Grocery FAIL

I keep coming back to this space with new thoughts. With long breaks in between, of course, because sustaining efforts is not one of my strong points.

Lately I've been stuck in a rut. It was a long, hot summer here. I don't have air conditioning. I'm busy, tired and lazy. So I've been eating a lot of takeout. Terrible. Just terrible. That needed to change for health reasons but it's also expensive and I need to really watch my budget at the moment. I'm not going to starve but I do need to stop spending $150+ a week on food.

I don't have a specific budget in mind, but the basic fact is that after paying bills I now have about $100 per week for food, gas and entertainment. With gas being as expensive as it is, that really limits the money I should spend on food. I do get occasional mileage reimbursement, so I think a soft target of $50 per week is the "goal".

On with the show.

WEEK 1

Total spent: $36.83
Total spent on food: $30.98

Went to Wal-Mart. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and this isn't normal. I had a prescription to pick up ($10 not included above) so I bit the bullet and did it. The package of meat tilted so it's not visible is ground beef.

I do have some supplies on hand but not much. I do have a fresh bag of flour and some yeast so I have a loaf of bread going in the bread machine for sandwiches. Pizza dough is probably also in the cards.

There is a definite lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. I planned to go to the farmer's market but the weather was dismal. I will probably pick some up during the week, along with other items needed due to poor planning.

Day 12: Dining Out Difficulties?

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: Huge "taco salad" with carne asada steak, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, cheese, beans and lots of hot sauce, some chips and salsa

Snack: Dill pickle half

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little jalapeno and cheddar, 6 bacon strips

***

I got an invitation to lunch today and mexican sounded good to both of us. The "taco salad" -- NO SHELL -- was a good choice although I forgot to tell them to hold the beans. I don't think there were all that many, so not a big deal. I could have skipped the chips and that would have been a good thing, I probably had a dozen or so of various sizes. I'm a fan of this place and will continue to eat there once in a while -- I think this meal (again, other than the chips) is perfectly fine. Okay, it could be less huge.

The rest of the day was normal and very much on plan. Really, other than the chips, this was a pretty good day.

Day 11: I Blame The Stumble On The Snow

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can of Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno and cheddar smoked sausages w/ jalapeno mustard, 2 dill pickle halves

Dinner: 2.5 slices of pizza w/ pepperoni, sausage / meatball, green pepper, lots of salad w/ house italian, 1 slice garlic bread w/ cheese, 2.5 slices bread, 16 oz Bell's Two Hearted Ale

***

Yeah, dinner was a fail. The plan was to go to a steakhouse, but plans changed to italian. Not much on the menu was too diet friendly. It was my decision - nobody else - to just eat a regular carby meal. I had hoped to make it a few more weeks (other than Sunday nights that is) before having a meal like this, but so be it. The trick absolutely is to let it end here. One bad meal. Believe me, i thought about stopping on the way home for something more.

The bottom line is that carbs make me hungry. For more carbs.

One small positive I guess is that I didn't have any sugar.

No accomplishments again, got home at 8.

Day 10: Can You Be In A Rut And Like It?

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno and cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard, small green salad with 2 pickle spears and olive oil & vinegar dressing (pictured at right)

Snacks: 1/2 dill pickle, 1.5 oz of Meijer hot & spicy pork rinds

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little onion, jalapeno and sharp cheddar, 4 strips bacon

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

So, yeah, pretty much the same stuff. Dinner was exactly the same only with less bacon. I can only do 4 strips at a time and didn't feel like making more. I like all this stuff. I could probably skip the pork rinds but they do take the edge off and I can eat dinner later.

Tomorrow will be a bit different as I know I'm going out for dinner.

I bought some Claussen pickles today. They're the kind that is always refrigerated, not cooked. I've been trying pickles in my salad, partly as a way to add a little more of a vinegar kick to the dressing. Hopefully I get to try it with the "ooh fancy" pickles tomorrow!

Went to the store after work, so no accomplishments this evening. Tired. Stress related.

Day 9: Snowslick

Breakfast: 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can of Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno & cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard

Snacks: 1.5 oz Jays Hot Sauce pork skins, 1 Old Wisconsin beef sausage stick

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little onion, diced jalapeno and sharp cheddar, 6 strips of bacon (pictured at right)

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

Pretty routine day today, but very, very stressful. I'm backlogged at work and that makes life extra difficult. Plus I had to drive to the big city (about 30 miles each way) this afternoon in the snow. That was two hours of white knuckle time round trip.

Quite enjoyed everything I ate today. I definitely should eat more greens and regular meats, but this is still an improvement.

