I have been thinking for a long, long time to try to take bigger steps away from eating any processed, man-made foods and only offer real foods to my family. What has scared me away from doing this is not only money, but time and convenience. What would I put in their lunch boxes? What would they eat for snack? Would they really be filled up and satisfied? Would they revolt against me for not having the things they are used to?
As I have shared with you my steps toward better nutrition, my pantry still stays stocked with boxed cereals, pretzels, crackers, regular peanut butter, processed lunch meats and sometimes cookies and ice cream. What if I challenged my family (and myself as well) to go "real foods" for 1 month? What would that look like for me as the cook of the house and for the family as the eaters of the house?
When mentioning this to a friend yesterday, she mentioned a website called 100 Days of Real Food. I checked it out and liked it. I like better her budget friendly menus. Although she does base her budget on a family of 4 eating with $150 a week for all foods consumed, I might have to double that for our crew of 8. After printing off her menu plans and grocery lists, I think it might be something to try. Many of the foods she mentioned, we do already. It would just be a matter of knocking out the convenient, snack foods that we keep on hand.
So I'm just throwing this out there. Check out this web site and see if you'd like to join me in a 1 month challenge to eat real foods starting in November. I am curious if we would feel better, sleep better, have more energy, focus better and feel full with less food. Who's in?
I want to say I am in!!! Like you mentioned, snacks for a couple of my picky ones could be a challenge. As I looked over what we were eating, we are pretty close to all "real foods," except for the cereals, crackers, etc. Thanks for inspiring me! By the way, do you still have your chickens? I haven't seen any chicken stories in a long time. I just got 2 new babies to add to our small flock:)
ReplyDeleteI'm like your friend, I want to say I'm in but I think my family my revolt if I tried to back off of everything at once. I keep thinking my next switch will be from cereal to more wholesome breakfast but that means I have to have other breakfast items on hand. Seems like a lot of work. And what would my hubby do if he didn't have crackers to put in his soup. I want to, but I don't know.
ReplyDeleteWhitney, so glad you're in with me. Keep me posted on how your kids do. I have one who despises any legumes and looking at the menu, I think she might starve some days. We'll see what I can do to help that along. Yes, I need to update on our chickens. I will. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteLorie, take baby steps then. I was wondering with the cracker thing too. She buys Triskets so I got 2 boxes this week. I just need to ration them out. My Man loves them. This a.m. for breakfast we had yogurt with honey, toast with butter and a banana. Seemed to go over well.