My husband had a chat with my one son today about cheap vs value.

They were in the store buying groceries, saw an item with a $40 price tag, and a similar item right beside it for only $6.

Happened to be wine.

Both wines were rated the same or nearly the same from several magazines. So they talked about how, while there is a chance the expensive one tastes better, it is more likely they are both good, and we can save a good deal of money by sticking with the $6 stuff.

I love how many lessons can be learned while shopping. From discussions of how 'having' money and being free to spend it are not the same to talks of health (why buy the expensive bread?) And conversations on value, we really learn more at the store than most other places.

Now if I could only get a free night to relax and enjoy that wine!

Today is one of our super busy days, we have this to do all afternoon and evening, and not all in one place.

We flu ally figured out a sequence of events that squeezes the errands in between. And has all the right kids at all the right places.

And one of the biggest obsticals is food. We all eat a lot and eat constantly, food is the key to my kids behavior. Well fed they are not half bad, underfed or an hour away forms avoid and they are royals PIAs.

Toaday I packed dinner, I am staying home, so my husband has to cook. I made it easy on him. Chicken nuggets veggies, fruit, and some snacks. We can use the microwave at church, which is very nice.

It has been a long time since we were caught needing to eat out. Ihave become rather good at quick foods, or cooking the day before. If all else fails I throw PB and bread plus apples in the bag.

I am often surprised at the number of folk who think packing dinner is too hard. Don't get me wrong, my memory is lousy, I am lazy, and really I hate PB sandwiches. But that doesn't stop me from doing what has to be done to save money regardless.

We still eat out once in awhile (less often when unemployed). Just it is usually a planned event.

I mentioned the cloth diapers are too big. Well we had some free newborns, and some free size ones. But we are now all out.

Yesterday there was a good CVS deal, large jumbo pack for 20 earns 10 ECBs. Plus we had a $3 coupon. and leftover ECBs with no where to spend them.

Turns out the only size diapers in jumbo packs are 3s or larger!

We went ahead and bought them since we are sure she will grow, but kinda bummed about her need of diapers.

I could just go pay full price, but I don't wanna.

In other deal news, bought a ton of junk food for camp (chips and smores making stuff) plus beef and chx for dinner, some fruit (raspberries!) and other misc food stuff all for $60, coupons totaled over $60 in savings .

Starting Wednesday local HT will be having super doubles.

I never get quite as much out of this as others, but I figure with a couple months of buying the paper, I aught to have some of the good coupons to use.

W bought from a fruit and veggie co-op a couple times. I priced out the food based on the HT website and the total came to over $30. Our cost was 17.50

While I bet some items I would have waited for sales, and others bought cheaper versions I still think it was a good deal. Plus it forces me to look up what to do with spaghetti squash. (Last week was acorn squash)

No terribly important but I was going to go over the receipt and see how the deals worked out, unfortunately I lost it.

But we did have to go back for a quick run today, and paid 9.96 for pretzels, granola bars, cheese, lunch meat. Apparent savings of 11.26

Not really as impressive as the last trip, but this was odds and ends we wanted for the drive.

Well the lunchmeat is for lunch tomorrow, going to science center, and can't pack PB, the folk we are with are allergic to peanuts.

This weekend we are back to GS camp for JC and I. So I needed a few high protien snacks.

String cheese, and granola bars conveniently had sales and coupons this week. Not free, but all reasonable. Of course making my own granola bars would be cheaper and healthier, but......I would actually have to make them.

Also have some tuna pouches that were acquired a month or so ago at nearly free coupon plus sale price.

Plus we bought lots of fruit...lots, fortunately most was on sale.

Looked at a few things with coupons and sales, would have been pretty cheap for donation, and decided not to get them.

Mainly because we went to the dentist right before hand, paid a HUGE sum for three kids cleanings/checkups, one set of x-rays, and two cavities. Not happy.

Not sure if saving the $3, in donations, really makes any difference though. I think I was just being cranky.

Today is grocery store day.

Fortunately for us, many things we need are on sale
grapes broccoli, mushrooms, chicken, and lemons.

Unfortunately no one has coupons for those items .

Ah well, I have gotten several interesting samples lately, including a free granola bar, and some emergenC stuff. Plus a few diapers to stockpile for baby, and plenty of coupons for them.

