Saturday, March 3, 2018

Grocery Haul...who knew?

I’ve been wasting so much money shopping at the higher end stores. They have there place and while I still love the bulk items I can get at Costco, you can get a lot for your money at bargain stores.

So this week I went to Grocery Outlet (The Bargain Market) and got a few groceries. I was mainly wanting snack/quick foods since Dustin has been working at the plant more and can’t come home for lunch. I needed options I could put in his lunch. I also wanted it to be healthy whatever I got, which is hard with snack food. 

I found KIND bars which are my favorite, they are a lot more healthy than other granola bars and super yummy! Typically one box is around $5.50 at Walmart. I got one box for $1.40 OMG! And it’s not like they were bad or anything! They also had KIND breakfast bars which I thought would be fun to try, I didn’t see how much they were but figured they’d be a similar price so grabbed one when I got to check out I noticed they were 2 for 1 box! (50 cents a box) 

I was like WHAAAAT, that is SO CHEAP, so I went back and got the rest of them! (Hey they don’t go bad...) 

So I saved a total of $50 alone just on the KIND breakfast bars m, I spent $6 for ten boxes. (6$ would be the price of just one box at WALMART) 

Saved about a total of $150 dollars atleast when compared to other stores

Here’s a few rules I follow when shopping at these places however, especially when buying snack foods.

1. Check the dates 

2. Don’t buy lunch meat, just don’t do it

3. If it’s a really good deal on produce but it seems like it isn’t going to last very long (on its way to going over ripe) remember you can FREEZE. Save some money and time 

Here’s my rules I follow when buying snack or pre-processed foods

1. I don’t buy things with artificial diet sweeteners, I feel they are worse than real sugar...I also don’t buy things with ingredients like xantham gum, I don’t buy things with huge lists of ingredients, I like to be able to recognize the ingredients in my food 

2. No high fructose corn syrup, try my hardest to avoid corn syrup all together 

3. Less than 10g of sugar per serving (that is pretty generous but a lot of snack foods have more than that and I just say no to them)


Here’s my haul (THIS COSTED ONLY $50)

Milk

10 boxes kind bars 

10 boxes kind breakfast bars

Bag of kind popcorn 

2 bags veggies chips

Bag of apples 

Bag of sweet potatoes 

Bananas 

Bag of Avocados 

2 boxes organic graham crackers

1 large block pepper jack cheese

Large bag of pre-peeled sunflower seeds

2 boxes Girl Scout cookie cupcake mix (SAMOA CUPCAKES? It’s all about  balance people) 

1 large Costco sized bag of sweet peppers ($2.99 at Costco it is like $7.49)

Box of gallon size ziplocks 

2 boxes sandwhich size ziplocks 

12 boxes or pre-made oatmeal (quick breakfast on the go, also pretty healthy ingredients) 

Conclusion: save your money! As you follow a few simple rules you can shop at these bargain stores and half your grocery bill. 


Friday, March 2, 2018

Jetson is 7 Months!

I’m convinced 6-7 months of age is the most heartbreaking month of babyhood but also the most fun! Jetson is learning so dang much! He’s a new baby everyday and it floors me. 

He sleeps in his own bed for the most part but has been waking up in the night recently for a feeding and typically I just bring him to bed with me because I’m a zombie and gotta get sleep too. He’s still a pretty good sleeper though so for that we are lucky. 


His biggest milestone this month was crawling! He is now mobile and fast! We are looking to buy many baby gates considering our home has stairs in atleast five different places, pray for us. 

Another big milestone is talking,he says mama, dada, hi, and River. (River is his cousins name who he absolutely is obsessed with) 


He’s just a busy bee lately. Because he’s crawling and distracted he wasn’t nursing as often, So I had a scare with my milk supply for a couple weeks but making an effort for frequent nursings got me back to where I should be, thank goodness. I want to nurse him until he is 1 years old.


He also waves hello and goodbye. Instead of just associating waving with seeing a person he also associates it with anything new. Every morning we walk down the stairs and he waves to the house hello, a toy that daddy hands to him, anytime I change rooms he waves at the room whether there’s people in it or not. 


He has a lot of Dustin’s personality loves to tease. He blows raspberry’s on me whenever he gets the chance and likes to tickle and attack me. Anything to try to get me to laugh . It’s so cute, he mimicks what we do to him (blow on his cheek, pretend to eat his ear) he copies and does the same to us, it’s so cute! 


He has developed this little puppy dog whine, whenever he wants something . He literally sounds like a puppy dog begging for food. Pictured is him looking up at me begging LOL. We always said Jetson has a puppy personality and this just proves it even more! 


His relationship with his daddy is only getting stronger making my life easier! He is such a joy in our lives, constantly giving kisses and loves. 


Sunday, February 25, 2018

Baked Banana Oatmeal Bars

Mmm! Have breakfast ready to go, on the go, for days at a time with these yummy and healthy treat. Can be breakfast or dessert! 

No refined sugar added or flour makes this extra guilt free!

-3 very ripe bananas, the more ripe the bananas are the better it will taste 

-1 egg 

-2 tbls maple syrup or honey (you decide) 

-1/2 cup peanut butter 

-1 cup rolled oats 

-1 tsp vanilla

-1 tsp cinnamon 

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1 cup chocolate chips

-1cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat over to 375

2. Mix together everything in a large bowl besides almonds and chocolate chips until combined 

3. Add almond and chocolate chips to batter 

4. Grease a 13x9 casserole dish and add batter into dish and flatten so that it even all around 

5. Sprinkle more chocolate chips and almonds on top and bake for 20 minutes or until oatmeal seems set.

6. Allow to cool and enjoy!