Meal planning 101

This week I am going to take some time to fill you guys in on how we manage to maintain healthy at home eating, even with our busy schedules.

It is important to get a routine in your weekly schedule to help prevent stress. When you work all day do you want to come home and stress over what to make for dinner, wondering if you need to go to the grocery store, etc?

Mike and I started doing weekly meal plans two months ago and it’s no longer the “What do you want for dinner?” fight. Those of you who are in relationships, you have to know what I am talking about!

You know when HE opens the fridge, closes it, opens the pantry, closes it… 12 times and says “We have no food”.   Which ensues the “I don’t care what we eat.. what do you want.” for an hour before we are too hungry to make something and we end up going out for dinner.

The benefits of a meal plan are not just to stop those incessant fights but it also helps the budget. If you make the meal plan at the beginning of the week and do groceries to ensure you have the right ingredients to allow you to make those meals, trust me you can save so much money and reduce waste. We have saved $50 a week on groceries and with us also making sure to plan lunches, we are saving $30+ every week on going out for meals.

This is the template I use:

Yes, if you have a meal plan and the necessary ingredients he will make dinner, no questions asked!

These are some of our favorites over the last few months:

·         Peanut chicken stir fry http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/speedy-chicken-stir-fry-107031.aspx 

·         Spaghetti in garlic gravy with lemon marinated chicken and cherry tomatoes http://skinnytaste.ziplist.com/recipes/318299-Spaghetti_with_Sauteed_Chicken_and_Grape_Tomatoes

·         Poppy seed chicken pitas http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/poppy-seed-chicken-pitas-recipe/index.html

·         Hawaiian grilled chicken with coconut rice http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/05/hawaiian-grilled-chicken.html

·         Fresh corn and tomato salad http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/fresh-corn-tomato-salad-recipe/index.html

Some tips for when you are making your meal plan:

1.       Start with a week where the meals are all meals you have made before and have experience with so the transition is easier

2.       Try wherever possible to make meals for dinner that can be used as leftovers for lunch the next day

3.       When we make things like chili and pulled pork, we make large batches that can be frozen for nights you don’t want to lift a finger

4.       Just because you have a meal plan doesn’t mean you can’t go out for dinner. But, you should plan it ahead, so if you wanted to have a date night next weekend, you make sure not to plan a meal for that night but plan to go out for dinner.  

5.       Once you get comfortable, start adding one new recipe each week

Good luck with your meal plans, and remember be creative and have some fun!

If you have any other tips when making your meal plans, let us know.

All You Entertainers Out There…

For all you entertainers out there I want to say that it is possible to have a garbage free party!  As I mentioned in my last post, Mike and I had a party over the weekend for some of our family. We had a group of 55 people and the party was complete with food and drinks.

I set up a blue bin, grey bin, a few beer cases for empties and a green bin for organics.

And the result:

Yes I did have to rummage through the first bag but once I yelled out to the party where to put everything, it was smooth sailing.

What we used - Biodegradable paper plates (not the flimsy thin ones), plastic forks and knifes, plastic cups, paper napkins and the rest was all reusable serving dishes.

Your next party, just think what you can do to eliminate even one garbage bag and it will get easier and easier.

Cheers!

Making Our House a Home

ü  Paint door

ü  Install new light fixtures in rec room

ü  Put blinds up in office

ü  Paint bathroom

Everyone has made one or seen one.. the Honey-Do list. The Honey-Do list is a list of all those tasks you need to do around the house that sucks up ALL of your free time. Mike and I had a party at our house this past weekend for some of our family. As we took them through the house saying things like “We are going to do this here” and “We want to do this there”, etc… I realized just how big our honey-do list was. So today, we put it on paper,  3 pages and 63 individual items later, we have our list.

Writing the list, that’s the easy part. Now what? You need to ask the question, what do you want to do and have time to complete first.

You can’t dive into the list just yet.

How are you going to pay for all of this? It becomes a discussion of moneybe cause you know as well as I do, there is never an endless supply of money to complete all these projects! And trust me, there is almost ALWAYS some hidden costs in every project you do.

Next, assign a cost of materials to each item on the list.

For instance, to go back to my list above:

Paint door – Scraper and varsol to remove existing paint ($4.79), Drop cloth ($6.49), Painters tape to tape off door knob ($3.99), Sand paper ($6.49), Primer & Paint ($24.97) + Tax

Total cost - $52.80

Who would have thought… I just want to put one of those nice red doors on my house and its going to cost me $52.80! But you can look at it this way; what would it cost you to buy the door already red and get it installed? Doors start at $200 and go up from there.

Just remember, when you are choosing to do projects, you should have a contingency fund in case something goes wrong. Mike and I aren’t the most handy couple in the world, and yes…duct tape is in our tool box. In my own opinion is a good rule of thumb is to keep a contingency fund of 25% of the project budget for unforeseen costs and well…errors J.

So for this project I would make sure I have the $52.80 in actual material costs plus an additional $13.20 (25%) for a total $66 in cash saved before we even think about starting anything.

Finally, when making your list, try and break down each room into small projects that are attainable. Trust me you don’t want half started projects started all over your house because they become more than you can handle in the time you had available.

Best of luck! We will keep you updated on our projects…in the fight to make our house, our home.

Tall, Dark and Handsome...