Nothing on the accomplishments list today either. Got home about 7:00. Beat. Okay, I've been playing around a little with Fitday.com, it tells me that I had about 1800 calories today, sounds about right. I suspect that I could eat 1800 calories of anything and lose weight at the moment, but I'm glad to have a plan of sorts.

Day 8: Not Quite Crack, Not Quite Kryptonite

Breakfast: 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

Lunch: Western omelet, 1.5 slices of homemade wheat toast with butter, coffee

Snack: 1.5 oz bag Jays Hot Sauce pork rinds

Dinner: about 5 oz ground beef with jalapeno mustard, green salad with 1/3 cucumber, dill pickle spear, a little diced jalapeno and olive oil & vinegar

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

Thankfully this morning wasn't as painful as I'd feared it might be. I guess all that sleep this weekend meant something.

Went out to lunch today. The place in question serves a homemade wheat toast that is just about the closest thing to crack. It's ridiculously good. I knew ahead of time that I'd have a piece. I'm pretty happy to have had just 3 of the 6 half slices they gave me.

For dinner I cooked up some ground round and it just wasn't great. I usually buy chuck which has more flavor in my opinion. I only ate about half of what was on the plate. It didn't help that I'd had the bag of pork rinds.

Otherwise, not much to report. Busy watching the football game so accomplishments will be nil tonight.

Day 7: Well Now THAT Was Different

"Breakfast": 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

"Lunch": Green salad with 1/2 cucumber, olive oil & vinegar dressing, 3 pepperocinis

Dinner: About 6 oz chuck roast, 2 spoonfuls mashed potatoes, about 8 baby carrots, gravy, 1.5 french rolls with butter

***

First things first. I slept later today than I have in years. I knew I was in trouble when I wasn't the least bit sleepy last night, even after 1 a.m. I think I finally fell asleep about 2. I got up at 1:00 this afternoon. Totally ridiculous. Tomorrow morning is going to suck.

So that got today off to an odd start on the food front. I had my usual "breakfast" and mid-afternoon had a salad knowing that dinner would be about 6:30.

Sunday dinners will be an ongoing challenge. They're always a big family production and most of the approved menus are fairly starchy. Tonight's went about as expected, although I could have skipped the extra half roll and the gravy (which was flour-thickened). I think I'm still under 60g carb for the day and the calories are very reasonable. Also, no food pictures today.

***

Today's accomplishments are few. I did some more work on the kitchen and rearranged the pan cupboard. Other than some other routine housework, that's about it. Maybe I can count being well-rested as an accomplishment?

Day 6: Walkin'

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 2 McDonald's double cheeseburgers, no buns, essentially no condiments except pickles

Snack: Old Wisconsin beef sausage stick

Dinner: 3 jalapeno and cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard, lettuce salad with 1/2 cucumber and Newman's Own olive oil & vinegar dressing (dinner pictured at right)

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

So far I'm batting .000 for my efforts to get up earlier. I managed to turn off my alarm instead of snoozing as intended and woke up at 10:00. Sigh. Monday could be rough.

I spent most of the day doing something I never do: Shopping. I got a bug to get a different dining room chair (and someday I'd like to get a new set). I didn't care if it was new or used, it just needed to be sturdy and comfortable. FAIL. I did find an exceptionally comfortable floor sample, but it was a counter height. And I did find the set I'd like someday, it's a L.J. Gascho set sold at Art Van. I don't have the ~$2000 it would take to buy it though. During another stop I randomly ended up at the first day of the Klingman's Furniture going out of business auction. That was pretty neat and with time and/or money there were some fantastic deals. You can certainly tell the difference between premium furniture and the discount stuff.

Anyway, the upside of all of this is that I did a lot of walking. Much more than usual. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home for a couple items and that was it. Made some dinner, watched some football.

As part of the deal I called an audible on my lunch selection. I had planned to be home and was going to eat the sausages, but since I decided to head the the big city to shop I did McDonald's instead. I have to say - that was the best job I've ever done of skipping the condiments. Everything stuck to the bun! I pulled the pickles off so I got some trace amounts of ketchup but that's about it.

That reminds me, when I purchased my chunk of cheese at the store the other day, they had sharp, extra sharp and "New York sharp". I need to google the difference, it's been bugging me.

***

Accomplishments: No wasteful spending (other than gas) - didn't find what I wanted so I didn't buy it. Got in quite a bit of walking. Going to go finish cleaning up the kitchen which I didn't do yesterday.

New Year, New Fail

Just for kicks, let's see how long this lasts. As usual, I've been going backward. Eating terribly, way too much, gaining weight in bunches. New Year resolution is to do better. Vague enough for you?

