Buying Groceries on a Budget

When finances are limited, grocery shopping can be a challenging weekly routine, especially considering our country's current recession doubled with rising food costs. Shopping for food on a budget takes some planning and determination to faithfully remain within the price you and your family can afford. Staying out of debt is the supreme goal and can be achievable with some help. Steps can be taken today to get you started on the right track for this week's grocery outing.

1. Establish a budget. Ironically, this can be a difficult and often avoided first step, but shopping on a budget is quite unfeasible if a monetary limit is not initially set. First, a complete budget of all your monthly expenses should be drawn up (if married, make sure to sit down with your spouse, as the budget is a team effort). This includes total monthly income divided into subsections such as fuel, grocery, mortgage/rent, utilities, loans/credit card payments, donations/charity, savings, miscellaneous, and unexpected costs (such as medical care and prescriptions). Designate a reasonable budget for each subsection, keeping the miscellaneous budget to a minimum, which can consist of eating out, Starbucks, birthday presents, and whatever else that may attract your wallet each month.

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Symptoms of Nut Allergies

Though most people enjoy snacking on and baking with a variety of nuts, between one and two percent of the U.S. population is severely allergic to tree nuts, peanuts, or both. Unbeknown to many, the peanut is not really a nut, but a legume. My husband, who has an acute peanut allergy, also avoids eating peas due to their categorization in the legume family, too. At first, I was skeptical and thought he just didn't want to eat his vegetables. True nuts are grown on trees, such as cashews, almonds, pistachios, macadamias, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, and hazelnuts. Twelve percent of people with tree nut allergies are allergic to more than one kind. Interestingly, though not in the same family, the protein structures in peanuts are similar enough that a person with a tree nut allergy may also be allergic to peanuts. As far as I know, Jesse is also allergic to walnuts and cashews, but not almonds. We tend to just avoid them all.

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The Love of My Crock Pot

As a newlywed wife, each day I'm delving more into the delights of my crock pot. At first, I was unaware of the deep love that would grow toward this appliance; it was the most purchased gift off of my wedding registry, as I ironically received four of them. I may have kept them all if I had known of my future affections, but after the honeymoon, I returned three and was left with a little red 6-quart slow cooker.

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Coping with Food Intolerance and Allergies

Living with food allergies requires a lifestyle much different than the normal omnivores around us. There is a keen difference between food intolerance and food allergies. A food intolerance is more common, producing undesirable reactions to certain foods. Lactose intolerance is an exemplary food intolerance, one which I personally suffer from. With Lactose Intolerance, the individual lacks specific enzymes needed to digest the lactose properly, and with too much consumption of dairy, symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and bloating are likely to soon follow. Food intolerances are often associated with dairy, wheat, and peanuts. A food allergy, on the other hand, involves the immune system. According to allergy specialist, James Li, "Only about 2 percent of adults and 6 percent of children have a true food allergy. Far more people have a food intolerance, unpleasant symptoms triggered by certain foods."

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Best Ways to Get Married on a Budget

'Wedding' is an expensive word. Search for it on line, and hundreds of retailers are ready and waiting for your click. The Internet has made wedding resources much easier to locate, but you may want to browse without credit card in hand. Most brides-to-be desire a memorable wedding day (and night). This desire should be attainable without emptying one's savings.

I got married in November of this past year, the tenth of November, to be exact. My husband's family has a tradition of tying the knot on the tenth of a month. I decided not to break the tradition and start off in bad terms with the mother-in-law. Unfortunately, the tenth did not fall exactly when I wanted it to, and so, I began the wedding planning process with a November wedding, in New York. I also began to diligently pray for an Indian Summer.

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