Published: June 29, 2008 01:11 am            

GENCO: Ways to eat right and save money — at the same time

More ways in being cheap (and healthy) ... .

My wife pointed out to me on a 90-degree day last month that it didn’t make sense to be eating oatmeal and drinking coffee on a hot day. I switched to plain yogurt with walnuts and dried fruit for breakfast. Then I decided to give iced tea a shot.

Here’s my recipe for “Easy Tea:” Buy one of those 1 gallon Arizona Iced Tea Containers (about $4 just about everywhere). Fill it with hot water and 4 tea bags and leave it for 12 hours, give or take two. Remove the tea bags. Drink.

The result? Good, refreshing, caffeinated tea, one gallon at a time.

I favor whole bean coffee – Wegmans Espresso roast, two pounds for $12. I’d get about three weeks out of a bag. One-hundred tea bags cost me $2.59 at Aldi. Hence I can save $9 and change every three weeks and still have coffee any time I want it from the bag I am now nursing.

Healthy Breakfast

My doctor told me last time we visited that my cholesterol was almost acceptable for the first time ever. I’m not sure why, but here’s my idea:

I’ve been eating the above-mentioned oatmeal almost daily for breakfast. Here’s my recipe: 1 cup water, 1 cup oats, 1 handful walnuts, a half handful dried cherries or raisins from Aldi. Bring to a boil. Shut off the heat. Wait

2 minutes. Eat. Wow, two recipes in one column. I would not eat it if it didn’t taste good.

Diet

I also have tried to follow the diet my doctor prescribed. It will be hard to make this one a best seller. It is too short, but: Don’t eat anything white (bread, pasta, potatoes). No matter what else you eat, it should be as close as possible to what it looked like when it was picked, caught or shot. That means focus on whole grains and avoid sausage, cheese and fried food. Eat lots of different colored fruits and veggies like green, red, yellow, brown.

Gardening

I love using the municipal mulch pile like the one on Erie Avenue. It might not result in as pretty a garden as the dyed stuff from the nursery, but free is free and dye equals chemicals.

It’s a little late, but you can still plant some tomatoes and peppers without having trouble with a shortened growing season. Try burying this paper under the mulch as a biodegradable weed block.

Our ‘disasters’ melt

I love our weather and could not imagine a place where it could be better. Do you realize we still have never had a 100 degree day? Or that we get more sun than Boston, New York or Philly? We watched a natural disaster rain havoc on people in the Midwest over the last few weeks.

I can still show you the damage on my trees from our Columbus Day surprise in 2006. I can’t tell you about neighborhoods rebuilding or hundreds of homes lost, like they can in Iowa or Louisiana.

Tim Russert

Almost every local journalist, no matter how small the paper, wrote about Tim Russert after his death. It makes me sad I never met him. From the sounds of things, he was a great guy. Pete Weber may never rise to his level, but 10 years ago, when he was a local radio guy and I was a fresh sports reporter, he greeted me at Memorial Auditorium during a Sabres game, showed me around and was generally great. He does broadcasts for the Nashville Predators now, but I suspect he and Russert may have been cut from the same bolt of cloth. If Rick Jeanerette ever retires, I hope Weber comes home and gets to work for the Sabres

Thanks for reading.

Word of the Week: Sapid – a term meaning lively, flavorsome and interesting. The opposite of vapid.

LM Boyd of the Week: Claim is 1,000 basic words make up all writing.

Contact Joe Genco and jgenco@localnet.com.

        

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