Monday 1/3/11: No breakfast (slept late), McLunch 2 cheeseburgers, sm fries, diet coke (980 cal), dinner a large pizza (total fail), diet Squirt. Okay, yeah, the pizza is a fail, but on the positive side I had no sugar today. I've been drinking a ton of regular soda and that more than anything has to stop. So today wasn't complete fail. I do drink a lot of water too but see no need to track that. I'm well hydrated.

By the way, this isn't a conventional new years resolution - I just decided to make some changes today. It might have gone better with some pre-planning but whatever. Just getting started is enough.

Tuesday 1/4/11: No breakfast (again, slept late), lunch 1 ham steak, diet cherry coke zero (about 300 cal), dinner a junior wet burrito, chips and salsa, water (semi-fail), dessert 1/2 grapefruit. Again, no sugar, no soda. The dinner out was kinda planned as it was while I was doing laundry. Definitely didn't need the chips and salsa and it was definitely carby but still, a bit of progress. I should eat a little something for breakfast and need to eat a bit more at lunch - I was rather hungry come dinner time.

Wednesday 1/5/11: No breakfast. I need to get up a lot earlier. lunch 1 ham steak, cherry coke zero (so about 300 cal), dinner some stew meat (chuck roast) that I slow cooked yesterday with some butter and seasonings, 1/3 of a tub of garlic mashed potatoes, diet Squirt. No idea on calories but about 20g carb from the potatoes. A bit later a chunk of Velveeta sounded like a good idea. It wasn't (blech). I need to clean out the fridge (it was on hand for new years Rotel dip). I think I'm going to have the other half of yesterday's grapefruit too. Some water, not as much as yesterday. Felt pretty good today, not as hungry come dinner time but still somewhat. I do need to eat more for lunch. Going to have to go to the store soon.

Initial comments: I don't usually skip breakfast. In fact I'm well known at the local McDonalds for my extreme affection for their breakfast menu. I go out for breakfast usually at least once a week at a local diner. My schedule is just way way off this week and the dietary changes aren't making it easier. Fortunately it's not too rough at work at the moment and I can sleep in a bit.

Thursday, 1/6/11: I slept super late this morning - I just couldn't get out of bed. When I finally did I felt fine and in fact notably good. I think there's just an adjustment process any time you make a change and considering the extreme nature of the changes this week I'm not at all worried about it. Anyway, since I didn't get up until 10:00, I skipped breakfast again. For lunch, the rest of the leftover stew meat cooked with butter and spices, another serving of leftover garlic mashed potatoes (20g). Can of cherry Coke Zero. Went shopping after work. I was hungry when I got home (finally) so I had a 1.5 oz bag of Jays Hot Sauce Pork Skins. They were pretty decent and definitely took the edge off - I ended up eating dinner almost 2 hours later. Two ~5 oz hamburger patties with a bit of dehydrated onion and jalapeno mustard. 1/2 of a grapefruit for dessert. Lots of water. I had planned on having a green salad with dinner but decided to skip it.

Fun note of the day: I bought the bottle of Woeber's Sandwich Pal Jalapeno Mustard a few weeks ago on a whim but had never opened it. All I can say is WOW. It's fantastic. And there are no mystery ingredients or chemicals.

Friday, 1/7/11: And the first workweek of the new year limps to a conclusion. I was able to get up a little earlier today but I was still late. One of this weekend's projects is going to be to try and fix the schedule. We'll see if that happens. Yeah.

On the food front, I had about 1.5 oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese for breakfast. A cherry Coke Zero for a snack. Lunch was late and was 3 smoked bratwurst (Johnsonville Jalapeno and Cheese) with jalapeno mustard. Dinner was 3 eggs scrambled in a little butter with maybe an ounce of shredded sharp cheddar plus about 5 oz ground beef cooked with a bit of dehydrated onion and cayenne, with jalapeno mustard. And I even took a picture of it! -->

There will most likely be a 1/2 grapefruit for dessert a little later on.

Today will go in the books as a success although the carb total is definitely higher than it needed to be thanks to the ridiculous 3g/link in the brats. I need to find a brand that doesn't have corn syrup. I think Hillshire Farm is even worse. Again I meant to have a green salad, this time with lunch, but since I only 15 minutes to fix and eat the brats I passed. Hopefully this weekend I can get some veggies in.

Also, I don't know how long this fling with the jalapeno mustard will last but for now it's obviously my go-to condiment.

I think starting this weekend these are either going to become individual posts or else I'm going to put the most current day at the top, it seems a little strange to scroll down to get to today.

New feature: Accomplishments! They may be stupid but they matter to me. Tonight I hauled up from the basement my old dining room table and re-assembled it. I've been unhappy with the low height of my inherited "new" table but have been too lazy to do anything about it. Boom. And I might even shop for a new chair.