Managed one nice trip to the store, using coupons to get several items free and some really cheap. Plus a whole lot of normal priced (well some sale, but not amazingly so) food. Somehow clementines, apples, and my brand of yogurt do not have coupons.

Will be donating half of it, using the other half.

So I need a recipe with sour cream.

Made some Alfredo type sauce today. No the recipe doesn't call for sour cream, but it worked out really well. (what recipe? I just started with some butter, some spices, some flour, milk, sour cream, cheese, and called it Alfredo)

Was planning on Stroganof, but I don't have any beef or mushrooms.

Also husband went to the store today and bought our usual bread....but we have for some strange reason not eaten the usual amount. So I now have 12 loaves of bread in the house! (6 for a week is usual). So planning some French toast, grilled cheese, and....something else.

For two weeks we have forgotten to buy the paper!

This week there were several deals, mostly for chocolate that we could have used the paper for.

But good news was there were several other deals we could use the old coupons for!

Have to see what happens when we actually go to the store, but for now, some condiments, and some donatable pasta, plus some dental care stuff will be free or next to free. Maybe.

Well if cheese is really on sale...I have to put the if in, cause the store in question didn't send me a flyer and I don't know how to check actual price online. But according to one of the coupon deal matchup websites, cheese is 1.55 for 8oz block. combined with a coupn should be a decent price.

Other than that, nothing beyond some free pasta to donate.

Apparently my brand of yogurt (I know I shouldn't be so picky) and our brands of pasta do not have coupons. The one I hate does frequently, but not the couple I like. I know my pickyness gets in the way of saving, but well there you have it.

I could get cold cereal on sale several places, but...I don't like to eat it, too sugary, and since even the so called whole grain is essentially simple carbs it is practically a waste of time to eat. By the time you finish a bowl and clean the milk/mess the kids are hungry again. (me too, but I am always hungry)

Read a simple article on working out while being frugal, basic but

nice

Sometimes it is good to review what can be done. I hear far to many excuses in my life. from folk who can't do a thing for scouts to folk who can't afford (fill in healthy item here). To folk with no time to homeschool, or workout, or you name it.

I am about tired of excuses, unless I am giving them, I don't want to hear them. Now if you don't mind I can't work out today, I have too much scout work to do..... umm oh, not helpful eh? OK fine, I would rather sit here and type this and other emails, than go for a walk... but we shall see what the end of naptime brings. Better get cracking on the most important emails.

Oh another link, that rude website has a hilarious article on national debt and finances. Though you will have to meander on over to cracked yourself, I refuse to link to it, cause they were swearing again. I know it is silly, but leave me to my silliness, it is as harmless as the website.

So my husband took 4 more coupons back to HT. He bought two loaves of whole wheat bread, and two different fish things for $3.50.

We used one whole loaf for lunch, so there will be no trouble using all that bread. The fish we are saving for dinner next Tuesday, have to eat 'out' because that is our LOOOOOONG day.

He also made a trip to the local park, so not really out of his way? But in general we are failing at the whole reduce the car use thing.

Some good things, some normal things. One store not having the sale we expected, and a mistake.

First Walgreens we were trying to get two free toothbrushes, and grab a coupon book. We forgot you need one item per coupon, so instead of free it was 1.22 for two toothbrushes and one thing of chapstick. eh could be worse.

Then Target, 2 free deodorants, not sure if we like the brand, but we can donate if not. Plus some diapers, size one in preparation of a new baby, 50 count for $5 (had two nice coupons that combined)

Food lion did not have cheese on the sale mentioned in the coupon site, so we only bought apples, needed the apples, didn't like wasting the gas though. The apples were cheaper there than at any of the other stores we went to today.

Harris teeter, had a new brand of yogurt on sale plus coupon ended up 3 things to try for 50cents total. Plus some bread on sale plus coupon ended up being 50 cents a loaf (whole wheat no HFCS) PLUS some fish (fzn) coupon plus sale ended up a dollar each, not great, but we try to eat more fish supposed to be good for you. The lemon yogurt, and taco shells were not on sale, but I needed em.

BJs we had coupons for chx, and cashews, plus two others that husband decided to wait and see if there is a sale for. Also bought more bread (once we ran out of coupons it was cheaper to get more at BJS) and milk (always cheaper at BJS for us) cheese (since the reg BJs price is better than non sale even with coupon)

All totaled up we spent about $110, receipts say we saved about $35 from printing coupons and the paper. Mostly printed but not all.

