The Bible states that man can not live by bread alone. However, bread is a necessary in our diet. We need to have bread along with water and an occasion piece of meat. Prisoners were put on bread and water to just keep them alive as a form of punishment.

Do you realize the cost for a loaf of bread one hundred years ago was 10 cents. Today, a 12 ounce loaf of bread averages at $3.79. Depending upon the kind of bread you get that $3.79 can reach $10.

Can making bread at home be cheaper? TammysRecipe.com listed the ingredients of homemade whole wheat bread to cost just one dollar. When spices and ingredients are put into a loaf of bread, the cost of that loaf of bread goes to $1.37. That is less than half the cost of buying that same loaf in your local grocery store.

I walk down the dairy section of any grocery store. I look at the  various milk products and the various brands. I am looking for trends as well as the best value for my dollar.

Recently, I have notice in some grocery stores with a simple gallon of milk a wider range in the cost for a simple gallon of milk.  The difference is not from 1% to 2% to whole milk. The difference is from one brand to the next.

The nation average for a gallon of milk is currently $3.50. Just a little less than a gallon of gasoline. I have seen in warehouse discount grocery stores the difference of 50 cents to 75 cents from a name brand to the discount brand.

My first thought is why the price difference? Milk is milk. It is just the difference between a name brand and discount brand. That is when I talked with a couple people who refuse to buy the discount brand of milk. They tell me they can taste the difference after the gallon jug has been open for a couple of days.

It has been a proven scientific fact what we eat can affect our body, emotions and how well we think. Now taking that information and putting on the day to day level does take work. This is especially truth if it involves changes our eating habits.

I was once told that healthier foods cost more and taste bad. Well, that can be true if you are eating broccoli on the plate by its self. Truth be known some smart shopping and creative cooking can make healthy meals equal to or less than cost of the greasy hamburger and fries.

We are told we should eat so much from each of the major food groups. For healthy lifestyle we should eat spinach, yogurt, tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, black beans, walnuts, and oats everyday. Then there is the major disease fighting foods like; broccoli, pumpkin, blueberries, fish, spinach, and tomatoes.

This year more than any other year in the past we are concerned about after school snacks. This year our daughter will be coming directly home two or three days per week, instead of going to the Boys and Girls Club. This year she will having after school basketball practice, so we need to have some healthy nutritious snack when she gets home.

Regardless of our daughter having a high energy activity she usually heads for the refrigerator when she gets home from school. In fact, she heads for the refrigerator most anytime she comes back from any place. The hard part for us is to keep healthy, nutritious food readily available for her, that she will eat.

School will be starting in a few weeks. Those come home and raid the refrigerator will be more often. Now is the time to start planning and stocking up.

The term Healthy Candy may seem like an oxymoron to some of you. When I first came up with the title I did also. Over the last couple decades there has been a segment within the candy industry to move toward toward their product as a healthy alternative.

There has even been groups outside of the candy industry looking to make healthy snack bars.  These are mostly athletes who want to enhance their performance. These bars have a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates. The name “Energy Bar” has been instead of healthy candy bar.

It was back in the late 1960′s when I was given my first energy bar. On the label was Tiger’s Milk on it. I was told it would give me more energy with a combinations of 16 vitamins and minerals. Quite a few years later, I had a PowerBar. Then in the late 1990′s, was when I started seeing other energy bars on the shelves of GNC. Now there are more than a dozen different brands that make claim to being healthy candy or energy bars. The top six energy bars are Clif, Balance Bar, Promax, and Larabar.

Summer has pasted the half way mark. If you have not planned and booked your vacation, you will be more than likely be paying more than you should.

If you are looking ahead toward making reservations for Thanksgiving, and Christmas travel, this is the time of the year to do it. I personally prefer not to fight the crowds during the end of the year holidays. There will always be a delay of some sort. Hotel rates will be at a premium.

If you don’t have children in school you may think about taking a vacation between September and November. The weather is still warm. Most vacation spots will have openings, at a slightly less end of the year rate. This is a great time to look at booking a fall reservation at some nice out of the way spot.

The popular cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, from Nickelodeon network has inspired the post for today. The signature sandwich at SpongeBob’s place of employment is the Krabby Paddy. The secret recipe of the famed Krabby Patty has been the plot to many of the cartoons episodes. I am not going to try to reverse engineer the recipe. I am going to look at what it would cost use to make a delicious Krabby Paddy of our own.

I know from watching a few episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, the Krabby Paddy recipe is a secret. When I look at pictures of the famed patty I do see it has a bun on top and below lettuce, cheese, tomato, along with some kind of meat. What is the main ingredient of the meat?

Logic only dictates that Mr Krab would not use crab meat in the Krabby Paddy. Otherwise that would mean he would be profiting from other sea creatures eating his own kind. Of course I have not seen any other crabs in he cartoon? I am told that the evil character Plankton’s species is the meat ingredient in the Krabby Patty.

In the past week every other car commercial on the television has been about the Toyota Venza. Talk about media blitz. I am starting to dream Toyota Venza. Okay Toyota, I got your message. I am going to take a hard look at the Venza, this week.

The Toyota Venza is a midsize crossover SUV based on the Toyota Camry. It was first released in the 2009 model year. The Venza was originally classified as a SUV. When I look at it, I seen a large mid size car or a station wagon. I do not see a SUV.

The Venza has four trims they are distinguished between the size of the engine and the number of wheels used to move the car along the road. The front with drive model comes in either a 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder. The all wheel model alternates between the same two engine sizes.

It was just last week was the first time I had visited OverStock.com in quite some time. The first thing I noticed was there was some changes made. I quickly made note to myself that I wanted to come back and spend some time.

Did you know that OverStock.com was started in 1999 by a  Dr. Patrick M. Byrne. He recognized the potential in liquidating excess inventory through this relativity new media called the Internet. He had the idea of offering a wide range of products at bargain prices of closeout merchandise.

Shortly after their launch there was these neat clean television commercials about OverStock.com. After 10 years of success there are still going strong. The commercials still have the white, clean not nonsense approach to bring visitors to there website, as portrayed in their 10 year commercial.

Remember the tale of Gulliver’s Travels? It was written back in 1726. Since the 1900′s it has been the subject matter of several movies, television shows and a cartoons. Most recently a movie staring Jack Black.

That I thought so interesting how the character Gulliver would go from being the larger than life to smaller than life. In the process he learns to survive.

There has been a few times I have notice a grocery store have new shopping carts. These shopping carts were smaller then the old ones from the week before. Not a real big difference just a small enough to where not to may people would notice.