by spiceaholic on March 9, 2010
I bet that got your attention!
If you’re like me, you’re probably looking for ways to cut down on your grocery bill without it being too painful.
Well, thanks to the Kroger Family of Stores, General Mills, and the awesome people at MyBlogSpark, now you have a chance to get some of your groceries for free! I know I did, since they are giving me a $25 gift card!
Thanks to them, one lucky reader will win a $25 gift card that’s good at Kroger or any of its affiliated stores. Yay!
And if you want to boost your savings, check out the Cart Buster Savings Event at all Kroger stores through March 14th.
What do you have to do to win the gift-card?
First things first, make sure you have a Kroger or any of its affiliate stores near you.
Next, you have a few ways to enter:
- After you have made sure you’re eligible, leave me a comment telling me your best grocery-shopping savings tip
- Tweet about the giveaway — I’m @spiceaholic80
- Link back to the giveaway on your blog
- If you don’t have a blog, email me an additional savings tip
- Add me to your blogroll and leave an additional comment letting me know you did
- Follow me on Twitter and leave an additional comment to tell me
That’s it! I want you to win, so that’s why I’ve given you plenty of chances!
You guys have until 10 pm EST, Monday, March 15th to enter!
Thanks again to the Kroger Family of Stores, General Mills, and MyBlogSpark for making the giveaway possible!
by spiceaholic on March 8, 2010
Would you expect anything less, given my Spiceaholic persona? 
Oatmeal is very very popular for breakfast throughout the blogosphere, and while I’ll eat it once in a while, I just don’t enjoy it as much as others seem to. I think a lot of it is a texture thing — it’s so goopy.
Anyway I tried something new today – making my oatmeal savory instead of sweet. Sound gross? Not really, it’s like how you can have fried rice or rice pudding. The grain is just a neutral canvas for flavorings. Besides, I saw other people eating it on their blogs, so you know it can’t be that weird!
I just took an instant oatmeal packet, added hot water, and then added hot sauce and some Cajun seasoning. It tasted fine, but it still had that oatmeal goopy texture.
I also heated up a Morningstar spicy breakfast sausage patty and crumbled it into my oatmeal.
Not bad, it’s a good way to shake things up a bit. I don’t know that this would convince me to eat oatmeal every day, but it’s good to have another way to eat it.
I was a bad food blogger and forgot to take a picture of lunch. It was SO nice outside today, almost 70 degrees, so a few of us decided to walk over to Jimmy Johns for lunch so we could enjoy the weather. Jimmy Johns is a sandwich chain that I have fond memories of from college. We would often order from them late at night when we were up goofing around.
Anyway, I had the Billy Club, which had roast beef, ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, and Dijon mustard. I got some jalapeno chips on the side. Mmmm! These sandwiches are pretty dang big and I should have stopped halfway through since I was getting full but of course I ignored my body signals and chowed away.
The good thing about having such a big lunch is that I wasn’t hungry all afternoon. I finally ate a little something around 6:30 as I was winding down at work.
Publix is having some pretty good sales this week and I definitely took advantage. They had Vitatops on sale for buy one get one free, so I decided to get a couple boxes. I figured they’d make a good quick breakfast or snack on the run.
I’m still undecided about these. I know they’re really really popular and that makes me want to like them, but I’m not 100% convinced. I think I know part of it — when they’re heated up, they have a weird after-taste. Well, now that I have a couple boxes I’ll have plenty of chances to decide what I think of them.
Even though I was going to be getting home late, I decided I wanted to cook dinner. Mr. Spice was sweet enough to get stuff started so that all I had to do was start cooking. All I did was brown some chopped onion in olive oil, add ginger and garlic, add some Shan spice mix (I used Bombay Biryani mix), then add chicken pieces and rice, add water, and cook it all together for 20 minutes.
Quick and spicy, just how I like it! No veggies, I know. But I did have some spicy mango pickle one the side, so how about we count that towards my nonexistent fruit/veggie count for today?
Hopefully this week won’t be too crazy — I’m going to have to start working some longer hours for the next few weeks, but I hope to keep posting as much as possible.
Good night!
by spiceaholic on March 7, 2010
How was everyone’s weekend? Wish it was longer? 
I’ve been naughty and not taking food pics, but I needed to take a little break. Plus since I hadn’t done groceries last week and we were eating what was at home my eats were pretty boring. Not to worry, we did groceries yesterday so I should feel more inspired for this week!
I had to work for a few hours yesterday morning and since Mr. Spice was up I brought him to work with me to keep me company! Hey, I didn’t force him, he willingly came along!
We decided to grab lunch afterwards at Panahar for their lunch buffet. We have lots of Indian restaurants in the Atlanta-area, but as far as I know, this is the only Bangladeshi-restaurant so I try to go when I can to support my fellow Bengalis. Plus their food rocks! I love their vegetable dishes, which taste like home-made. This was Mr. Spice’s first time and he liked it and now understands my obsession with it.
After lunch I convinced Mr. Spice to go to Trader Joe’s with me. There’s one just down the street from my office and you’d think I’d take advantage of that, but I haven’t. Mr. Spice hates going grocery shopping with me because I take forever and go up and down all the aisles oohing and ahhing over everything. Yesterday was no exception and he had to remind me several times that I didn’t have to get everything at once, I could always come back. Ruin my fun, why don’t you?
Turns out yesterday was one busy busy day. We had plans to stop in at a birthday party for a former coworker of mine and then had dinner reservations to take advantage of Restaurant Week. We made it to the birthday party but we agreed to reschedule our dinner since we were still full from lunch and they ended up feeding us at the party.
After all that running around yesterday, I needed to rest today. I’ve been feeling worn out and run down all week and had a bad headache today. I blame the wacky weather shifts we’ve been having. It feels like I’ve been on the verge of getting sick the past couple weeks but I haven’t. At this point I just wish I’d get sick and get it over with.
Anyway, that’s that! It’s almost time for the Oscars — we’ll probably flip channels and catch parts of it here and there.
Good night!
by spiceaholic on March 4, 2010
I know I like getting a good deal, so I figure you guys do too!
Remember those Eat Smart Grab n’ Go Cups I tried out a couple weeks ago? Well, in case you were on the fence about trying them out, maybe this will convince you:
- Visit the Eat Smart website for a coupon!
- Atlanta-area readers, Publix is having a promotion through this weekend where if you buy a bag of Eat Smart veggies, you get a free Grab n’ Go Cup.
- My source also told me that around March 15th, Publix stores will have a BOGO deal on the Grab n’ Go Cups
If you’re like me, you like to go out to eat but when you’re on a budget, it’s not always do-able. That’s why I like it when we have the various Restaurant weeks around different parts of Atlanta. When else can you have a 3-course meal at some of the best restaurants in town for only $25 each person?
Good thing Buckhead Restaurant Week is kicking off this Saturday! There’s a great list of places to choose from and Mr. Spice and I are hoping to take advantage of it!
Thank me after you finish drooling over the menus!
