So, the eating thing? It has been going OK. Pretty well even?
There was like a week or two when we knocked it out of the park. Then there was like a month where between holidays and traveling and general craziness we were eating out like, every night. It was bad. In response, we tried a brief experiment for the month of January where we did not eat out at all (unless it was a special occasion we were invited to, or family was in town. We kind of cheated once when my sister was here. Technically she was family in town, but it was our buck, our choice, totally uncalled for.)
And now things have kind of balanced out. We have a long ways to go, but we are making improvements.
Here is what has been helping us:
- Most meals we try and pick a grain, then pick some veggies, and hopefully do something a little more interesting with it. I can only handle an actual recipe once a week. They are just too much work for me. I much prefer guidance like this from Alyson (scroll through the comments to see how to make this delicious dish that has become a staple for us.) We save money too, when I read a recipe, I feel compelled to get the long list of ingredients, and they add up! It also helps us eat what is in season, if I just cook what we find at the farmer's market instead of trying to find what is in a recipe.
-Not being lazy with simple things. Soaking beans instead of buying canned. Making a batch of pesto (and freezing the extra) instead of buying it made. Making our own flatbread. ( SO EASY!)
-We bought a nice juicer recently, but honestly I feel badly using it, because it takes all the fiber out and increases your sugar intake. Instead I toss a bunch of greens in with our smoothies, and use coconut water instead of almond milk or juice or anything else sweetened. But the juicer is really helpful when we have some veggies getting close to expiring. We waste a lot less with it around!
Above we just have a bit of quinoa with sauteed kale, some garbanzo beans, roasted butternut, and a bit of shaved sheep's milk romano.We eat a lot of quinoa, and a lot of kale.
There is still a lot of work to be done, a lot more of your suggestions to try. I want to keep reducing our packaged food purchases, until we are really living off of bulk items, produce, and a bit of cheese of course. ;)
Oh man, does this make me feel guilty about our terrible lazy diet. Sigh. Must use you as inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are doing way better than we are and you have a BABY to take care of. How is that possible?
ReplyDeleteI'm currently in the process of re-committing to being better. We're good not-eating-out wise. We almost never eat out during the week, although we generally eat out at least once on the weekends. But I'd gotten really bad about getting enough veggies in and we were falling back on sandwiches way too often.
I used to be killer at planning meals and shopping. I took over from my mom when I learned to drive and spent years handling all the food for the family. I was good while D was killing himself in grad school. And then I guess I just wanted a break?
My current baby steps solution is giant bags of prepped produce from Costco or TJs. Yeah, not nearly as environmentally friendly but we are managing to eat vegetables like nobody's business. We do eat meat, but we aim for 3/4 veggies + 1/4 meat, which lets us splurge on more sustainable meat. For some reason I've never been very into grains other than straight up bread, so although I'll eat them and enjoy them in small portions, I don't do much cooking with them. It's kind of a bummer because they are a good filler. Even pasta is not exciting to me, just a nice vehicle for whatever sauce is on it. It sort of makes me wonder if our bodies all have slightly different needs and I just need to start listening to mine more often.
I want to get back to my CSA box routine, but honestly? My time is pretty precious right now and I get stressed by the prep instead of enjoying it the way I used to. I'm giving myself a break.
very inspiring. we are a vegetarian household (with a 4.5 month old) and we make lots of brown rice salads, lentil bolognese (nice over quinoa, or too much?), and homemade pizzas...i'd love to make more grainy/beany things but find it's tough on the little one who is breastfeeding. can't wait till i can eat beans again. one of my faves is fassoulia (white beans and vegies roasted in a rich tomato stew, served with home marinated feta and flatbread)...i can give you the deets (not a recipe!) if you like?
ReplyDeletedo you have a sweet tooth? i've just tried quinoa choc chip cookies!
x
that photo is making me hungry
ReplyDeleteHi Jamie :) I really love doing green smoothies instead of juicing to keep all the fiber. Check out the book Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko - it has all the info and recipes.
ReplyDeleteI also really like cooking from thestonesoup.com. It's all five ingredient recipes. I hated cooking and never cooked until I found her blog.
Hope those help, and happy healthy eating!
So delicious and healthy. The juicer really comes handy every time the expiration is getting closer.
ReplyDelete"Make it simple",as they say. Ingredients are really expensive today, and if you will follow what is on the recipe it will cost you a lot. I believe that there is always a substitute for an ingredient, just like what you are doing. Just to spend less. I call it "improvised recipe"..:D. For practicality reasons. It's hard to earn money. Keep posting.
ReplyDelete