So I guess getting a paper was worth it. sortof?

Also my MIL mailed me some of her coupons with my birthday present (decafe Salada tea!)

So now I have a huge pile of coupons, none of which for anything I generally buy.

But I see again that if I had the coupons for January some good donat-able items would be free and a few usable (soap and toothpaste)

I also have the ad for walgreens (starts today) and toothbrushes are free with an add coupon, and a printable one, so that is something I guess.

I sorted the coupons so I can find them, I had a box from recent newsletter printing (wonderful fellow prints them for scouts) and I took scrap paper (much free -rest failed printing/coupon scraps) and folded it to make dividers.

Lables roughly by store aisle/type of food (condiments, canned goods, baking) I assume as I go along if I get any good I may relable, but for now it is all done and waiting.

Now off to read my comics . I know I could read them online, but I never do, something nice and peaceful about the paper version. Though not always that funny....

Well we still do not have a paper.

But there was one printable coupon that would make tuna free. Plus a few that would make some samples of baby soap free.

And from this website

southernsavers

I found a couple online freebee offers, so we maybe getting some samples in the mail.

Nothing to remarkable, not really worth my effort today.

Last time my husband went to BJs (warehouse store) he had to buy some Mangoes.

Not because we needed them, they are just a fun treat. But because the store wouldn't give him money back and he paid with BJ reward checks.

Our entire grocery bill was less than the checks, and rather than lose a couple bucks, husband got a treat for us all.

The checks pay for the reward card, and we also save on milk, bread and a few other basics.

I have a good friend who does the coupon thing and manages free meals all the time.

Now some of what she eats I wont (white pasta, etc) but other items I will (canned tomatoes, beans, cheese)

And this week is some sort of super special double the coupons all the way up to 1.98. so she sent me a couple websites with ideas, and it turns out a couple items on them we would use, and a couple would be good for donation.

mrsmoneysaver

She has many different pieces of info, you can just click on the store deals and it will open a window with all sorts of stores and which coupons make this free or at least a good price.

Plus I had found another site, with similar info, and a printable shopping list. Only trouble is they didn't seem to agree on prices.

First off I noticed that if I had been getting a paper for a few weeks, I would have a lot more options of free items. Then I noticed, that while a few items were usefull for us, most were just donation type stuff. Since I had two bags to fill for my daughters scout troop food collection; I thought at least the bags could be filled a bit cheaper than normal.

Then I found that there was more work in printing coupons than I thought, some required info and emails, others some sort of printing software.

Regardless, I printed out a lot of coupons and gave it a try.

My HT receipt shows a savings of 63.49. But final tally was 43.64

Not as cool as many manage, but partly inflated due to me buying things we needed regardless of 'super' deals. The mustard was a fine price at a little over a dollar after coupon, not amazing, but better than paying full price (and we were out of it) Bananas were on sale at 40cents a lb, but not amazingly low or anything.

On the other hand we did manage some really cool deals.

The toothpaste was not on my grocery list, but it was two free tubes. The junky bagel bites, not needed, but a fun free treat.

Most of what we bought was either going to donations, or on our list regardless of price. (Though several had coupons, so nice to find list items that match coupons)

In the end the trip was worth it, the time to compile the list and print was a bit longer than I had hoped, but I think it has a learning curve, I expect if I manage to do this again, it wont take so long.

I wasn't so lucky at target, though two of the three things were made better by coupons. (the third was cheaper generic)

I also had a printable rebate for Olay, 15 back for any three items. I spent several minutes at the store trying to find items for $5, but in the end I gave up I wasn't sure what counted, nor if they would send me 15 if the item was only 3.99 each, what if they didn't send me anything because the item was to small?

I went back to the website that had the printable target trip I don't know if I will try again, I might just pass this off to my coupon friend!
BTW the items would be for donation, the church collects body wash, and the like for a womans shelter.

I hope to have more luck in the future getting coupons to match sales, but wont be too surprised if it turns out hard and we never do more than save on occasional items.

So it is now 10 days into February, we still have not eaten out, nor stopped at vending machines, or qickie marts.

BUT we did go to the grocery store to buy food for the scouts to make. The boys needed to make a desert for their Ach. Pudding being the easiest we stopped to grab some, and while we were there got more oranges (4 for $1), carrots, grapes (on sale), sunflower seeds (for the trail mix part of the ACH) and ....potato chips.

