I don’t know about you but I’m all about saving money. We recently clawed our way out of debt, debt we had started acquiring in the mid-90s. It was a long haul but with determination, self-discipline, no problem (at times) saying “NO!” to ourselves, persistence it paid off. Pun completely intended.

One way I started saving money was by shopping at Sams Club. Now I’m not sure if you realize this or not but I am not in any way, shape or form a fan of WalMart.  I know Sams Club and WalMart are pretty much one and the same, but I have not had near the trouble with Sams I’ve experienced at WalMart. So I shop there. Well that and the fact Costco is over an hour drive from the closest Sams which itself is 90 minutes away.

I buy most of our groceries in bulk once a month. One thing we consume a lot of is peanut butter. We all love it. I am simply amazed at how the price of peanut butter has risen. It almost isn’t less expensive to buy it at Sams Club anymore.

It’s also one of the things I miss the most about not eating white sugar. I love peanut butter. I love it with bananas, apples, toast, bread, carrots, you name it. If it can be eaten with peanut butter I probably like it.

I had gotten it at the health food store but that seemed a little cost prohibitive since a small container cost almost what I paid for two large things of Jiff at Sams.

Enter my latest fascination with all things food related. I’ve been watching food documentaries like a freak the past few days. I’ve watched King Corn, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Fat Head, Forks Over Knives, and Food Inc. And I’m astounded. Partly astounded over the slant of the documentaries.  Most of them have touted the evils of meat and the glories of a plant-based diet.

I say eat a balanced diet and you should be fine. By “balanced diet” I most assuredly do not mean equal amounts of white and milk chocolate. I mean eat plenty of FRESH fruits/veggies, proteins (be they from animal products or not) and fat.  Basically, people if it comes in a can DON’T eat it.

Today I traveled to the grocery store to stock up on more fresh fruits and veggies. You would not possibly believe the bounty I acquired for $50. Now I know prices are different around the nation, if not the world but listen to what I purchased, 7.5 pounds of bananas, 4 pounds of oranges, 1 pound of strawberries, 1 pint of blueberries, 4 pounds of carrots, 5.75 pounds of apples, 3 cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 2 eggplants, 3 pounds of cuties (clementines), 2 packages celery, 10 pounds gold potatoes, 8 tomatoes,  4 green peppers and one bag of fresh spinach.

Then we headed to our local health food store and purchased 1.3 pounds mixed nuts, flax seed, and 2 pounds of fresh peanuts. The peanuts were a mere $3.49 per pound.

I used about 2-2.5 cups of peanuts and ……

 

 

 

 

drum roll please……

 

 

 

 

 

made my own peanut butter!

The best part?

All that is is peanuts. No oil. No sugar. No nothing. Just peanuts.

I have heard so many people over the years tell me they “have to buy junk food because they can’t afford fruit/veggies and a more healthy diet.” I say BALONEY!  And I believe this might just prove my point.