"Alan S" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:58:48 -0700, "jacquie"
> > wrote:
>
>>I love my big freezer. I also have a food vacuum that keeps food from
>>being
>>frostbit. I buy large quantities of meat and separate them into the bags
>>vacuum and seal. That's one way to get meat at a cheaper price usually.
>>Sometimes when there is a sale on meat I will buy a bunch and vacuum and
>>seal. I would love to buy a quarter or side of grass fed beef ..but still
>>looking for grass fed beef in my area When I make stew I always make to
>>much...from the days when the kids were still home...so I freeze it
>>...same
>>with chili . I don't know what I would do without my freezer
>
> Me either; it saves me a fortune and is wonderfully
> convenient. An hour of preparation and packing of meats when
> I get home from the butcher or fishmonger gives fresh (yes,
> I call it fresh, I defy anyone to pick the difference with
> our meat) meat and fish for weeks; one or two Saturday
> afternoons cooking soups, stews, casseroles and similar
> provide meals for a month that take a few minutes to
> re-heat.
>
> I forgot when I replied to Julie that I wrote about it a
> little while ago:
> http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/20...g-healthy.html

Price generally does not enter into it when I buy food. I do get my organic
box of produce most weeks. Didn't get one this week because there was too
much in it we just wouldn't eat. I get some produce at Costco as well as
some canned goods, meats, paper products, etc. Just stocked up on canned
goods at Big Lots last week. Although I prefer to eat organic, I will buy
some non-organic canned goods. Angela prefers canned vegetables and they
are what I grew up on when we didn't have fresh from our garden. I am
saving money on these things. I don't worry about it otherwise. I no
longer have to watch every penny like I did when I was younger.

I have three crockpots in various sizes and aim to get an even larger one
for Christmas. Those to me (and my Bigmouth food processor) are the biggest
time saving things in my kitchen.

We get salad bar and takeout food about once a week from Central Market. I
only get the salad for myself. But from the takeout we get grilled salmon,
grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, lamb kebabs, roasted potatoes, falafel
or plain white or wild rice.

I live in an area where healthy food is BIG! There are some fast food
places, but I sometimes wonder how they stay in business. We once stopped
into a McDonalds off of a very busy road to get a toy for Angela. Just a
toy that she saw on TV. There was not a soul in the place and this was at
5:00 p.m. on a Friday night. You'd think they would be hopping. BTW, we
didn't get the toy. They didn't have the one advertised on TV.

We dine out 2-4 times a week depending on what is going on. My mother does
not like to cook so when we go over there on the weekend we usually have two
meals out in one day. Many of those meals are Mexican, prepared specially
for us. We sometimes go to the Old Country Buffet. This works well for us
because we can get salad and some plain foods that we are not allergic to.
The number of restaurants where we can dine is very limited. Mostly we
avoid chains that have a lot of prepared foods. Yes, I know Old Country
Buffet has a lot of prepared foods, but they also have plain baked potatoes,
melon, vegetables, plain meats, etc.