confessing....major Coke head (okay, coca COLA). Sigh. I've tried. I have. The addiction is so strong that I've literally broken down in tears, gotten the shakes, etc. It's funny, when I'm pregnant, no problem, give it up in a heartbeat (well, 2nd heartbeat!). But as soon as I'm finished nursing...I am so drawn to it!
okay, hehehe giggle tee hee, if anyone is giggle wondering where to get "cookie spray" heheeh, giggle blush I meant cooking spray haha, eh eh heh... glup!
:lol: i was puzzled because to me, egg rolls are something that are just baked in the oven on a tray, like fries, and i wondered why you'd need spray .....then it occurred to me that in restaurants, the things are prolly deep fryed....i've never had one at a restaurant because the only places that serve them are the two chinese restaurants here and they're meat ones, not veggie..
I made really good egg rolls a few weeks ago (they had sausage, but you could easily leave it out or use a vegetable replacement) I sprayed them with PAM and they turned out crispy--- I turned them every few minutes too. I used bagged coleslaw (1 lb. of sausage, crubled and browned) a few shakes of soy sauce, a heaping tablespoon of bottled sweet and sour, ginger, black pepper, salt, I cooked the sausage, put in the coleslaw and other stuff. let the mixture cool off and then wrapped in egg roll wrappers (wonton wrappers work too if you want to fry them).
^^^ my eggrolls mentioned above also come in a box. :lol: but now you have me curious and i just might try making homemade ones
I started paying more attention to the ingredients in the foods I bought a few years ago and have gradually eliminated anything that contains: MSG artificial sweeteners "flavorings" or "spices" (many toxic ingredients are allowed to be labeled as such) hydrogenated oils (check crackers, breads, and anything in a box or package) high fructose corn syrup nitrates those are the biggies, but I pretty much won't buy anything except real food ingredients- this eliminates most packaged food and even deli items (pumped with nitrates and high in sodium). We don't drink sodas and I'm even stingy about juice (concentrated sugars- even though they are natural) Of course, I'm not perfect and I realize that when my kids go to parties, friends houses, even grandmas, they're gonna have some of that stuff. It's just so scary how poisonous and toxic these things are- there are plenty of studies, but "Nabisco" and "Frito Lay" and the processed food industry has powerful lobbyists.
lovetrusoul...I try my best to eliminate all of same things you mentioned. I won't be perfect but I can at least try.
What I think is tragic is that it is cheaper to eat the bad food than the good! That's where the real problem lies!
I beg to differ. I found that when I shopped only fresh ingredients (the perimeter of the store, basically) that my grocery bills went way down. I forget if it was here or on the other boards I'm on, but someone made a good point about proper nutrition. Aside from the fact that it really is less expensive per meal to shop fresh foods, when you eat nutritional foods, you will eat less. When your body actually gets the nutrition it needs, you won't feel as hungry. When you fill up on junky stuff, like processed foods, then your body still craves what it needs long after you've eaten "enough" in quantity.
I have found this to be true as well. I have gradually switched to whole foods, and organic as much as possible and my food bill has stayed the same. (and my cravings have decreased, energy levels are better and my weight maintenance is easier) Not to mention that no one in our household has been to the doctor for illness in years! no prescriptions, either. One of the big differences is what we snack on- fruit, veggies, occasionally chips and salsa or popcorn made on the stove. Another thing that helps the grocery bill is we drink water- no pop or even juices (though I occasionally buy some pomegranate juice for our smoothies or lemon-ginger-echinacea juice to boost the immune system -and I try to get them only when on sale.) Another tip is to buy whatever is marked down and figure out your meals from there rather than be set on a certain ingredient.
In California it is cheaper to buy frozen than not. I have tried, but now I just gave up and said I am going for fresh regardless of how much it adds to my budget, it tastes better and even though you have to eat it ALL up fast or it goes bad ( really fast here) we enjoy what we can before we have to toss the rest ( in compost pile when I remember) .
We've made some changes in how we eat also 1. Drink water or milk. I can't drink milk, so I buy soy milk for me. Our grocery bill went down when we stopped buying soda. We do have some around for car trips (the caffeine keeps dh awake if we have to be on the road at night) or company, but I don't have to buy as much. My treat for when we go out to eat is iced tea! I'm even getting better about not adding alot of sugar. 2. Limiting sweets. This is a tricky one, but it helps dh if I don't bring any pastries or donuts home. The kids like ice cream in the evening for dessert. There are occasionally cookies in the cupboard if they are on sale. My weakness is brownies. We have them occasionally (maybe once a month). 3. Watching those additives. MSG seems to be in everything, and I can handle it in very small quantities. I didn't realize it was in the chicken boullion powder I bought, or maybe I would have bought a different brand. 4. Avoid deep frying. This is a hard one because dh is on a diet and I have high cholesterol, however, dh loves fried chicken and fried tortillas! We don't have them very often anymore. We've decided that oven fried chicken is pretty good. I would rather a tortilla warmed in the microwave, so it is no problem for me. 5. We eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. I love a fresh ripe tomato!
I find it so hard to avoid sodas. Not for my kids but for myself. I allow my kids to have usually one soda per week and if we go out to eat which isn't often but I drink them all the time! I have got to make myself drink more water!! I have totally stopped buying canned veggies. I only buy fresh now and cook most everything from scratch. My family loves the change.
