen as a particular issue.

I can relate to the struggle for those who have growing families to feed. I was there, and even though prices were not as high as they are now, it was difficult.   Working outside of the home, while providing nutritious meals for my family didn’t help.  Having the time and energy to shop, much less prepare and cook meals was a challenge. 

Fortunately, my Mother did introduce us to a number of healthy, economical dishes that we, and in turn our families grew up on – homemade stews, soups, casseroles and the like.

Eating well, isn’t just a matter of survival, it is the difference between surviving and thriving.  That does not change at any time in our lives.

Entering our senior years, and with our specific health issues,  Dan and I are realizing how important the nutritional value of our diet is.   And on a somewhat limited pension income, how much our diet costs.

We are fortunate in many ways:

1.  Dan does our grocery shopping and he is really good at it.  He knows prices, he knows what is in season for vegetables and fruits, he knows our stores and which products to buy where, he reads the complete nutritional label on foods,  he is phasing out the ‘junk food’ and focussing on the nutrient rich foods.  👍

2.  We have a large, stand up freezer, that we bought at an amazing price.  Not only can  we buy our meat, frozen vegetables, etc in quantity when it is on sale – but it is also so easy to see what we have and rotate it on a date basis.

3.  We also have a Food Saver freezer  packaging appliance.    This was well worth the cost of the unit and the price of the plastic rolls that we use.   Our frozen meats and garden vegetables stay fresh for months.

4.  We seldom eat out or have take-out, especially fast food.  With my having to avoid yeast and sugar, and Dan having to avoid salt, we just cannot eat what we do not make.  And the money we save, leaves money in our budget for better food choices.

5. Being retired, and often sharing kitchen duties, we have the time and necessary skills to prepare most of our meals from scratch.  That is always important for controlling additives, yeast, salt,  processed sugar, and the like.    It is also cost effective in many ways – including controlling waste.  When our vegetable drawers are filled with produce on the verge of their best before date,  we make up a large pot of soup or stew or stir-fry and save it all from the waste bin.  Leftover meats find their way into fried rice, casseroles, omelets, and the like.  No wasted protein and again no wasted cost.

6.  We occasionally, ‘share’ groceries with daughter Jen.  If either of us has the opportunity to buy a large quantity of fresh produce at a good price, but we know we cannot use it before it spoils, we will buy it and split it between our households while it is still fresh.  

7. Last, we plant a small vegetable garden every year.  Dan invested the time and energy to create steel pipe garden planters that take little time or effort to maintain over the summer.  We enjoy the quality of our freshly picked vegetables and freeze, can, or dry anything we cannot use right away.

Daily Food Diary – Day 111

Breakfast:

(1) c coffee (2) (4.7 mg)

(2) slices back bacon (73) (620 mg)

(15) tater tots (233) (333 mg)

Snacks:

(1) c Cinnamon tea

(56) oz water

(15) Doritos (191) (286 mg)

Supper:

(9) dry ribs (riblets) (105) (340 mg)

(6) Gyoza (200) (400 mg)

(1/2) tbsp Gyoza dipping sauce (8) (183 mg) (1 gram)

Stir fry:

(1) oz leftover grilling steak (75) (13.8 mg)

(1) tsp olive oil (40)

(1/2) c celery (8) (1.5 mg)

(1) carrot (25) (42.1 mg)

(1/4) c red pepper (12) (1.5 mg)

(1/2) c cabbage (17) (6 mg)

(1/2) c mushrooms (22) (1.6 mg)

(2) cloves garlic (9) (1 mg)

(1/2) c broccoli (30)

(1/4) c red onion (15)

(1) c Bok Choy (19) (145 mg)

(1) tsp sesame seeds (8)

(1 1/2) tbsp oriental stir fry sauce (30) (495 mg) (4.5 grams)

Total Net Calories:   1018

Net calorie goal: 1255 – 1018 = 237 under 👍

Total Processed Sugar:   5.5 grams

Processed sugar goal: < 25 grams 👍

Total Sodium: 2874.2 mg

Total Sodium goal: 1500 to 2300 mg 👎

That’s it for today.  Take care and have a great day! 💖😊