14 MAY 2015 :: Shopping healthy or eating junk food.

Today was a food day.  I had to get groceries because I was running out...and I wanted to try out my newly purchased cart for carrying things as a bus traveler.  I spent more than half of my food budget today...and the battle to buy healthy foods is always present.

I suppose this is a battle we all face... day after day.  Do we only choose foods that are healthy for us, like veggies, fruit, whole grains, skim milk, or can we also choose some of our favorite junk foods?  :-)   I am trying to improve my diet, but I just can't seem to give up things like chocolate, sugar in my coffee, chips, and dressings. 

My downfall today was Doritos... again.  I needed to get some chips so I could eat the bean and salsa dip I made several days ago.  Plain tortilla chips would have been a little better, and cheaper, but Doritos were on sale and I LOVE the flavor of Nacho Cheese Doritos. I went ahead and bought them, planning to stretch my portions as long as possible.  My problem is, once I start eating them, I tend to keep eating them, and eating them, and eating them until they are gone!  Not a good thing.

I really like most healthy foods, like carrots, broccoli, chicken, pistachios, avocados, squash, cheese, brown rice, oranges, spinach, almonds, tomatoes, whole wheat bread..., but I have found they are really expensive for my budget.  Finding solutions for the healthy versus cheap food dilemma has been a constant challenge.  Today I was trying to get as much food as I could for the least amount of money.  I think I told you already that my food budget is food stamps, and that my allotment has been reduced to $126/month since February.

Doritos are usually not accessible to me unless they are on sale and within my splurge amount.  Uncooked popcorn is my primary snack food and what is both affordable and relatively healthy.  A lot of my food stamp budget is used to resupply staples like oil, butter, condiments, baking supplies and spices.  Pastas are a big item on my list. I use it as an emergency food, including boxed meals like Spanish Rice and Mac-n-Cheese.  Fresh fruits and veggies, meats, and cheese have to be fit into my supplies when they are on sale, if they get purchased at all. 

My hope to spread my food budget over the four weeks of a month didn't work out well for May, but I will try to do better in June.