I'll be honest. Food is my nemesis. Can't live with it, can't live without it — literally. Upon returning from vacation, I embarked on a new journey: the 21 day challenge with Made to Crave, a bible study where you learn to crave God not food.

It's been a wonderfully refreshing and freeing first week. I also have a page of diet saboteurs that are threatening my resolve which I will post sometime in the next week. I also have a page of weight loss helps that are keeping me strong through this process. Every time I get another idea, on the page it goes. Yesterday I found myself sitting in the Movie Tavern, waiting for the final Harry Potter episode to start, writing helps and temptations that I face outside the house too. If only I had a wand . . . to turn all sugary things into natural healthy options.

Demolish the evil HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED: VoldeSUGARmort.

Fortunately the Movie Tavern, a cool new theater inside a restaurant, had a plate of cheese and fruit for my dining pleasure out of many yummy options. There were definitely MANY fattening temptations on the menu though and the thought of having a glass of wine with my movie was quite fascinating. But, I RESISTED. YEAH!! Unsweetened tea with lemon saved the day.

BUT, back to the real reason for this post. Before I left for vacation, way back mid-June, I received two lovely food related items: a gift card to try the new discount grocer Bottom Dollar Foods and the book The Stocked Kitchen.

I know .  . . I know. I should have read The Stocked Kitchen before going to Bottom Dollar but time was limited. I finally got a chance to sit down and read the book after carrying it with me for a month, among my other stash of must-read items. This book is both a recipe book and a complete inventory management system for your food storage and preparation needs.

In this book, Sarah Kallio and Stacey Krastins offer a way to get control of your meal planning by having a single comprehensive list of ingredients that you keep on hand at all times. They claim that if you have the raw materials and spices they suggest, which you can buy in bulk when you find great deals on storable items, you can make anything for any occasion from the recipes in their cookbook, which offers a wide variety of "doable" selections from make-your-own salad dressing to yummo desserts.

Upon reading over the book, here's my impressions:

• I love cooking from my pantry with minimal forethought so this plan might work for me.
• It is still too organized for my creative left brain but I'm going to work on that.
• Meal planning and inventory control (using items before they go bad) is very critical in this process but it should be in any well-run larder.
• Love the tips scattered throughout for making these recipes and meals in general easier!
• Interesting how they use a box of yellow cake mix in their cheesecakes! I never would have thought.  . .
• Great twists on old recipes: dillweed and chili powder in deviled eggs? Peanut butter in hummus instead of tahini? I might have to try it . . .

And, once you get your food storage under control, it's time to find the best prices for them. I headed over to Bottom Dollar where I found several things to be true:

• The carts had the locking system like Aldi's where you put in a quarter when you get the cart and get it back when you return it; but, at the time I went in the Downingtown store, they were locked so you didn't need to put in a quarter. Just pull out a cart and use it. Return it to the covered awnings in the parking lot.
• The produce section with a separate temperature controlled room was pretty cool.
• The store was clean and well-run.
• It had the sparse, cardboard box feel of a discount grocer but the selection was actually pretty good with both cheaper store brand items and name brand items you know and love, like Coca Cola products.
• The store has a "we won't be beat policy" but I didn't challenge them on any specific item.
• Prices were comparable to what I get on sale at other grocery stores.
• It would be worth returning if it weren't so dang far from me. With over 20 stores in the Philadelphia area, I still had to drive 20 minutes to this one and with a gas guzzling Suburban and at least 6 grocery stores including Amelias (a seriously discounted grocery store with all the damaged boxes to prove it) in my immediate vicinity not to mention several local farmer's markets, I can't see saving enough money to save a few pennies on groceries by driving that far.
• It is definitely worth it, however, if it is convenient to you but check your prices carefully to make sure you are getting the best deal. Otherwise, speak up!

And, that's it on food today. Now off to Hershey Park to smell delicious chocolate wafting through the air and hope a day in an amusement park will burn any calories I absorb plus some!