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.