12WBT on a budget

I hear a lot of "it's so expensive to eat healthy" in general, and then at the start of 12WBT, "it's so expensive to eat this way/cook these recipes". It is entirely possible to eat healthy, 12WBT-style on a family budget (or a single person's budget, but my tips probably don't work so well for that).

I spend about $200 a week on food and groceries for two adults and three big-eating children. I know plenty of people who spend less, but I do believe this is below the average. About half of what I buy, on average, is organic, and I try to buy ethically where possible (free-range chicken and eggs, no Nestle as I boycott them due to their shoddy marketing of formula in third-world countries, no slave chocolate - oh wait, chocolate is not 12WBT-friendly anyway, LOL).

Here are some of the tips that work for me:

1. Learn what meat cuts/types you need, and look out for them marked down or in catalogue specials. I always pick up lean beef mince, turkey mince, chicken breast, kangaroo, whole chickens, lamb cutlets and lean pork if I see them on special, as these are all used in 12WBT recipes or in my own 12WBT-friendly recipes.

2. If you have the freezer space, buy in bulk and freeze in suitable portion sizes for your family's needs. This works for meat - many good butchers will sell cheaply in bulk - as well as 'luxury' items like frozen berries. Additionally, many, many things can be frozen to reduce waste. Try freezing sliced ham, Weight Watchers bacon, ricotta cheese, milk, chopped fruit, chopped vegetables, bread, Mountain Bread wraps - www.mountainbread.com has free delivery and is much cheaper than supermarkets - homemade stock, cooked shredded chicken breast, the list goes on.

3. Do not buy fruit and vegetables from the supermarket! The quality is usually poor (long storage times, produce selected for appearance instead of quality/taste) and the prices expensive. Find a good local growers' market, fruit and vegetable shop, or even better a farmer's market. Buy as fresh as possible for eating raw, but if you're going to cook with it (e.g. soup or stews), keep an eye out for marked-down bags of produce. I get my produce delivered from www.aussiefarmersdirect.com.au due to the time and convenience factor, and the prices are comparable to the supermarket. Occasionally I go to the bulk overstock markets at Canning Vale and purchase big boxes of various fruit and vegies that I either cook up, or chop and freeze.

4. Learn about seasonal fruit and vegetables. Joy of joys, it is spring and I can finally eat fruit other than apples, pears and oranges - strawberries and cherries are coming into season! The recipes on the program don't always use seasonal fruit and vegetables, so learn to substitute. If you're new to cooking, ask on the forums for suitable substitutions.

5. The substitution rule can be applied in other instances too. Smoked salmon too expensive and you got lean ham on special? Use the ham. Have an open packet of something needing used up? Either substitute it into the day's planned recipe, or switch the recipe entirely.

6. Get to know the recipe index. Tight week? Shop from your pantry - take a look in there and work out what recipes you can make with what you already have.

In addition to these tips, remember that if you're anything like me, you'll be spending less on takeaway, dining out, and processed foods than you were before. That helps me when I want to buy, say, some cherries, which at $12.98/kg sound expensive, but I can buy a good few cherries for the price of a chocolate bar - and a lot fewer calories.

12WBT food ...

... is bloody brilliant.

Salmon, ginger & greens stir-fry the other night.



I have tried canned salmon (hated it) and smoked salmon (could take it or leave it) and wasn't too keen on trying the salmon fillets, but it was really good! Less fishy than canned, if that makes sense, the texture was great and the ginger really set it off.

Roast vegie salad with chickpeas and dill yogurt dressing last night. I took the photo before I drizzled the dressing on, silly me!



I loved this one, and I roasted the vegies before picking the kids up from school, so it was a super-quick meal once I'd done that part. We have swimming class on Tuesday evenings and don't get home until 6.30pm.

Celebrate the small achievements too

Tonight I went out to dinner (end of round 1/beginning of round 2 celebration with the awesome Perth Crew!), and I ordered a chicken dish, was supposed to come with chips and salad. I asked for no chips, please. They brought it out with chips. I ate three or four of them, but the old me would have eaten the whole plateful. I didn't; they sat there staring at me and I DID NOT EAT THEM.

Hurray!

DITL 12WBT style

That's a day in the life, 12 Week Body Transformation style, if you can't decipher the acronyms.


I actually forgot to take a photo when the alarm first went off, had to go back and take it 7 minutes later!


Water and supplements to start the day.


