Working on Wellness: Weekly Meal Planning

Here's why I meal plan:

1. I'm a weirdo and I love it;
2. I like being organized;
3. The more I get to think about food, the better;
4. I don't have to stress about what dinner will be during the afternoon of the day-of;
5. I avoid multiple trips during the week with the kiddos, which is a) hard work and b) costly, since I definitely don't just get the milk I was planning to buy but also end up getting Starbucks, treats for the kids, extra goodies, etc.;
6. Easier to track the budget for groceries (less trips = less marking on the budget sheet);

Here's what works for me:

I've shamelessly stolen Sara's original spreadsheet and have tailored it with my own recipes and grocery shopping pattern. I also added a "fasting/meat/fish" column to be able to filter according to the fasts of the Orthodox church. It helps me to adhere to the fasts! Up front, it takes a bit of time to think of your family's favorite recipes and separate the ingredients into the columns in the spreadsheet. But then, as time goes on, you will have a pretty good selection of recipes, and now usually I am just adding one or two recipes at a time as we try new things and like them.


Early on Monday morning:

Each weekday I wake up with husband (~5:30a) and spend time doing whatever I want sans kids. They typically wake up between 7:30 and 8 so I usually get a good amount of time to myself to have my coffee, listen to the daily Bible readings from Ancient Faith Radio, do dumb/enjoyable stuff like check Facebook and reading internet articles, catch up on housework, and sometimes work out using Nike Training Club app. On Mondays, I use that time to plan out the week. I print out a blank schedule for the week, populate it, then print and hang it on the fridge. I choose 5 recipes from the spreadsheet (filtering for fasting as needed), hide all the other recipes, then print that. It's the grocery list for the week! Then, once the kids get up, we pack up (making sure to bring the list!!) and head to the store to shop. I love grocery shopping on Monday morning because they are typically restocking so I know everything is fresh! And sometimes we get treats from Starbucks if I'm feeling generous.

Ongoing maintenance:

I periodically try new recipes from cookbooks I have, and I only have a few that I keep around that have awesome food photography; that's the only way I'm compelled to look through them! My favorites are Oh She Glows and a book from Williams-Sonoma called A Taste of the World. I also have my own recipe book for scrawling family recipes or frequently-used internet recipes so I don't always have to find the link. This pancake recipe is one the ones I had to write down!  I sub coconut oil for the butter. Srsly it's the bomb dot com. The touch of vanilla, the coconut oil, and little tidbit of sugar....nom nom.

I also love looking at food blogs (OSG, Smitten Kitchen, and Food Network everything are frequent stops when I'm clicking around the internet)

What are some of your favorite (fasting or not) recipes?  How do you stay organized in the kitchen? (Or do you not?)

xoxo Phae

Working on Wellness: The Neti Pot

The neti pot: the best allergy remedy

Get ready everyone.  Today's post is not only a general wellness tip...but there is also a related BONUS frugality tip!

It's springtime, which means soft rain violent thunderstorms, flowers, blossoming trees, and...allergies.

I've been using the neti pot to irrigate my sinuses for several years now.  For several years before that, I was vehemently opposed to the neti pot - mostly because my Dad kept trying to get me to use it, and I am both a) a contrarian and b) not usually ok with putting things up my nose on purpose. And how glad I am that I finally gave in and tried it!

The neti pot is the gentlest, most satisfying way to get rid of all the guck in your sinuses due to allergies or a cold.  I usually do the neti pot as part of my morning routine, and sometimes if it's been a particularly rough day I will do it in the evening, too.  I won't get into the mechanics of it too much, but you stick that sucker in one nostril and tilt your head to the side, and out the other nostril comes the solution + all the goodies.  If you are interested in getting or using a neti pot, make sure you read the instructions carefully and follow them! There are a lot of tips, tricks, and nuances. I don't really want to talk about those, I just want to tell you to get one and use it.

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, GET A NETI POT.  It is so cheap and effective for clearing out your sinuses.  It's better than taking medication every day, and it's certainly better than suffering with a runny nose for half of the year. I personally don't do anything else for allergies.

Now on to the BONUS FRUGALITY TIP: Home made Neti mix - save $70 a year!!

At CVS/Walgreens/Kroger/etc., you can buy pre-mixed packages of neti mix.  ORRRRR you can make it yourself!  It literally tells you on the side of the box exactly how to make it at home.  The packets are a 3:1 ratio of sodium chloride to sodium bicarbonate.  For those of you who don't remember your high school chemistry class, that is TABLE SALT and BAKING SODA.  We've been doing this at our house for a while now, but until I decided to do this post, I had't actually calculated how much cheaper it is to make your own.

Here's how I spent the past 15 minutes of my life:

Let me summarize my work:  buying the packets from the store is 11 cents per teaspoon (I measured: 1 packet = 1 tsp).  Home made mix is 0.6 cents per teaspoon.  To buy the packets is EIGHTEEN TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE and really, not that much easier.  Especially if you already have baking soda and salt at your house (which you do.)  Now, I understand we're only talking pennies here, but it's the principle of it.  18. x. more. $.  Plus, if you assume two people in a household use the Neti pot once a day (say you're unreliable and skip about 30 days a year) - you save $70 a year! 

Now go on a date to celebrate - or better yet, keep the money and have the peace of mind that it is happily working towards your early retirement/kid's college fund/summer vacation.

xoxo Phae