Thursday, June 30, 2011

True Confessions

I've been avoiding my blog.  I've been avoiding it because I don't want to think about food, or the grocery store. 

I started out really excited about some things that were going on, and some decisions I had made, but I've gotten discouraged. Turns out the meals in Eat Fat, Lose Fat are just too expensive to make. Turns out eating a tablespoon of coconut oil an our before I eat a meal makes my stomach feel heavy, but not full. Turns out it's really hard to find time to work out and run, even on a treadmill, with a 2 year old who is into EVERYTHING and can no longer be contained by a pack'n'play. So,even though I didn't want to give up,  I did--until I could think up a new plan.

I've been winging it in the kitchen. I get very overwhelmed at the thought of preparing dinne,r or any meal for that matter, because nothing in my pantry seems to go together. I had thought I would get together a list of 21 healthy, nutrient dense meals that would work in our budget; and have a rotating 3 week schedule so I would always know what to buy. HA! All I came up with were soups from my sister, most of which sounded delicious, but required somewhat exotic ingredients that I did not have in my pantry, and which I did not have room to store in my bitty, side-by-side, counter-depth freezer once they were made. Not to mention the fact that my husband does not consider soup a meal without a sandwich. *note that somewhat exotic ingredients nowadays includes ground beef and stew meat and almost anything that is not regularly on B1G1 sales at Publix and Bilo. So, I went back to letting Nathan do his game show shopping and hope I can come up with something to make out of it every night. Right now I am looking at my freezer and pantry. I see boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, 2 tuna steaks, a bag of bay scallops in the freezer; and a whole bunch of spaghetti sauce and crushed tomatoes in the pantry, but no pasta. hmmmm what should I make? See what I mean?
But I have another plan! I WILL conquer this discouragement. And here's how. I read 2 posts at Keeper of the Home this week. Both were on eating healthy on a budget. One included 3 full weeks worth of meals (breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner), recipes included where necessary, that she said could be made on a food stamps budget of $167/week. (I guess that's how much money you get to spend on groceries when you're on Food Stamps-I wouldn't know) Unfortunately I only get $100/week and she didn't soak grains or anything. So that was out. The next day there was another post about making meals ahead so you always have someting ready. Now that was good. She sourced a few different sites where she found recipes. And that is my starting point. I'm not quite there yet, but so far I have decided to make triple batches of a soaked flour pancake batter and freeze them with freezer paper between so they can be thrown in the toaster for breakfasts on weekday mornings, make ahead sausage, egg and cheese biscuits for Nathan to grab in the morning, try my own granola bars for snacks, and attempt again to get a 3 week rotation of meals 2/week in the crock pot.
I also have a new plan for exercising. we have a pretty big walk-in closet, and my treadmill folds up out of the way. So, I'm moving the treadmill in there. Typically no one has been getting up around here until between 7 and 7:30, but you know, good ol' Murphy always comes to visit in times like these. So I'm instituting a rule my little sister thought up. No one is allowed out of their rooms until I turn on the hall light. This way I can set my alarm for 5:30, have 30 minutes for quiet time, 30 min to run on the treadmill/ or do a weight routine and 20-30 more min to get showered and dressed. Then I will be clean and ready to face my munchkins armed with Jesus, and endorphins.
Well, here's hopin'! I'll write again sooner than later. :)
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