Yeah potato chips, so not healthy (wasn't even the fancy 'we claim we are healthy' kind. Just one greasy bag of junk. I was in the mood.

So we are either at 10 pts or 9, depending on how strict you are.

Well this month I can totally expect a nice easy 'win' (or tie).

See eating out doesn't fall under the heading of 'things to spend on when out of work'!

I think the last time was Dec, with free pizza for kids. And I do have free pizza coupons the kids earned, but we are fully capable of getting just the kid pizza, no adult orders.

so far on day 4 of the month, we have eaten 2 meals out of the house, both were packed (one PB no J, one leftover pasta we nuked at church).

Co-op has switched to Tuesday afternoons, so I will have to make certain I always have a dinner available. With piano lessons starting before co-op I will also have to pack a lunch, two meals for the whole family out of the house every week. Plus whatever happens for Sundays.

Husband is doing better than I am! Sortof, he found some memory that might help a friend out and tried to get rid of it - wrong fit. Instead acquired the task of finding the right fit on ebay.

He also managed to reorganize his junk in the garage and get rid of some boxes, mostly just paper recycling that never made it out of the house, but some was reserved for making 'towns' that we have no room for. So I call it a plus. No idea how many points to give him, it was well more than 30 pieces of cardboard, but I don't think it is worth that much.

Worth more than my attempts so far though. I have managed to toss a half a dozen pieces of paper found on my desk while looking for batteries, I really need to actually clean the desk (and that cupboard).

On an unrelated note, I have a LOT of potatoes to get rid of (very nice sale near here), so today we had hashbrowns for lunch, and plans for some baked potato wedges, rosemary? or some other flavor, I dunno yet. And dunno what with either. Oh and no we did not have potatoes for breakfast, I didn't feel like cooking that early.

anyone else have a good use for potatoes?

So for some reason we had oatmeal for breakfast and I felt like making French toast for lunch, now I am sorely tempted to make some sort of traditional breakfast food for dinner just to round out the day!

Also tried these

crackers, rather easy, but kinda bland but then it is a cracker, what else would it be? Well I actually thought I could make them with some seasoning in the dough, like Italian spices or cheese or something. Maybe next week I will try again with flavor.

First off is that really how you spell it? (hypocrite)

Second, while I do aim for whole wheat, tons of fruit and veggies, more natural sugars, and healthier fats in general....

I am also munching on peanut butter mixed with powdered sugar (taste better than the inside of a peanut butter cup, and with a side of chocolate is a dreamy treat with little effort)

So while I go out of my way to pay more to buy bead made with 'real whole wheat' and no HFCS, I haven't given up my daily peanut butter, made with HFCS (I did try a few alternate brands, so far either way to expensive, or not as good, or both, will look again when money flows again).

And while I bake almost exclusively with honey, maple syrup, molasses, or at the worst brown sugar...I am also drinking a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade made with white sugar. Yes I tried other sugars, the above list doesn't work. (though maybe if you boil the sugar with some water then mix in the lemon juice?)

Oh and I bet eating whole wheat crackers with my 'summer sausage' doesn't cancel out the unhealthiness of it!

Which is why when anyone accuses me of being a health nut I have to hold back the laughter.

Ah well, it could be worse, I could be eating white bread, white flour, white sugar AND creamy peanut butter cup 'guts'.

But in general folk outside my family only see the healthy parts - for three summers in a row a friend of mine has been surprised that I eat doritos at a church picnic 'I thought you didn't eat that sort of unhealthy stuff?'. No I eat it, I just don't buy it. apparently a year of me bringing in whole wheat homemade goodies makes her forget anew that I am just as fond of junk food as the next person.

Money is much the same way, what others see may not be the full picture. I think to outsiders my husband and I do not come off as frugal (no matter how many eyebrows we raise at folk complaining of money while sipping on Lattes)

Publicly we are stingy church givers a dollar per kid or less, the real donation goes via the bank no one sees it but the person keeping track of the year expenses.

Publicly we are lavish in supplies for VBS, CS, GS, Co-op, and such, privately we raid each others stash (GS uses CS stuff all the time) as well as pester family/friends for supplies. Though we also will buy when needed, we generally stick with good deals, and skip the projects that were not good deals.

