Healthy and Inexpensive Eats on the Road

 Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Chances are, you're planning a road trip at least once this summer! I'm gearing up to leave on a family camping trip myself, that will involve several hours of driving to get to our destination. 

With two hungry teenage boys in the backseat, I know I need to be prepared with lots of healthy, inexpensive snacks to dole out en route, or we're headed for the dietary (and budgetary) disaster of a fast-food fix somewhere along the way.

One of the strategies I've developed over the years is to make sure to pack some extra-tasty snacks so that they don't feel “deprived” without a stop at McDonald's for lunch.

Two of the best ways to make sure you don't get stuck spending a fortune eating junky food at a greasy spoon on the way to your holiday destination are:

1. Planning ahead: You know you're going to need to eat along the way (and if you have boys who are non-stop eating machines in tow, you know they will need to eat a LOT along the way!) I aim to start tucking some homemade healthy snacks into the freezer a week or two before our departure date, so I just have to pull them out and pack them right before we leave.

2. Packing a cooler: Depending on your final destination, you'll want either a basic cooler to fill with ice, or an electric cooler (one brand name is Koolatron). If you're tent camping without access to electricity, a basic cooler will do the trick. If you'll be staying at a bed and breakfast or hotel, the electric cooler will allow you to easily maintain a stash of healthy foods and drinks throughout your holiday without the inconvenience of draining and refilling a basic cooler with ice every day or two.

What Snacks Should You Pack?

Every family seems to have their favourite “go-to” snacks; below are some suggestions that are quick and easy (and/or make-ahead-and-freeze friendly).

• Chocolate Power Balls (freezer friendly)

• Oatmeal and Fruit Bars (freezer friendly) - substitute raspberries or chopped peaches or plums for the blueberries in these delectable bars

• Muffins (freezer friendly) - Chocolate Zucchini or Banana Chocolate Chip will keep your resident chocoholics happy while being healthier than a donut fix.

• Roasted Chickpeas

• Pocket Sandwiches (freezer friendly) - my boys love these Curried Beef and Spicy Pork pocket sandwiches! The fillings can also be tucked into pitas or wraps if you don't want to wrestle with bread dough, although they're messier and not as travel-friendly that way.

• Popcorn (pack individual servings in ziptop bags)

• Whole fruits and sliced vegetables (pack a container of hummus for extra hunger-pang-busting power!)

• High protein finger foods: Trail mix, cheese cubes, hard boiled eggs and jerky.

• Nut butters and breads or crackers for spreading them on

In addition, we always pack a large Thermos jug with ice water so we can stay well-hydrated in the heat (for a special holiday treat I also bring along a bottle or two of Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade for our roadside picnic – it goes on sale occasionally at Food Basics, Fortinos and Metro for $1.99/960 mL bottle so I stock up then!)

While prepping food for a road trip does take some time and forethought, that effort pays off hugely in the health of both your body and your finances. I'm always glad I took the time to stock our cooler and picnic basket with wholesome, homemade foods and I'm sure you will be, too!

Do you have a favourite healthy, inexpensive snack for toting on road trips? Leave a comment and share it with us!  
  

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A (Scary) Food Waste Update - Plus, What to Do with Those Leftovers!

It's been much longer than I planned for it to be since I last weighed in on my Holiday Food Waste Challenge. Unfortunately, a *really* nasty virus swooped in and felled our family the week before Christmas and we've been trying to get out from under it ever since. I'm still not 100% recovered but I managed to stumble over to the fridge and do a bit of an excavation.

There's nothing like being laid up in bed to throw you off your game, and add the biggest holiday of the year into the mix, and it's pretty much a recipe for a food waste disaster! The irony of having the most food waste we've had in a long time during my official Food Waste Challenge has not escaped me.

Here's what I dug out of the refrigerator that is no longer fit to eat:

Some leftover cheese sauce from Taco Platters, 3 blueberry pancakes, a couple spoonfuls of leftover cooked vegetables, and, most unfortunately, an entire head of broccoli.

