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HERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WHOLE9, THEY HAVE A NEW CATEGORY TITLED PALEO POOR

Paleo Poor: Your guide to the grocery store

on 3 January, 2011

We’ve heard it a million times – how can I afford to eat like this?  (“Like this” meaning “Whole30” or a general Paleo diet.)   We can’t argue the fact that it’s cheaper to eat a McDonald’s value meal than to craft your own healthy healthy dish by hand… but then again, diabetes medication is pretty expensive too.  We’re not here to argue for all of the reasons you should eat better.  If you’re reading our site, you already know that, and are trying to do something about it.  We’re also not going to get on one of our favorite soapboxes, called, “You just spent $5 on a latte, and that’s not even food.”   Ultimately, it all comes down to making healthy eating a top financial priority, but there are plenty of ways you can make your current food budget work a little harder.

Budget Paleo

I've been doing some thinking, and decided it's time to go back to the foundation. Originally this blog was Budget Paleo, and I've been thinking after hearing several monthly spending stories, like spending double what you would expect.  I think it's time to spend a month or two on the budget end of things.  So..I will be posting things that  find on sale for that particular week.  I have been doing my shopping weekly, but lately have been forced to do a second smaller trip mid week.  My goal is, whatever I find that saves us money, and keeps us on track with Paleo will be helpful to the rest of our Box Members.  Don't forget to check Amazon.com for great deals on food items too, shipping is free on most items so that saves too.  I order, my coconut oil, coconut flour, almond flour, etc. online.  Everything else comes from our local stores.  You would be surprised what you can find where, take for instance, last week I found Organic Raspberry Applesauce in jars at the Grocery outlet for $1.69 per bottle.  And Dark Lindt chocolate (without soy lecithin) for about the same price, and it had very minimal added sugar (4 grams). 

Tomorrow is my shopping day, so look for an update, Wednesday or Thursday.  If any of you find good deals please pass it along by commenting on a post.  I think we can all eat well and not go broke doing it!  We have plans to start a garden this spring and grow our own vegetables, the kids are really looking forward to it, and fresh homegrown veggies sound great!

Sheilla

Breakfast Acorn Squash

First you need to roast your Acorn squash, by cutting them in half and scooping out the contents.  

Then placing in a pan flesh side down. 

Add just a little water, about 1/4 inch and bake at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes (depending on the size of your squash).  Remove from the oven and pour off the water, and increase oven temp to 425 (mine didn't caramelize well so I ended up turning it up to 450 to get them caramelized).  Drizzle or brush with oil and place back in your baking pan flesh side down.  Bake for 20 minutes, until the flesh side is nicely brown and carmelized. 

Scoop out the contents of one half and place in a bowl.

1/2 roasted Acorn squash, pureed or mashed well

1 TBSP almond butter or nut butter of your choice

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

 maybe a little nutmeg too, haven't tried it yet but it sounds good

To your bowl add the almond butter and cinnamon, mixing well.  Makes a great breakfast served with sausage and/or eggs or post WOD nutrition, with some meat. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm thinking I might try it with some full fat coconut milk, it just sounds yummy.

STUFFED SQUASH BAKE

This is one of those really quick and easy things that you can make ahead and just reheat in the microwave for a few minutes when you are ready to eat them.  Great post workout too (especially if you use ground turkey!).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brown some ground beef (amount depends on how many you are making and the size of your acorn squash), with some finely chopped onion,sea salt and pepper until done. While the meat is browning cut the top off of your acorn squash, and scoop out the seeds and "guts", sometimes it is necessary to cut the bottom a little so it will sit flat in the pan.  Just be careful not to cut off to much of the bottom or you will make a hole in it and your contents will leak out.  When your ground beef is done spoon it into each acorn squash filling to the top.  Then pour in about 1/2 inch of water and  lay a peice of foil over the top loosely, not wrapped around, just resting on the top.  And bake for 1 hour or until done, I had so many in my pan it took longer, about 1 1/2 hours instead.  Make sure you cook it long enough that it is good and soft and browned on the peel.  It will give it a better tasting, full, roasted flavor. I have tried using other spices but I always come back to good old salt and pepper, sometimes a bit of chipotle seasoning.  Nice to have around for a quick breakfast, lunch, dinner or post WOD nutrition.  Use grass fed ground beef or ground turkey.  

Just reheated one of these for a quick dinner, and poured some El Pato on it, yummy!  Give it a try if you like spicy.