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mamaslearning
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| Posted: April 23 2012 at 7:29am | IP Logged
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So, I find this site very interesting, what do you think? It is beyond my financial reach, but I wonder if there's anything else out there that is free or a much lower cost? I love the idea of spending a month on myself and reordering my life, but I have no motivation to follow through with the plans. It seems the stress of life with little kids overwhelms me and all my good intentions fade behind all the fires I put out everyday.
I've tried for seven years to overhaul our diet, but I keep slipping back into old habits. Shopping is such a chore for me because it seems that every product I pick up I need to have a degree to figure out if it's going to kill my family. If I stick to only fruits, veges, and meat, I still have the same dilemma since I have to figure out what kind of meat, what kind of vegetable, where it was grown, how it was grown, etc. I can't trust anything I see, and I usually just give up and ignore everything! I go into denial mode and start back on a standard boxed and packaged diet (it's much easier to this way!). I also have limited funds and find "healthy" food to be very expensive. I hate feeling like I'm destroying my children's health! Then again, I don't know where to place my trust as to what is good and healthy.
Sorry, this is longer than I expected. If you're still with me, do you have any advice?
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 23 2012 at 8:02am | IP Logged
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With diet, I understand how you feel, believe me! I may be a bit further along in that particular area, but it isn't something that changes over night.
Take baby steps and own them.
So, for instance, own the fact that real food is better. For now, ignore the fact that some "organic" products aren't as great as others, or that contrary to what you always thought, NOW its only acceptable to eat produce in season, or whatever.
Just build the habit of eating the least processed foods.
Once that habit is established, you have favorite recipes and menus for your family that fit, THEN branch out and examine "hmmm, do I want to find an affordable source for grass fed beef or pasture raised chicken..." or "maybe we should start buying organic for things on the 'dirty dozen' list."
BUT NOT UNTIL THEN!!! You WILL be healthier for eating whole foods versus processed whether it is organic or not. And believe me, I am a BIG ADVOCATE of organic, sustainably raised, local, etc... But you cannot make the changes to that overnight if you are used to relying on prepackaged and processed foods. It requires a new skill set and time to discover sources and form relationships. But you can switch to whole foods by simply shopping the perimeter of your regular grocery store, and that's a great first step.
Right after my fourth was born, after a move and difficult pregnancy, I was in a big fat rut regarding food. Some habits were firmly established, so by other people's standards, we were probably eating "healthy," but I had a hard time pulling myself back to where I wanted to be, and meals were very, very ho hum with much more reliance on take-out and convenience items than I had been for years.
I subscribed briefly to The Fresh 20, and it really was a good thing for us for those few months I used it. It was simple to shop for, and the meals came together easily. We ate WELL, and it was low stress for me and gave me a good shot in the arm. (Of course, it sort of fell apart when I was down to eating squash and turkey for the baby  , but that's a 'nother problem!).
Also, a few years ago, when all I had were little ones but I wanted to do organic, I used this company, Door to Door Organics. I was pleased with it, and while it required me to be creative with seasonal items I wasn't used to using, it also meant we were eating a variety of healthy fruits and veggies.
We've also spent a couple of summers as members of a CSA. No fruits as with D2D, but the same idea. I pick up my box, and my challenge comes with creating a menu around the foods rather than deciding what foods to buy and where to buy them.
For much less than the cost of those programs, you could find something like what I have used at different times to help you take some solid baby steps.
__________________
Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 23 2012 at 9:45am | IP Logged
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I agree with Lindsay. First get yourself using whole foods.
You might also want to look into something like Once a Month Cooking. You do a whole lot of prep and cooking at once but then you have meals in the freezer ready to eat.
It doesn't work for me.. I seem to have a very contrary nature. Just because the meals are in the freezer I'll tend to want to have anything else.  So I find it better for me to prep things and freeze uncooked but ready to be pulled out and cooked.. like cutting meat into stripe.. freezing them on a cookie sheet and then putting them into a ziplock bag.. then I can grab however many strips (since they're not frozen into a block) and make stroganoff or stir fry or fajitas etc.
