Day Twenty 3/20/16

I had my third visit to the gym today, so I feel like I’m on track to hit my goal before the end of the month.  I have five more visits to tackle before the 31st.  The interesting thing about incorporating a light workout into the experiment is that it feels like the results I’m seeing are accelerating.  It’s like how compound interest can positively affect your retirement plan, a little exercise is compounding things away.  Don’t feel like you need a gym membership either if that might hold you back.  I’m doing the equivalent of a brisk walk and some light weight work, something you could easily do at and around your house.

I wanted to talk in this blog about grocery shopping, because I feel like most healthy battles are won or lost at the grocery store, especially in moments of temptation.  I write these following paragraphs knowing full well that what we do may not work for you, but at least it exposes you to a different technique.  I also know that my wife takes a different approach to grocery shopping than I do, so some of you might think I’m crazy.  My goal isn’t to make this a “man brain” versus “woman brain” thing, but let’s just be honest and admit that men and women approach shopping from two different directions.

When I took over grocery shopping for the family, my goal was to make the process as organized and simple as possible.  Below are the steps I took to get things going.

1. Made a list of all of our “staple items” that need to be bought every so often.  Toilet paper, ketchup, salad dressing, deodorant, etc.  These items aren’t a weekly purchase, but need to be kept in mind.
2. Sat the family down and asked for 3-4 items they couldn’t live without and always wanted to see in the fridge or pantry.  This could be Gogurts, lunchables, lunch meat, cheese, mini tomatoes, hot dogs, etc.  I didn’t judge their choices too much, but did lean them in a healthier direction.  (The psychological reason behind this discussion was that if we always had those items, then they would rarely feel like there was “no food” in the house.
3. Created a list of family staple items that would be purchased weekly.  This included bread, milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, lettuce, water, etc. 
4. Then I created two Excel spreadsheets, one that had staple items that wouldn’t be purchased weekly, and then another that had the weekly and family staple items.
5. Then I went to the grocery store we most frequent, (Kroger in my case), and walked the aisles for a couple of hours, recording the regular prices of everything I had listed.  I went home and put that information into the spreadsheets to create a foundation of prices.
6. Each week we would plan a rough menu based on what we had on hand and what we needed to buy, like hamburger, brats, stuffing, vegetables, etc.  The goal was to not go too meat heavy in one week or it drives your prices up.  Our menu was typically created around what was in the store ad.
7. I would then create a master shopping list, pulling any “non-weekly” staples into the list of weekly needs.  Then add any dinner options based on the ad, with the sale prices.  If anything on our staple list was on sale or had a coupon, then the price was adjusted on the sheet to reflect that also.  When the sale was good, I will bump up the quantity of an item, so I can skip it the following week at regular price.
8. After a list confirmation with my wife, the columns were totaled and the sheet was printed.  At that point, I rarely deviated from the list.  If my total said 80.00 was needed, then I would bring 90.00 in cash and no more.
9. When shopping, the goal was to get the listed items and then get out.  If there was a tempting clearance special on something we eat, then I had a little wiggle room, but that wasn’t the end objective.

​As time moved on, the family slowly readjusted their staple items or I slowly phased out some of them.  In the beginning we were buying Cheez it crackers and Goldfish crackers for my youngest, but he eventually settled on one and I stopped buying the other.  He was still happy and I was saving money.  It didn’t take me too long to realize that we didn’t have the money for all the junk food that I used to request when my wife did the grocery shopping, so much of that was phased out.  We have a strict budget of around 100.00 a week, so that didn’t leave much for Oreos and ice cream.

After a year of sticking to this process, it was fairly easy to ask the kids to temporarily identify staple items that didn’t contain sugar or flour.  Since they were used to a smaller variety of items, switching things out gave them something new to eat.
 
 What I ate today

• A banana before hitting the gym.
• Eggs and turkey sausage for late breakfast.
• We were traveling around today so it was a snackfest.  Another banana was eaten, along with a cheese stick, washed down with lots of water.  A couple of apple slices dipped in peanut butter for dessert.
• Dinner was quite amazing.  A delicious ham and cheese Stromboli that was wrapped in a cauliflower crust.  Recipe is below, so check it out. Apple sauce was eaten for dessert. 

 
Onward to day twenty-one!

Cauliflower Stromboli’s
Cauliflower Crust Ingredients:

• 10 sprays olive oil spray
• 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets (should yield 3 cups of cauliflower rice)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

Filling Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp tomato sauce, 5g carbs or less
• ½ cup mozzarella cheese
• 4 ounces of low fat, low sodium ham
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp dried oregano

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it with olive oil spray. Set aside.
In food processor, make the cauliflower florets into rice (it should be evenly chopped but not completely pulverized. Can also be done by grating cauliflower.) Transfer cauliflower rice (3 cups) to a microwave-safe dish and microwave on high for 8 minutes, until cooked. Place the cauliflower rice in a tea towel and twist it to squeeze as much moisture as you can. This is very important. The cauliflower needs to be dry, otherwise you’ll end up with mush dough and impossible to roll into a Stromboli.
Transfer the cauliflower rice to a mixing bowl, add egg, mozzarella, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well. Spread Cauliflower mixture onto the lined baking sheet and form into a large rectangle.
Place in the oven and bake for exactly 10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread tomato sauce over most of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border on one side. Spread half of the mozzarella, then meat, then the remaining cheese.
With a large spatula lift the longer sides of the crust and roll into Stromboli shape. Flip the seam down and tuck/fold the shorter side to close the Stromboli. Cut slats in the top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and oregano. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes. Wait a few minutes before you slice and serve.
Makes 4 servings:
Per serving: ½ lean, 1 ½ vegetable, 2 ½ condiments