by Claire
I’m back on the road for work–this time for two nights. Steve leaves for work the morning that I return and won’t be back until Friday. As I talked about last week, these business trips can be helpful in several ways–like gas money. When we are on the road for work we aren’t filling up our gas tanks. We rarely travel on the same week and actually my travel was light for April and May. We also hang onto our spending money longer b/c much of what we spend on these trips are work related. That said, travel is still very hard. We are fortunate that we can schedule well with our exes and the kids are well taken care of in our absence. Although this week it will really only be Wednesday afternoon that they are with the other parents as Steve and I do the relay baton toss of parenting.
I issued a new challange for this trip and am going to continue to try to eat “real” food only. WOW! This is TOUGH when away from home but I’m having fun trying to do so. In spite of my “need” for a bread machine, I DID make bread in my Pampered Chef loaf pan this weekend. I also made granola, breakfast mini-casseroles in cupcake tins, breakfast bars and brought some with me! Then when I arrived I went to Sprouts (I am in way, way South Texas and am so thankful they have a Sprouts) and stocked up for what I need for lunch tomorrow–peanut butter, fruit, nuts, plain yogurt…and while I can still pay for this as meals for work…this isn’t as much about saving money as it is about this experiment I’m running. I am really curious if our bodies eventually get used to the whole foods and once again hunger will strike soon after eating. I am amazed at how little I have eaten today and how very full I have felt. I don’t want to beat a dead horse here but I do see the potential for major $ savings. Oh I also left a teriyaki port roast with brown rice, chicken enchilada casserole, homemade wheat tortillas (this was my crowning moment this weekend! I made really good, really homemade, really good for us tortillas…and please remember this family knows a good tortilla!) I also made the BEST healthy refried pinto beans in the slow cooker so bean and cheese tacos will be a cinch for the family to have while I am gone. Now THAT was a productive weekend of cooking! Last night supper was made up of whole wheat banana pancakes and those little breakfast casseroles. We ate at 6:30 pm and no one needed another bite of food before bed! Steve and I said nothing to the kids just so we could observe and sure enough…everyone went to bed with no additional food. That NEVER happens…and I am completely amazed. Let’s see if it lasts! Pardon the pun!
Thank you for the reminder about Goodwill and thrift stores for the vacuum and breadmaker. I also LOVE Dream Mom’s comment re the shopping fix. I have to remember that…to go to Goodwill to spend 5 bucks instead of hitting another retail store. Great tip! I’m not going to buy towels anytime soon…but the ones we have just never seem clean anymore. Maybe this ties in with the kids towel use–overused, overwashed? I don’t know but towels are not high on the priority list. I will do a wash with vinegar soon and see if I can freshen them up! I am a resale clothing shop person–always have been–but Steve is not. I’m open to goodwill on this too–and found out we have a boutique location too.
I have to thank all of you for reading and making such great comments. I look forward to seeing the emails come across and learning something new! You give me much to think about and I am enjoying the changes we’ve implemented thus far. Okay…now here is some funny timing…I’m typing this as I watch the local news and some story about a home invasion is on. Apparently this bad guy broke into a lady’s house and went after her ramen! Here I am typing about our food changes and ramen shows up on the television! Now if that is not God’s sense of humor..I don’t know what is! Look how far I’ve come!!! I will never forget the Ramen Rage that I unknowingly evoked from readers and this reminder on television is cracking me up!
To address the comment by a reader re: religion–yes, I am a practicing Catholic who loves my faith and my church. Obviously I do not talk about it much on the blog but it is absolutely a part of every single word I type. I get so excited to see God do His work–both for me and through me–on a daily basis. I wake up looking forward to what God has in store for me! While I am certainly not someone who sees the Virgin Mary’s image in a tortilla and then refuses to consume it or dispose of it…EVER…I DO see God in the little moments throughout my day and like this ramen moment…I am usually laughing out loud as I get the message!
Tomorrow I hope to update everyone on the job situation…stay tuned!
Born and raised in Texas. I’ve at least driven through every state in the US courtesy of a roadtrip loving Dad.
I’m single with two children and a good parenting relationship with their father.
I am a “life is just half full of funny” kinda gal. Humor is my saving grace and I am thankful for it every single day. I have a strong Catholic faith and am thankful for that foundation.
I read a lot for a living but still enjoy a good book. I love biographies but in recent years have found the need for fun fictional books–sadly, for a long time I just didn’t enjoy fiction!
I love live theatre of any kind–from local productions to Broadway.
I love to scrapbook and pride myself in my kids’ albums.
I love being a mom but also love my career. I’m blessed to have found a balance allowing me to be at everything my kids need and want me to be at–while also having a career.
Favorite Quotes: Well behaved women rarely make history.
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. -James Bryant Conant
Do you have freecycle in your area? Try freecycle.org for the bread machine. Maybe even towels. You just put it out there as a “want”, and someone may contact you. It’s the greatest way to get rid of stuff and find things that you need.
