Knowing Where You Come From

Where do I come from? I can give you the easy answer. I come from Vernon, Texas. That’s where I was raised. That’s where my mother and my grandparents and their parents were raised. My mom’s side of the family could even say that they are a founding family of the Vernon, Texas area, a blink-and-you-miss-it town off Highway 287 on the way to Colorado from Dallas. That’s where I come from. But, what is in my DNA? I had always heard that my family was Irish; more frequently, I was of Native American descent.

My father was always interested in genealogy and instilled that interest in me at a young age. Before the internet was a massive thing, my dad and his cousins, Bob and Lavonna, kept a notebook with paper records of our family tree as far back as they could research. When Ancestry.com launched in 1996, it wasn’t long before my father had a membership. He worked off and on for years building our family tree.

In the summer of 2015, I moved to Eagle Mountain, Utah, and lived there for eight months. While exploring Salt Lake City, I discovered the Family History Library. When I walked in, I was greeted warmly by the attendants and asked to be seated in the auditorium for the next presentation. The other patrons and I were shown a video on ancestry and the Family Library. Afterward, we were escorted to a large computer lab and assigned a computer. Attendants helped us make a FamilySearch account and assisted us in building our family tree.

I wasn’t sure, at first, how to get started but an attendant sat with me and showed me how to search and get real results on FamilySearch. After hours of searching and building, I left the library with a partial family tree built. I returned to the library several times that summer to work on my family tree and talk with the attendants. My family history was fascinating to me. I knew a few names and origins, but I wanted to know more.

A few years later, I received a free trial for Ancestry.com and began to transfer my family tree from FamilySearch to Ancestry as well. I also was able to discover my late father’s Ancestry account. More of my family members also made Ancestry accounts and we were able to compare family trees and connect. My cousin Lavonna and her husband Tommy sent in their Ancestry DNA kit a few years ago to discover Tommy’s birth family. Lavonna also discovered that we had a cousin named Mary, an unknown child of my uncle Kenneth’s. That discovery made me want to try Ancestry DNA.

While doing research for the podcast, I finally purchased an Ancestry DNA kit, and my results were somewhat surprising. Although two of my great-grandmothers were reportedly full-blood Cherokee, my results did not show any Native American DNA. I was also under the assumption that I was mostly Irish, especially on my father’s side, but I am actually almost equal parts English, Northwestern European, and of Scottish descent. I am only 11% Irish. What surprised me the most was that I am 5% German.

As I developed my family tree more, I discovered more things about my family:

• My family only spent a generation in Northern Ireland and before that, we were in Scotland.
• My family was not only Scottish, but they were Lowland Scottish Gypsies (or Romani).
• My family has royal ties in Scandinavia.

The more I look into my family, the more I hope to discover. In the meantime, I want to hear from our readers. Have you bought a DNA kit through Ancestry or a competing company? Did you get any interesting results? Let’s continue the conversation below!

Finally Taking my DNA Test

 Hi, everyone. If you checked out Wednesday’s podcast, you might recall that I had been struggling with some of my family connections. I have some missing links for my family ancestry. I also have a DNA kit from 23andMeⓇ and I have yet to take the test!

I thought I would go ahead and take the DNA test today and send off the results. I would also use that as a way to reconnect with some of my less familiar family members. I thought that would be a great way to start the conversation and ask if they know if anyone else in the family has taken the test. Then I could follow up with questions about people's dates of birth and legal names, especially my paternal grandfather. I also hope to find more about myself along the way once I get my DNA test back. 

After way too much procrastination, I am ready to take my test!

Here is a little unboxing so you can see what is in the box.

Everything you need is packed in this little box.

No eating or drinking 30 minutes prior; way easier than taking a Covid-19 test.

I recommend that you get fully hydrated so you can easily spit into the tube. 

Pack it back up in the box and toss it in a USPS mailbox to be picked up.

