We’ve been slowing changing our shopping, cooking, and eating habits to be more healthy. We are trying to eat more real (not processed) foods, so that involves a little more footwork when it comes to both shopping and preparation.
I really believe that it is worth it for our family’s health! While it does take more time to prepare real foods from scratch, everything tastes so much better and I am willing to devote that time to my family. I really do feel better when I am eating real foods!
Real foods seem more expensive at the onset, but I am realizing that as I cut out more convenience foods (frozen meals, canned soups, etc.) and junk foods (ice cream, chips, etc.), I can still afford to stay within my grocery budget (which is $50/week, by the way).
 |
| making turkey stock after Thanksgiving |
Here are a few of the ways we have recently shifted to more real foods:
-switched from white rice to brown rice (not a huge deal, except brown rice takes longer to cook)
-switched from store-bought whole wheat bread to homemade bread made with freshly ground wheat flour
-in the process* of switching out all of our white flour with freshly ground whole wheat flour
-in the process* of switching from regular pasta to whole wheat pasta (there is a cost difference, but we’re making it work)
-in the process* of switching from flour tortillas to whole wheat tortillas (they actually taste better, but they also cost more)
-I switched from coffee to tea in the mornings when I just want something warm to drink 🙂
-switched from sugar to honey in my tea (if I sweeten it at all)
-switched Tad from sugar in his coffee to organic evaporated cane juice (still not the best, but better!)
-switched from oatmeal sweetened with brown sugar to oatmeal lightly sweetened (if at all) with honey or pure maple syrup
-switched from pancake syrup to pure maple syrup (yes, expensive – but we eat less of it and it’s a treat)
-in the process* of switching to all-natural sweeteners for everything (sucanat, honey, and pure maple syrup instead of white or brown sugar)
-switched from highly processed hot chocolate mix to homemade hot chocolate
-switched from table salt to sea salt
*by “in the process” I mean we are still eating the rest of what was already in our pantry so no food goes to waste
 |
| whole wheat waffles |
Things we were already doing:
-drinking water at all meals
-reading ingredient labels when we shopped
-rarely eating fast food
-drinking whole milk most of the time
-using butter (never margarine)
-buying blocks of cheese and grating it ourselves
-eating oatmeal made with just oats (instead of those little packets)
-making most foods from scratch (spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, pizza crust, mashed potatoes, hummus, cornbread, waffles, macaroni and cheese, etc.)
-making our own spice blends (taco seasoning, chili seasoning, meat rubs, etc.)
-rarely eating chips (with the exception of our favorite organic blue corn tortilla chips)
-only eating lunchmeat (on the rare occasion we do buy it) without nitrates
-eating fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned
-avoiding high fructose corn syrup
-avoiding soy as much as possible
-using olive oil most of the time
-not drinking soda
-making popcorn in a brown paper bag in the microwave instead of buying microwave popcorn
-making our own chicken stock
-buying wild caught fish (Alaskan salmon is our favorite)
 |
| salmon cakes (Jamie Oliver’s recipe) |
Things I would like to still do:
-adapt our favorite dessert recipes to use natural sweeteners and whole wheat flour
-soak and cook my own beans (I currently use canned – rinsed, of course)
-buy more local produce
-buy more local farm eggs
-buy local farm-raised chicken and beef (this will require saving up some money!)
-experiment with different grains (barley, spelt, millet, etc.)
-make my own salad dressings (trying this this week!)
-completely cut out canola oil
-use more coconut oil (and also try sesame oil)
-switch to organic popcorn
-make homemade applesauce (it’s not hard – I just haven’t done it yet!)
-make my own peanut/almond butter (apparently you can do make in a food processor)
We’re definitely not perfect in our eating habits by any means, and we certainly do not aim to be legalistic. Nothing about the way we eat is earning us “more favor” with God or gives us any license to act like we are superior to anyone else around us. We have just personally been led to make some of these choices for our family, and we understand that the way we do things may not be how everyone else does them!
What baby steps are you taking in your family towards more healthy eating?
A lot of the inspiration for this post came from Modern Alternative Mama and 100 Days of Real Food.
You know you can make flour tortilla’s with whole grain 😉 – you should try to get a flour tortilla maker for review. Breadbeckers sells them.
Also sucanat w/ honey aka honey granuals is awesome for coffee. Travis has been using the pure sucanat for a few weeks now but when I bought the honey granuals he preferred it and has been using that since. It also works better than sucanat for icing type stuff… since the sucanat is so dark 🙂 – but the taste is pretty similar.
