Meal Plan Monday January 10th, 2011

Two weeks in a row, I'm on a roll, lol!!

Ok, I didn't do that great with following the plan last week.  I did stick to not running out to buy things for our meals and I tried very hard not to waste.

This morning I did a big grocery shop and boy, are prices increasing!  The price of food is going up and our income is going down since Marks hours are being cut.  Sour cream that is usually $2.49 is now $3.89!  (the only kind that doesn't have icky ingredients)  Cream cheese is around $4 a package.  Kefir went up to $4 for a 454ml container, which I indulged in and dropped it right after having a couple tablespoons, meaning there is only about a tablespoon left, grrr!!  I know I should be making it but I'm scared my grains are dead.

Produce is getting more expensive, of course, due to the time of the year and more things needing to be shipped in. I really wanted cauliflower because there are so many awesome low carb recipes you can make with it.  Well, they don't have frozen anymore and the conventional heads from Mexico are the same price as the organic heads from the USA, $3.99.  I hemmed and hawed and ended up buying a head.  I am not doing the greatest for buying local but it is hard when you are on a restricted diet and there isn't much in season that is low carb.  Eventually you just get tired of cabbage, lol!!  Sometimes we just have to do the best we can, especially when on a very tight budget.

So here is my marvelous Meal Plan for the week:
Monday: Niece's birthday party (I am expecting not to be able to eat anything so I'll come home and have some of this wonderful bone broth I have brewing in my crockpot!)

Tuesday: Steak, fried mushrooms and onions, riced cauliflower

Wednesday: Spaghetti squash with sauce and fresh Parmesan cheese with leftover steak slices (meatballs for the family)

Thursday: Turkey (I have a few in the freezer that need to get used up!), cranberry and rhubarb sauce (which I will somehow make low carb without artificial sweeteners with frozen berries I stored this fall), mashed cauliflower

Friday: Pizza! (cauliflower crust for me, regular for rest of family, make extra to freeze for lunches)

Saturday: Low carb turkey hash (will create when time comes ;) ).

Sunday: crockpot chicken or leftover turkey, cabbage, mashed turnip

There.  Once again, I may or may not stick to it but I hope I do because it sounds good to me!   And yes, I really am going to make that head of cauliflower stretch!

Meal Plan Monday January 3rd, 2011

New Year, new chances.  If I am to make how I want to eat work, I need to start meal planning again.  This is all tentative and only for me and for the main meal of the day (the meal Mark is home for, varies due to his varying shifts).  If someone doesn't like what I have planned, I will make them something else.  I'm easy like that if it means sticking to what I want to eat, especially since I'm the only one eating all three meals a day at home (kids have lunch and sometimes breakfast at school and Mark eats at work).

Breakfast will generally be eggs and sometimes yogurt, maybe the occasional berries. My other meal will be leftovers, eggs, freezer stash food or something just thrown together.  I plan to occasionally spend a day cooking so I can have meals in the freezer that are easy for me to heat and eat.  Snacks will be things like hard boiled eggs, leftover bits of food, nibbles of cheese and lots of water.

I am eating lower carb but not no carb.  Veggies are good; they didn't make me big and unhealthy but I will avoid the high glycemic ones.  I am definately going to be no grain and I want to avoid treats for a while (there are tons of low carb healthy treats that I can make but they can be dangerous when trying to get back into the swing of eating right).

I will not repeat the above in future posts about meal planning :)

Meal Plan Monday January 3rd- Sunday January 9th 2011

Monday: Pork chops, mixed vegetables (broccoli, green and red peppers, onions)

Tuesday: Crockpot roasted chicken, green beans (freezer)

Wednesday: Corned Beef and Cabbage (at least I think it's corned beef; no potato for me)

Thursday: Chicken Stew (from leftover chicken and stock made from carcass; thickened with arrowroot powder)

Friday: Crustless pizza (regular pizza for family with sourdough crust.  If I'm motivated, I may make an oopsie-like crust for my pizza)

Saturday: Burgers (bunless for me; something like these French Onion burgers but without the icky ingredients sounds good!), coleslaw

Sunday: Ham or pork roast (have to see what we have in the freezer), veggies from freezer

I am doing Kelly The Kitchen Kop's challenge and I am also doing the Spark People 28 day boot camp challenge (but my own way).    I am determined to make major changes this year and I need accountability to myself in doing so.  This will be my year to shine!

Giving Up On Wheat

I mean that in a number of ways but mainly in that I am giving up my make everything from home ground wheat. I love the notion of grinding all our wheat but I can see it's not feasible for me. If I want to make everything from scratch, I am not going to drive myself crazy doing it the most natural way possible. I woke up this morning and realized that it doesn't mean I love my family any less. If I weren't making everything myself even with store flour, they would be eating store bought, which isn't as healthy. Sure, I know flour doesn't have as many nutrients as it does when it is freshly ground and it is isn't as flavorful. It is one of those "Choose your battles" and I can't see myself grinding 200lbs of flour and having every loaf a chance. After 3 or 4 bad loaves of bread and one successful one with home ground, I'm going to go with what is almost always successful.

On a related note, we are possibly going for a weekend away next weekend (not the one coming up but April 9-11). I have been scouring places to find out what is in season in the valley. I found a place that has honey for $1.75 a pound! I'm getting a bucket, lol! I am also trying to find places that sell maple syrup. Last fall we got it at Forsythe's and it was about $12 a liter, cheap when you consider that at Sobeys it is $22 a liter. Real Maple Syrup goes a really long way too. I think we were using that liter from September to December and using it regularly. I want to get about a gallon, at least.

I checked and saw that many of the farm markets were either open or will be open. I know there isn't a ton that is in season now but I'll take what we can get :)

I am also going to be doing a meal plan Monday but I need to get my thoughts together on that first. We have used up more storage and there is some we have to toss so my freezer list has changed.