Menu planning- save your health and your budget

If you read a blog about saving money your likely to hear how important menu planning is.  The same holds true for eating healthy.  If you "wing it" day after day, your more likely to eat what is easy and not stick to healthy choices.  Our family has tried menu planning and failed several times.  Well, we are trying it again!

We are determined to cut our food expenses down and continue to eat a mostly Paleo diet.  As for our kids, they are getting pickier and pickier and I believe in part it comes from not always having a plan for their meals and just throwing together something easy. I don't expect them to eat how we do right now but they definitely need some healthy fat and calories to get some meat on their bones.  Our casein and gluten free attempt did not go too well in part because it cost more and in part because it made an already picky eater even pickier.

This week we did quite well by coming up with a menu and staying in budget shopping for it. I thought I would share our menu with you. I can't promise I will do this weekly but I can promise to make that effort.  I'll try to put some links to recipes if I use them but I'm really a "fly by the seat of your pants" type of cook.

Lunch each day for me, my husband and Beaner is left overs. For the other two, it is still whatever I can come up with but always produce and yogurt.  I have also been making Rooster hot chocolate with Thai coconut milk and a tempered egg in it.  I plan to bake spinach brownies and animal crackers.

Here is our dinner menu:

Monday:  Bison (me) and Beef (hubbie) burgers, sweet potato fries, broccoli, Manhatten clam chowder, pizza for kids

**paleo buns: http://www.paleoplan.com/2011/10-09/paleo-burger-buns/

Tuesday:  Pork Chops, cauliflower stir fry, salad  (ravioli for kids)

**The cauliflower is shredded and then fried with soy sauce, eggs, peas, garlic, onion

Wednesday: Brats (nitrate free from Whole Foods), Rutabega and Turnip fries, broccoli, silly noodle soup (kids)

**My silly noodle soup is character noodles (whatever Whole foods has) added to chicken broth with a little chicken. Just like chicken noodle.

Thursday:  Grilled chicken, shredded brussel sprouts, quinoa (grilled cheese for kids)

**I shred the brussel sprouts and then cook them with some coconut oil or butter and spices in a skillet. It brings out the sweetness of them

Friday: Meatloaf (I use Betty Crocker's recipe), whipped cauliflower, roasted veggies, veggie soup

**For whipped cauliflower, you cook them just like potatoes and whip like mashed potatoes

Saturday: This is our declared comfort food day- mom's homemade lasagna (she will be visiting)

Sunday: Out with my hubby for my birthday!

So what do you think of our menu? Did it give you any new ideas? Do you have any favorite dishes you want me to try to convert to Paleo style?

Days 17-21 End of transformation

First I have to apologize for leaving you hanging for a week! Some times it feels like the days disappear before they appear. You know what I mean?
Anyway, I finished up the 21 day transformation.  I won't be featured on Mark's Daily Apple's Friday success story anytime soon as my results were nothing to speak about. I didn't really follow the plan as it pertains to the exercise as it just did not work for me.  My biggest accomplishment was totally eliminating pop.  That nasty yet yummy liquid that gobbles up your daily calorie allotment in one sitting.  It was hard. I won't kid you.  There were days when I really craved it.  In fact, one day, after visiting vital records for a birth certificate (as if that won't push someone to drink), I craved it so bad I had to stop by Starbucks for an overpriced latte.  A girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Another accomplishment was a fairly decent change in my eating habits.  For example, tonight we had spaghetti because my mom spoils me every Christmas with jars and jars of her homemade sauce.  It is wonderful, but pasta is not.  Not paleo. Not good. Not needed.  So, I used spaghetti squash instead of noodles and I was in taste bud heaven!  You have to give that one a try.  Another favorite substitute I discovered was using cauliflower as if it was rice.  You stick a whole head of it in your food processor and it suddenly looks rice like.  I stir fried it with soy sauce, peas (although not paleo), onions, red peppers, garlic and an egg.  My husband agreed this was so much better than rice.  We served it with chicken and a salad.

My final accomplishment was making it to the gym.  A dear friend of mine has been sending me motivational quotes for exercise and they have really helped.  I have found that my only struggle is actually getting to the gym. Once I'm there, the atmosphere transforms my mind into exercise mode.  I've decided to head to the gym every Saturday, Sunday and one weekday to start.  Even if I only do 10 minutes (which I always do more), it is better than not going at all.

The 21 day transformation ends with a few more fasts. I'm not a huge fan of starving but I have found that I can wait much later in the morning to eat if all I'm doing is hanging around the house.  Although there were no earth shattering before and after pictures, I'm confident if I continue to eat 80% paleo and work toward strengthening my muscles, that photo will be in my future!

Days 14-17

Day 14: As I mentioned before, this was an exercise rest day. I played with the kids most of the day and did house work so no resting here!  I'm trying not to think about tomorrow's morning fast.

Day 15: This morning your suppose to fast and see how long it takes until you get hungry. I did this on this day and Day 16 and found that anywhere between 9:30-10am is my "so hungry now" time. Coffee in the morning seems to tide me over for quite some time.

Day 16: On this day your suppose to go buy some local foods from the Farmer's Market.  Not practical for winter here plus I took the kids downtown to the children's museum. We had fun just being "kids".

Day 17: Today I was suppose to wake up and expose myself to sunlight right away.  Well, I woke up to gusting winds and dark clouds!  There was a patch of sun briefly and it did feel good to stare at it.  This day encourages you to eat out all day and try to stay primal aligned.  Although I didn't feel the need to do this, I'm confident that I easily could.

A brief update on the kids.  The transition has been slow but I think I've made good progress on eliminating gluten from their diets. I made gluten free cauliflower cookies that they loved and gluten free dark chocolate chip muffins.  Rooster is really the only carbo maniac of the kids and he appears to like the gluten free products.  I have also successfully diluted their milk with coconut milk and they haven't noticed a bit.  Next is an attempt at a super sneaky veggie cookie!