Since my last update, I also had to toss out two horrifically moldy organic lemons from a 2 pound bag I bought on sale. Whenever I buy organic lemons I always seem to forget that they spoil a lot faster than their non-organic counterparts. I also had to toss a clementine that was rotten in the middle - I don't think there was much I could have done to prevent that one, as the rest of the oranges in that box still appear to be fine.

Yeah, it's a half decent amount.of spoiled food. It does represent a full 4 weeks of food wastage, so it's still much, much less than the average family throws away. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, it just could have been a LOT worse all things considered.

I'm hoping that you have avoided this unpleasant bug that's been going around, and that you've done better than we have on the food waste front.

If you have some holiday leftovers that still need using up, now's the time to make sure they don't go to waste!

My Everything-But-the-Kitchen-Sink Lentil Soup is perfect for using up any number of leftover tidbits - vegetables, bits of meat, and even gravy easily slide into this soup and it always comes out tasting great.

Leftover turkey or ham both make delicious versions of this coconut curry and these pinwheels.

If you need more inspiration dealing with the remnants of the Big Bird, you can find my Making the Most of Roast Turkey post here.

Swimming in a sea of leftover mashed potatoes? They can be frozen in 1 cup portions for use in my Refrigerator Bread Dough.

If it's sweet stuff that's overrunning your kitchen, most desserts lend themselves well to freezing (except things like puddings and custards, so eat those first!) Whipping cream can be whipped and dropped onto a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet in spoonfuls for freezing. Once the mounds of cream are solid, pack then into freezer bags for longer term storage, and you have the perfect amount to top a single dessert or a mug of hot cocoa!

How was your food waste over the holidays? Do you have a clever way to use up those festive leftovers?

Our Frugal Stocking Stuffer Plan

Last week I shared our frugal gifting plans for this Christmas, and I promised to come back and share our stocking stuffer plans this week.

(BTW, if you're a member of my immediate family, you better not be reading this post or you won't be very surprised on Christmas morning ::grin::)

There's no doubt about it, you can rip right through your entire holiday gift budget on stocking stuffers alone if you're not careful. Our stockings are by no means extravagantly filled, but I'd rather have a smaller amount of good quality items than a large amount of crap! Since we are all foodies around here, you'll notice most of the items are of an edible nature :)

I actually happen to (mostly) know what's going in my own stocking this year, too, which is fine with me. I think hubby also has a couple of small surprises up his sleeve to add to the goodies I already know about.

What goes in ALL of our stockings:

-Homemade candies (cracker toffee, candied peanuts)

-Chai-Chocolate Chip Biscotti
-An apple and a clementine or two (traditional for the very bottom of the stocking!)

What's going in the boys' stockings:

-Mint Meltaway chocolates (from Walker's Chocolates, a local business)
-Gift cards for Subway and Tim Hortons (These will cost us nothing out of pocket as my husband received them as gifts. There are locations of each right in our neighbourhood, and since the boys are now teenagers they enjoy going there with friends)
-Glee Gum (an all-natural chewing gum)
-Gingerbread Spice tea (a favourite with both of them)
-a can of Blue Sky natural soda (These were on sale for 69 cents each at Fortinos. I used a $1.00-off-when-you-buy-2 online printable coupon from The Healthy Shopper and got both cans for 59 cents total, including tax!)
-Assorted pens, pencils and erasers (they've almost used up their stash from the fall)

What's going in hubby's stocking:

-Camino chocolate covered coffee beans (Fair Trade, organic, and yummy, purchased through ONFC)
-Camino Dark Mint chocolate bar (purchased on sale at Fortino's)
-A homemade citrus-spice herbal tea blend
-A bar of the manly-scented "His" glycerin bar soap from The Guelph Soap Company (locally produced)

What's going in MY stocking:

