I learnt a pretty big lesson this week- BE PREPARED! I completely forgot to buy more hot dogs, which you can probably see, is my staple lunch food. I ate the last couple on Monday, and on Tuesday there was sort of a panic. It's Thursday now, and I'm sort of enjoying the variety and the challenge of having to come up with something edible for lunch. Yay me!
This week, we didn't go to Costco. It felt weird breaking our routine, but I wasn't tempted to eat any of their hot dogs or pizza, which was a nice change.
We went to Aldi. We got:
Pack of gravy beef (around 600 grams) - $4.81
Beef mince (just over 2kgs) - $10.40
Piece of speck - $3.21
Tub of bocconcini (fresh mozzarella) - $3.69
Sugar free energy drink - $0.99
1kg cheddar cheese - $6
Flaked almonds - $3.29
Jar of Massaman curry paste - $2.49
Plus for my husband:
Vanilla cheesecake: $2.99
Hot dog rolls - $1.49
1kg basmati rice - $2.99
Can of apricots - $2.49
Udon noodles - $1.79
Loaf of bread - $0.99
For a total of $47.60
We then went to the South Melbourne Market. We mostly went for a walk, not to buy anything in particular, and there we got:
Bag of turmips and parsnips - $0.50
Coriander micro greens in a pot - $0.50
Bag of nectarines (around 1.5kg) - $1
Bag of muffins - $1.50
Bag of hamburger buns - $1.50
2 butternut halves - $2
Total spent: $7
So we were WAY under budget, which is nice sometimes, because yay, money saving. But I did struggle a little this week to make tasty keto food, and I can't wait to buy some more hot dogs! It's nice to empty out the freezer a bit, and make our way through the chicken I appear to have been stockpiling. We also had plenty of vegetables, so I guess i didn't do too badly.
Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts
13.5.14
My first Harvest Box!
Last week, I signed up for Harvest Box, lured by the 50% discount they offered me!
I decided to give it a shot- I'm a big fan of snacking, and after browsing their site, I was tempted by some of the tasty nut mixes, since dried fruit isn't my thing.
I got my first box in the mail today, as promised!
You can select which mixes you'd like- you can pick not to receive any with dried fruit in, ketoers. I picked some with dried fruit, so I could give them to my husband. I was happy that half of them were suitable for me!
I was also surprised at the portion size- they were bigger than I thought they'd be.
The Med is pretty tasty- nice and spicy, the hazelnuts aren't too bad in the mix, surprisingly.
The K2 isn't mostly banana chips, which as the cheapest dried fruit, could have been possible.
Wimbledon is very sweet, so if you've got a sweet tooth, it's good for you.
Thai Chili and Lime Cashews were good, not too spicy, but lots of nice Thai flavours going on.
I can totally recommend their service. Plus I know of two people who have signed up to the service since I have- one of them was a Mother's Day gift!
I decided to give it a shot- I'm a big fan of snacking, and after browsing their site, I was tempted by some of the tasty nut mixes, since dried fruit isn't my thing.
I got my first box in the mail today, as promised!
The mixes they had picked for me were:
Thai Chili and Lime Cashews
The Med - spicy hazelnuts/peanuts/broad beans/pepitas
Wimbledon - dried strawberries/white chocolate/sultanas
The K2 - banana chips/goji berries/pepitas/dark chocolate
You can select which mixes you'd like- you can pick not to receive any with dried fruit in, ketoers. I picked some with dried fruit, so I could give them to my husband. I was happy that half of them were suitable for me!
I was also surprised at the portion size- they were bigger than I thought they'd be.
The Med is pretty tasty- nice and spicy, the hazelnuts aren't too bad in the mix, surprisingly.
The K2 isn't mostly banana chips, which as the cheapest dried fruit, could have been possible.
Wimbledon is very sweet, so if you've got a sweet tooth, it's good for you.
Thai Chili and Lime Cashews were good, not too spicy, but lots of nice Thai flavours going on.
I can totally recommend their service. Plus I know of two people who have signed up to the service since I have- one of them was a Mother's Day gift!
5.5.14
My first trip to Costco!
(affectionately sub-titled: The Day I Woke Up And Decided to Join Costco).
I don't know exactly why, but on Saturday morning, the first thing I said to my husband was: "Let's join Costco today!"
I think he was stunned for a minute, before agreeing with me.
See, when we first moved to Melbourne, he had been really keen on the idea. I'd done some research and found that not everything was cheaper, as he had imagined it would be. I didn't think it was worth the joining fee ($60), and we'd be pretty much throwing that money away. I didn't know of any Ketoers in Melbourne who were Costco members, so I wasn't sure if they'd have Keto friendly stuff at decent prices.
But I decided to get it a chance. We had nothing planned for that Saturday, so we decided we'd head over to their warehouse in Docklands, which I had seen hundreds of times before.
And, wow, it seemed like half of Melbourne was there. It was raining, so that probably made everyone want to go shop there! So many trolleys, unruly children and well, SO MANY GIANT TROLLEYS!
I have to say I was pretty impressed by what they sold. I did think their produce prices would be a bit lower, but their meat is what really sold it to me.
So many giant packs of meat, at some pretty good prices. I wish I'd had more freezer space, I would have bought more!
