Saving money at the drug store

I'm not going to talk about extra care bucks or bonus points here.  What I do want to talk about are some unexpected savings.

I'm not a big fan of the changes with run health insurance system which are both directly and indirectly a result of the Affordable Care Act.  Personally, I think we're all in for a rude awakening this year with the increased premiums and outrageous deductibles and out of pocket expenses.

I am happy to report that my insurance plan is taking that "get you healthy and keep you healthy" line seriously.  The list of preventive drugs is fairly substantial and both DH and I are benefiting from it.

I have two prescriptions - one that I receive at no direct cost to me and the second that I pay a reduced amount because it is a preventive medication.  DH has severa drugs that he is currently taking as preventatives.  I would estimate that they would cost upwards of $400-500 each month at full retail price.  Under our plan, we pay about $75 each month.  

What I want to discuss in this post is an extra savings.  A doctor/hospital representative provided me with a discount card for one of the drugs while recieving DH's prescriptions when he was discharged.  The card discounts our co-pay for this one drug by a minimum of $25 each month for up to a year.  That's a $300 savings in itself which is very helpful.  

Of course, I should note that this is a VERY expensive drug that retails for overe $300 for a month's supply.  Drugs are outrageously expensive these days.

To save money on your drugs, take advantage of all discounts offered, free samples, reduced co-pays and your drug stores loyalty program.  Every little bit helps.

Cooking and cleaning!

We're still trying to find our way around this whole lower fat, lower sodium eating plan here.  Some days are good and others, well, we'll do better tomorrow.  Tonight's dinner fared pretty well.  I cooked up a chicken stir fry for dinner and used simply what we had to make it work.  

I cut up one large chicken breast into bite sized pieces, sprinkled with some garlic powder and ginger and splashed on just about a teaspoon on low sodium soy sauce.  This sat while I stir fried the veggies.  I had red, a green and yellow bell peppers in the fridge half used.  I cut those up into bite sized pieces along with half an onion that was hanging out in the fridge.  Stir fry with just a very small amount of canola oil (your wok may need more oil) until about half done.  Pull the veggies out and hold to the side while you cook the chicken.  I added about a teaspoon of canola oil to the wok and added the chicken.  I kept it moving in huge pan by stirring about every minute or two.  The surface of the chicken had a rich golden color and it was done throughout.  Add back in the veggies and a can of drained pineapple.

I added a sauce to this and served over rice.  I can't say exactly what the recipe was because it was a taste as you go kind of thing.  I started with the drained pineapple juice.  I added three tablespoons of soy sauce and about three tablespoons of rice wine vinegar.  I grated a small piece of fresh ginger and about a half a clove.  I also added a sprinkle of ground ginger as well.  To this mixture, I added about four tablespoons of a Thai chili sauce to add some extra heat.  To thicken the sauce, I added about a tablespoon of corn starch.  Pour over the mixture or serve on the side.

There was more sodium in this than I would have liked but it should have been very low in fat.  I served it with a small bowl of salad (lettuce only) with only one tablespoon of ginger dressing per person - that stuff is really salty when you've been cutting out the salt!

Here's a picture before the pineapple and sauce.

On the other hand, laundry has been a bit of a challenge her for the last week and a half.  My dryer is on vacation.  It runs and it gets warm but it will not dry anything.  We've been looking and I think we have a set picked out.  We decided to replace both the washer and dryer to take advantage of the high efficient models now available.  I'm also hoping that the new washer will get the clothes drier before they even get to the dryer and therefore cut the drying times.  (That's a clever way to use three forms of the same word!)

Now, I've figured out that I can wash and dry most things if I run very small loads every night.  I run the washer and let the clothes go through a second spin.  I hang the clothes on hangers or use the rack I typically use to dry my sweaters.  The only problematic items are thick jeans and towels and sheets.  Fortunately I was able to run some things in DD's dryer Saturday and I left some sheets and a blanket with her today to dry.  

It will probably be next weekend before we order the set and perhaps 5 days aftere that before it gets here.  I don't think that too much of a problem but I'm sure I will really be ready for it by then.

A growing food budget...

