Diagornos Frozen Pizza

We tried another all-natural frozen pizza this weekend. This one was a DiGiorno Pizzaria! (the exclamation point really makes it appealing ;) supreme  pizza. The crust had no preservatives and the sauce, cheese and toppings were all-natural. I decided to try it because it was on sale at Kroger for $5.99 and with my $1.50 off coupon, it was only $4.50. I'm so glad I decided to try it because it was awesome! The crust baked up nice and crispy, the sauce was subtle and there were lots of great toppings. The amount of cheese was lacking, but I just added some extra shredded mozzarella. I thought it was better than the Newman's Own pizza we tried a few weeks back. (Sorry for the sideways picture...I cannot get it to load correctly!) It's nice to see companies coming out with more and more all-natural convenience products! Makes my life easier ;)

Day 13 and 14--Awesome stock up grocery trip

Day 13
Nothing new yesterday or today! The DH has been away on business, and so I've been uninspired at dinner time. 

Breakfast--banana
Mid-morning snack--nothing 
Lunch--salad with walnuts and Russian dressing
Afternoon snack--Cheese Itz and some chocolate chips (G's been sick, and unfortunately I use food as a comfort :P)
Dinner--Penne pasta with red sauce, carrots and ranch

Bedtime snack--More chocolate chips

Workout--25 min elliptical

Day 14

Breakfast--banana
Mid-morning snack--nothing 
Lunch--turkey pastrami (it's almost gone!) and Pepsi Max
Afternoon snack--chocolate chips
Dinner--Skyline chili on hot dogs with mustard and cheese (I told you there were certain things I couldn't give up! Although, I'm not sure how unnatural Skyline is since they don't list any of its ingredients!) and carrots and dip

Bedtime snack--peanut butter

Workout--Insanity Core Cardio

 $$ Saving Green Alert! $$
Kroger is running it's buy 10, get $5 off promotion...I love these because when you combine items with coupons, you can get some major savings! They are also a great time to stock up your pantry. In the picture I've just included the items in the Buy 10 promotion. I didn't get everything all natural, about 50%.

All-Natural
Mom's Best Cereal $.99/box
Ragu $.87 each after promotion and coupon
Hunt's Tomato Paste $.49/each
Wholly Guacamole $.49 each for 3 after promotion and coupons
Rotel all 6 were free after coupons
Peanuts $2.49/each after promotion and coupon



Not-so-natural
Cheese-Itz $1.99/each after promotion and coupon
Goldfish $.99 each
Tuna $.49/each for 4 after promotion and coupons
Lunch meat $1.99 each after promotion and coupons
Turkey Pepperoni $2.49

The toothbrushes I just threw in because I got all three for free :) They were 10 for $10 and I had three $.50 coupons that doubled. 

Overall, with all my other groceries, I saved $55.30 or 41%. 

Eating Clean Day 5--Granola Bars

Speaking of all-natural, check out G's "all-natural" spike and mohawk :)

















Breakfast--banana
Mid-morning snack--nothing 
Lunch--leftover pork carnitas and peppers
Afternoon snack--two spoonfuls peanut butter

Dinner--Pasta with meat sauce 
I found that Barilla's whole wheat pasta is all natural and tastes pretty darn close to regular white pasta. For the sauce I used Prego (all-natural!! Yay!!) and added in some lean ground beef. $$ Both Barilla and Prego go on sale every 3 months or so at Kroger and usually have a coupon during that time too, so I stock up when they are 10 for $10. With coupons, that means I can get Barilla for anything from free to 66 cents a box and Prego about $1 a jar. $$
Bedtime snack--nothing
Workout--P90X Plyometrics

My kiddos LOVE granola bars and cereal bars, but unfortunately, both are chocked full of preservatives. I found some natural ones at Trader's Joes and was pleasantly surprised that they weren't much more expensive than what I usually buy. 

Here's a look at what I usually buy...not a great picture, but the ingredient list shows lots of unpronounceable ingredients. 

 

Here are the Trader Joe variety...not completely void of preservatives, but better than the others. My next adventure will be to make my own granola bars to completely cut out additives.

$$ Saving Green Alert! $$

Usually, I stock up on the Fiber 1 and other granola bars when they are on sale and I have coupon, which means I can usually get them for about $2 a box. The Trader Joe granola bars were only $2.49 regular price...pretty decent!

Eating Clean Day 2--First Clean Eating Trip to Kroger

Breakfast--nothing (too busy getting everyone around for church! Need to get better about at least eating something to keep my metabolism up)
Mid-morning snack--nothing 
Lunch--peanut butter (all-natural) and jelly (homemade and canned...thanks Michelle!!) on homemade whole wheat bread (recipe to come...still trying to find a good whole wheat bread recipe that's not so dense...any suggestions??)
Afternoon snack--Reese's Peanut Butter cups (I know, not very natural but I only have two left from Christmas and I will not waste Reese's!!)
Dinner--two slices of Papa Murphy's Classic Italian pizza; we tried to substitute the garlic cream sauce that usually comes with it for the garlic and olive oil but they messed up the order. The crust, sausage and pepperoni are not all-natural, but when you switch the sauces, everything else is. 
Bedtime snack--nothing
Workout--hour of Pilates

$$ Saving Green Alert! $$

This week was my first trip to Kroger under our new Clean Eating regime. I wasn't sure how I would do, but I ended up saving 35% (I aim to save between 30 and 40 percent each week with couponing, sales, etc.)

Here's a look at what I got:
Barilla Pasta--on sale 10 for $10, used $1 off 3 coupon...got 6 boxes of pasta for $4 or $.66/piece...I bought the whole wheat variety, which is all natural and whole grain goodness.

Pork Tenderloin--on sale for $2.47/lb...great lean protein

Chicken Breasts--on sale for $1.77/lb...another great lean protein at an awesome price...I stocked up for my freezer

Kroger Butter--$2.48...we used to use margarine, but have switched to real butter. The Kroger brand butter is actually cheaper than the margarine I used to buy. 

Kroger block cheese--on sale for $2.99 for the bigger 16 oz block. Kind of interesting, shredded cheese=not natural, same brand in the block cheese=A OK!

What's with this eating clean??

I'm definitely not a granola-eating, organic, all-natural kind of girl. However, I recently came across the concept of clean eating and it sparked my interest for a few reasons:

* I've recently run into some minor health issues and family history has revealed some potential future issues. I am hoping eating clean will help alleviate the current issues and prevent any future issues. 

* I have always been athletic and into fitness, but have realized that diet plays a huge role in overall weight loss, weight management and health. As I get older (30 in February!!), my metabolism continues to slow down and I can't rely on just working out to keep my girlish figure :)

* I want to teach my kids how to eat healthy and make good food choices.

Starting January 1, my family will start to "eat clean" and attempt to eat food that are natural, with only ingredients we can pronounce, no preservatives and no additives. This blog will chronicle our adventures and the process it takes to change our eating habits. We definitely will not be quitting processed foods cold turkey, but will take a gradual approach. We also will not give up processed foods completely...for us, it's all about moderation! I want to aim for 75% natural, 25% not-so-natural. :)

The second part of the blog will be eating clean while saving money. I'm an avid couponer who finds a lot of great deals on processed foods. I want to see if I can get the same savings with natural foods. Eating organic and natural foods can be expensive...$5 for a gallon of organic milk, twice the cost for organic produce...I want to see if I can save as much or more money eating clean as I do eating regular and processed foods.