So I improvised and you can too!

Gooood morning all!  I'm in too good a mood today.  Hmm can you really be in too good a mood.  Eh maybe not.  I just know I feel good!  It's raining outside, but that hasn't dampened my spirits any.  I don't know why, but I'll take it.

I think it's endorphins.  I've finished my workout for the day, so that is part of it I think.  You can see my stats below.

Today's post is a frugal kind of post (I love those), and one that over laps with healthy eating and weight loss.

A little back story, Dh and I have discovered a new treat where we take whole milk vanilla Greek yogurt and top it with a little(like a tsp) choc syrup or use it to top a cup of thawed sweet cherries.  Something about the thickness reminds me of cheese cake.  I LOVE CHEESE CAKE!  So, the other day at Aldi, I had it on my list to pick up, as we were out out.  Guess what!  They were too!  Out that is.  Apparently we aren't the only ones that love the whole milk Greek yogurt.  Bummer.

But!  I'm sly I tell you!  Clever, clever girl!  They did have the regular whole milk vanilla yogurt.  Plus it was on sale!  So in the buggy went 4 cartons, 32 oz each.  I normally pay 2.89 for this when I buy it, but it was on sale for 2.28.  Home we went.

Fast forward to this morning.  I took a small sized glass mixing bowl.  It doesn't have to be glass, but that's what I used.  I placed a mesh strainer in the bowl and laid a dampened coffee filter in it.  I took an entire carton of the yogurt and dumped it carefully into the strainer, making sure I stayed on the filter.  I covered the lot, and waited about 2 hours.  Over that two hours, the whey strained into the bowl leaving Greek yogurt in the strainer.  When all was said and done, I ended up with 6.75 oz of whey.  NO I DIDN'T THROW IT AWAY!  We save that stuff.  It's nutrition gold!  You can use it to soak grains like your oatmeal over night.  You can add it to your overnight soaking water for dried beans before cooking (it makes them easier to digest so less...ahem...noise).  You can soak your flours before making bread, add it to batters, add it to smoothies in place of milk.  See what I mean? So that whey is still usable.  But even if it wasn't, by my calculation I actually saved a few cents.  If I don't factor in the sale price, and just use the normal price for comparison; that 6.75 oz is about 20% of the volume of the original yogurt.  I took 20% of $2.89= .58.  I added that again to the 2.89 purchase price for a total price of $3.47.  I think the price I would have paid for the original Greek yogurt I was looking for was $3.89.  So I saved a little bit.  And really I did not much more than let time pass.  Pretty good if I do say so myself!

***Edited to add- I actually prefer this yogurt to the store bought.  It's creamier and much more like cheese cake.

Heart rate limit is 124- went over some and had to adjust periodically.  Max heart rate 127.  Fat burning range for me is 115-118.

Grace Wins by Matthew West- 2.8 speed- 0 first minute then-5 incline
Oxygen by Lincoln Brewster- 3 speed- 5 incline
Overcomer by Mandesa- 3 speed- 5 incline
Feel It by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 5 incline-down to 4 at end
More by Usher- 3.3 speed- 4 incline -down to 3
Move by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 4 incline
Down to the River by Jordan Feliz- 3.3 speed- 4 incline- 2.5
Every good thing by The Afters- 3.3 speed 2.5 speed
Still haven't found by U2- 2.7 speed- 6.5 incline- to 5.5 last minute no incline as I cool down