I didn’t read the post about towels, but have you tried soaking them overnight in a strong solution of oxyclean? Sometimes it’s the only way….
My husband has to wear a suit daily. I almost always buy his dress shirts at Salvation Army. I can find perfect quality non-iron shirts there almost every time I go. Usually Brooks Brothers, but sometimes Jos. A. Banks or Nordstrom. We save a ton on shirts ($90 shirts for $5.99 – and then no need to dry clean!). Ties are great there, too. Ususally $1.99 and on a good day, the quality/selection is incredible.
He always gets compliments on his clothing. I think because he is often wearing “new” (like new or truly new) shirts. Now I can afford to get rid of them as soon as they start looking tatty. I suspect that many of the clothes are donated because they are gifts and don’t fit or just aren’t the right color. We save hundreds of dollars (thousands?) yearly shopping this way for our family of 5. Plus, I often sell my finds on eBay – I’ve got a good little business going. I use the proceeds to pay for things we need. We donate right back to SA, as it is a wonderful charity.
If you are near CC for your trip…you might try our thrift stores for your breadmaker. I always manage to see one or two on my thrifting trips.
M–here’s another one of those moments…read your comment as I was leaving my hotel. While driving to my destination I saw 3 thrift shops that I have probably drive by a dozen times. I’m not in CC–I’m in McAllen–but I thought this was another subtle sign to give thrift stores a look! Thanks!
Claire,
lol! You are in deep South Texas! The heat is brutal this week. Hope you find a breadmaker 🙂
To bad you are not in the same state as me, I have a vacuum for sale for $10 LOL.
Real food out and about is hard, the journey to switch at home can be hard too. I recently started a blog http://awhole-isticlife.blogspot.com/
to help with my journey and switching over, not easy when you were raised on processed foods!
If your towels are just dingy looking you could try soaking them overnight in OxiClean.
You know between your job with the travel, the kids activities, the blogging, the debt pay down, the real food experiment, the church activities, you certainly do get a lot done. This is impressive. I’m lucky if I can my mail opened by the end of the week
Thanks Adam. I am thankful for the energy I have and the true desire to do what I do. Now opening mail? That is a completely different issue! I stink at getting that done!
Have you tried Craigslist? I got a like new breadmaker for $20 and use it constantly (though I prefer to actually bake the bread in the oven after letting it rise again in a bread pan).
Real food definitely makes you feel full longer. After a while, you learn how to make things a little ahead so all you have to do at dinner is assemble everything (under 5 minutes) and then cook it. It’s amazing what a little prep work will do.
You might want to check out the Passionate Homemaking Blog-Lindsay writes it and she has her “real food” budget on there-she feeds a family of 4 for $400 a month. I might give you some good ideas.
Glad to hear you like the real food. Traveling is hard so I applaud your efforts to eat real food on the road-that’s a lot to take on, on top of business:)
Would mind sharing your recipes for the whole wheat tortillas and the healthy refried beans? I buy both of these, but would prefer to make them at home if they are as delicious and easy as you say!
Joanne–I used the recipes on the blog I just discovered re: real food. Here is the link for the refried beans: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/29/recipe-easy-slow-cooker-refried-beans/
I cannot emphasize enough how awesome these turned out. I’ve made beans in the very traditional way many, many times and added a lot of not good for us stuff to get the taste I was accustomed to. With these slow cooker beans…I put them in at bedtime and they cooked for about 10 hours and then I mashed them right in the crock pot! The flavor was awesome! One or two in the house added just a little extra salt but I ALWAYS undersalt recipes for ffear of oversalting!
The tortillas are here: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/05/26/recipe-whole-wheat-tortillas/
Lisa Leake, the blog writer, says she found this recipe to be one of the harder ones she worked on but I found what she came up with to be super easy. I did not have avocado oil so I used olive oil instead. I’m looking forward to trying them out with avocado oil. Now the corn tortillas? That’s a different story…those didn’t go so well!
Be sure to let me know if you tried them and liked them! Long live the slow cooker!
Thanks for sharing these claire! I have made them for so long, I never thought about switing out the oils for healthier oils in them. I do use far less in the refried beans than traditional recipes but still…….Thank you again for sharing these, I definatly have to try slow cooker refried beans!
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as avocado oil! These beans are truly delicious and with nothing bad added! Enjoy!
I’m definitely rethinking my hesitation to resale/thrift stores.
I’d LOVE to hear how you made tortillas! Please share!
Joanna and DD they are quite easy to make and taste so much better! I have a recipe for Tortilla shells at http://poortorichadayatatime.blogspot.com/2011/12/flour-tortillas.html where is says flour you can use white or whole wheat based on your preference.
Refried beans are http://poortorichadayatatime.blogspot.com/2011/12/refried-beans.html
I don’t do a slow cooker way for refried beans but I may in the future.
I would love to hear how you make them though Claire to see if they are different from mine, loving seeing new twists to things I already make!