Gift Ideas 3 and 4 for people with ckd, plus my weekly meal plan

December 4, 2020November 29, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

I totally forgot to post gift idea #3 yesterday, so today I will do 3 and 4. Before I get to that I want to mention that today was grocery day. I really do quite hate grocery shopping, lol, and I hate going to various stores to get better deals. I can tell you one thing. There is no way I can only spend 50 dollars a week if I want to shop at Publix, which I do because I love their Greenwise products. It is just too expensive. But, I may have to sacrifice the budget a little, because when you start reading ingredients I really do much prefer organic items. For example, I needed Ricotta Cheese. Aldis, where I went first, had none at all. So, I went to Publix. I was going to get the one that was 4 dollars cheaper, and then I read the ingredients. Nope, spent the extra 4 dollars. But, with that said I don’t need to buy everything organic. I like grass-fed meats, and organic cheeses, and some other things. But fruits and veggies, honestly I don’t really notice any difference as long as I rinse them well. That goes for frozen too, but I do always check the ingredients on anything I buy. I might be able to do it if I did just their buy 1 get 1 free offering, but those are all processed foods almost completely and that is what I don’t want. So, I did go to Aldi’s first, and unfortunately, the Aldi’s near me is not really all that affordable. I save more at Save A Lot and Walmart in the smaller town near me. But, that is the point of me challenging myself. I learn through keeping track of where I really do get the most for my money. I went over budget and spent 70 dollars. Some of that was for baking stuff for Christmas cookies which we give as gifts. But, I left it in the budget for my daughter to see how easy it is to go outside the budget especially at holidays. I will subtract it from next week, and only have 30 to spend. I don’t know, though because our inventory of meat, and veggies are just about used up, so I may need to spend more. I did stick to my list though and bought no extras.

My meal plan for 12/4-12/11 just dinners.

12/4- Leftovers. There is pork, coleslaw, and sweet potatoes

12/5- Homemade pizzas. Aldis had flatbread so I bought those. We already had cheese and sauce. I have some leftover mushrooms and onions for mine, and my daughter will put pepperoni on hers. This is a work day for me, so I don’t worry about my carbs too much as I am constantly moving. Same with 12/6

12/6- Ravioli, bread and butter, salad. I am not sure how I will handle this meal, being low carb. I will share what I decide.

12/7- Chicken alfredo and broccoli. I bought some chickpeas to make a sauce for me, as I don’t like Alfredo. I am not sure it will be low carb, though, maybe.

12/8- Grilled cheese and tomato soup. This is our busiest day of the week and we always have something quick and easy. I have some of my Ole tortilla wraps still and I will just make grilled cheese with one of them.

12/9- Pancakes with sausage. I can tell you already I only eat 1 pancake. They are high in carbs and sodium.

12/10- Homemade lasagna. I probably just won’t eat the pasta. Side salad, and texas toast. No Texas toast for me either.

12/11- Leftovers

For my 3rd gift idea I chose a robotic vacuum. Now, technically I would like one of these, but it is not at all something I need. I have a teen who sweeps, lol. But, if you have CKD, especially stage 4 or 5 housework can be exhausting. This is a bit of a pricier gift, but I picked one with 5 stars, and it is on sale. It is on Amazon, click here. Obviously, you don’t have to pick that one. It is just an idea.

Gift #4 is a great cookbook with great recipes for CKD. I picked this one, because I have read this one, and I loved it. Please note, I have noticed that a lot of these kidney cookbooks do not focus on Phosphorus. Be alert when cooking as to Phosphorus amounts.

There you have it. 2 more great gift ideas for anyone with CKD on your gift giving list. Come back tomorrow for gift idea #5. If you would like to learn more about any of my health coaching services. Please use the contact form at the bottom of this post to message me.

It is difficult to follow a limited protein, low sodium, and a low carb diet at the same time. Plus, be mindful of potassium and phosphorus.