Coming into Summer will be a SUCH a great time to start this. There's so many fruits and veggies available at a reasonable price (there's very few things that I buy over $1/lb.. most will get into my price range eventually at the height of their season.. but grapes, strawberries and asaparagus tend to stay a touch higher.. grapes will get closest.. and then the other two)
I can't worry about organic right now. I have less access and I'm feeding a lot of people.. but at least everyone is learning to eat from whole foods so that organic is just a shopping step rather than a whole family taste change.
I suggest you pop over to Our Lady's Loom Larder and Laundry and post your main meals currently and get some suggestiongs/recipes for making them from whole foods.
We went to a BBQ last night and we made up kabobs.. super simple and yet everyone raved about them.. I carefully cut up some cheap meat (cut against the grain and it'll be more tender) tossed in soy sauce and some oil and let that marinate while I prepped some sweet onion, yellow bell pepper, grape tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini. Then I had several people loading the skewers.. as my 7 year old says "meat, veggie, veggie, meat, veggie, veggie.." 
I also did fruit ones.. apple, pear and canned pineapple chunks.. cooked just starting to get soft and all hot through.. yummy.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: April 23 2012 at 10:05am | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
I can't worry about organic right now. I have less access and I'm feeding a lot of people.. but at least everyone is learning to eat from whole foods so that organic is just a shopping step rather than a whole family taste change.
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This makes so much sense! Thank you!
crunchymom wrote:
So, for instance, own the fact that real food is better. For now, ignore the fact that some "organic" products aren't as great as others, or that contrary to what you always thought, NOW its only acceptable to eat produce in season, or whatever.
Just build the habit of eating the least processed foods. |
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I am so scattered in my approach now, but I think picking one thing to change will be helpful. Right now I won't buy non-organic grapes but I will purchase sugared cereals and other boxed foods. Go figure! All the media hype has my head spinning and I'm so frustrated over it all. I have major guilt, followed by major denial.
We have a local fruit/vege delivery program that I used for awhile but stopped during the winter. We also have a farmer's market up the street, but I never go because of the hassle of taking the four kids (plus I never have cash). I guess I need to rethink the market and plans ways to make it work for our family.
Thanks for the ideas! I'm going to roll them around in my head and come up with our new family food goals. I'll post so that you can help me put them into action.
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: April 28 2012 at 8:57am | IP Logged
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I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've started to put together a plan for 30 days of meals. I'm not as bad off as I thought, I just didn't have plans so I would always 'wing it' at the store. So, if I get my pantry stocked with basics then I only need to buy meats and dairy at the store. I can get my produce and fruit at the farmer's market or through a home service in our area.
Whew, I feel a bit better and think I am starting to wrap my head around this approach.
Do you have a monthly meal plan?
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: April 28 2012 at 10:33am | IP Logged
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No, but I'm working on it. I just discovered mealfire, and I'm slowly getting recipes in to make it easier to mix, plan, and make a list.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: April 28 2012 at 10:37am | IP Logged
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Wow Lindsay, that looks awesome! I've been writing everything out today and thinking I was going to have to come up with a spreadsheet in order to calculate my needed items.
I'll have to check into the site you linked before getting my geek on with Excel!  (I LOOOOOOVE excel, just revamped by budget over the past few days!)
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 28 2012 at 12:33pm | IP Logged
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I don't use a meal plan exactly. I use what I call a "pantry system" which means I keep the things I use for most of our meals on hand and I can just decide what I want as I go. This is a thread about stocking a pantry
I probably need to revisit this and revamp the lists.. but I'm swamped for now so I just keep on with my "gut feeling". 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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mamaslearning
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| Posted: April 28 2012 at 3:26pm | IP Logged
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Wow! Thanks for that pantry post. Having a stocked house is an attainable goal I'm going to set for myself. I'll start with a 30 day meal plan and then move on from there. We just got our tax money back, so I have a small fund I can use to stock up for the month. I also have a friend that buys from Azure, and she's offered to help we wade through the process of converting over to bulk purchasing (bulk meaning not just larger sizes but also stocking up for more than one week).
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Lara
DD 11, DS 8, DS 6, DS 4
St. Francis de Sales Homeschool
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Life changers - cleanses, detox, organize
