Last week, I wrote about the 1.75 a day for food challenge. I didn’t take it myself, but have decided it would be fun and helpful to post easy and economical recipes each week.  Here is the first one – from a jar of Kraft Peanut Butter – super easy peanut butter cookies. Can’t get much easier than 3 ingredients!

• 1 cup of smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 egg

That’s it. To bake them:

• Turn the oven to 325 Farenheit.
• Mix all of your ingredients together until blended.
• Roll them into balls, and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
• Flatten each one in a criss cross pattern using a fork.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Allow them to cool for 5 minutes.

You can’t get much easier or cheaper than this! I think to make a batch it’d come to a total cost of no more than a few dollars – and less if you can get the peanut butter or eggs on sale!

Yummy!

Courtesy of flickr

What’s your favourite cheap and easy sweet treat?

I was reading the free paper on Friday when I read about this challenge called “Live Below the Line”.  Here are the basic rules:

• • From April 29th until May 3rd, you can spend no more than 1.75 a day on food and drink. This means you have only a total of 8.75 with which to buy everything you’d need for the week!
  • The *full* cost of the items you consume must be included in your budget.
  • You can share the cost of ingredients amongst a team – as long as no one spends more than their 8.75 budget
  • You can’t use food you have on hand – unless you account for it in your budget
  • You can’t accept donated food or freebies!
  • You can drink tap water

I started thinking about whether I could do this – and I freely admit I’d find it pretty darned hard! I spent more than 8.75 on snacks on the way home from work on Friday!  I’ve committed to lunch and dinner out tomorrow as well, so that takes me out of the running.

I know I could do instant oatmeal for the week – if I did it 2 times a day, that’d be 2.50 out of my budget. And then maybe bread and peanut butter? But unless I can find peanut butter on sale, or just get a small quantity of it, I’d go over budget! And there’d be no veggies, fruit, chocolate ,etc.!

What’s the point of it? Well, here’s a summary from their Web site:

The following is a guest post. It’s a bit different than the usual ones.
Frustrated with diets that don’t work? Did you just find out that you regained the weight you lost before the holidays? All the hard work, all that discipline and deprivation can do down the drain really fast. So how do you lose the weight and keep it off for good? The answer to that question that many are giving is the high-protein diet.

How the high protein diet works

Research indicates that people who eat high amounts of protein feel full for longer. They don’t crave food as often and eat less food than they used to. So they say that protein works as a kind of appetite suppressant and that’s the theory behind most high-protein diets. But how much protein is considered high protein? If your diet consists of above 30% protein (but usually closer to 50%), that is considered a high protein diet.

Pros and cons

Under pros for this diet we have:
1.    Burns Fat: A high-protein diet can be part of a great weight-loss program. When you couple this diet with regular exercise, you get a dynamic duo that burns fat. Studies show reduced levels of blood fat in people who went on a high protein diet with exercise.

2.    Less insulin level changes: Sudden changes in levels of insulin are called insulin spikes. If you eat carbs, the insulin level rises and that causes you to feel hungry again rather soon. But when you eat proteins, the body digests it slowly and only gradually begins to feel pangs of hunger. Proteins have been shown to keep people satisfied for longer periods of time. A high-protein diet is ideally combined with a low-carb diet.

3.    Weight loss: When you don’t feel hungry as often and are burning fat –you will end up losing weight by default. This side-effect of a high-protein diet is a welcome change from the diets that don’t work.

Under Cons we have:
1.    The only real con to eating extra protein is if you already suffer from conditions of the liver and kidney. There are really no other cons.

Eating High Protein:

The Main Meal: Since this diet seems so good for you, what does eating a high protein diet look like? You’ll soon see that you might not have to make that many changes to your grocery list to eat more protein. A typical meal would be a grilled chicken breast (or any lean meat) with steamed vegetables or salad with dressing. Brown rice and black beans are always a protein winner. People on high protein diets will often eat a hamburger with only one half of the bun or a hot dog sausage on its own. You can eat some carbs but always try to eat complex carbs instead of simple carbs like candy.