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14 days of gratitude: Day 8 and my 50 dollar food budget

November 20, 2020November 12, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / Leave a comment

Updated 11/12/2021: In January of 2021 we sat down and figured out our budget the Dave Ramsey way. Our budget is $528 dollars per month for groceries using that method. Some months it doesn’t go so well. Still working at it, lol. I have to say the easiest way to save money on groceries is to use the pickup option. I order online and then pick it up. There is no impulse buying and teenagers picking up things we don’t need. Now, sometimes I actually have to go inside a store.

Yay, Friday! I am happy you are here. Before I get to the two things annoying me today I will write what I am grateful for, LOL. I truly am a grateful person and do not like to complain, but I may not always show my gratefulness which I assume would apply to most people. Today’s prompt is, name one thing I learned from my mother that I am grateful for. I hate these one thing prompts. There are so many things I have learned from my mom. But, since I have to pick one it would be how to be frugal. Now, that does not mean I have always listened very well, lol. As you will see below going back to a strict budget is proving not so easy for me and my family. We have always lived on a budget, but when you have more money you spend more money, and we are no exception to that rule. But, I grew up fairly poor, and my mom was excellent at being frugal, finding deals, stretching a dollar, and saving even with meager amounts of money. I am so grateful all of that information is stored in my brain and I truly want to teach my daughter how to be more frugal and buy what you need and save for what you want. It is so hard, especially for a teenager.

So, my 50 dollar for a week of groceries did not go well for this next week, and I can blame Thanksgiving for that. Now, with that said a lot of the stuff I bought can be carried over into the second week of the budget, as we get paid every two weeks, mainly because there will be a ton of leftovers from Thanksgiving. So, I am hoping it will even out.

I have a few gripes today in reference to things that were supposed to save me money. First Amazon Prime Pantry. We signed up for this and pay for a reason, two day shipping. I made my list the other day and this morning went to place the order. My items, a lot that I needed for Thanksgiving were not going to arrive until probably the day after Thanksgiving. Even if they came on Wednesday that is 5 days to delivery, not 2. I do not appreciate paying for a service and then I don’t get to receive the benefits of the service I am paying for. So, I had to take all of those items out of my cart, and left only the items for the second week of my budget. Amazon is in my not happy bucket today. Now, I could see if it was a true emergency, but Thanksgiving is the same day every year, and Covid has been here for 9 months, so I am not accepting those lame excuses. My second complaint today is for Ibotta. They were offering a free refund on Thanksgiving items that I intended to purchase and donate. But, of course, Ibotta would not load yesterday, or today, so I didn’t get to take advantage of that either. I have stopped using Ibotta before due to it not working properly and well that may happen again. There, now I am done complaining.

My first week menu starts tomorrow, 11/21, and goes until 11/27. I also purchased my two Dollar Tree items for my challenge next week. For this first week, I spent 83.68, and yes that is obviously over 50 dollars, but like I said a lot of the items will roll over into the second week in leftovers. For the second week, I have already spent 17.71 Save A Lot had the better deals, but not by a whole lot over Walmart. Just a few cents difference for most items and Save A Lot does not always have everything I need. Remember, my 50 dollar a week food budget is for food items only. It does not include non-food items. After Christmas, I hope to be able to sit down and make a budget for non-food items we use.

I wanted to share a recipe I made yesterday that was very affordable and will feed me and my husband for several meals. I had leftover pork ribs from Wednesday’s meal. You guys that was such a bargain, We have already had the ribs for 2 meals and lunch, and I was able to freeze 3 of the ribs for the next time I make this bean recipe. So, while the ribs were 10 dollars when you get several meals and then some out of the meat it really was a steal. In my crockpot, I put a can of black beans rinsed, and a can of Cannellini beans rinsed. Now, you don’t have to rinse them, but it gets rid of some of the sodium and I don’t generally like the sauce. Then I added about a 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce and a 1/2 cup of Italian dressing. I also threw in some pearl onions because I needed to use them up. Plus, one of the ribs that were leftover, bone and all. Then I put it on low for 8 hours. You guys this was so delicious. My husband loved it and had it again for lunch. If you have CKD like me be sure and not to eat the sauce, or as little as possible. Slow cooking your food helps decrease the phosphorus in the foods and releases it into the juices. I only eat a 1/4 cup at a time, and I put it over a 1/2 cup of masked potatoes. I had a simple side salad of lettuce, green onions, and some sunflower seeds. Try this delicious, simple, affordable recipe. The cans of beans were less than 80 cents apiece and I already had the other ingredients on hand. Eating beans is a great way to reduce your meat budget and still get protein.