This morning we finally got to welcome home our new pup Rocco.  He’s only three years old and already tipping the scales at 125lbs. 

We were lucky to find Rocco at the Niagara Falls Humane Society looking for a new family.  He arrived at  the shelter as a stray so we aren’t aware of his background but from our experience so far, he’s just a big playful teddy bear.

He is going to be a handful! We will keep you posted on all of our adventures in puppy parenthood.

It's Time for a Change

“I am too busy”

“It is too hard”

“It takes way too much time and work”

“I am too lazy”

(Picture taken from TMZ.com)

Your turn.. it’s never too late to start a new year’s resolution. No mercy… today is the day you start.. RECYCLING! Throwing a can in the recycling bin is as easy as throwing it in the garbage, you just need to make it accessible.

I lived in an apartment with my sister and although we did recycle, it was a pain. We had a garbage can under the sink and another box where we put everything in. Then at the end of the week when it was full we had to separate the plastic/cans and paper to recycle everything in to the appropriate bins. It definitely was not a small task. So when we moved into the house, I was on the hunt for my garbage bin.

Many months and a trip over the border later, I found this:

3 bins – One garbage, One blue bin recycling, One grey bin recycling

This way in order to throw a can in the garbage, it is the exact same as throwing it into the recycling. EASY! So the question.. would you recycle if it were like that?

Here is your chance, you can start recycling today.. we can work on the rest later.  

A few tips:

1.       Don’t label each section. It keeps your company guessing so they have to choose which bin to put it in. I always get the question, “okay which one do you want this in?!”

2.       The bins with 3 compartments are best so that you have all of your recycling and garbage in one place to make the transition easier

3.       The bigger the bins the better so you don’t have to empty them to your outdoor recycling bins every day

And here I did all of the research for you, so there are no excuses!

·         Order online to your nearest Walmart store (note: not available in Canada, we had to pick it up over the border) - http://www.walmart.com/ip/Neu-Home-12-Gallon-Recycle-Bin/8222531

·         Check availability of your local Canadian Tire store - http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/8/KitchenBath/KitchenStorage/TrashCans/PRD~1423056P/Ican+Recycle+Bin+with+2+Bins.jsp?locale=en

·         There are numerous other ones out there as well so you can search for the best fit at the best price

And I know you can’t go out and buy a fancy recycling centre today.. so what can you do today?

Here are a couple quick things you can do right now that will be one step to reducing waste:

1.       No more bottled water! That’s right.. gone are the days of you buying bottled water. You could buy a Brita for about $30 and a new filter for $7 each which lasts approximately 3 months, versus buying cases and cases of water at an average of $4 each.

Okay only a little bit more math I promise…

If you drink an average of 3 bottles of water a day, you are spending $15 every month (for every person in your household) on bottled water compared to just $7 every 3 months on a Brita filter.

Ladies.. just think of the shopping you could do with that. More seriously, think of the plastic and the waste you are no longer consuming. And that is all with the same visit to the store as buying the case of water in the first place.

2.       Just because you aren’t in the kitchen doesn’t mean you don’t have recyclables. For instance, in the laundry room you have empty detergent bottles, box for dryer sheets, etc.

3.       Throwing a party? Consider using reusable plastic plates instead of Styrofoam plates. Reduces your waste in the name of doing a couple dishes afterwards.

4.       Research. What is recyclable changes depending not only on what Country or what State/Province you are from but it also changes by City.

Your choice.. keep being lazy and throwing out recyclable items or take some initiative…

See you next week!

I have heard it all before.

New Year's Resolutions

Gone are the days of failed New Year’s Resolution attempts!

A Couple Shades of Green is a new project.  Every year, January 1^st is a new year with a new resolution! Well January 1^st, 2011 12:01am, I came to the conclusion... “I know. I am going to write a blog”.  As you can see it is now July 2012, so we’re  a little late. BUT! I had my profile written on December 31, 2011…so it still counts.

My name is Dawn, and my fiancé, Mike, and I will be co-authoring a new blog.

(Photo taken by Paul Charette, Charette Imagery - http://www.cimagery.ca/)

So here goes, “A Couple Shades of Green”

To explain the title a little, it is a bit of a play on words. For anyone who knows me, they know I have always been an active environmentalist. No I don’t recycle waste water at my home or have worms that feed on my organic waste...yet, but I actively recycle EVERYTHING to the point of annoying others at times and I strive to reduce as much waste as possible in my everyday life.  One of the most common quotes when we have company for dinner is, “Dawn...I am just going to leave my plate on the counter…I have no idea where to put it.”

“Green” also refers to being financially independent and comfortable. In today’s society it is an understatement to say that a majority of households are struggling with money.  It’s not always easy to find that sensible balance between extreme couponing and being house-broke. I am a Chartered Accountant and Mike works in management for a large retailer.  We are NOT perfect…but we feel like some of the financial struggles and celebrations we have faced together can help others.

This blog will also be a story of our trials and tribulations with food. When you work full time, it can be difficult to make healthy meals at home while keeping within a budget and anyone who knows Mike and I… knows we love to eat!

To make a long story longer…this blog will tell our story of living life and doing what we can to live it ‘Green’. We will be posting a blog entry at least once every week and more often when we can.  We hope you like it.

Look for new posts on Sundays.