Have you had any struggles connecting with your relatives? I would love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to comment below, or head on over to MMC chat, our Facebook group where you can join in on the conversation! 

The Secret Is...

In this week's podcast, we talked about the seven secrets to a perfect holiday. The word “perfect” is relative. I’ve learned over the years that perfect doesn’t exist if you set your expectations too high. Something will always go wrong. I want to say the biggest secret in my mind is that there is no secret to a perfect holiday.

One of the most memorable holidays I had with my family was one of those holidays where everything seemed to go wrong. I call it the “Great Pumpkin Disaster.” That year, my grandmother, my mom, and I decided to make a trio of pumpkin desserts: Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cupcakes. 

My grandmother is a perfectionist when it comes to all things pumpkin. She is always the one to make the pumpkin desserts. In fact, she never lets anyone in the kitchen when she is cooking. On the flip side, she won’t let anyone cook in the kitchen without her (because it is her kitchen). So, it was nearly impossible to cook your own recipe without her input. That being said, maybe I could have used her input that Christmas, but I was always irritated when I tried to cook in the kitchen and she constantly hovered over me. My grandmother used to say, “Too many cooks in the kitchen...”

My mom and I cooked first working on our pumpkin bread and cupcakes while kicking my grandma out of the kitchen multiple times. I love making cupcakes and it was the first time I had ever made pumpkin cupcakes. The result was pretty disappointing. My cupcakes sank in the middle and only a few turned out edible. I didn’t understand what was wrong. It had to be something wrong with my grandmother’s oven, but no one believed me. Next, my mom’s pumpkin bread came out of the oven as hard as a brick but still, no one believed me that there was something wrong with the oven. My grandmother claimed it was because we wouldn’t let her help us.

Finally, my grandmother made her pumpkin pies, and they almost caught fire in the oven, leading to hysteria in the kitchen as we prepped for Christmas dinner. My grandmother didn’t want to believe that it was an oven problem and swore that it was because she wasn’t cooking. When she pulled the pies out of the oven, they were completely black. My mom and I busted out laughing at the situation. My grandmother got so angry that she took a piece of my mom’s “brick” pumpkin bread and threw it at her head. My mom, in return, grabbed a cupcake and threw it at my grandma. That turned into an all-out war in the kitchen and throughout the house. We started chasing each other and throwing bits of pumpkin at each other until all three of us were covered and we had a huge mess to clean up.

I think back to that day whenever I bake any of my grandmother’s pumpkin recipes. We had to buy our dessert that year, but the memories of that Christmas with my mom and grandma will last a lifetime.

I want to hear from our readers. What is your perfect holiday? What are your holiday secrets? Let’s continue the conversation below. Have a wonderful holiday!

Halloween Traditions

Hey everyone! It’s my favorite time of year! Spooky Season! This week on the podcast we are talking about Halloween traditions and the things we like to do every year on Halloween. I am in a transitional place in my life, but I want to talk about some of the new traditions I have started over the past few years as well as some of the traditions that I have kept from my childhood.

Pumpkin Carvings by Jason and I

Halloween Decorations

Checking out the decorations at Michael's

I know a lot of people like to decorate for Halloween, and I am no exception. It excites me when the first Halloween decorations hit the shelf at the end of July/beginning of August. I typically like to hit up the décor sections early in the season and I like to hit them up again the day after Halloween. This, of course, was a tradition that I shared with my mom in the past. She always liked to prepare for the coming holidays early. I, however, keep my house decorated in a spooky aesthetic all year round. So, I keep two types of Halloween decorations: the ones I only pull out in October, such as fake cobwebs and spooky lights, and the ones I keep up all year, like my collection of gothic literature decorations.

31 Nights of Horror

Every October, like many horror fans, I TRY to achieve the near impossible (for someone with very little time), and that is to watch 31 horror or spooky movies in October. There really are no rules to this challenge other than you have to watch 31 horror (or, spooky if you don’t like horror) movies in October. Some bloggers even go so far as to create a daily theme for this challenge. Like this one from Horror Hound.