They also had giant packs of literally everything you could think of- cereal, nuts, chips. Giant bottles of sauces, mayonnaise, vinegar, hot sauce. Huge tubs of ice cream, sour cream, yogurt. The freezer section contained pretty much every frozen food you could ever need! The bakery section had giant trays of muffins, huge cfheesecakes, and giant bags of bread rolls.
I think we purchased the least out of everyone in the whole store- their trolleys were overflowing!
Here's what we got:
I don't know exactly why, but on Saturday morning, the first thing I said to my husband was: "Let's join Costco today!"
I think he was stunned for a minute, before agreeing with me.
See, when we first moved to Melbourne, he had been really keen on the idea. I'd done some research and found that not everything was cheaper, as he had imagined it would be. I didn't think it was worth the joining fee ($60), and we'd be pretty much throwing that money away. I didn't know of any Ketoers in Melbourne who were Costco members, so I wasn't sure if they'd have Keto friendly stuff at decent prices.
But I decided to get it a chance. We had nothing planned for that Saturday, so we decided we'd head over to their warehouse in Docklands, which I had seen hundreds of times before.
And, wow, it seemed like half of Melbourne was there. It was raining, so that probably made everyone want to go shop there! So many trolleys, unruly children and well, SO MANY GIANT TROLLEYS!
I have to say I was pretty impressed by what they sold. I did think their produce prices would be a bit lower, but their meat is what really sold it to me.
So many giant packs of meat, at some pretty good prices. I wish I'd had more freezer space, I would have bought more!
They also had giant packs of literally everything you could think of- cereal, nuts, chips. Giant bottles of sauces, mayonnaise, vinegar, hot sauce. Huge tubs of ice cream, sour cream, yogurt. The freezer section contained pretty much every frozen food you could ever need! The bakery section had giant trays of muffins, huge cfheesecakes, and giant bags of bread rolls.
I think we purchased the least out of everyone in the whole store- their trolleys were overflowing!
Here's what we got:
250g bag of jerky - $8.99
Corned beef (just under 2kgs) - $11.87
Beef bolar roast (just under 3kgs) - $23.04
Tofu (900g) - $2.99
Japanese BBQ marinated chicken thighs (just under 3kg) - $11.34
Bag of 48 string cheese - $11.99
Blue Diamond Smokehouse almonds (1.08kg) - $19.79
Organic coconut flour 1kg - $6.29
Cream 1 litre - $3.29
Pack of 4 BBQ lighters - $4.89 (not pictured)
Total: $104.48
We cooked roughly a third of the roast beef for dinner on Saturday night. It was amazingly flavourful, juicy and tender- just rubbed with salt and cracked pepper. Possibly the best roast beef I'd ever had! I had leftover this morning for breakfast.
The beef jerky is great, too. I am eating some as I type. It's an unbelievable price, considering I usually pay $6 for 100 grams when it's on special.
I am so in love with the string cheese. It is different the usual Australian string cheese- which is normally yellow and tastes like a cheddar blend. These seem to be pure mozzarella and are white. They are a super amazing deal, with 48 for $12 working out to be 25c each, compared to 8 for $5 (when on special), which is 62c each.
One of the reason I finally caved and joined Costco was to get Blue Diamond almonds. They used to be hard to get here, but Woolworths has started stocking a few flavours- for $3.99/150 grams- $26.60/kg. I really like the smokedhouse ones, they are salty and smoky and delicious, and a bargain for $19.79!
The coconut flour was roughly half price I was going to pay, and I would have had shipping costs on top. The cream was 1 litre for the same price as I paid for 500mls. We have a gas stove and oven, so we use our BBQ lighters constantly, I'd paid $6 for one from Coles, so 4 for less than that was a great price!
Costco also has a food hall. You can buy hot dogs, giant slices of pizza, sodas, churros, ice cream, and some other snacks. The slices of pizza are HUGE american style ones, for $2.99. The hot dogs are great (yes, I ate the sausage only), and comes with a bottomless soda for $1.99. Pretty cheap lunch, if that;s your thing!
I'm really looking forward to going again in a few weeks. Hopefully my freezer will be emptier!
12.3.14
Product review - Body Low Carb Lite Bites
So, I slipped up.
I made a pretty delicious dinner last night- Beef Massaman Curry for my husband, and a nice medium rare steak, topped with salsa and sour cream for myself. I forgot to get something out of the freezer for me to eat today. I had some ham and coffee for breakfast, but by 3pm I was starving! I had to run out to the post office to send something I'd sold to someone online, and the way home I started to feel a bit weird.
I popped into my local corner store, it's a tiny independent one, run by a Korean family, and grabbed a Blood Orange V drink and had a quick look around at their snack options. There was a LOT of chips and chocolate, and then I saw these bites. I decided to buy them and taste test them for you.
I bit into one. It's light brown inside, with a chocolatey coating. First taste is not bad, a little chemical and soy tasting though, but that taste soon goes away. I was surprised, they were't as dry as I had expected (other LC cookie products are like a desert in your mouth) and I had no problems finishing the pack of 6 or 7. yes, I was too busy eating them to count them!
The pink and white packaging is CLEARLY aimed at women, but don't let that put you off, guys. They also come in Strawberry and Cream flavour.
These are pretty good for a snack, providing 231 calories, 20.4g protein, 7.2g fat, 7.8g of fibre, and 3 net carbs.
Price: around $4, from most supermarkets. I've seen them in chemists, supplement stores and some convenience stores.
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