With some medical issues rearing their ugly head at our house, we've been advised to adopt a low fat, low sodium diet with a reduction in carbs and caffeine.  It's a total pain.

If you go looking for low fat foods, the first thing you'll notice is that the sodium content is high and if sodium isn't the issue, carbs (sugar) is.  Sodium is everywhere.  It's almost impossible to do it all at one time.  We're starting with the fat content.

We're making every effort to reduce fat first, the sodium.  We're reducing carbs by eating whole grain breads and watching portion sizes.

My first observation is that salads and soups are easy to adjust to reduce fat and sodium.  Low and no fat broths, tomatoes, beans.  Tomato paste is great because it's naturally low in sodium, adds lots of flavor and texture.  Beans (even lower sodium beans) can be rinsed to further reduce sodium levels - a great source of fiber.  Both meals can adapt to accommodate many types of fresh vegetables.

I'm constantly searching for ways to cook/season chicken breasts.  

Great finds so far include Cabot reduced fat cheeses, Hunts no salt added tomatoes, most tomato pastes, reduced sodium broths (although they're still high in sodium), fig newtons!

I've noticed that my food budget has increased significantly.  Part of this could be simply rebuying things I already have only in low sodium form.  Part of the increase could also be a long term increase just because of the changes in diet.

This weeks's menu

Saturday: homemade chili

Sunday: Grilled honey-lime chicken, potatoes and onions

Monday: leftover chili

Tuesday: quick dinner out

Wednesday: (updated). Italian sausage, pasta and salad

Thursday: Ham fried rice, egg rolls

Friday: tbd

I was able to reduce the sodium content of the chili by using tomatoes with no salt added and half of the tomato sauce was no salt added.  I did not add an salt to the chili.  I also rinsed off the beans (twice) before adding.  We could tell the difference but the taste was agreeable.  We shredded about two ounces of a 50% reduced fat cheese as a topping.  

Sunday's chicken had no added salt only the acid of the lime juice and a couple tablespoons of olive oil (for four servings).  It was good but not one of my favorites.  

I saw a unique way of poaching chicken on television Saturday night.  You heat water in a pot to exactly 170 degrees.  You add your chicken and cover the pot.  Let it sit for 15 minutes and check the temperature of your chicken.  165-170 degrees and it's done.  I'm going to try this when I cook chicken and dumplings Wednesday night.  If it works, I'll cook the vegetables and add the chicken back in just before the dumplings go in.  That would be a big timesaver.

This week is ongoing to be challenging, weather wise.  Rain tonight, dropping temperatures below freezing for tomorrow followed by artic weather (9 degrees) Tuesday morning.  We've checked the antifreeze levels in the car and blow off any debris on the driveway.

I also drop off my car for body repairs in the morning.  I sure hope they can get it complete by Friday.  Meanwhile, the Christmas decorations continue to come down.  Perhaps I'll have it all done by the weekend.  

Updated:  it got to 4 degrees according to the thermometer in my rental car.  Fortunately, the rain dried up before the artic breeze blew in.  It's just extremely cold.  DD had some frozen pipe issues so I stopped by to watch the kids and help figure out what was going on.  Because of that, it was too late to start dinner when I got home.  We ran over to Moe's and tried to eat as healthy as we could.

Lowing the fat and sodium in our foods

This might be totally misdirected but we've been advised to reduce the fat and sodium in our diet after a recent health related incident.  I tried one night to create a fat free dinner with very, very low sodium.  It was not a hit.  As a result, I'm trying to modify what we usually eat to reduce fat (particularly saturated fat) and sodium.

Tonight, we're having stuffed bell peppers.  To "lighten" this meal, I used a packaged Spanish rice mix but used 1.5 Tablespoon of olive oil instead of 2 Tablespoons of butter and used only half of the seasoning package.  I added a little extra cumin, oregano and chili powder for flavor.  I used half the quantity of sausage, substituting smoked beef sausage for pork.  I added extra chopped peppers for added vegetables.  I am topping the stuffed peppers with some no salt added tomato sauce.  It was quite tasty. 

For a side dish, I'm serving some canned pear halves with a very light sprinkle of shredded cheese as a color accent. (No mayo.)