Publicly we host company more than once a month, which most folk assume is expensive. Privately we keep the trimmings basic, no gourmet finger foods just bulk apples, cheese crackers, and something homemade, with the occasional meal found cheap. And not one penny spent on decorations (we even use 'real' plates so we don't have the disposable expense)

Publicly we are 'green' tree huggers, and 'everyone' knows how expensive that can be. Of course many on this board know it is often cheaper.

And the number one reason folk think we are rich. I don't work, all America knows only the rich can afford to be one income families.

Even folk who have an inkling that single income can work, assume we are rich because I never complain about money. At no time of the month am I anxiously awaiting a pay check. Even now when we have no job, and some folk are aware of it, we still have no complaints. Oh sure I would like that unemployment to kick in, but generally I have bigger complaints.

I might have to look at our public habits to see if there is a way to advertise frugality. I seem to be good at advertising green amongst friends.

I found a recipe for the creamiest pasta sauce I have ever seen, one that is rather low on fat I think.

creamy pasta Oh sure it says mac and cheese, but the end result was not cheesy, creamy yes, cheesy no. Though I think with better cheese, and/or no tuna it would be cheesy. Only trouble I burned the bottom of my pot, so going to have to try to cook it at a lower heat, and stir more. (the burn did not make the pasta taste bad.) -oh I also added green peas to round out the whole nutrition thing. I think next week I will try again with some onions (real) and pepper (black) for flavor.

I also tried soaking grains for breakfast cake while the end result was decent, I don't think I will be repeating in quite the same manner. by morning my 'grains' were one big solidified mass, I had to get a hand blender out to break them back into something mixable, I also had to use extra milk, though I did not have buttermilk, so that could effect the process.

Honey fudge:

New recipe, No milk chocolate chips, no big deal, subbed semisweet, I don't tend to like my fudge as sweet as the recipe call for anyway. No half cup measure? Just as JC to tell me how many 1/4 cups makes a half...after she claims no knowledge tell her we can't make the fudge. Amazingly the answer comes to her. (result is still too sweet, might have to reduce honey)

Beefless sloppy joes: don't have ground beef, I have leftover turkey, so going to replace ketchup and the like with ....not sure, any suggestions? (turkey is still thawing)

Eggless corn bread:
ah well you know it isn't the first time, the lack of recipe might be bad though.

eggless gingerbread for a house: carol sing is tomorrow, so I need to make the 'walls' today, to be decorated tomorrow. For this one I looked for an online recipe. At first glance it seemed good lots of 5 star reviews, but then there are also a lot of 1 star reviews? I found one review by the staff saying they revamped it and added flour. So heres hoping the 5 stars are after the revamping.

I just set up with a friend of mine a deal. She goes shopping for me, I pay her a modest sum for gas and trouble.

This is supposed to free up some time for y husband to actually spend with his kids. So far it freed up time for him to go to an AV meeting. But I have hope.

The only trouble is admitting to someone how picky we are!

so far I have learned.
1. No Aldi's cheese, no matter how cheap.
2. Must be just one brand of canned tomatoes...Not that I know what it is.
3. Saying 'juice' to friends is not the same as to husband who knows which kinds we drink...(no apple, no grape, always 100 percent, no tomato, though the one kind of veggie fruit stuff is good....)
4. I have to find out what the fat/beef ratio we buy is? I don't even know how you find that out (I never did the meat shopping....)
5. Folk do a serious double blink when they know just how much we spend on fruit and veggies.....(family of 6 we eat over 3lb of apples every week...and 2lb of veggies every dinner not to mention some of 'whatever is in season', among other staples, onions, lemons, mushrooms, etc)

So I am up way to early this morning wondering what to do for the church potluck picnic today. I was going to do meatballs, but haven't solved the keeping them warm problem. No crockpot, and we will be there at 9am lunch is at 11isham.

Besides I wanted to do something healthy. Not that we are health nuts (though you know in some ways compared to the average American we might be). So I explored the fruit and veggie stocks. a bag of granny smith apples, some Clementines (not very good btw), a few bags of veggies too small to serve my family, and frozen fruit.

Not very inspired I headed to google, the best place for answers. 'frozen fruit recipes' yielded several sites chock full of smoothies which may be good in their own right, but don't make for good potluck foods. As well as a plethora of fancy foods like cheesecakes and torts. And some simple ones that just take too much time for a Sunday morning when I would rather be sleeping like pies.