Snacking: But what are the options for snacking on a high-protein diet? If you’re getting ready to watch a game, chicken wings are a great snack. If you’re on the go, nuts and roasted soy beans make great travel companions. For breakfast you can enjoy yogurt or cottages cheese with berries.

Now you’re ready to take your first step and start eating a protein rich diet and see how you feel or rather don’t feel hungry!

Author Bio:

Sydney is a successful nutritionist who lives in Illinois. As a nutritionist, she has provided weight loss coaching to many of her clients. She loves to share her experience and knowledge on benefits of healthy weight loss through her writings and is a great believer in structured weight loss plans.
In addition to being an accomplished nutritionist and a passionate writer, 40-year-old Sydney is a fabulous cook and plans to start a food blog soon.

Have you ever tried a high protein diet? I did a sugar, dairy and gluten free one – and lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks! Not sure I would have kept that weight loss up though.

Food bills keep rising, and everyone is always looking for ways to cut costs. Here are a few tips that can help you save:

1. Don’t buy food packaged in individual portions. You’re paying for the packaging, not the food. And if you’re anything like me – you just end up eating at least 2 of the individual portions at one shot anyways. . Buy a normal sized bag, and divvy up the contents.
2. Avoid prepared foods and meals. Now – if you really are starved for time, these can be great, and certainly much cheaper than going out or ordering in.  Keep and eye out for sales and stock up, if you really are dependent on these kinds of food.
3. Look down! Stuff that is stocked at eye level tends to be more expensive, but sells faster, cause it’s right in your eye line. Brands actually pay to be stocked at eye level – just one reason they cost more.
4. Avoid temptation and stick to the list. The grocery store I frequent has just completely reorganized so when you walk in the door, you see and smell freshly baked pizza, and individual slices of cakes. These are 2 of my major weaknesses.  It’s much better if I go *after* dinner so I’m not too tempted!
5. Beware of fake discounts. Just because something is featured in the flyer, or offered 3 for X amount of dollars means it’s on sale.

You can also look into price matching and of course, coupons.

What’s your best trick for saving at the grocery store?

On Tuesday, I said I’d cover how to fulfill common New Year’s resolutions without spending too much – or anything at all. On Wednesday, I talked about how to help others without spending anything, and on Thursday, I talked about how to exercise on the cheap.  Today I’m going to talk about how to eat healthy without breaking the bank.

1. Breakfast. Most important meal of the day! A lot of us rush out the door without eating anything, and then end up picking up McDonald’s or a bagel smothered in cream cheese.  A very cheap option you can prepare in advance is Steel Cut Oats. I cook up a pot on Sunday night, then take a container in each day and heat it up at work. I add some berries and a bit of cinnamon, and voila! Instant breakfast.  You can buy a bag of Steel Cut Oats for about 5 dollars, and I find it’ll last me almost a month. It’s very filling, and very economical.

2. Lunch. It’s so tempting to hit the food court instead of brown bagging it. You can always pack left overs, but if you’re looking for something healthy and low cost, try this. Cook up spinach, peppers and mushrooms in olive oil, then throw in some beans. You can wrap it up in a tortilla and add a bit of spaghetti sauce. You get a great, healthy meal, and it’s very filling! I found wrapping it and taking it to work didn’t really work well – I just ended up putting bits of tortilla on top of the veggies and beans.

3. Dinner. Try batch cooking, and make things up like vegetarian chilis or lentil soups in advance. If you have plenty of healthy food waiting for you, you’ll be less likely to reach for chicken nuggets or pizza, or order in.  On nights we hit the gym, it’s great to have a container of food just waiting for us when we get home.

4. Snacks. Don’t buy them. I have no willpower. I’ll freely admit it. If it’s in the house, I’ll eat it. So, I just can’t buy something and portion it out – I just can’t have it at all.

What are your favourite ways to eat healthy on the cheap?

