Warning! Warning! Proceed with caution! I posted a blog last week and now I’m posting again! Do not fall out of your chair! It’s true!
Just thought I’d get that out of the way first! I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt by seeing a new blog post so soon after my last one.
So two of my “new” goals that I decided on back in October of 2009 was that #1 I need to focus on cutting our grocery budget…drastically. #2 was that I needed to focus on feeding my family healthier. And you know- those two things do NOT go hand in hand. Organic foods are more expensive! So I didn’t really know how I was going to accomplish these two goals at the same time. But so far, it’s been working. My plan as you can see from my last post is to use coupons for things such as toiletries, paper products, cereal that I consider to be healthy (not so much fruit loops or whatever), and some snacks that I know are not loaded with sugar and/or things that aren’t healthy. So this, over time, will enable me to save money so that I can spend more money on higher quality items like organic meat and dairy.
The first thing I started with technically was switching from milk in the store to buying raw milk. And really, I did this starting in the Summer. But you know what? Since beginning raw milk, our family has NOT gotten sick. At all. Not even with the h1n1 floating around that everyone is so scared about. Not a cold, not a flu. Nothing. AND…the best part? Bryce has almost completely eliminated his need for asthma maintenance medications AND for his resuce inhalors. Hallelujah!! I cannot attribute either of those two things to anything but the raw milk…it’s the only thing that we’ve been doing differently. If you’d like to find out more about raw milk including where to find it go to www.realmilk.com.
Okay…so the second thing that I’ve been working on since October is incorporating whole grains into our diet. I’ve done research: read books, read internet articles, watched Food Inc, etc…and I’m seriously freaked out about the condition of our society…but that’s another blog post. At any rate, I know that as the sole food provider/preparer in this house it is MY job to make the food that comes out of my kitchen as good for you as possible. So I’ve been doing things like gradually replacing the white flour in my recipes for whole wheat, learning to cook with dry beans (much cheaper) and rice. Learning recipes with lentils and black eyed peas and WHEAT BERRIES. If you would have asked me 6 months ago what a wheat berry was, I would not have been able to tell you. I asked for and received for Christmas the Betty Crocker Whole Grains cookbook and I LOVE it. I use it almost every day now. It’s a great transition book if you’re interested. It has been a totally gradual thing. I remember the first time that I altered our homemade pancake recipe. I used half whole wheat and half white flour…all the rest of the ingredients were the same. No one ate them. (kids anyway) The boys complained and the girls wouldn’t touch them. But last Saturday I made pancakes with almost entirely whole wheat flour, flax seeds, honey instead of sugar and coconut oil. The kids (and Josh and I) LOVED them. The girls each ate 2! And the boys didn’t do too bad either. So it takes a while, but we’re getting there. And you know? I feel so much better about feeding that to my kids than I did about giving the pancakes with white sugar, white flour, vegetable oil and topping them with corn syrup. =)
There’s definitely a learning curve to this as well as a taste transition curve. I’ve probably scortched more pots in the last few months than I have in my entire marriage career. But I’m getting it. And it’s SO worth it.
Oh! Two more things I’ll add as a last note on the subject of cutting my grocery bill. First, the bulk food section at Winco has been my friend. Did you know that in the bulk food section they have buckwheat flour and spelt flour and wheat berries? I never knew that. But they do and I have been buying all my rice, beans, lentils, whole grain flours, etc there and it is saving me a TON of money. My last two trips to winco (where I shop for 2 weeks worth of food at a time) has been around $130. For 2 weeks of food for a family of 7! Not bad. And those are with so many whole grain items from the bulk section. (Although this does not include meat- I’m getting organic meat elsewhere.) Second: Meal planning. I’ve been wishy-washy about the whole meal planning thing forever. But I found something that totally works for me. These meal planning worksheets have been super handy to me. I plan 2 weeks at a time and it’s not at all overwhelming like planning/cooking for a month used to be. I save the old ones so I can look back and just repeat things. And the grocery list is right there, so I can just take it to the store with me. It’s been great and works for me and my schedule.
