Commissary Run

I go to the commissary every week for our grocery run.  At first I thought going every week was excessive, but it's what works for our family, so that's what I do.  I tried going on different days of the week--when we first moved here, I was going on a weeknight after the kids went to bed...but that was very stressful, and Dan was never happy about me cutting out early on the bedtime process if I had to run to get there before the commissary closed.  I never wanted to lose a weekend day at the grocery store, but now I've resigned myself to the fact that the weekend is the best time to go--usually Sunday mornings, when the place is somewhat quiet, and I've had a full day to clip coupons and make my list (coupons come in the Saturday paper here, for some reason!).  I don't take the kids with me to the grocery store--for one, it's too distracting, and for two, I couldn't fit them and everything I buy in a cart!  I go so often because we eat a lot of fruits and veggies--I buy a honeydew, a cantaloupe, 4 pounds of strawberries, 2 pints of blueberries, at least 15 bananas, red grapes, at least 5 apples, cherub tomatoes, 3 red peppers, 3 yellow peppers, 3 orange peppers, broccoli, carrots, and green beans every time I go.  Writing that all out makes me feel a little crazy, but that's seriously what I buy.  When watermelon is in season, we always add that to the list, and occasionally I rotate clementines in.  Sometimes the amount of fresh food I buy amazes me!  I almost never have coupons for the produce, either, which is a bummer.

this stuff isn't cheap!

I also get our toiletries at the commissary--toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste, vitamins, cleaning supplies, soaps, medicines, etc.  Those items along with the food we need for the week brings my weekly commissary budget to around $150.  Everything at the commissary is tax free, which is great, but they charge an operational "surcharge" that may as well be tax...overall, though, I think I save by shopping at the commissary.  The commissary produce isn't always in the best shape, though, so sometimes I have to run to the regular grocery store outside the military gates to get stuff that will last for the week.  I am not the best coupon shopper, but again, with all the fresh produce I buy, I'm not sure how I could do much better coupon-wise--I tend to save between 10-20% every week with my coupons.

I have commissary shopping down to a science now, after I don't know how many trips--at least 52, since we've lived here for more than a year!  I always start on one end of the store and make my way methodically to the other, crossing stuff off my list and checking my coupons.  Going to the commissary is often my only "outing" to myself in a week (other than my workout classes these days)--sometimes my only outing, period, as sad as that seems.  So a lot of times, I bring my iPod and totally zone out, enjoying my "me time" even though I firmly believe that grocery shopping does not in any way count as "me time."  I sing as I walk down the aisles and totally don't care if people are staring at me.  Dan thinks this is bizarre and that I must make a big spectacle of myself, but people usually just smile at me--and a lot of other folks wear iPods, too.  This past weekend, though, I somehow got off my game, even though I didn't even bring my iPod and wasn't at all distracted...I ended up heading UP an aisle that I usually head DOWN.  That doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, but for a mildly OCD person like myself, it was a mess!  Obviously, the items in the aisle are the same no matter the direction from which you approach, but getting turned around totally threw me off.  My usually-efficient grocery run became a maze of confusion until I somehow righted myself again...and I'm not even sure how I did that, even though the easiest thing to do would have been to just turn around and walk one aisle again...  I blame the fact that it was my bigger, end-of-the-month shopping trip (always cramming in a ton of expiring coupons!) and I was buying some less-familiar stuff for Dan's promotion ceremony--but no matter the cause, I was totally thrown for a while.

ha!

 
Despite my aisle confusion, I got a compliment from the bagger when checking out.  (No, that is not normal at the commissary or anywhere else!)  At the commissary, folks bag your groceries for you, and then walk with you to your car and load the bags into your car for you, in exchange for a few dollars' tip (yet another bite into my shopping budget!).  The lady bagging my groceries this weekend told me that I am very organized about how I put my items on the belt, so that it makes it easier for the baggers--ie, fruits and veggies all at the end, milk at the beginning, canned goods all together, etc, etc.  Apparently this is rare for "people of my generation."  I just told her that I have lots of practice grocery shopping--ha ha!  She was probably just angling for a good tip.  Truly, when you grocery shop once a week, you get good at it--but I wasn't honestly trying to be organized.  It just happened to be how I took things out of my cart, and I'm sure it doesn't happen every time.  It struck me as a funny thing on which to be complimented, though--apparently, I rock the commissary check-out more than my peers...you know you're jealous!

Not-So-Miso Steak

Sunday was weigh-in day with my new scale, and I weighed in at 159.6.  From my previous weigh-in last week, that's almost 3 pounds down--but I'm using a new scale, so who knows what the actual loss is (but at least I can be pretty confident that it was a loss!).  159.6 is going to be my new baseline--the first time I weighed myself on my new scale.  Next week will be the true test.  The weekend again proved really hard for my calorie intake--we visited Dan's parents on Saturday, and his mom made us blueberry muffins, which I love, and brownies and ice cream for dessert!  I had no idea how bad blueberry muffins are calorie-wise until I went to put it into my log...no wonder I have a terrible time losing weight!  I also got my hair cut this week, and while Dan thinks that wouldn't count toward weight loss, if you've seen how much hair I have, you would understand--I think it contributed at least a few ounces lost!