Below you will see everything I bought for this weeks menu plan. I could have saved at least 10 dollars by using the stuffing I had already purchased, but my husband wanted me to make his mother’s homemade stuffing. So, I had to buy all of those ingredients. Plus, the pure maple syrup for the turkey was 7 dollars. So, that is actually 17 dollars I could have saved. But, my husband likes to make his turkey that way. I thought we still had some but did not. Sorry, my clean dishes are in a part of the shot. I wanted to get everything in one shot and my teen still hadn’t put dishes away.

Menu for 11/21-11/27/2020:

Saturday: Leftover homemade pizza for lunch and Hillbilly Casserole for dinner. Come back Monday and I will tell you how we liked both of those.

Sunday: Cheeseburgers and a side, probably Mac n cheese, fruit, or a veggie.

Monday: Chicken and broccoli. I think I have a jar of Alfredo sauce so we could have that over pasta. Or, it could be a completely low carb meal.

Tuesday: Tuesday is our busiest day of the week, every week. So, I like something fast and simple. I am sure there will still be the homemade pork and beans, or we could have grilled cheese and tomato soup, or breakfast for dinner.

Wednesday: Cheese ravioli, bread and butter and a side salad

Thursday: Thanksgiving, yay gobble til you wobble.

Friday: Leftovers of course

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14 days of Gratitude: Day 4 and 5 Dollar Meal Ideas

November 16, 2020November 5, 2021 / healthbuddymelissa / 1 Comment

Today is the day I share my very long list of $5 dollar meal ideas. These are meals you can make that cost $5 dollars in total, or I will find out if that isn’t so. My husband and I have decided to tighten up our budget to increase savings. We had a nice savings account and then we took a grand vacation, my son got married, the AC broke and the car needed new tires. Plus, a few other unexpected medical-type things came up. So, our savings got depleted. We are going to try and limit our grocery budget to 50 dollars per week for 3 people. I will start Friday, but with Thanksgiving next week I am not sure I can stay on budget, but I am going to try.

But, before I get to the list I want to do the 4th day of my 14 Days of Gratitude Challenge. Today’s prompt is, what tradition are you grateful for? I am not really into traditions or rituals. I find when they can’t be followed anymore, for whatever reason, people are upset or hurt. But, one tradition I do try to stick to is decorating the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day. This has been a tradition in my family ever since I was a small child. We have had years we have altered it due to time constraints, it takes a very long time, but most of it gets decorated on Thanksgiving. For example, my husband for whatever reason insists on dragging the tree out of the garage and putting it up the day after Halloween. It is pre-lit so the lights are already on. I highly recommend pre-lit trees. Putting lights on is a nightmare. Anyway, it sits in my living room with just lights until Thanksgiving. Sometimes I start adding ornaments in small amounts just so it doesn’t look so naked, and like I said it takes such a long time to put it all together on Thanksgiving. This year, with Covid, Thanksgiving will be different for many families around the country. Maybe new traditions can be forged this year. Update 11/5/2021: My husband put the tree up the day after Halloween, this year, while I was at work. So, next year I told him to just put it up after Labor Day and I will decorate it for Halloween, lol.

Now for my large list of $5 dollar dinners. Each time we have one I will share the breakdown and recipe. I didn’t do the breakdown for our Ziti this weekend, because I hadn’t completed the list, but Ziti is definitely economical and it has fed us for 3 days. These can be modified as needed. If you have CKD the way the food is prepared plays a huge role in potassium and phosphorus levels.

