Friday Q & A

(This post may contain affiliate links.)

Hey Guys!  I had offered to answer a couple of questions from you guys on Facebook and Instagram.

It my answers started getting lengthy so I decided to go ahead and write a blog post!

I’d like to start doing this every Friday or at least a couple times a month so if you have any questions for me,

and it doesn’t all have to be THM related, I will do my best to answer accordingly!

First question came from my Facebook messenger…

Did you have a hard time getting off the sugar? If so, what tips do you have to help the cravings and for success? My answer… when I first started THM I had MAJOR sugar withdraws. I had to find a sweetener I liked & a couple treats that liked that would really keep me away from going back to the bad sugars. Plus, I had to give myself time. The longer I went without having the bad stuff the better the sweeteners tasted to me. Out of all the Stevias & sweeteners I’ve tasted & I’ve tasted a LOTS… these are my favorites. The closest sugar tasting sweetener, to me, is the THM Gentle Sweet.  For drinks, I like two different kinds.  I love the THM Stevia powder because I have not tasted a purer tasting one that doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste.  And I also really like the Sweet Drops liquid stevia.  The cool things about the Sweet Drops is that they come in little bottles with a dropper cap and they also come in different flavors.  For baking, I like both THM Gentle Sweet and the Swerve Powdered Sweetener.  If you need to make an icing that is grit free, you can use that and you won’t have any of the grit and you can also use this to roll cookies in or powder things with.  THM Gentle Sweet is almost like that but it’s about twice as sweet.

A couple of treats that have really helped keep me on plan are the THM Cottage Berry Whip in the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, the PayOff Candies in the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, and these No Bake Cookies from Sheri Graham (I replace the Truvia with 1/2 cup of THM Gentle Sweet and only use the coconut shreds instead of the oats).  Those have always been my no-fail-go-to sweets that I’ve had on hand to keep me away from the bad stuff.

 

The other question came from Instagram…

How often do you go grocery shopping?  My answer… I usually try to go every other week.  With maybe a run for milk for the kids if we run out.  Usually that tends to work best for me.  Having seven kids, grocery shopping once a week is TOO TOUGH!  But also, the once a month shopping would be too much and I don’t think I have a vehicle big enough for that.  I tend to spend around $500/600 when I go so give or take $1000/1200 a month for our family of 9 and that includes everything from diapers, food, paper goods, hygiene, to cat food.  Now, sometimes I spend a little more if I am working on blogging projects.  And we do go out to eat maybe once as a family and at least twice a month on date nights.  I know I could probably cut our budget down but I think convenience items (such as paper goods, plastic spoons, forks & cups, paper towels) really help us out when we are on the go!  We also eat a LOT of fruit (especially my kids) and veggies are a big part of our family meals.  The fresh items tend to go quickly so on the second week we are using more canned and frozen fruits and veggies.  

Making a list is HUGE for me.  If I don’t make a list I am wandering around the store trying to see if anything sparks my memory.  My husband had a brilliant idea to make a master list and then check the things I needed as I go.  That is something I am going to try and put into place.  Also, I like to check my local HEB ads to see if I can plan my meals around the sales.  Oh and we usually buy chicken breasts & ground beef from Zaycon Foods.  I buy it at about 80 lbs. at a time each item.  The beef comes packaged in one pound increments but the chicken comes in 40 lb containers that you have to separate.  It’s not too bad.  We do have to have a big freezer to store the packaged meat in so keep that in mind. Their prices are better than any store I’ve found and I really like the quality of their meats. If you are interested in learning more here is my affiliate link.  ZAYCON FOODS

If you are interested in how I do life as a THM or Big family mom or just life in general, please ask in the comments!  I’d love to pick a couple questions and answer!

Oh if you are interested in purchasing THM Gentle Sweet through my affiliate link you can do so HERE

If you are interested in purchasing the THM Powdered Stevia through my affiliate link you can do so HERE

If you are interested in purchasing the Liquid Stevia Sweet Drops through my Amazon affiliate link you can do so HERE

If you are interested in purchasing the Powdered Swerve through my Amazon affiliate link you can do so HERE