On the table: Planning Ahead

Let's talk about food and family for a second (okay, more than a second). We live in a convenience-society and a fast food nation. Our idea of preparing ahead of time for dinner is downloading the Domino's Pizza app on our iPhones or figuring out which restaurant we're going to eat at.  We are constantly bombarded with images of great looking food (that rarely looks that good in person, and certainly doesn't taste as good as it appears) and tempted by tricky labeling (All Natural! Low Fat! Sugar Free! Organic!).

I'm in one of those stages of life where there's been a lot of go-go-go, and I haven't been smart about preparing ahead.  It's also a stage of life where I'm pretty darn exhausted (hello, five children!) and sometimes don't have the brains or the energy to slave over a stove.

When I go grocery shopping, I avoid certain foods because I know they are unhealthy, and I don't want to put that into my family's bodies, but then, a couple days later, I am wishing I would have grabbed that frozen pizza because it may not have been healthy but neither were the tacos we just scarfed down from Taco Bell (and the frozen pizza would have been cheaper).

I am recognizing that with all I have on my plate (no pun intended), I really need to have a plan. I have made meal plans and such before, but they never quite worked out because I would have a day or two where I felt really weary (and lazy) and didn't want to put forth all that effort.  Then veggies and food would go bad, and I would have wasted lot of money and.. bleh.

I see that, especially in this season of our life, I need to be super-duper prepared.  I need to have food I can just grab and go- throw in a lunch box before heading out the door or quickly put together when we get home after an exhausting day. I don't want to sacrifice nutrition just because we are busy.  In fact, I need that nutrition even more!

I realized the problem with my meal plans was that I did not allow for quick and simple meals beyond a peanut butter banana sandwich, so, a couple weeks ago, I decided to give meal plans a try again.

In an effort to eat more real food, less processed crud I am trying to make more foods from scratch.  I enjoy cooking and baking, but, like everyone, I have those down days.  And, like everyone, sometimes I just don't have time to make tortillas or bread from scratch.

But wait, actually I do.  IF I plan ahead.

A month or two before I give birth, I usually start cooking (and baking) up a storm so I can have a freezer full of food to rely on after the baby is born. I know this is nothing new to most of you, but I often forget that I can use my freezer to my benefit in this area.  So, when I have time and energy, I can make a large batch of muffins, pancakes, and breads to enjoy later.  (I have a bread maker, which means I really have no reason not to make my own fresh, healthy bread.)

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on store-bought breads and such?  It's pretty gross.  I mean, the list on the package of flour tortillas I picked up the other day had me wondering why something that only takes three or four ingredients had a list of at least twenty (most of which I could hardly pronounce).  This is one of the main reasons why I like making my own sandwich bread and tortillas.

While I was raised on mostly whole, real foods, I took a rebellious turn when I left my parents' home.... mostly because I didn't know how to cook (but I could bake brownies, cakes, and cookies!). It really didn't occur to me that junk food was not just stuff that had loads of sugar.  I didn't realize that most of the food on grocer's shelves were bad for me.  I thought food was food, and I didn't think it really mattered what I ate. I didn't know about GMOs and whatnot. Of course my mom talked about eating healthy food and would tell us what was healthy and what was not, but I didn't understand the true impact of unhealthy products upon our bodies.

Only in the last 4 or 5 years have I finally began to get a clue about food, and even then I still often make poor food choices simply because I am tired and am not prepared.

Looking back on my childhood food experience, I can see that my mom really worked hard to put nutritious food on the table.  (All my friends knew that you didn't come to my house for snacks like Fruit Roll-ups or Cheetos. They knew my mom was a "health nut".)  I am really grateful that she gave my growing body that healthy foundation.

I want to give my children that same healthy food foundation as well as the knowledge and understanding that goes with it.  So, while I'm learning, so are they. When they ask if we can have something, we pick it off the grocery shelf (or look it up online) and examine the ingredients.  They have come to understand what certain ingredients are, and we've researched various ingredients (especially icky stuff like aspartame!) so they know the adverse effects they can have on the body.

I really struggle with eating whole, real foods because I really enjoy sweets. I would much rather have a whole, real food meal, but then I want to finish it off with a big bowl of Bluebell ice cream with Reese's Pieces and Butterfinger crumbles mixed in. I'm not big on Hamburger Helper or Mac & Cheese mixes, but, by-golly, I sure enjoy chocolate by the (double) handful.