-Camino raw cacao nibs (Fair Trade, organic and kind of addictive - purchased through ONFC)
-Vanilla Body Butter from The All Natural Face (I received a $5.00 gift code from this company, no minimum purchase. I ended up paying only $3.00 *with* shipping for this product. This contains both mango butter and jojoba oil, neither of which I've tried before, so I look forward to giving it a whirl).
-A bar of Honey, Goat's Milk and Oatmeal soap from The Guelph Soap Company

There may be some other last-minute additions to this list, but these items will make up the bulk of our stockings. I don't have an exact total spent because I still have to buy a few of these items, but my rough estimate is that we will come in under $30 to fill 4 stockings! The cost for the homemade food items comes out of our grocery budget so I'm not counting them in the total, but that would probably add only another $5-$10 even if you did add those expenses in. I'm pleased that we were able to include a variety of locally and/or ethically produced items, while staying within our modest budget!

What are you filling stockings with this year?

Our Frugal Christmas Gift Plan for 2012

  Photo: Dream Designs/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our Christmas plans for this year look a lot different than last year's did. Our gift budget is MUCH smaller this year and basically we are aiming for another Hundred Dollar Holiday, more or less (well, hopefully not much more!)

(If you're on my gift list, please stop reading NOW as there are major gift spoilers ahead!)

Hubby and I have agreed that we are going to be very modest with gifts for each other this year. In fact, there are not really going to be any surprises for either of us as we have made specific requests of what we would like. I don't really mind this at all as I know I'll receive things I want and/or need and that no money or effort's been wasted on something I will eventually consign to the "donate" bin.

I've asked Joe to get two things fixed for me this year: my sports watch, which needs both a new battery and band, and the Lagostina Dutch oven I bought at a yard sale for $4 on the Victoria Day weekend. Although the Dutch oven appeared to be in very good condition when I gave it a quick inspection pre-purchase, as it turns out a tiny part of the bottom is coming away from the main part of the pot. It looks like it should be fixable with a small solder, and Joe knows someone who should be able to do this repair. I'm also getting one new item, the Celestial Tea Strainer from Mountain Rose Herbs (more about them later in this post). I'm experimenting more and more with loose blends of herbs for teas, so this is both a functional and beautiful addition to my tea making supplies.

Joe has requested new flannel pajama pants and boxers, both of which he definitely needs! We may also end up doing a quick thrift store shopping trip and picking out a small item each that we both want, depending on how much gets spent on other gifts.

Christmas gifts on a budget for teenage boys can be pretty tricky, I have to admit! I have come up with what I believe to be a decent plan, though: NEW BIKES! Both boys really need new bikes and have been riding bikes that were a bit too small for them for the last year or so. They are now both adult size (both taller than me!) and need adult-sized bikes. We are hoping to put together two suitable bikes for under $50. Thankfully Joe has a lot of experience rebuilding bikes so hopefully we can make this happen. We already have the bike for my older son, a good quality Peugeot that Joe trash-picked a couple years back (it's appallingly easy to trash-pick decent bikes when you live close to a university). It's been patiently awaiting some TLC and repair. Thankfully it doesn't need too many parts replaced - just a few broken spokes and some elbow (and bike) grease! My younger son really wants a road bike rather than a mountain bike, so we're hoping to track something down at Recycle Cycles or New Hope Bikes. Kijiji is another possibility; however I'd rather purchase from one of the bike organizations as it will help support cycling promotion in our city. We definitely need to get a move on this to get things done before Christmas!

For my 15 year old, a passionate climber, we're also going to purchase this Knots & Ropes for Climbers book from Mountain Equipment Co-op. For my 13 year old, (my artistic kid) I'm planning on buying some decent quality markers from the Canadian-owned chain Curry's Art Store (and the local store is conveniently located within walking distance of home, too!)

Of course there will be stockings, too - I'll discuss what we're filling those with next week, so stay tuned :)

As far as friends and family go, I am keeping it simple this year and everyone is basically getting a combination of books, homemade salve and a food basket.

