Buying groceries is a chore, undoubtedly, and often leads to a lot of frustration, temptation, and spending too much money! Whole30 was tough on me in this regard because I REALLY had to change my grocery purchasing outlook. I miss the "grab and go" aspect of a lot of the foods I enjoyed pre-30. HOWEVER, the decisions I make about groceries now are INFINITELY better.
How I Grocery Shop:
1. Check your fridge and cabinets and see what you have. You may find that you can get by another week or a few days without a trip to the store. If a trip to the store is inevitable, sit down and have a healthy snack while you plan your shopping trip. Everyone says it and it's true: Don't Shop Hungry.
2. Decide what you can make out of the food items you just looked through. If you're like me and make a lot of rice but can't use it up, plan to make a stir fry or some jambalaya!
3. Know what you can take out of your freezer for the week. I used to stock up on frozen goods and forget about them. Now I make sure to put them into the fridge to defrost before I buy my groceries so I know they're there! *exception: not frozen veggies, but check what you have before you shop.
4. Make your weekly meal chart or list and include the recipe suggestions based on your leftovers or things you already have, then fill in the rest of your list.
5. Check any coupon apps or weekly mail ads you get to see if anything on your list is on sale at a particular store (I do tend to stock up on certain things when they go on a good sale, like canned soup or wine).
6. Shop for your weekly things and remember to read the ingredient labels closely! Make sure not to impulse shop too much (I don't say never because sometimes it's totally worth it).
Free Colorful Weekly Meal Planning Chart for Download: PDF or DOC
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Fall is on its way!
Nights are getting chillier, sunsets are starting sooner. Fall is in the air! Even here in California where it's usually warm until mid-October, I'm feeling a bit of that autumn chill. The Pumpkin Spice Cravings are REAL y'all!
With wedding planning and garden reaping and back to school music teaching, life is starting to feel hectic again! I am being very good this year about keeping some sanity in my schedule and making sure things don't get too overwhelming. I know that eventually more projects will come along and take up more of my time but for now, I'm keeping sane. I'm preparing home-made dinners. I'm sitting down for a breakfast or lunch everyday (that's significant for me)!
This fall, I'm looking forward to some fresh apple cider, some pumpkin pie, and maybe even a roasted chicken or turkey with homemade stuffing (my favorite fall dish), and some good old fashioned chili. What I need to watch carefully this season is whether I am keeping up with the good choices I've been making after Whole30 and carrying on with a healthier lifestyle.
I feel like I fell back into a bad habit of drinking a glass of wine every night, so I have cut that out for the week. We also went back to eating rice, which I am okay with because I need a hiatus from Cauliflower Rice FOR SURE. While the weather starts to turn colder, I crave heartier foods. I need some ideas for filling, hearty meals that are either Paleo or Whole30 compliant so as to not throw myself back into my old cooking habits.
Anyone else feel the season change? Are you ready?
-L
With wedding planning and garden reaping and back to school music teaching, life is starting to feel hectic again! I am being very good this year about keeping some sanity in my schedule and making sure things don't get too overwhelming. I know that eventually more projects will come along and take up more of my time but for now, I'm keeping sane. I'm preparing home-made dinners. I'm sitting down for a breakfast or lunch everyday (that's significant for me)!
This fall, I'm looking forward to some fresh apple cider, some pumpkin pie, and maybe even a roasted chicken or turkey with homemade stuffing (my favorite fall dish), and some good old fashioned chili. What I need to watch carefully this season is whether I am keeping up with the good choices I've been making after Whole30 and carrying on with a healthier lifestyle.
I feel like I fell back into a bad habit of drinking a glass of wine every night, so I have cut that out for the week. We also went back to eating rice, which I am okay with because I need a hiatus from Cauliflower Rice FOR SURE. While the weather starts to turn colder, I crave heartier foods. I need some ideas for filling, hearty meals that are either Paleo or Whole30 compliant so as to not throw myself back into my old cooking habits.
Anyone else feel the season change? Are you ready?
-L
Monday, September 3, 2018
Clean Living + Clean Eating + Wedding Planning
Does getting your house organized make you want to organize your diet as well? Or vice versa? I definitely felt like getting my diet in order made me want to get my house in order.
We celebrated Fiance's 30th birthday and I gave a fundraiser concert a week ago, so I felt like my house fell apart for a couple days... things didn't get put away, the paperwork piled up, and my diet went to hell! Now that I'm mostly recovered, I am happy to say that most of the house is back in order (waiting on some bags from Thred Up to get rid of MORE clothes I decided don't spark joy for me - this is seriously such an ongoing thing for me... maybe I didn't do it right the first time, or maybe I changed my mind, but mostly, I will blame it on the 9.5 lbs I lost and had to get things that fit differently).
Saturday I cleaned up my workspace, and it is SO liberating! I WANT to sit down and write again. I love having a space that is JUST MINE. I need to help create that space for Fiance (though he loves his old, ugly Lazy-Boy chair and I'll never be able to get rid of it 😒 but I love him so I deal with it). AND I have a space to work on wedding plans. I picked up swatches of colors from David's Bridal (and I have this zany idea to send some color ideas to my Best Gals/Bridesmaids and let them find dresses at thrift stores!) and I started looking at locations again. My mom and I have very different ideas, and compromise may not exactly work... I will blog about this in more detail in another page/article I think. I feel like there are so many beautiful, sustainable, and affordable ways to do a wedding and for it to STILL be lovely. I have to get more things organized, though, so that I don't succumb to cheap crap made in foreign countries that costs an arm and a leg.
So that is my current update! I wish I had more to talk about, but for right now I'm just enjoying the quiet of the holiday weekend, and looking forward to sharing more LOVLIE ideas with you all!
Love,
L
We celebrated Fiance's 30th birthday and I gave a fundraiser concert a week ago, so I felt like my house fell apart for a couple days... things didn't get put away, the paperwork piled up, and my diet went to hell! Now that I'm mostly recovered, I am happy to say that most of the house is back in order (waiting on some bags from Thred Up to get rid of MORE clothes I decided don't spark joy for me - this is seriously such an ongoing thing for me... maybe I didn't do it right the first time, or maybe I changed my mind, but mostly, I will blame it on the 9.5 lbs I lost and had to get things that fit differently).
Saturday I cleaned up my workspace, and it is SO liberating! I WANT to sit down and write again. I love having a space that is JUST MINE. I need to help create that space for Fiance (though he loves his old, ugly Lazy-Boy chair and I'll never be able to get rid of it 😒 but I love him so I deal with it). AND I have a space to work on wedding plans. I picked up swatches of colors from David's Bridal (and I have this zany idea to send some color ideas to my Best Gals/Bridesmaids and let them find dresses at thrift stores!) and I started looking at locations again. My mom and I have very different ideas, and compromise may not exactly work... I will blog about this in more detail in another page/article I think. I feel like there are so many beautiful, sustainable, and affordable ways to do a wedding and for it to STILL be lovely. I have to get more things organized, though, so that I don't succumb to cheap crap made in foreign countries that costs an arm and a leg.
So that is my current update! I wish I had more to talk about, but for right now I'm just enjoying the quiet of the holiday weekend, and looking forward to sharing more LOVLIE ideas with you all!
Love,
L
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