Mr. CBB recently had a post on this, and since I’ve actually made a few things from scratch myself lately, I thought I’d look into it myself. The two items I’ve recently made from scratch are:

•  Chocolate chip cookies
• Bread

I love chocolate chip cookies, but frankly, never want to make them as I’ll just eat the whole darned batch up as soon as they come out of the oven (yes, this may sound like a good idea, but it leads to stomach aches and regret).  But we had a pot luck coming up a work, and this was a perfect opportunity to bake cookies  – enough for both hubby and I, and for the office.

All told, the ingredients for the cookies cost about 5.50. The biggest expense was the chocolate chips (mmm..mint flavoured). If I’d used less, or bought a less expensive brand, then I could have saved some money, but I love chocolate, so I didn’t want to skimp.  I ended up with 2 tins full of cookies. So, if you compare it to something like PC Brand chocolate chip cookies, which were recently on for 2.50, then it works out about even. But – you also have to factor in my time to buy the ingredients, make the cookies, and wash the dishes.  So, all in all, it’s probably cheaper to buy the cookies rather than make them, but frankly – nothing is as good as home made chocolate chip cookies!

The bread – well, flour was the main expense, but basically it works out to about 2.50 for the ingredients (I meant to itemize this, but of course, I threw out the bill!). I have a bread maker, and it didn’t take that much time to mix the bread up.  So, on this one, there wasn’t as much time and labour as there was for the cookies, and the price works out comparable to most store bought bread (not compared to a really good sale, mind you, but certainly the average price)|.  Plus I get the added bonus of my house smelling like freshly baked bread.  So, I guess this one works out about even.

I think that cooking from scratch is generally much cheaper than buying ready made food at the stores. With baking it’s a tougher call, as baking ingredients can be quite costly.  But baking can be a fun activity (I used to make these cookies with my grandmother, and recently made them with one of my nieces), and certainly more satisfying than purchasing something store bought.

Do you like to do baking at home? Do you still do it even if it’d be cheaper to buy a similar item in the store?

Statistics Canada (mostly referred to as Stats Canada) keeps track of all kinds of things, including the average price of various groceries.  Here are some of the food items that have gone up the most over the past 10 years.
·    Ground beef. It’s gone up by 37% in price over 10 years.
·    Peanut Butter – it’s gone up 24% over the past 10 years.  Mind you, peanut butter is still a fairly economical protein choice!
·    Cigarettes have gone up 16%. (not sure if this is truly groceries)
·    Paper towels have gone up  11%, with facial tissues also going up 11 percent, and toilet paper up 17 percent
·    Butter and ketchup have also gone up 6%
·    Shampoo has gone up 2%

So, some of these aren’t so bad – like shampoo, butter, and ketchup.  But the ground beef – wow, that’s a fairly big jump.

Then there’s the other side of the coin. When prices don’t go up – but the size goes down.  I bought an individual sized bag of chips the other day, and I swear it was about 20 grams smaller than they used to be. It doesn’t cost any more – but I’m definitely getting way less!

So, what are you supposed to do to fight these price rises?
·    Well, you can always cut back on meat.  I know, I know – meat can be super yummy. The smell of tacos makes me weak in the knees.  But there are some times that meat can be omitted (say, in chili), and you really won’t miss it, as long as you have plenty of beans and veggies in there.
·    Buy in bulk.  Bulk tends to be cheaper –but it’s only worth it if the product won’t spoil (e.g. toilet paper), you have somewhere to put it, and you really will use it.  And if you’ll just eat more of it (e.g. potato chips), then it’s not a good idea either.
·    Use alternates. Instead of paper towel, use rags.  Heck, I think my Mom used an old sleeper of mine for about 20 years as a rag.
·    Do without.  Smoking really isn’t a great habit, and there are much nicer ways to spend (or save!) your money.
·    Use less.  If I shower when I get up in the morning on the weekend, and then hit the gym, I’ll have another shower, but I won’t wash my hair again – it doesn’t need it, and there’s no point in wasting the shampoo.

What prices have you noticed going up the most? How do you deal with it?