I took the time before heading grocery shopping on Sunday to look up some new recipes--I've been saying I'm going to add new meals to the food rotation, but then I am always rushing around like crazy trying to get my grocery list together and run out to the store every weekend that I never remember to actually add to my usual list.  I googled "easy, healthy dinners," since dinner has become even more of a dilemma for me now that I'm working out three nights a week, right at dinnertime.  I need some fast, healthy stuff that I can make after or before class.  I found two recipes I thought sounded enticing, and Dan agreed to try them--so I wrote down all the ingredients for Miso Steak with Green Beans and Baby Potatoes, as well as the ingredients for Lemon-Thyme Chicken.

I still don't really know what edamame is

 
I headed off to the commissary with my list in hand--a list that included a lot of unfamiliar items, like frozen edamame, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and of course, the miso.  I know the commissary like the back of my hand (after all, I live there one hour every week!), so I figured the new items wouldn't be too hard to find.  Little did I know (although I probably should have guessed), the commissary is not really a place to find adventurous foods--and I didn't even think the recipes I chose were very adventurous!  My first major fail was the baby potatoes I needed for the Miso Steak meal--the commissary doesn't carry them...???  I picked up red potatoes instead, because they are smaller than Russet potatoes, and I thought they were more in the spirit of the recipe.  See, I can adapt!  Next, I found the rice wine vinegar and the sesame oil fairly easily, but miso didn't jump out at me.  It didn't help that I had no idea what miso looks like--is it a sauce?  Is it a type of noodle?  I was totally clueless.  After attempting to read every label in the aisle, I still hadn't found it...so I took my smartphone out of the commissary (I get no service inside) and googled miso.  Ah, it's a seasoning--that gave me a better idea of what to look for.  Again, I read every label, and again, I had no luck...  After what felt like an hour standing in front of that section, I decided to move on without the miso--maybe I'd find it with the other seasonings?  (Nope, no miso there.)  I kept going, picking up my normal foods as well as some other new items from the recipes (like the skirt steak for the Miso Steak recipe), and the last thing to get was the frozen, shelled edamame.  I've never had edamame before, but I have read about it a lot and know that it's a good, healthy snack--I was eager to find it and give it a try.  Of course, the commissary doesn't carry it, either--at least, not that I could find after repeated attempts down multiple aisles.  Urgh.  I headed home with everything I could find, which unfortunately was missing one crucial item from each recipe (the edamame for the Lemon-Thyme Chicken, and the miso from the Miso Steak).

I got home right at dinnertime, because the commissary took me two hours instead of one with all my wandering and searching.  Dan had wanted to make the Miso Steak for dinner, but since I couldn't find the miso, I didn't think it was an option.  I googled miso again, and discovered that some people think it has no taste--others think it has a salty or nutty taste.  The recipe only called for one tablespoon of it, so in our hunger and time-crunch, Dan and I decided to make the recipe without it.  Dan prepped the steak while I peeled and heated the potatoes, threw the steamed green beans into the microwave, and made the no-miso sauce--it really was a pretty easy meal to do, and would have been great if we weren't both frantically racing around the kitchen totally winging it since we had never made it before!  We both enjoyed the meal, as did Abby...but Jake only ate the steak and Alex ate nothing--he took one bite of green beans, declared that he loved them, and then proceeded to play with them for the rest of the evening.  Great.  We didn't feed him anything else, so hopefully with persistence, we will win this dinnertime battle and he'll learn to widen his palate a little.

Not-So-Miso Steak with Green Beans and Red Potatoes

At least I did well with my calories on Sunday!  We're looking forward to trying out the Lemon-Thyme chicken one of these days, too.

Update on the workout classes:  Friday night was my 2nd Zumba class, and it was with a different instructor than the Wednesday class--and by a stroke of luck, I discovered that a woman from my street has also signed up for these classes, so we carpooled over there together.  It was really great to not only get a workout in, but also to be social--I'm way too stuck in the house these days.  The class was fun, but this instructor's technique and moves are a lot different from the Wednesday class.  Friday's was more Latin and lots of hips, so I had a harder time keeping up with the steps, but I still enjoyed it.  Then last night was my first step class--I was very nervous about it (and more so after I told my best friend that I was doing a step class, and her response was "Uh oh..."), and let me just say, it kicked my rear end.  I wore my glasses, which I don't usually do while I work out, and my glasses were all foggy from all the heat and sweat on my face.  Gross!  It was definitely a good workout, and a lot more intense than I expected.  I'm convinced I'm going to end up missing the darn step and sprawl out on the floor, or accidentally push the step out from under myself--it could happen, because I'm just that uncoordinated.  Thankfully, that class is only once a week--I don't think I could handle it otherwise!  Bring on the Wednesday Zumba fun!