I am having to train myself to reach for a sweet apple or banana instead of junk food sweets. I feel like I need to write myself a note and put it on the fridge. That note should say, "EAT AN APPLE, WOMAN," so I don't forget.  Because, hey, aren't fruits and vegetables the original fast food?

Anyway, last week's menu plan did not go as well as I had hoped, mainly because my husband's work schedule has been all funky and so it threw our meals out of wack, plus he's been working on a friend's house and is often not home for meals, or we are all out of the house and starving. On the plus side, I did manage to whip up several healthy dinners even in my exhaustion and even put together a great lunch for a picnic at the park.

So, I've confessed my struggles, figured out (what I hope is) a good solution, and am going to put more effort into planning head.

What do you do to make sure your family has healthy meals for busy days? Are you good at planning ahead? Do you make a meal plan and stick to it? Do you struggle with all of this like I do?

Healthy or not?

Update:

So, I found out I don't have any problems with gluten.  Ah, thank goodness, right?  That's great because I love bread and making gluten-free bread seems like it takes a lot more effort, maybe because I'm not used to it?

In our homeschooling today, we focused a lot of healthy foods.  I pulled out some old magazines and had the kids go to town snipping out pictures of different kinds of foods.  Then they sorted through them making a stack of "horrible", "okay every now and then", and "super healthy".

We looked all sorts of foods on the internet by entering "health benefits of _____" (strawberries, pineapples, almonds, etc) in Google, or checking out the ingredient list of different boxes products.  The kids quickly realized that just because the box says it's a "good source of 5 essential vitamins and minerals" doesn't mean it's healthy!  And, the ad may have pictures of fresh fruit or vegetables surrounding the product, but that doesn't mean it's actually nutritious. 

It's really disappointing to see how we are being manipulated into buying certain products. If you take a glance at a can or box of prepackaged food, you may be fooled into believing it's good for you, especially if you see things like "NO MSG!" or "GLUTEN FREE!".  Maybe it states, "NATURAL!" or "Good source of ____!"   Many products now boast they have a "full serving of vegetables".  They don't want you to look on the side of the box where they list the ingredients, where some form of sugar falls first or second in line followed by all sorts of weird ingredients, food dyes, and artificial "tastiness".

One thing I taught my children several years ago was that "if God grew it, it's good" meaning if it's raw and man hasn't messed with it yet it's healthy for you.  Of course, I've had to explain how even raw fruits and vegetables can be unhealthy because of pesticides and chemicals, but we've also discussed how they're still healthier than processed junk. (Obviously I'm not encouraging my children to go chew on some poison ivy or the grass in the backyard. So don't hear what I'm not saying here!)

We've talked a lot about food dyes, artificial flavorings, etc in the past, so they seem to have a good understanding of what is in food.  They almost always go grocery shopping with me, so we often pull out a box or can of food and inspect the ingredient label. 

Today we solidified the lesson that raw, fresh fruits and vegetables, seeds, and nuts are great for you. One thing we found every one of these foods had in common was that they are cancer preventatives and cancer fighters. I truly believe that one of the reasons why we see and hear of more people having cancer (and seeing more aggressive forms of cancers pop up) is because our diets are robbed of good nutrition. 

I truly believe that we need to educate ourselves and our children on what is truly healthy and what is not.  That isn't to say that you can't have a little diet splurge here and there (I totally love Shipley's Donuts and McDonald's fries), but we need to learn that these things aren't good for us... not even in "moderation".  See, people throw that word around. "It's okay to have this, as long as it's in moderation."  What is your definition of moderation?  Three times a day? Once a day?  Once a week? Once a month? Once every few months? Once a year?  And, if we say it's okay to have this group of things in moderation, does that mean I can have donuts for breakfast and Oreos for dessert on Monday, a stack of chocolate chip cookies and a big glug soda for snack on Tuesday, McDonald's on Wednesday, sugary cereal for breakfast and a Sonic slushy along with chili cheese fries on Thursday, followed by a few Taco Bell tacos for dinner and a handful of M&Ms on Friday?  I could legitimately say that I'm having each of those things in "moderation"!