Every year, I fail miserably at this due to poor planning and not taking this challenge as seriously as other people do. I have only made it through ten movies this year. Aside from that, I like to go to the movies and watch at least one horror movie at the movies, and I have stuck to this tradition every year including in 2020 when most movie theaters were shut down and movies were going direct to streaming. This year, I saw Barbarian in the theater. The movie is about a woman, Tess, who books a remote home in Detroit to stay at while she attends a job interview only to find that it was double booked by an awkwardly creepy man named Keith. Tess ultimately decides to share the booking with Keith because the weather was horrible and there were no available hotels in the area.

Local Fall/Halloween Festivals

Pumpkin Nights with Jason

This is a new tradition that Jason and I started last year and continued this year during October. Last year, we went to Frights’n Lights in Frisco, which is a fall festival held every weekend in October that displays hundreds of horror icon lanterns and movie character carved pumpkins. The festival also boasts the largest trick-or-treat trail in Texas. This year, we decided to take a similar route and attend Pumpkin Nights in Arlington. Pumpkin Nights is a fall festival held every weekend in October that displays a trail of events and photo opportunities made almost completely out of pumpkin lanterns. The event also hosts a variety of activities such as shopping, a food truck park, and a playground for kids and adults.

Matching Pajamas

New PJs with Christen

This is also a new tradition that Christen and I mentioned on the podcast. Last year, I attended a slumber party that was thrown for Reyna at the beginning of October 2021 and I decided to stay the night to watch horror movies. Christen, the girls, and I went on a late-night run to Walmart for snacks and ended up in the pajama section. We bought matching nightshirts and wore them while we watched horror movies all night. We had so much fun shopping together, we decided we needed to do it again in the future. A couple of weeks ago, Reyna had her October slumber party and we ended up at Walmart in the pajama section again. We bought another set of matching nightshirts and ended the night watching horror movies, thus adding a new Halloween tradition.

Whether it is a new tradition or an old tradition, Halloween will always be my favorite holiday. I want to hear from our readers. Do you have any fun Halloween traditions? How long have you kept these traditions? Are there any new things you’d like to try this year? Please comment below.

A Dragon made of Pumpkins at Pumpkin Nights

Gaming: A Way to Come Together

I’ve been thinking a lot about games lately and what they represent. Games have different connotations for everyone. When I think about games, I think of them as a way to come together and have fun. Whether it’s in the classroom or at a family reunion, games bring people together. This week on the podcast, we are talking about games and gaming. Games and healthy competition with my family and friends enhance my life for the better.

When I was a kid, my parents loved to play games. One thing I remember most from my childhood is my parent’s Atari®. I still remember touching it when I was a child, I wasn’t sure what all the buttons were or what all the games were but it was easy for a young child to hook up and turn on. My two favorite games on the Atari® were Space Invaders® and Asteroids®. Almost every weekend, my parents and I would have an Atari® tournament.

My mom had a notepad that we kept our scores in along with the date that we played. The objective was usually to play as long as we could and the day's highest score won. I remember one stormy Saturday when both of my parents were in a competitive mood. I think they both played Asteroids® for hours straight trying to beat each other’s high scores.

The spirit of gaming with my parents evolved as game consoles evolved. Soon, my parents bought an original Nintendo® and we added Doctor Mario® to our game tournaments. As I grew older, my best friends would stay the night on the weekend and enter the game tournaments. 

In middle school, I received a Nintendo 64® for Christmas and the tradition continued with games such as Diddy Kong Racing® and Mario Kart 64®. My friends and I would sit down with my parents and race each other in racing tournaments at least one weekend a month. My dad and I would get insanely competitive with each other on our game nights. We were constantly playing, trying to beat each other’s high scores. We continued the competition well into my college years. When I would come home to my parent's house on the weekends, I would find that my dad had beaten all my high scores during the week, and the competition would be on again.

