Men tend to think of desert at the
time of meals by the course and us
girls, tend to think of just having
something easy to grab in the
refrigerator at all times for
in between meals later on. Men
if you now have your own home, and
your very own kitchen, then you
will come to know the wisdom
of how us girls live (smile).

Having snacks and treats in the
house is a much harder task to
accomplish when the VA agency
is ripping you off stone blind
like a thief in the night. Make
no mistake, treat foods are expensive
now and you WILL struggle to pay
at the grocery store to have
any of it at all. Do what you
can to hunt the right stuff down
at your local Food Pantry or
to make your Food Stamps go as
far as they can to include your
snacks and treats.

Either plain or flavored seltzer
water is a must-have in your house
if you are on medication and know
what it's like to wake up from
a sound sleep with your mouth dry
and dying of thirst. Keep selter
water in the refrigerator as it's
the only way to drink it, totally
cold. Seltzer water does NOT work
at room temperature or with ice
cubes. Buy smaller bottles of seltzer
because the large liter size eventually
loses it's fizz quality before you
even finish the bottle. Buy small
6-pack soda sizes and then open
1 bottle at a time and reclose it
as you take a glass at a time of
the water. This cuts down on waste
from losing the Fizz feature of
the seltzer.

In the world of canned fruit, keep
as much on hand as you can afford
but there are some tips on that
too. Dole has come out with a new
premium brand of peaches and pineapples
which are just wonderful. Here is
the LINK so you can see what the photo
is of the product. These are sliced
peaches and pineapples in a plastic
see-thru jar:

www.dole.com/Products/Products_Detail.jsp?CatGroupID=5&ID=223

After you have had this selection of
canned peaches, you will never go
back to any other kind. They are
minimally processed and taste as
fresh as if they were made an hour
ago. Keep these cold in the refrigerator
at all times and eat half a jar at
a time if you can. These are great
for 2:00 a.m. in the morning when
you are wanting something with
flavor and nothing else is appealing.
Expect to pay between $2.60 to $3.00
a jar but you will totally enjoy
after you try these and see how
much different they are from regular
canned fruit.

Canned mandarine oranges are also a
good choice for variety and Dole
makes those too.

Cereal is something else you might
be able to get at the Food Pantry
while the VA is trashing your disability
case every which way.

Both shredded wheat and cheerios are
making several different flavor options
now in their cereal line and I usually
keep one of each on hand for in between
meals. The maple flavored bite sized
shredded wheats are right full of flavor
and there is a blueberry choice too.
Cheerios also has various flavor combo's
on hand to choose from and when you
want a snack, think of cereal replacing
the craving for cookies. It really
does work to satisfy your cravings
and it's just as quick as a pile of
cookies.

There are chocolate offerings for
cereal now too so try and match up
what you normally get cravings for
when it comes to a cookie break
and then try to retranslate that
into a cereal choice that would
be a good match. There are some
extra crunchy choices out there
too if crunch is what you long
for in the middle of a day when
you are on the go.

Another desert choice might be
the small little pudding cups
which are ready made and you
just throw those in the refrigerator
as well. They come in vanilla,
chocolate, and tapioca and all
of them are good. Yes they are
small for lunch boxes but you
CAN eat 2 of them since it is YOUR
house and man-kitchen. Just by
2 packs of those so you have
enough on hand when you want them.
You can shake a little nutmeg
or cinnamon on the vanilla or
tapioca ones for a little added
something. Those are found in
the "spices" aisle or baking aisle
in major supermarkets or sometimes
franchised drugstores such as
CVS or Rite Aide or Walgreens
etc.

Do what you can to make Food Pantry
choices work for you. Think your
food choices through before you go
out to do selections so you know
exactly what you want without sacrificing
taste or quality. If you can feed yourself
well in spite of all the poverty and
hardship that the VA agency causes
you, then you will feel better about
yourself and the way that you live,
and you will be nourished enough
to take on the fight of a lifetime
to obtain all of your disability
benefits in spite of the VA and
all of their hate-crimes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: McClellanVet,