I think one of the problems we have in society today is that we don't know what it is to sit down at the table as a family.  We're in a rush, and we rush here and rush there and rush to put a meal together, and ......  Well, you know how that goes. We've all been there! When I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with Evangeline, we moved to a different house.  Because of all the packing, moving, unpacking, etc... we ate a lot of to-go food.  And, we didn't really make great choices. We had a lot of nuggets, burgers, fries, and other junk for about two weeks.  One day, I told my husband, "I am so sick of this food. I feel like poo, and all I really want is a really big salad."  

I think we so often feel like when we're in a hurry, we don't have many options.  Maybe it's because the most obvious in-our-face options are the unhealthy ones.  They're the ones that draw us in.  However, I've found I can have a great, healthy salad or sandwich at Jason's Deli.  I can even get one to-go in a small amount of time.  Or, I can run in the grocery store and grab fixings for sandwiches and salads for much less, which would only take me about 5 minutes, rather than go through a drive-thru for burgers and fries.

Panera Bread, Corner Bakery Cafe, and  are all great health-food option.  If you can stop in for a sandwich, soup, or salad.  Also, I have noticed more and more grocery stores selling premade organic soups!

Chipotle and other healthy "burrito" joints are popping up everywhere.  Also, I am finding more raw food smoothie places around town.  Fruit smoothies, green smoothies, etc are more filling than you think, and you won't have that icky greasy-food hangover later.  You can also buy these in the grocery store (we love the brands Odwalla and Bolthouse Farms).... or make them at home, of course. My parents make fruit smoothies at home and freeze extras in portion sizes. My dad thaws them out the night before so he has one to drink on his way to work. Smart, right?

If you're trying to teach your children about healthy foods, I recommend going through old magazines, or even your own pantry.  Look up foods on the internet and explain why something is or isn't healthy. I really felt like we had a fruitful conversation today (pun not intended).  It's good to have these discussions often, not only to remind your children, but to remind yourself.

Here's a photo of me talking to the kiddos about why this picture has a lot of healthy goodness in it! We learned so much about the power of mint, pineapple, and strawberries!  (Apparently, I need to go get a good dose of Vitamin D by sitting out in the sun. Boy, am I pale! I feel there needs to be a disclaimer here: Person in picture is darker than appears.)

So, tell me about how you've taught your children about healthy foods (or how you plan to in the future)! 

Sling it, kid & hair for the garden

Sunday, Keagan fractured his arm (it's basically a hairline crack).  He needed a sling, and not one single store in our area had them in kid-size. After hitting up a series of stores with no luck, Keagan and I returned home with a mission.  We were going to make one ourselves!  Why didn't I think of that in the first place?

We used some camouflage fabric from a hand-me-down shirt to create this cute mini-sling.  The soft, worn t-shirt material makes it comfortable and breathable.  Perfect fit for this little boy!

Of course, having a "bum arm" hasn't slowed him down any.  He's still on the go!

Speaking of my little Keagan, as you can see, he got a major haircut! While I miss his wispy locks, I love his short hair.  (I'm a little torn- I really loved his long hair! He looks so grown up now, which is cute, but... eep! What happened to my baby?)

A while back, we learned that human hair is great for keeping certain bugs from nibbling at your garden! So, after his haircut, he got to sprinkle the trimmings throughout our plant beds!  Talk about making the most of what you've got!

They've been anticipating this....

The kids have eagerly anticipated this day. We've saved containers to start our seedlings, and today, we were able to begin our little garden.



Brandon began by explaining how it worked. I'm not sure anyone was listening, since they couldn't wait to poke their sticky little hands into the dirt. 


Chip looks on as the group talks about seeds.


Merikalyn refills old water bottles for the project while Alexis, Nolyn, and Keagan check out all the different seeds.


Alexis uses a measuring cup to distribute the soil.  Later, we head/palm ourselves for using Miracle Gro. We've had the bag for a while and didn't think to purchase something organic. We still have many more seeds, so we'll be picking up a bag of something else.


Keagan loves getting a chance to dish out the dirt.





Tara and Nolyn watch on.  Slow going when everyone has to have a turn!


Evidence Mandy was there (snapping mobile photos, of course).



The kids have really been enjoying the outdoors.  They're excited about the future, and I'm glad we're taking the steps to get them involved.  I feel so connected to my ancestors when there are seeds in my hands and dirt under my fingernails.

It is my hope, when we finally do step foot on acreage that is our own, our children won't be completely shocked by the culture change.