Game tournaments were one of the ways my family came together and bonded after a week of grueling work and school, and they were weekends I looked forward to growing up. Nowadays, I don’t play many video games, but I look back fondly on the time I did with my parents growing up.

I want to hear from our readers. What types of games do you play? Do you have tournaments with your family and friends? Let’s continue the conversation below or on our Facebook group: MMC Chat

Coping with Mental Health and Adult Children

Over the last 6 months, Amber, Christen, and I have shared quite a bit about our personal lives, our struggles with depression, ADHD, OCD, dementia, and familial tendencies toward mental illness. We’ve each had various experiences that have affected us deeply. I think that’s why mental illness is such an important topic here at Modern Musings, and why we’re talking about it this week. I know the topic is certainly at the top of my list, having lived with my own struggles for many years. However, mental illness takes on a whole new level of complexity when a parent is dealing with their child’s issues of mental illness, and while we can exert a bit of control over our youngsters, we are pretty much helpless as we watch the suffering of our adult children. It’s painful in ways that dim our own challenges, and it stabs at the core of our competence as a parent. But, what can we do?

I have often blamed myself for the struggles of my children. Did I pass on that gene? Was it something I did, or some failing of mine as a parent? Was there something I could have done to prevent it? Did I miss the signs? These are but a few of the questions a parent asks when their child is dealing with ADHD, depression, addiction, or any number of other mental health diagnoses. And we never stop asking those questions.

The other big question we ask is, “What can I do to help?” The answer is not as simple as one might think. Once your child is an adult, you don’t have much input into their treatment, and unless your child consents to release medical information, you are, by law, excluded from getting any information from their doctors. This is why maintaining a good relationship and open communication with your child is extremely important. Constantly checking in and checking up on our children can feel like smothering. The advice can feel like demands or even disappointment. You might need to adjust your thinking, too. Your dreams and expectations for your child may need to change in light of a mental health diagnosis. The brilliant student bound for college might take longer to reach that goal or may change plans altogether. The key is to show your adult child that you love them, accept them, and support them while acknowledging that they are an adult and it’s up to them to get the help they need.

I think one of the hardest things I’ve ever done is to sit back and watch my children suffer through many of the same mental health issues that have plagued me my whole life. It’s excruciatingly painful to know that I am powerless to fix it. But I think the part that is hardest to accept is when that child doesn’t get the help they need. It’s almost like watching them bleed out from a severed arm but you’re not allowed to stop the bleeding. Like any parent, I am full of all kinds of advice, and I want to do everything I can to make my family happy, well, and whole. If it was okay to do so, I would load them up in the car and drive them to the doctor myself! I’ve seen too many families torn apart by homelessness, abuse, addiction, and suicide. I can’t bear the thought of that happening to my children. So, you can bet that if I think they are going to hurt themselves or someone else, I will not hesitate to step in and do just that!

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health:

• 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiences mental illness in a given year.

• Annually, 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. experiences a serious mental illness that substantially interferes with or limits major life activities.

• 50% of mental illness begins by age 14, and three-quarters begins by age 24.

• The average delay between symptom onset and treatment is 11 years

• 18% of U.S. adults with mental illness also have a substance use disorder

• 21% of people experiencing homelessness also have a serious mental illness

• 46% of people who die by suicide have a diagnosed mental health condition

• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for people ages 10-34

• Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year.

Here are some tips for dealing with your adult child with a mental health diagnosis:

• Early intervention can help reduce the severity of an illness.

• Use “I” statements so you don’t alienate them: “When I hear you talking about how unhappy you are, I feel worried. I think talking to someone about how you are feeling would be very helpful.”

