Food Bytes: Going Against the Grain (or Buying Whole Wheat and Loving It)

Part Three of my Food Bytes series about eating good food on a budget.  See the introduction, Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. 

I didn’t grow up on whole wheat anything.  I ate lunchmeat sandwiches on store bought white bread my entire life.  It’s a wonder I have lived to be this old.  Just kidding.  But now that I am “Master of the Kitchen” I’m doing things a tad differently. 

Bread:  We are super lucky.  A discount store in the town I work sells bread for $1 a loaf.  So I buy Natures Own organic honey wheat bread for pennies a slice.  I will probably cry when we move and I have to buy bread for $3 a loaf.  Or, I might start making it myself, but considering my bad history of using yeast in baking, I should stick to buying.  We shall see. 

Bagels:  My one success with yeast breads came a couple of weeks ago when I made homemade bagels.  They didn’t turn out horribly, but I will definitely try them again with whole wheat flour.  We buy our bagels from Walmart.  I used to buy them at Aldi for $1.39 a bag (6 per bag) until I discovered these ones by the cream cheese section of Wally World for $1.00 a bag (5 per bag).  And they had my favorite- Honey Wheat.  Win-win.  I converted.  I won’t tell you how many bags we go through a month, you might think I was addicted or something. 

Rolls:  On our first shopping trip as husband and wife, Andrew and I discovered these amazing sub-like rolls from Walmart.  At $2.50 for 10 of them, the price is great, and they are delicious!  We use them to make sandwiches and garlic bread all the time.  When I get home from the store I stick them in ziplock bags, and pop them in the freezer.  We just get out what we need as we need it so they don’t go to waste in the southern humidity. 

Tortillas:  These are amazing.  We use them for our favorite chicken tortilla recipe, making quesadillas, and other quick meals.  They are perfect for on-the-go meals.

Pasta:  I buy our whole wheat pasta at Walmart for $1 a box- you can’t be that.  A new favorite one we found is orzo; it tastes so much better than rice.  You should give it a try sometime.  It can be found lurking by the pasta. 

We have several nights a month that are pasta nights here at the cottage.  It definitely saves money in the meat department. 

Homemade:  Some things I make from scratch are zucchini bread, bran muffins, corn bread, and buttermilk biscuits (does making them with buttermilk and a baking mix count?).  We will eat all of the above for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.  It sure saves a lot of money!


Speaking of homemade, here is my mom's recipe for zucchini bread.  Fast, easy, and yummy (and best of all, no yeast needed!!)  Bon appetit! 

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

2 ¾ cups flour

2 ¼ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Mix eggs, sugar and oil together well. Fold in zucchini and rest of ingredients. Grease and flour 2 bread pans. Bake 1 hour.

Photo Credit: Orzo