Pages

10.23.2009

One of my biggest pet peeves

One of my biggest?

Recipes.

Recipes for homemade food that contains pre-packaged ingredients! UGH.

I know back in the day it saved my mother a boatload of time in the kitchen. She worked full time and most nights, I was in there cooking up a storm for our family. It just made sense to but stuff already packaged. Seasonings and canned soups and rice mixes were a staple in our pantry.

Now… I’m gonna go in a different direction for a minute… stay with me.

I had headaches as a child. BAD headaches. I had testing done but no one ever figured out why I was having these headaches. I’ve worn glasses since I was 5 so that wasn’t the problem.

It wasn’t until about 2 years ago I figured out the problem.

MSG. Plain and simple.

It was the MSG in all the prepackaged foods! Heck I can remember my mother using Accent to season our food at one time! People…. that is PURE MSG!

About 2 years ago my husband suggested that the reason behind my headaches might be the MSG in our foods. We quit all MSG then and there….

…except for the one last pot of chicken and packaged yellow rice mix I made.

Oh man… I thought I was dying after that meal. I completely forgot about the MSG in yellow rice mix and made a big pot… I mean a HUGE pot of the stuff. I’m talking 2 packages here. Talk about MSG overload. I laid in bed that night feeling my chest tighten and my head pounding like it never had before. It took me almost 2 hours to fall asleep. I didn’t want to go to sleep because I had a feeling I wouldn’t wake up. (Of course I’m not dramatic or anything ya know.)

After that day, I donated all the food we had in the house that contained MSG. I wasn’t about to throw it out. Not everyone is as sensitive to it as me.

Did you know that most potato chip flavors have MSG?? And flavored crackers? And taco seasoning? And canned soup?

Don’t even get me started on soups. I ate soup a LOT as a kid. Chunky soups to be exact. WOW… talk about MSG overload.

Cooking meat for a long time in a slow cooker will also cause the meat to produce natural MSG.

Anyone want to buy a slow cooker??

So back to my original rant pet peeve…. I don’t like recipes with prepacked ingredients.

If you are gonna go to the trouble of making a meal from scratch, why mess it up with foods that are prepackaged? I can’t tell you the number of times that I have seen a recipe that looks so yummy only to find out it calls for 5 or 6 prepackaged ingredients. Boo!

I know, I know… I could just substitute a homemade item for the prepackaged one… I know this. I am just too lazy to figure it all out.

And nope… no more headaches. Yay.

10.15.2009

I still got it!

We quit getting multiple Sunday papers a while back and boy howdy did it make a difference! I spent more of everything. More time shopping, more money and more headaches. We are back to buying at least 4 papers just for the coupons. We recycle the rest of the paper. I wish I could just buy the coupons. I have tried the coupon clipping services but I am not the organized. I like to have the coupon in hand just in case I need it right then. Who has time to order then wait for the coupon to come??

When we take the papers to the recycle center, there are ALWAYS stacks of coupons that someone dropped off. Why in the world would people just throw away coupons is beyond me. Chris usually tries to get the coupons but sometimes they are already expired. Oh well… every little bit helps!

I have been trying to get to Publix for almost a week now and just now finally got to go last night. My buggy (does anyone still say buggy or is it just me??) was packed! They had some awesome deals! Combine awesome deals with high value coupons and you have a very happy mommy!

Oh and our Publix does NOT double coupons.

Does anyone else’s Publix not do that??

I walked out of there with nearly $200 worth of groceries and paper goods for a little over $80. I was so excited. I got everything on my list plus some.

I was getting a little discouraged lately about my savings… or lack thereof.

Needless to say, I still got it!

I thought I lost it, but it’s been found!

We won’t be getting just one Sunday paper anymore. Been there, done that!

10.09.2009

Awesome park!

While going to a new grocery store last weekend, Chris and I spotted a great park! The parks in our neighborhood are OK, but nothing like this one. It had BIG areas for the kids to run in as well as the regular playground/jungle gym stuff too. Sunday after Dad left, we decided to pack up the gang and head out to the park. It was slightly cloudy and not to hot. Perfect for the park!








Sophia LOVED the swings….


Lilly… did not…She was getting really hot by now.


Sophia, still smiling. :)


Sonic happy hour makes everything better!!



Caitlin’s glasses refuse to stay on her nose. Ugh.


Chris was the only one to order ice cream… he always has to be different…. :/


And by the way... he HATES this picture. He says he's "slouchy" in it. :)

10.06.2009

Cha cha changes...


…well not yet, but there are some BIG changes on the back burner at our house.
  1. Chris’s job.
  2. Caitlin’s schooling.
  3. Housing.
  4. Schooling for me.

We are definitely in for some big life changes soon. I think the most difficult thing for me to do in all this is let go. Letting go is hard for me. I mean REALLY hard. I am a total control freak to say the least. Letting go and putting this in God’s hands has proven difficult for me to do. I am trying and I think I am getting better at it everyday.