Lack of Variety Makes a Diet Hard

Saturday, May 24, 2008

In Spain obesity is a fairly new issue. I know there has always been over weight people in every country of the world, but here it was never a wide spread health problem.

The Spanish diet is heavy on fish and olive oil. Rarely does a traditional Spanish recipe call for butter or cream, even frying they use olive oil. In fact the Mediterranean diet is considered one of the most healthy in the world.

This is a great thing! Well it's great unless you need to be on a calorie restricted diet. Because they are not used to the need of food that is light or sugar-free, they are considered specialty items. This means to buy some thing like tofu or ground turkey you need to travel, or buy an alternative of super lean cuts of beef and chicken from the butcher. In both cases your paying a premium price every time, if you can get it at all.

My only recourse in this matter is to do it myself. This means more investments I don't want to make. I need to find and purchase a meat grinder, an ice cream machine, a crock pot, a grill, and an oven. They are investments I can't afford to make, but can't afford not to.

The real down side is large upfront payments in a time when we have no income. The up side is we both enjoy to cook and they will pay for them selves over time. We can't afford to go off the diet, but we can't afford paying top dollar for meats, produce is costing enough as it is.

It's a hard decision to put out money when the wallet is tight, and it will take some deep consideration and bergen hunting to make this plausible. I will give updates as the week goes on, I need to start window shopping. If you have any suggestions on these items, please let me know. I'm quite open to on line shopping as well as going on foot to stores.

Ingenious Rechargeable Batteries

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I came across these gems today while browsing this store. I know rechargeable batteries have been around a long time, and they keep improving them. However I have never seen USB rechargeable batteries before.

Such a simple concept yet so incredibly handy. Not only can you just charge it in almost any computer, but you can also use any standard NiMH charger. I just thought it was worth sharing, so I am passing it along.



You can find the information here: http://www.guardianecostore.co.uk

Buying in Bulk: Part 3

Sunday, April 20, 2008

OK so today I am ready to finish my pre-store preparations for bulk shopping. I have taken the time to narrow down what we use often enough to buy in bulk.

Now it's time to see how much each item is per size and unit, my receipts and memory to help me do this. I write the item name, the standard unit price and the price I pay per unit, as I often buy enough items on sale to last me to the next sale.

A brief example of what my list would look like:

Turkey Breast - 7eur / Kilo; 6eur / Kilo
Onions - .70 eur / Kilo; .65 eur / kilo
Juice - 1 eur / ltr; .90 eur / ltr

The reason I go threw this step is simple, just because it's bulk doesn't always mean it's a savings. If it is a savings, it still may not be worth to buy in bulk.

For example, every week or two soda goes on sale in the local stores. The sales and or coupon deals will bring the price down to about 90 cents. Where as buying in bulk only brings the units down to 1.10 euros. If I hadn't taken the time to see what I normally pay for soda over what the sticker price is, i would have lost 20 cents per bottle.

On the other hand they once had onions in a 10kilo bag for about 50 cents per kilo. this is a clear savings over what I normally pay. The thing is I can't use, store, or save 10 kilos of onions! If half of it goes to waist the price goes up to 1 euro per kilo, and thats more then I pay normally, so it's no bargain to me.

Now that I am armed with an accurate pricing for all the items I would like to get, it's time to prioritize them. What do I still have a lot of, and what can I fit. After I make all these arrangements I am ready to go to the store. I will compare my prices and consider price and the size and waist factor.

I will bring you storage posts on how I manage my space and how I save both meats and produce in the future. Please leave any tips or information you may have to add to these posts, as it's all still a learning process for me.

Buying in Bulk: Part 2

Saturday, April 19, 2008

OK, so I have isolated the items we buy the most often and then decided what was the most expensive. It is a greater value to buy items we use often in bulk and buy items that are higher-priced, but last a long time, on sales. After all you want to use everything before the expiration date. Like I said, it's not a savings if you throw half of it away.

The way I used to decide what we used most often was easy. I looked at my shopping receipts for last month and this month to date, and wrote down what we bought the most of. next I used my common sense to think about what we use, eat, and drink every day.

The second step was to look to see what was the largest single price purchases we made. Again I looked at my receipts and used our memories to narrow down and pick out the more expensive items we use.

Looking at the list it's easy to eliminate a few items from the bulk list. Things like lettuces, and kiwi we could never eat on time and don't freeze well. Then there was items like fresh cheese and yogurt, not only do these spoil quickly but we don't eat them steadily.

Now that I have my list of items that I can use in bulk, it's on to stage two. It's time to figure out how much the items are per unit or wait. I will do a little more consideration on items after I finish the normal unit price.

I know this seems like a lot of work for a shopping trip, but when every cent makes a difference, a little calculation and prudent planning is worth all the time you have.

Buying in Bulk: Part 1

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Today I begin to plan my bulk shopping trip, for many people this is easy, but for me it's pivotal I do it correctly. Our storage space is more then limited, our budget is low, and the opportunity to shop at the bulk stores are few and far between.

One of the great disadvantages of living in Spain is that conveniences I was used to back in the US are not so convenient here. Most of the stores good for large savings are quite a distance from where we live, and not owning a car in the city makes sense, until you want to shop in bulk. So we rely on the kindness of family to hitch a ride, gasoline was over 3 euros a liter (thats over 18 US dollars a gallon) last I looked, so we make the most out of these trips.

So how do we utilize this golden opportunity? I will need to break down what I need in to stages.

The first stage will be assessing what I need, and what is worth to buy in bulk and what will surely be a waist of money.

The second stage will be deciding what I can afford, what is a savings over local markets, and what i can fit. Like I said storage space in my flat is extremely limited. Then we have to be able to fit it all in one care with 4 people and their bulk shopping items.

I will break down each section in the next two days, as I need to take the rest of today to actually do it... wish me luck!

My Food Shopping Commandments

Saturday, April 12, 2008

There are a few simple things I have learned over the last year on how to really make the money stretch. One of them is not spending a lot of money on extras I will never use. This is a great thing to learn, and has helped me significantly in saving money for things I can really enjoy.

The one area I was struggling with, even until a few months ago, was food shopping. It's such a crime when I buy an item with out a plan and it goes to waist. I took some time to go over information I found on how to curve your impulse buying, and applied it to my food shopping with great success.

Here are the simple laws I have set for my self with great success.

Always shop with a list
With a list you know what you need, and your less likely to roam around the store getting pulled in to the displays of food.

Use Cash
Never walk in a store armed with your debit / credit card!
The dollar or two for the ATM may save you 10 or 20 at the check out line. It's always easier to budget money you can feel, see and count on the spot.

Budget the trip
Bring just enough money and leave your wallet in the car.
If it's so important you really need it, then your just going to have to come back and get it after you go to the car. Ah yes, lazy vs impulse, it's a great way to counter each other.

Know the prices!
Make a list of the things you often use.
Break the prices down per unit of weight not containers. This way you know how much the product is not the packaging.

Carry a calculator!
This will help keep you from getting fooled by items that say on sale, but when you break it down to unit, often are not worth your time.

Keep count
I keep a monthly tally of how much I spent on food and groceries, with a special note on how much of it is eating out and snacks. Do this for two months and see how quickly you realize it's time to start bagging lunch. Also note the effort of recording everything made me buy less, it's the lazy vs impulse thing again.

Well, thats my few quick tips for grocery shopping, hope it helps!