Abandon Nest

Do you like fast food? Even a little bit? I know I do, and that poses quite the problem when I’m driving home from work. You see, on my way to my apartment I pass:

• Taco bell
• Burger King
• McDonald’s
• KFC
• Wendy’s
• Long John Silver’s

That’s on a 20 minute drive. Isn’t that crazy? The worst part is that I’m usually really hungry after work, so I’m always attempted to stop. How do I resist? I think of three important points about fast food.

• It’s not good for you - This should be self-evident. As much as Burger King and McDonald’s want you to think of their food as healthy, it just isn’t. A milkshake from Dairy Queen is 1170 calories. A Big Mac is grease and fat primarily. You’re killing yourself by eating this food regularly.
• It’s expensive - Fast food, in general, is quite pricey. You can buy a burger from McDonald’s for $1.00. Great deal, right? No. At home you can make a better, healthier, for less than a $1.00. Much, much better.
• It tastes like junk - When is the last time you had a really good meal from a fast food restaurant? Not something that tasted ok or fulfilled a craving of yours; that’s different. I mean a really great tasting piece of meat, salad, or sandwich. I can’t remember the last time I had something that filled my palate with joy from a fast food restaurant, can you?

Reiterating these points in my head makes me think twice about stopping for that burger, that sandwich, or that Crunchwrap Supreme. It should do the same for you. Good luck.

So I love to drink milk. It’s probably the greatest thing in the world as far as beverages go. The only downfall is that milk is relatively expensive. At $2.59/gallon you really can’t afford to drink it whenever you want to. However, I’ve noticed a trend at Kroger and Fry’s stores that will let you get milk cheaply every week.
If you’re like me, you most likely go grocery shopping on the weekend. That’s great and all, but when you do, don’t buy milk if you don’t have to. If you can make it to the grocery store (specifically Kroger or Fry’s) in the middle of the week you can take advantage of a 10 for $10 deal that seems to occur regularly. Of course, you’ll have to buy half gallons, but that’s ok because you’ll be saving a good amount of money. Also, make sure you have your Kroger card handy as you’ll need it to take advantage of the discount.
If you regularly buy 3 gallons of milk/week, like I do, then you’ll welcome the savings this will net you. Every week you’ll save approximately $1.80 on milk alone. That doesn’t seem like much, but over a year you’ll end up saving about $93. That’s enough for an extra present for your sweetheart, a couple of movies for New Year’s or a nice chunk for the savings account.
Shop in the middle of the week and start saving on milk now!

Now, I’ve talked a lot about healthfood on this blog. What you should eat and why you should eat, but when you’ve eaten chicken breast for 3 months straight, you start to crave something a little sweeter. Thus, I’d like to go through the construction of one awesome shake. Here’s what you’ll need.

• Blender
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Milk - Skim or 2%
• Hershey’s Chocolate Sauce
• Ingredients to Taste (I like cookie dough or chocolate chips)

Now, a milkshake is probably one of the easiest things in the world to make. You throw everything in the blender and blend it. I don’t generally measure out ingredients, but I do have a few recommendations.

• Start with the milk - This will cause the ice cream and other things to float or suspend themselves and keep away from the blades before you start blending. This results in a thicker milkshake.
• Too much milk gives a thin shake - If you have too much milk, the quality of your shake will suffer and you’ll end up with chocolate milk instead of the rich, thick milkshake that you desire.
• Blend on a lower setting - I’ve found that on every single blender I’ve used, the blend setting will liquify your ice cream. Again, you want a thick, rich shake, not chocolate milk. I like to use the second or third speed setting and found this works well on most blenders.
• Make a lot - Why? Because milkshakes are awesome!

Now, go enjoy your hard earned milkshake. You probably deserve it. If you don’t, you probably will eventually so have it anyway.