Then I found

thriftyfun and a forum post on frozen fruit. First it was odd to see someone finding frozen fruit, a staple in my house, to be special. Then there was the 'savor the natural sweetness' post that had my sweet tooth laughing (see not really a health nut), and then the perfect recipe! a 'crisp'.

So I washed a cake pan (the casserole dish has meatballs in it) and dumped in most of a bag of frozen mixed berries, topped with a sprinkle of cornstarch to thicken the sauce (praying it would help not harm) and topped with a mix of butter oatmeal and flour.

In about an hour we shall see if it was successful enough.

On a side note, I was talking with a friend who mentioned junk food and said 'oh you guys never eat any of that', with an air that implied I must not have normal temptations.

I had to laugh, I love my chocolate, and would gladly eat pringles, cheese puffs, poptarts, or little Debbie hostess cakes any day! But I wont let my kids see me doing it all the time, and since I am home with them all day, we (mostly) don't buy them.

We are not health nuts, just in general healthy (ish) people. Off to breakfast.

We spent the morning at a local farmers market, everything was grown/made within 50 miles. and most was organic.

Which means most of it was expensive.

Now I would prefer local foods, in season foods, and organic. But prices were seriously twice what I normally pay for food. Course I don't normally get local, nor organic.

I am curious what the costs do at the eend of the day..do the grass fed beef prices drop? From what I saw the food was rapidly being sold out. (one stall gone at 8:30 am already). So I am not sure there are any 'end of day sales.

My husband wants me to grow more at home, but in case you hadn't noticed the only thing we grow are flowers...some folk call them weeds.

Next year though I promised to try zucchini and peppers. And promised to try the carrots again, this time reading up on them more.

Well I have this sourdough starter and I was going ot make some bread, but decided to use it for pizza crust. It worked out pretty well.

only trouble was I had no toppings.

Some sauce at least, dr'd up a can o'tomato sauce.

I used cheddar cheese, cause that is what I had.

Then I topped it off with salmon, cause I had some.

The end result was rather good. Not top of the line but edible.

Since I don't drive, when we are out of stuff, I have to wait till husband can go to the store. And this week with VBS at night, he can't.

So we are out of bread. I have yeast proofing to make some right now.

We are out of grapes and bananas, and other fruits, so we have been eating frozen quite a bit, plus digging out the last of anything hidden in the cupboard.

I am actually glad we have to use up our stuff. It is cheaper, and makes me think, rather than grab the first easy item. Course it helps that our VBS offers dinner so I don't have to do that meal!

The other day a friend of mine commented that we always have tons of fresh fruit and she wondered what our secret was.

Truth is I don't have one, we spend more on groceries than anything else besides the house payment.

I know that Aldis has decent fruit but it needs to be eaten quickly and we only shop once a week (this is non negotiable, my husband hates driving and I don't)

Sometimes there are nice sales, coupons, and we tend to look for fruit that is in season. Plus we are willing to eat frozen, but other than that we just pay what we have to to get the fresh fruit.

Saturday was the Cub scout crossover, the fellow in charge of burgers and buns brought traditional white buns for all...and a pack of whole wheat for us!

Unasked, he knew we were the 'health nuts' and he decided to do something about it! I was amazed and greatful!

Then the lady who made some sort of bean/veggie salad (I dunno what to call those) made it a point to tell me she used fresh veggies. I didn't have the heart to tell her I am the worst health food eater and don't eat tomatoes unless cooked and hot. But I really appreciated the attempt!

yesterday was ELs birthday party, we had the usual burgers and dogs, and several new guests were introduced to whole wheat burger and dog buns..I used to buy both, but finally decided to make my life easier, I would stick with what we ate, and have never had an adult guest not eat them. I think most folk would be surprised to learn how good whole wheat is.

I also had lots of fruit, which always disapears, and whole wheat ritz..though I doubt they are any healthier than regular, I find I like the taste of them better. Again all was eaten. Maybe if more folk bought, shared, and displayed healthy foods, those white, sugar starch foods would lose some appeal. For now folk think junk food and good times go together, yet at my house, so far as all the comments I am hearing go, good times were had without the junk, or rather without as much. Burgers are after all junk...but no chips, and whole wheat all around.

Or not we did have oreos as a cake . (husband doesn't like cake, so we stuck candles in the oreos for him)