• Stop the power struggles:  Listen, really listen, without judgment or correction

• Let them know you are there for them

• Remove the stigma of mental health issues

• Be willing to share your own issues – it helps them to know they aren’t alone

• Set boundaries: Neither of you should tolerate physical or verbal abuse. No cursing, hitting, or threats

• Encourage them to get help

• Find support for yourself

• Develop a crisis plan in case of emergency: Collect contact information for:

• The nearest hospital

• The crisis hotlines

• The nearest police department

• Family and friends

• Any treatment providers

• Have your child sign a medical release form so you can be involved if they suffer a significant episode.

  
  

If your child’s behavior is unsafe, or if they talk about wanting to hurt themselves or someone else – do not hesitate to intervene! You might just save a life!

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/warning-signs-of-mental-illness

A Simple Cleaning Checklist for Anyone

Hi there, it’s Christen - Happy Monday! It is springtime, which always makes me feel perky and motivated. This year, I set a goal to manage my household more efficiently. Effective communication with my husband, Travis, has been a challenge due to our schedules. I wanted to find a way to make it easier for both of us to access important household information without having to call each other during work hours. I also wanted Travis to have the knowledge at his fingertips to effectively manage the household without me guiding or micro-managing him. I decided that a “Home Binder” was necessary, and set a goal to create one as part of my Cultivate What Matters tending lists and 2022 goals. I may have mentioned my home binder and some of its contents on the podcast a few times and hope to provide an update on my progress here on the blog soon. Be on the look out for that!

Among the sections that provide helpful information in the binder is one for household maintenance. By maintenance, I mean cleaning, seasonal care, repairs and services. This time of year, I have many of these processes in mind, especially the routine and seasonal cleaning. As a newly married couple, we have learned what each other’s strengths are and where we can give each other support. Although my husband knows how to clean up after himself, he does not know all the ins and outs of sanitizing and deep cleaning. I wanted to give him an idea of when each of these tasks should be completed, and with what chemicals and tools. 

Getting married and some drastic changes in my work schedule has changed most of my routines. I simply can’t count on using one of my days off to do all the laundry, cleaning and meal prepping and still make it to bed at a decent hour. I went back and forth trying to set up a new routine and struggled with sticking with it. Thankfully, my husband and daughter are willing to help around the house, and the chores do not all fall on me. 

In order to ensure that all the necessary tasks are completed in a timely manner, I decided to compile a master cleaning list. Since my brain has been conditioned to think in monthly, weekly, and daily tasks thanks to my Cultivate What Matters tending list, I decided to drop my previous weekly cleaning schedule and opt for a more flexible checklist. 

In the free download, you will find a cleaning checklist broken down into the three groups outlined below:

• Daily - Action items that should be completed every single day, like washing your dishes, taking the garbage out, making your bed, and tidying up.

• Weekly - Action items that need to be performed once per week and can either be done on a specific day or any time during the week. For example, the garbage can needs to be rolled out to the curb every week on the same day, and you will be sorry if you missed it. Vacuuming however can probably happen only once per week and you can often live with going one day longer if needed.

• Monthly - Action items that only have to be completed once per month, usually around the same time each month. For example, it's a good idea to dust the ceiling fans, but no one is going to suffer if you don’t do it exactly on the “first Friday of the month.”

My cleaning schedule might not be frequent enough for you, or might even be more than you want to commit to, but it should at least give you some ideas on how to create your own schedule. As I mentioned above, I’ve linked a free one to download for your own use - I encourage you to make it your own! I saved it as a WORD .doc so that you can edit it to your liking. Is there something that I left off? I would love to know what you think! Please don’t forget to come over to our Facebook chat group, and be sure to listen to the podcast on Wednesday when we’ll continue the conversation.

Meal Planning on a Budget

 

Hi again, Christen here…a long time sufferer of eating cheap. No, for real, eating cheap isn't always healthy and can also be lacking in flavor.  To make matters worse, I used to not plan or meal prep either.  All of that eating on the fly took a big bite out of my budget due to last minute purchases, and there was always some excess of wasted food.