The shoes are by the door, JFDI.


Other paraphernalia (iPhone armband, earphones, heart-rate monitor & HRM strap).


Ready to go. Long-sleeved running top because it's a little chilly, relatively speaking (it was about 8 degrees, but after the endless summer we've had here in Perth, it feels very cold).


This is what greeted me when I got out the front gate. After I literally ran into my neighbour walking his dogs. I had to laugh because my first thought was "what the heck is he doing up at this time??" when obviously I was just as crazy!


Back! Only time for 20 minutes of intervals today - luckily that fits nicely with a route around a few blocks, keeping to the main streets where it's well-lit.


Cooling down now.


Time to make brekky.


My best friend in the mornings.


Breakfast: porridge with berries, and COFFEE.


Time for a bit of computer catch-up while I eat.


Look over the to-do list.


Shower time.


And face, deodorant, teeth (you'll have to imagine my toothbrush & toothpaste).


Need a belt so my pants won't fall down (and these are jeans that didn't even fit last winter - the 12WBT works!!)


Interrupted by a sweet little girl, who gets carried to the big bed to snuggle daddy (note the artistic photography to keep daddy out of the picture, as he would not appreciate his sleeping self being broadcast to the blogosphere). Daddy will be getting her off to daycare and the bigger two off to my parents' house before he goes to work.


Evie's bag ready for daycare, and my morning tea ready for work.


Dressed - thank goodness we dress casual at work (I do back-office data processing for banks & government entities).


It's a bit cold.


Time to go!


The view out the front gate is a little nicer second time round.


Walking.


... and I'm here. Sorry, this is the carpark out front - I'm probably not really supposed to post photos of my workplace on the internet, so I won't!

Now imagine me inside for 3 hours because, yeh, no photos inside :)


Done! Walking home.


At my parents' house (next door to mine) to pick the big kids up.


We're home.


Washing on (that's a 10kg washing machine, LOVE it, means only one load most days now that Evie's out of day nappies).


Washing to fold.


And folded.


The organic fruit and veg delivery arrives (mostly fruit, I've still got quite a lot of vegies, and the kids go through that much fruit easily).


Don't forget to drink water!


Lunch time: leftover 12WBT-friendly kangaroo lasagne from last night, with mixed salad leaves.


Emma and Alastair waiting for the bus - we're heading to the shopping centre to watch Hop at the movies.


Here comes the bus!


I get a coffee so that I don't eat their popcorn!


On the bus home.


Running up the street to get Evie from daycare.


... and running back down the street with Evie in tow.


A quick stop at the playground (fully fenced so I can relax).




Home again!


Breakfast for dinner. Trimmed free-range bacon, scrambled organic eggs (no milk/cream/butter), organic baked beans, organic tomato, on a bed of organic rocket. Mmmmmmm, so good. The kids are happy too (except they don't eat rocket or tomato).

I stopped there, that was enough. You missed the excitement of the kids having a bath, their dad finally getting home, and getting them to bed, which at 9.20pm is still a work in progress!

A little bit of a good thing

When I was a child, we couldn't easily get Cadbury Creme Eggs here in Australia. Well, it was either that or we couldn't afford them. I'm not really sure which, but at any rate, they weren't absolutely everywhere like they are now. Every Easter, my grandparents would send us a six-pack over from England - let's not even get started on sending chocolate across the world via the postal service! They always got here in one piece. Six: one for each member of the family.

I treasured that Creme Egg. Some years I ate it before anything else, savouring every bite. Other years I carefully hoarded it and saved it until I'd eaten all my other chocolate; which, mind you, I ate very slowly.

At some point on my way to growing up - probably when I got my first job at 16 - I realised that they were all over the supermarket and convenience stores from the minute the Christmas stuff got cleared out. So I would buy one, not all the time, but enough so that they were no longer treasured and savoured.

I think this is one of my problems with food in general: I eat because it's there, and I don't think about it enough. I eat (or ate) chocolate far too frequently, and therefore didn't appreciate it.

This year, when the Creme Eggs started appearing in the shops, I thought, yum. Then I thought, "I don't really need one today. Maybe next week." I have been thinking that since January and it's now April and I haven't had one yet! I will treat myself to one on Easter, just one. I don't want to never eat chocolate or ice cream or fried food again. I just want to be able to say, this truly is a treat, something that I have occasionally and make allowances for.

I'm going to really enjoy that Creme Egg.