Menu Planning

I'm going to spend the next couple weeks drawing a picture about how we afford to feed our family of 5 on a budget. My budget is 150$ a week for food. I also spend $4 a week on 1 gallon of raw milk, and $30 a month on our nature box. I am going to spend this week walking you through menu planning, what we buy, and each day I will post a menu of food that we eat. Also keep in mind that my boys eat lunch Monday through Friday at school currently. I am excited to show how we do what we do in hopes that it will help any of you trying to eat healthy, do so on a budget. Typically, in a week,  I make a baked good (i.e. bread, muffins, or "cookies") a homemade snack (i.e. granola bars, power balls, fruit roll ups, or crackers), a soup, s salad, a pizza, a pasta dish, a veggie burger, and something new for dinner on a weekly basis. This helps me provide variety in our nightly meals.

MENU PLANNING.


I have a system in place that works very well for my family. I currently am on a 6 week cycle of pre-made meal plans. (when I get board I make up a new menu, preint it out, and send it through the laminator. Pretty simple. I have a list of meals and baked goods for the week as well as a shopping list including staple items. This list includes anything and everything that the specific recipes call for. Each week I grab a laminated plan and the day before I shop, I first go shopping in my house. I cross of with a wet erase marker all items that I already have in our stash. I also add any items that we need. My meal plans focus on dinners mainly because we eat raw primarily  for other meals and snacks. I usually look at the sales fliers for the week and choose produce that is on sale or shop the farmers market when they are open. My Menu plan for this week looks like this....

Meals:

Zucchini Pineapple Bread (whole food binder p191)

Granola Bar

Onion and Veggie soup

Vegetable Lo Mein (Vegetarian Family Cookbook p104)

Mushroom Burgers with Sweet Potato fries(Happy Herbivore p89)

Chick Pea Strawberry Mango salad (Peas and Thank you p59)

Pizza

 

Shopping list:

8C Romaine Lettuce

14 oz Chickpeas

1 Mango

2 C Strawberries

1/2C dried cranberries

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4c Fresh Mint

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

3 Tbls Lemon Juice

3 Tbls Apple Cider Vinegar

1/3c Agave or pure maple syrup

Cinnamon

Ground Ginger

Sunflower oil

Hamburger buns

8oz cremini mushrooms

15 oz kidney or pinto beans

Braggs Amino

3 sweet potatoes

Linguini

8oz pre-shredded coleslaw mix

1 1/2 C mushrooms

1C snow peas

Scallions

Whole wheat pastry flour

Baking soda

Baking powder

Nutmeg

Allspice

1egg

Pineapple

2 Zucchini

1.2C raisins

I make these by checking out my cook books, recipes I have made up and pinterest, note that the sources are noted with page numbers for easy reference.

So I first search my kitchen and see what I already have and cross those items off. Then I take my laminated sheet and head to the store. Tomorrow I will show you what I get in a typical week.

30 day juice cleanse

Tomorrow I'm starting a 30 day juice cleanse. WHY? Because I want to reset my mind, my body, and my habits. I want to prove to myself that I have strengths I didn't know I held. I want to feel what feeling good really is. I don't want to hear my breathing anymore when I get to the top of the stairs. I want to get fit and be healthy. I want to live healthy for the rest of my life and this is the first step.
I am my children's teacher. The one and most powerful role model of their lives. I need to be all I can be to show them that the world is in their hands. They control their destination. To do that, I need to be at my best. I need to live my best, but first I need to find that person within me. I need to find her underneath all the bad choices and bad fuel I have put in my body. The next 30 days will not be the end of this journey but merely the beginning. I am setting the stage, writing the dedication page of my story if you will. I cannot wait to feel the success of this journey and to live within it for the rest of my life. I am excited and encouraged by all of those inspired by me. I am doing this for myself and only for myself but with the strength of all those who feel empowered by me. I am stronger then I know, stronger then I sometimes believe and I can and will do this. I have no doubt. I have succeeded in a beautiful diet for the last 3 weeks and feel better then I ever have. I have lost 11 pounds and my entire family has changed for the better throughout this transition. We can be better though because I can be better, I will see you in 30 days looking and feeling much different then I do today. I would be extremely happy with myself after 30 days loosing no weight and defeating this huge task however my goal is 30lbs in 30 days and I believe it is possible. I have the will power and the strength to do this.

Benifits I wasn't expecting

We are on our 4th week of feeding for Fuel. My children have adjusted incredibly! I thought this was going to be a constant battle. But, they are amazing and loving the new food we are making. This is not the only surprise I have stumbled upon.

Eczema
 My children have battled with severe eczema since birth. Guess what in less then a week it has completely disappeared. That is right, it's GONE! only the scares remain!

Sleeping
One of  my 3 year olds has had very restless nights over the past year. Usually waking up once before we went to be and usually tried to sneak into our room at least once or twice after we had fallen asleep. I am proud to say all kiddos are sleeping beautifully through the night now and instead of waking up bright and early they are getting up about an hour later then the usual.

Weight Loss
I knew I'd loose weight. How could I not? But, I've been very overweight all of my life. I have tried every diet out there. They work slowly but surely but I'm hungry and craving every food I can't have under the sun. Not anymore. This isn't hard. I still crave things but I can make a substitute for almost anything and the way I feel now is incredible. I didn't expect loosing weight to be this fun, exciting, and energizing. I didn't expect to love my food. I didn't expect to feel healthier then I ever have in my life. I didn't expect the pounds to fall off this quickly and effortlessly. I can't imagine what is going to happen when I start working out!

Bonding
I didn't realize that my children and I would bond so much during these changes. We are spending quality time in the kitchen together. They love helping to prepare our meals and they love the free range of fruits and veggies throughout the day. We laugh all the time together when preparing our meals. I never used to let them help with dinner because I was slaving over a hot stove and didn't want them to get burned. They have helped with almost every recipe we have made and look forward to the next. They have learned to use many new tools in the kitchen and are so proud. These are becoming my favorite moments with them. We are having so much fun.

Pain Relief
I had no idea in such a short time my life could change. I suffer from chronic carpal tunnel and a degenerative back disease that haunted every movement I made. Keeping me awake most nights and bringing me to pain often. I can say with a huge smile on my face that I have not felt an ounce of pain in my hands and wrists since starting this vegan diet and my back pain has decreased significantly.

Patience
I have struggled with patience in my life as a busy mom of 3 and I am finding an unbelievable amount of patience at this point. Eating better makes me a better Mother in so many ways but this alone makes all of this worth it.

Energy
I seem to have an endless supply of energy these days. The other day I actually had the urge to go for a run. Now, I can honestly say that in all of my 29 years this has never happened. In fact I was the girl that had my mom write a note so I didn't have to run the mile in High school. Not anymore. Physical fitness is going to fit beautifully into our new life as leaf eaters! I almost never sit down to watch TV anymore, I have energy to do all the things I never used to. I am like the energizer bunny. Now if I could just use some of that energy to clean my house we would be doing great lol!

I could probably go on for a few more hours but I'll stop there. I'm excited. I honestly believe there is not turning back for us. Why would I change anything that didn't make me feel this good. I want to spend the rest of my life on this high. If all of this can change in less then a month I can only imagine what I will have to tell you in a year from now.

What benefits have you been surprised by on your road to health.