Whole Grain Pasta is one of those things you could totally stock up on via couponing! Ask Angela to email you when that is on sale, since she keeps up with it. Our neighbor Jessie is a coupon mom and she got us seriously enough Pasta to last for months, and its all whole grain!! she paid .12 cents a box. 🙂
Also with Salt, you should look into RAW salt, its even better than sea salt. Its the most natural state of salt. Unbleached. Its awesome!! Its all we use now.. although sometimes I use sea salt or kosher salt on baked potatoes.
I buy our Organic Coconut oil on amazon too. Its a lot cheaper and taste better than walmart coconut oil. I think I emailed you the link? On occasion they sell it 2 for 1 on amazon too 🙂 Which is what I wait for.
Not sure if that helps any 🙂
I love eating healthy!!
One thing we financially budgeted for recently is RAW milk. I was on the fence at 1st but the more research we do, the more we feel a peace abt it. OUR KIDS LOVE IT. We right now buy 3 gallons per week. That BARELY last us… Its $7.00 a gallon… But we also buy no store snacks any more, except maybe granola bars (for traveling spoilers) – we also buy no more juice (our neighbor jessie brings coupon free juice over on occasion tho, so thats a treat for the kiddos) – I try to find our meat on sale, although if you do shop organic meats, that is easier said than done 😉 – I got some organic chicken the other day fairly cheap on sale… but it was only enough for 1 meal.. Also buying bulk has saved us a lot… sucanat in bulk here is actually cheaper than reg. sugar! I can get 5lbs for 8.50! vs. white sugar cost $3.05 here per lb.
any who, im talking to much, I should of just emailed you!! ;-D
Bread beckers cook book btw has some recipes for home made syrups and stuff. Let me know if you want me to pick you up one of the books! its a great resource to have.
Love this! I grew up eating really healthy, but of course got away from some of it when we got married…I would really like to get back to that. I still try to get mostly fresh veggies, and stay away from HFCS, and now cutting out sodas, since too much caffeine and sugar sin’t good for a preggo. And as for almond butter, it’s so much better than pb! My mom would put the almonds on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 45 min-an hour at about 200 degrees, until the middles are slightly brown. Then just run them thru a juicer/processor. So yummy, esp with a banana and honey!
Popping your own popcorn in a brown paper bag in the microwave! Wow! I didn’t know that was a possibility. I’ve been using our air popper to pop ours, just because it’s cheaper than microwave packets, and we can season it however we wish. Please share with us how you do it in the microwave.
Also, about cooking your own beans from dried beans, it is very simple and I find it easy to do. Yes, it’s not something you can throw together in 15 min. for a meal during a time crunch, but with a little planning, it’s fine. The best way I’ve found, is if I want some cooked beans for the next day, I prepare them the night before. I rinse them, then put them in a crockpot (I have several sizes, so I can do a small amount in my 1 qt. crockpot), cover them with lots of water, and then turn it on low overnight. When I wake up in the morning, they are soft and the skins starting to burst. I particularly do this when I’m making “refried beans” to put in enchiladas or a taco dish. (For the refried beans taste, I add some chili powder, garlic powder, and salt until it tastes right.)
Here’s the method I use for dried beans when I don’t use the overnight method (this is for making things like Pork ‘n’ Beans). After rinsing and sorting, put the beans in a pot and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 min. Remove from the heat, cover and let them stand for 1 hr. Then, drain and rinse beans. Put the beans back in to pot, cover with plenty of water, bring them to a boil again, and then simmer for 30-40 min. or until desired tenderness. A KEY TO SUCCESS: DO NOT PUT ANY SALT IN WITH THE BEANS UNTIL THEY ARE AS SOFT AS YOU WANT THEM TO BE! If you put salt in the water when you are boiling them to get them soft, they will always be hard. I’ve had that experience, and we cooked and cooked and cooked those beans and they never did get soft.
I could have totally written this post 🙂 Sounds like we are on the same journey!
@Drea
I think Bread Beckers is the only place to get honey granules. I’ve searched for it, and it’s just not available anywhere else. And shipping is expensive 🙁
Sounds like you have been doing great so far! I still feel a little lost when it comes to real foods, but we’ve done a few things too. You should go for the cooking dry beans, I just started doing that and couldn’t believe how easy it was. I soak mine overnight and they turn out great. We also have been drinking lots of tea lately! I’ve never really drank hot tea, but Jeremy suggested it and we love it.
I try and keep our grocery budget around $40 a week and around $50 when I need to buy paper products or laundry detergent. It’s really hard to stay in budget and get real foods! We are eating a lot of fresh produce from Aldi, and a lot of venison, but I just can’t see being able to afford organic meat…but I really wish we could!
I’d love for you to post about how you budget weekly for your groceries and what you are able to buy. That’s an area that I struggle with and want to get better at!
Hope you have a great weekend!