I can’t eat a bowl of cereal for dinner out of convenience anymore now that I am married and have a child. Dinner needs to be prepared in a timely manner, and there are special considerations for our dietary needs. Travis, my husband, has to be extra careful due to the fact that he is diabetic.

A couple of weeks ago when discussing S.M.A.R.T. goals, I mentioned that Travis is now the primary cook in our household. I thought I would delve into the process that we have in place now that allows us to create delicious homemade food from scratch that is simple, filling, healthy and affordable.

Planning

There are several things that Travis and I do to ensure that we are on the same page throughout the week when it comes to dinners and getting the household fed. I am currently working 5 nights a week during the dinner hours. Luckily, I am able to have dinner with my family, but I cannot be in the kitchen preparing the meals; Travis really has to manage the kitchen as much as possible. Since I am an avid planner and he is still learning, we connect weekly to put our ideas together, and to plan and execute the shopping to ensure that there are no hiccups. Each meal that is prepared has an associated recipe. Having specific directions ensures that all the ingredients are purchased and used properly. Planning ahead also keeps us from choosing too many unhealthy options. When you give yourself enough time to consider your meals, you are more likely to make healthy choices. Don’t forget to plan for breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well. Having a plan for these meals will keep you within your budget, but also keep you from going back to the store, or ordering take out.

Timing

We connect on Thursdays, and Travis brings his recipe suggestions with him along with his day planner. We determine what meals we will be making for the following Monday - Sunday. We consider activities on our calendar and make alterations if certain activities require a quick dinner. Once we have the weekly menu planned out, we post it on the fridge and then go through each recipe to get a shopping list started. The key to this is consistency, you will manage this task more effectively over time, whether doing it solo or as a couple.

Shopping

Travis and I do not go to the grocery store to shop for our main weekly purchases. We do however visit the Vietnamese market for specialty items, and we use the flyers to purchase meats at specific stores if the price is worth the special trip, all other groceries are ordered through grocery pick up. This strategy limits impulse shopping. We have lowered our grocery bill considerably by not picking up those one-off snacks that catch our eye while going up and down the isles. Our grocery pick up order consists of just the items we need, and we are able to have more restraint and buying power. I can take my time and really shop by reading the labels and determining which product will give me the best value. I also like the fact that I can quickly click on the past purchases that are in my shopping cart on a weekly basis.

Budget

I can tell you that grocery pickup and online shopping is handy for lowering your grocery cost, however the most important factor in all of this is the budget. Your finances cannot be controlled unless you have the reins on them. If you wander around the grocery store without a clear plan, and without a budget, your cost will surely go up. Random items picked up in the store add to the cost of your cart, but you don’t see the impact until you are at the register. Determine the maximum you want to spend on your grocery trip, this is your budget for that trip. Also knowing the exact dates you are shopping for is essential. I recommend purchasing groceries once a week so that you can buy fresh produce, meats and bread frequently. Many fresh vegetables and fruits do not have a shelf life beyond a few days, so shopping more frequently ensures you are eating the freshest of foods. Sure, you can buy canned vegetables that last longer, but they are not as healthy, and not always as appetizing. So, to recap your budget strategy, ensure you know what days you are needing to purchase food for, how many meals, number of people being fed, and what you can afford to buy for that time frame. Use the meal plan to keep your shopping list within your budget. Know what you can spend, so that you don’t overspend. If your groceries for the week are exceeding your budget, consider either going meatless for a meal, swapping out a recipe, or doubling up on a recipe that can make enough for leftovers.

Storage

If you are  going to be buying in bulk, you will want to have storage that will last. I can’t stand freezer burn or freezer flavor. In the past I would freeze things with good intentions, but oftentimes throw things away after a month or so due to the ice crystals! Travis and I now have a Food Saver,  Here and we love how well our food is preserved. This allows me to purchase the larger pack of chicken, and split the contents up instead of buying two smaller packs of chicken at a higher cost per pound. I also recommend some baskets or storage bins to keep your pantry and refrigerator organized. This helps keep things in order. When food items are stored willy-nilly, they get lost on the shelves and you may end up over purchasing or having items go bad before you get to use them. 