The books are from two sources: my gift cupboard stash (yard-saled for under a dollar apiece) and an unexpected but gratefully received recent windfall of free books passed on to me by a friend - about 4 dozen books! I divided these into 3 categories: books someone in our house would like to read, books in brand-new giftable condition, and books that we didn't need and were too worn out for gifting. The final category got passed on to a new home through Freecycle, and quite miraculously, there is something to suit nearly everyone on my list in the "giftable" book pile (thank goodness my friends and family are all avid readers!)

The homemade salve I am making is a variation of this Simple Lavender Salve from A Delightful Home - I am going to double the recipe and use half lavender, half calendula to provide a truly skin-soothing salve for our harsh Canadian winters!

Food baskets are something everyone on our Christmas list has come to expect from us; we've been doing them for years and I think if we ever stopped there would be some very disappointed people in our gift-giving circle :)

This year we'll be doing the "standard" items we always include like pickles and Cran-Raspberry Jam (I have some Ontario-grown cranberries stashed in the freezer for this recipe), herb vinegar, homemade candies (Cracker Toffee, Chocolate Barks and Candied Peanuts), Granola and Chocolate-Peanut Granola,  I'm also going to be trying my hand at something new: creating my own herbal tea blends using herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. I'm anxiously awaiting my first order from them right now and hoping it arrives early this week! I usually include some type of quick bread in my gift baskets too, but I haven't made up my mind what I'm making this year (although I guess I better do that soon, huh?)

Want more ideas for creating a great holiday on a small budget? Find all of my Christmas on a Dime posts here, and check out my Homemade Christmas board on Pinterest - I'm always adding new ideas to it!

What are your plans for frugal gift-giving this year?

(P.S. If there's someone on your gift list with a tight grocery budget, please consider giving them a copy of my book. It's successfully helped lots of people reduce their food bill by 40-60% while still eating well (no extreme couponing required!). You could even make a gift basket with some of the staple items necessary for the recipes. YOU can help make a family's life a little easier this Christmas with this thoughtful gift).

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My Easter Game Plan

I've been procrastinating like crazy about finalizing my plans for Easter basket goodies and meal menus. There are so many delicious looking ideas out there and I've changed my mind several times already. Now that there are only five days left until the big day it's time for me to decide what is making the final cut and get busy putting it all together!

Here's how it's shaping up:

Homemade Easter treats for baskets:
-chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick coated in Easter "quinns" (those cute little bitty sugar thingies shaped like bunnies and chicks)
-cream cheese mints in spring colours, cut into "flower" shapes

These will be supplemented with store-bought chocolate eggs (for hunting) and probably a couple other treats like jellybeans to put inside hollow plastic eggs for the baskets
-I'm also going to make up some "coupons" for the boys for things like ice cream cones at McDonald's, playing a game of cards together, a game of catch at the park and other inexpensive and free "treats" that I know they really like - I'll tuck those into plastic eggs as well.

Easter breakfast:
Mimosas
Homemade hot cross buns
(plus lots of chocolate, lol!)

Lunch:
light nibbles - fruit, cheese, etc
Strawberry Lemonade (I use regular lemonade concentrate for mine)

Dinner:
Roast turkey with stuffing
Turkey gravy
Baked ham
Roasted potatoes
Roasted asparagus (if I can find some that's grown in North America!), otherwise I'll do green beans instead
Carrots in honey butter
Whole wheat rolls (made from Whole Wheat Refrigerator Dough)

White wine

Black and White Cheesecake Squares
Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Strawberries

Whew! Now that I've got that all sorted out I need to make a prep schedule so I don't go nuts doing everything at the last minute (not that I would ever do that ::ahem::). I ended up picking desserts that I can do most or all of the prep for a day or two ahead. Most everything else I'm making is a tried and true recipe so I expect things to go fairly smoothly!

I will post picks of the finished products after the event.

If you want more Easter dinner inspiration, check out what Christy at Southernplate.com is making - I think she's going to be spending even more time in the kitchen than I am!

Happy Easter, everyone!!