My college kids came home last week.  They got flu shots and haircuts and while they were home, we went grocery-shopping.

My oldest son lives in a house and loves to eat out. I know this to be true because he keeps asking for more money. My middle son lives in a fraternity, where dinner is included but he’s on his own for lunches.  He, too, keeps asking for more cash.

While they were home, we settled on a budget and I gave them quick meal ideas.  We headed to Hiller’s in West Bloomfield because I know grocery-shopping can be a daunting task if you do not do it often.

I remember my first shopping trip when I was in college.  I shopped as if I were feeding a family of six. I bought a lot of food and then didn’t know what to do with it!  I decided to treat this as a teachable moment with my sons, my version of Shopping 101.

I usually make a shopping list and take coupons but I didn’t want to overwhelm my kids.  The first thing I wanted them to know was that shopping can be fun.  I know that college students don’t have a lot of time, energy or culinary experience and yet they need easy, fresh, quick and affordable meal ideas.

We bought whole wheat bread and hamburger buns. Sandwiches are easy, for lunch or dinner. We picked pre-packaged deli meats – a great way to keep meat fresh. I chose a flat iron steak for my eldest son – an inexpensive, flavorful cut of meat.  I told him how to prepare it and he nodded in acknowledgement.

We bought fresh prepackaged salads that came with croutons and salad dressing. Tyson makes an individual serving of fresh chopped chicken breast and with a quick warmup in the microwave, you can add it to a salad or mix it with pasta.   Boom! Meal number three!

We bought Hot Pockets for snacks or fast lunched and we felt like we hit the jackpot when we saw that Stouffers was on special – six items for $10! We loaded up on chicken parmesan, ravioli, macaroni and cheese, and turkey and mashed potatoes.

One of our favorite items was in the frozen section: Birds Eye makes individual servings of vegetables that you can steam in the original package right in the microwave. That, along with an individual package of microwaveable brown rice, makes for another quick, easy and healthful meal.

Frozen hamburger patties, pizzas, boxes of macaroni and cheese filled our cart along with cereal, chips, cookies, cheese sticks, apples, grapes, Yoplait yogurts and puddings.  My kids were getting excited about the endless food possibilities.

We left Hiller’s with a full cart and a feeling of accomplishment as one of my sons said he has enough food to last until Thanksgiving. Shopping is easy when you know how to do it.  Balancing fresh items with frozen meals and prepackaged salad – and a quick cooking lesson from Mom – college students can eat healthy meals and stay within their budget.

I’m heartened that there’s a Hiller’s in Ann Arbor. When my kids go shopping on their own, I know they will find a good variety of fresh, high-quality items.  My biggest thrill was when my son sent me a text message saying he made the flat iron steak for dinner last night – and it was delicious.  Thanks, Hiller’s, for making Shopping 101 a fun and learning experience for us all.

I love yoga.  It is my new favorite form of exercise.  I get a good workout and I find peace of mind on the mat for 75 minutes at least 5 days a week.  I focus on balance and concentration.  It helps me look within and figure things out. It is time well spent for development of a healthier mind and a healthier body.

And it was because of my newfound dedication to yoga, and a recent retreat I attended, that I started to think about what I eat. The teachers at my yoga studio encourage looking at what we eat in relation to how we care for all beings; they promote a vegan diet, so I decided to give it a try for 30 days.

I didn’t eat a lot of meat before this anyway, but I did add grilled fish or chicken to my salads. Frankly, I always thought of salad as boring unless I spiced it up with fish or chicken.  Now, I needed to learn different ways to make salads interesting and also filling enough for a full meal.

Since I shop at Hiller’s, it wasn’t hard. The selection of fresh fruits at Hiller’s encouraged me to add color and flavor to salads. Now, I buy more fruit – apples, pineapple, bananas, pears, fresh figs.  Dried fruits, too, like cherries, cranberries, dates and also unsalted mixed nuts.

I like olives and beets.  Black olives are good for the heart and beets are a blood cleanser. I’ve thought about adding carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, even onions. And at Hiller’s, there is such a nice variety of cheeses and seeds to sprinkle on my salads. I like golden raw flax seeds (good for hair!). With all that on my plate over a few baby spinach leaves, I don’t need salad dressing – a bit of honey mustard and wow, what a meal.

The only problem is that when I add even the littlest bit of each of these ingredients, I end up with a very big salad.  It fills my plate.  So, I am learning how some things go better with others, mixing and matching to make my salad colorful, tasty and fulfilling.  I cut fresh figs in half and place an almond in the middle to make it beautiful.  With a hot cup of light soy milk, it is a wholesome meal.

I didn’t have any major problem being vegan for 30 days, but I did miss a nice omelet in the morning sometimes.

So now, I enjoy my omelets some days, though my breakfast is usually a cup of tea and a small bowl of whole grain cereal.  I eat salads in the afternoon and for supper.  I sometimes add grilled salmon to my salad when I eat out, which is not a lot.  Overall, I am more aware of what I put on my plate now, and in my body. I still drink soy milk.  I like it better and it’s good for skin, too.

I am a mother of two wonderful boys, a business woman, a runner, a yoga fanatic and a writer who loves life and want to enjoy living it.  I am learning that I am happy as long as I keep improving and being kind to myself and the environment.  Hiller’s make it easy to do all of this and more.

Yep, I give in to “legal stimulants.” It may even be an addiction! Indeed, I am sipping my drug of choice as I write this: a dark, hot espresso poured slowly into a tiny lusterware cup I bought at an antique shop.

Since I have an espresso maker at home, it’s easy to brew a rich cup of joe. It’s not one of those gorgeous, brushed metal units that I lust after at high-end culinary stores, but it’s a real, pump-drive espresso maker. I bought it when I was pregnant with my son … when I gave up my legal “drug of choice” (wine) but was allowed by my doctor to sip the occasional cup of coffee.

These days, I’m so busy that I never have time to brew—or drink—a full pot of coffee, so a quick “shot” of espresso is a great option.  In these tough times, making myself a silky cappuccino is an affordable luxury – a decadent treat that helps me feel less deprived.

In fact, my regular coffee-maker now sits on a high shelf in my laundry room, next to my deep fryer. That’s my appliance “retirement” shelf; the place I stow rarely used items for which I retain a certain fondness. As I write this, I can’t quite relegate it to the appliance “graveyard” – a large metal shelving unit in my basement that holds 3 ice cream makers, a fondue pot, an old toaster oven and some “Made in Taiwan” chopping device that never really worked properly.

I’m sitting at my breakfast table planning tonight’s dinner. Saturday is the one day of the week I always have time to cook a great meal and I look forward to a leisurely stroll around the supermarket to find what’s fresh and beautiful for dinner.

Ah…there’s nothing like the dark bite of a good espresso on a cool, fall morning.