We keep our pantry sorted out into food categories and keep the most relevant items at eye level. 

• Breakfast items - like cereal and oatmeal
• Lunch/snack items - these are the free-for-all items that were purchased for lunches such as ramen noodles and soup
• Dinner items - these are kept separate so that someone doesn’t accidentally eat the can of tuna if it is meant for dinner
• Baking goods
• Excess condiments etc. - we go through certain ingredients more rapidly than others, for example olive oil. I have my opened olive oil out where I can reach it, but my backup is in a specific spot - so I know where to grab it when the other one runs out, or I can quickly identify what I have extras of or might need to stock up. This really helps when making the grocery list. 

When it comes to fridge organization, I can be a real stickler. I am the type of person that puts the condiments in the exact same spot every time, and I expect my family to do the same. This can be a challenge, but getting your household involved in the meal planning, preparation and the goings on in the kitchen is important. Once they are onboard and can see the importance of a neatly organized kitchen, they will be more willing to follow your lead. If you are condiment connoisseurs like my family, you probably have more food on your fridge door than anywhere else in your house. We have a sauce for everything, and it can get out of hand really quick. I limit the number of jellies and salad dressing that we open at any given time, I keep all the mustard, mayos (yes, we have more than one mayo), and ketchup in the same general place so they are all together, and I keep all pickled items in a spot together. It seems trivial, but I can guarantee you, if you go through your condiments, give them a good wipe down and take some inventory, you will find something that is about to expire, or is almost run out. Use that time to plan out ways to use that condiment, and get your money's worth.

Fresh is Best

We all know that junk food is cheap and healthy food is more costly. Here is a quick list of everyday essentials that are dirt cheap and as close to unprocessed as you can get. You can make countless meals with these few items. Another great thing about them is that their shelf life is long enough that you can keep plenty on hand.

• Green onions
• Yellow onions
• Garlic
• Celery
• Carrots
• Green bell peppers
• Cucumbers
• Eggs
• Dried Beans
• Apples
• Acorn and Butternut squash
• Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• Milk
• Butter
• Shredded cheese
• Jalapenos
• Cilantro
• Ginger
• Uncooked Brown Rice
• Potatoes

Left-overs

Let’s talk about the taboo topic of Left-overs. I am sure there are a lot of you that just don’t do leftovers - and there are just as many reasons why you might not like to eat them. I am not going to harp on anyone for not liking leftover or reheated food,  but consider the amount of money saved if you did not throw your food away, and ate what remained at another time. I will give you some suggestions as to how to overcome it if you are interested in giving it a try. 

• Some foods can get gross when reheated like lettuce, guacamole, coleslaw, and breading to name a few. So consider leaving those items out when wrapping up the leftovers.
• Reheated sauces like marinara hold up their consistency in the microwave, whereas sauces like alfredo break down when reheated, changing the flavor and texture.
• Overcooked vegetables get mushy when reheated. If making extra veggies to pack up, consider cooking the veggies on the firmer side knowing that they will get cooked further the second time around.
• Reheat your leftovers in the oven when possible to crisp up and prevent sogginess.
• Leave off dressings, sauces, and fresh garnishes when serving large batches, which can be added after reheating.

I know I have presented a lot of tips all at once. If I had to give just one piece of advice above all, it would be to plan ahead. All of the tips I provided today are actions that require thinking one step ahead and keeping control of what you already have (money and inventory) on hand. I hope that these tips are useful to you and are things that you would consider in order to help you improve your healthy meals on a budget. I know that I focused mostly on the budget versus the healthy, and I did that on purpose – if you can plan ahead, you can make healthy choices.

I would love to hear what you think! Leave me a message in the comments, if there is anything you want  to know more about, please reach out!