1- Ravioli, sauce, bread, veggie

2- Hot dogs with mac n cheese, and a veggie

3- Pancakes with sausage or bacon, whichever is cheaper that week. You may be able to add fruit too.

4- French toast with bacon

5- Breakfast pizza

6- Homemade pizza

7- Spaghetti and meat sauce. Meatballs cost more to make your own, but if you can get sales on your ingredients they can be frozen for leftovers.

8- Chicken and gravy over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes. Shred your chicken to make it go further. Add a veggie of choice

9- Poor man’s stew or beef stew if stew meat is on sale

10- Vegetarian chili

11- Grilled cheese and tomato soup

12- Chicken caesar salad

13- Homemade sloppy joes with veggies. This is so easy to make and has way less sodium than buying the can or mix. Add a veggie side

14- Chicken pot pie Fettucine or just chicken pot pie

15- Chicken alfredo

16- Chicken or pork fried rice

17- Mexican beef and rice sometimes called Spanish rice

18- Shit on a shingle, otherwise known as chipped beef over toast

19- potato soup with or without kielbasa or other sausage meat

20- Taco burritos, or quesadillas with just cheese, add ham, beef, or chicken if affordable that week

21- Broccoli, rice, and sausage casserole

22- Rigatoni casserole, this is a meatless meal and is super cheap/ This is a favorite of my son

23- Ziti

24- Sweet potato black bean casserole. My husband loves this and it is a meatless meal

25- Chicken and biscuits, add veggie of your choice

26- Tuna noodle casserole with peas or green beans

27- Baked potatoes with carrots, green beans, or broccoli. I eat a baked potato almost every day for lunch.

28- Noodles with butter and garlic, served with a veggie.

29- Chicken nuggets and fries. Make your own nuggets if you can.

30- Bagel pizzas or English muffin pizzas

31- Ham penne pasta with swiss cheese. This is one of my husband’s favorites

32- Italian mac n cheese

33- Pasta carbonara

34- Barbecue black-eyed peas, or black beans

35- Baked eggs in ham cups

36- Baked beans

37- Shepherds pie

38- Vegetable polenta casserole

39- Beef or mushroom stroganoff

40- Lemon chicken and pasta with a veggie of choice

41- Sweet and sour turkey, beef, chicken, or pork over rice

42- Fried rice with or without meat

43- Sesame chicken or pork over rice with a veggie

44- Chicken cacciatore

45- Chicken salad sandwiches, tuna salad, or egg salad are all affordable

46- BLT

47- Chicken, pork, or beef enchiladas with veggies. If meat is too expensive use cheese and beans

48- Chicken fajita casserole

49- Tacos, or taco salad use beans if meat is too expensive

50- Pasta salad with or without meat

51- Potato salad with egg

52- Macaroni salad with egg or tuna

53- Pulled pork or chicken sandwiches with a veggie side

54- Veggie and potato frittata

55- Vegetable oven fajita casserole.

That is a good long list to start pondering $5 dollar meals. There were many more, but I picked ones that my family would most likely eat.

Our Menu for the week ending on 11/20/20:

Monday: Today was supposed to be hot dogs with mac n cheese. However, we still have Ziti leftover, so that is what we will eat.

Tuesday: Tuesdays are crazy so I will move the hot dogs and mac n cheese to this day.

Wednesday: Sweet and sour pork with rice and a veggie

Thursday: leftovers from Wednesday

Friday: Homemade pizza rolls. This is shopping day. I will share what we bought for our 50 dollar week of groceries, and the recipe for the homemade pizza rolls, plus next week’s $5 dollar dinners menus.

You don’t see a whole lot of fruit or snacks in this post. I discourage snacking, but I always have at least one or two fruit options, crackers, cookies, or popcorn. Making your own snacks, rather than buying packaged, can save a lot of money and heave healthier ingredients. This may change with the budget, but there are budget-friendly snacks out there. Lunches are usually sandwiches, salad, or baked potatoes. We are not big breakfast eaters, but we always have bread, eggs, and usually cereal.

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