Thursday, April 29, 2010

$50 tacos

Last week we all went on a diet. I don't think I've ever been on a diet my whole 31 years, but now I am on one and so is my family. We are trying to go gluten free, cut out all preservatives, eat way more fruits and veggies than you can shake a stick at and cut down on good ole sugar.  We're doing this to see if the behavior of a certain boy in our family changes for the better in some ways. It's a three week trial.

And trial it is. It's been so tough in different ways. One of the most noticeable ways is financially. I never realized how expensive it is to keep your house stocked with fresh produce. It's only been a week, but I've been to the store about 4 times and each time I spend way too much money. Produce really adds up!

I went grocery shopping on Monday and I told myself and Enoch that we were good for the rest of the week. Well, today is Thursday and I didn't have anything to serve us for dinner. I was given permission to run to the store.

I planned on getting stuff to make tacos. Nothing harmless in that. While I was there I figured I'd pick up some more bananas, since we just ran out... "maybe a couple of potatoes, too.  They will go to good use within the next couple of days. Oh yeah, that applesauce is on sale, let me just grab a couple of those. Well, that's right next to the canned fruit. Since we do seem to keep running out of fresh fruit so quickly, what's the harm in a couple of cans???" In the baking aisle I saw that Betty Crocker now sells gluten free brownie mixes for a mere $3.79 a box. That's not too cheap, but compared to the usual $5 a box for gluten free stuff it is an improvement. I do have some self control though, I didn't purchase any. Small victories do happen sometimes! While I was getting the cheese for the tacos I threw a couple of ice cream cartons in the cart (on sale, of course). Negative $50 and positive guilty feelings later I was on my way home.

Does anyone out there have tips on how to keep well stocked produce in the house without breaking the bank? I could really use some advice!