Clean Eating #34: Crispy Hashbrowns in Omelettes & the Cost of Eating Clean

Hashbrowns finally done the "right" way, dried and fried with a tad bit of coconut oil.
This morning my hubby really wanted hashbrowns to put on his omelette.  Yeah, he's a little strange.  I've never heard of putting hashbrowns in my omelette before and we've been together for 18 years.  Holy cow.  18 years.  I feel old.



ANYWAY, I googled it because my hashbrowns always turn out mushy.  I found this site which said that you need to dry the potatoes after you shred them.  What?  Really?  Why have I not heard of this before?  It was worth a try

 After I washed the potatoes,  shredded them into a bowl of cold water (apparently to rinse the extra starch off).  Then I put the shredded potatoes into a strainer and let them drip dry a bit.  I then put them into a dishtowel and squeezed the excess water out with my big strong muscles.  There was a LOT of water in them!  They actually felt kind of strange once they were dry... but it worked!  Crispy, beautiful hashbrowns!



I got the idea to cook them in a waffle iron from a friend months ago, and that worked wonders too!



And then my camera died, before tree was a finished meal. The girls ate theirs plain, with eggs on the side, the guys had theirs in their heaping manly omelettes.  Manly and Omelette really don't seem to go together.



Oh... and finally,

Sprite did eat here occasionally, but probably only once a day, so I didn't count her at all.  This makes our total $6.00 a DAY to feed each person in our family... and there are a couple of big eating teenage boys in this house!  We ate healthy and it didn't kill our budget.



And of course, we already had food in our house... but we also STILL have food in our house.  I am going to keep track over the course of each month just to get a good idea of our average... but for our first month, that isn't too shabby.



Bulk food ordering through Country Life Natural Foods will help keep costs down as I figure out what I will use the most of and where I can save more.  For instance, for the next order, I am getting a 50# bag of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for $32.50.  That's a pretty significant savings if you've ever bought it in the local grocery stores before!



Our large tubs of bulk Steel Cut Groats (50# bag for $25.00, organic is $40.00)

and popcorn (50# for $25.00) we air pop it and drizzle it with melted coconut oil and sea salt.  You can also add a few drops of stevia to the coconut oil for a kettle corn taste!  Yummmmmmmm!!!




Our large 5 gallon bucket of coconut oil (see why I use coconut oil in everything?)  This WAS  $65.00 last time I ordered, now the price has gone up to $80.00.  Still way cheaper than a 16 oz jar for $7-8.00.  And yes, its not extra virgin oil... but I do what I can.
There is also a local wholesale meat place just down the street from us.  I think we're going to plan on getting a bulk package from them for February if they have what we need.