2 People, 2 Meals a Day, 2 Weeks

I had the pleasure of meeting Kelli, from The Sustainable Couple last fall.  Then back in March we got to road trip together to Des Moines for another blogger gathering.  I'm happy to say she has become a great friend and our conversation flows easily {the best kind of friend to have by the way}.

Next, I want to see her house and her garden {check out her blog for pics}.  I admire her and her husband's ability to live frugally and off their land, while not sacrificing their lifestyle. She agreed to supply me with a guest post while I'm busy waiting on this baby.  Thanks Kelli!

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Tis the season.

Tis the season for me trying to shimmy into my summer dresses and skinny jeans. Tis also the season for my annual spring diet.

It's not really a diet, per say. It's just a period of a few months when I especially focus on healthy, fresh meals. Of course, you know that I am the Queen of Frugal, so I don't want to spend a wad of cash at Aldi (is that possible?) on a bunch of special 'diet foods'.

Oh no, my friends. Healthy eating, for me anyway, is actually quite simple. Allow me to share my most recent grocery list, which I managed to stretch among two people for at least two meals a day for almost two weeks.

At Aldi, I purchased:

• Cottage cheese
• A fresh pineapple
• A bag of spinach
• A bag of romaine lettuce (three heads in the bag)
• A package of large tortillas
• 3 sweet taters
• A brick of KerryGold white cheddar cheese
• 2 tomatoes (it killed me to purchase these, by the way)
• A bag of whole carrots
• A bag of medium cooked shrimp
• A whole chicken

Also, in my fridge I already had salad dressings and other condiments, as well as a pantry with homemade bread, some grains and dry pasta. 

Using the food I purchased on this grocery trip, as well as a few items from my fridge and pantry, I was able to create the following healthy meals (as well as several not pictured here). Hopefully you'll notice my creative use of leftovers, especially leftover roasted chicken. 

Roasted chicken over a bed of greens with cheese, sliced carrots and raspberry balsamic dressing, fresh pineapple and cottage cheese: 

A roasted chicken wrap with carrots, cheese, spinach, onions, ranch dressing, and spicy baked sweet potato fries sprinkled with Parmesan cheese: 

A roasted chicken wrap with spinach, carrots, and honey mustard dressing, with fresh pineapple on the side.

A chicken and rice wrap, with carrots, spinach, and honey mustard, with a small side salad and cottage cheese: 

Large spinach and romaine salad with leftover roasted chicken, homemade croutons, white cheddar cheese, and sliced carrots: 

Sweet orange habanero shrimp over couscous cooked in homemade chicken stock: 

A large spinach and romaine salad with cheese, Thousand Island dressing, olives, and fresh pineapple: 

Homemade chicken noodle soup with cilantro from the freezer, carrots, onions, and alphabet noodles: 

Of course, in a period of two weeks, we survived on many more healthy meals than what I've featured here. We are fortunate to have a deep freezer with various cuts of beef and pork, so we grilled burgers and ham steaks a few times. We tried to accompany those meals with a frozen vegetable preserved from our garden, or a small side salad. Also, breakfast usually included toasted homemade bread.

What are some of your go-to healthy meals? How do you stretch your dollar and still eat well? 

Feel free to join me, Kelli, at The Sustainable Couple, on Pinterest, or on Facebook. We'd love to meet you!