My grocery list is probably the most boring grocery list in the history of grocery lists. It changes very little from week to week. When you are eating mostly fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains, there really is no need to have a completely different list every single week. It really does make shopping a whole lot less complicated when I just have to fill in ingredients for what we need to make supper throughout the week. If I took a picture of my shopping cart every week, you would probably find that it looks pretty much the same every single week, and I'm okay with that! It may not sound like much variety, but it really is! I always have MANY choices of fruits and vegetables so we aren't just eating apples and carrots throughout the week and getting really tired of them. I find it really helps us to eat well if we have a variety of food stocked in our house, not to mention, saves us money since we aren't running to the store every other day to pick up more food. I know I covered this in previous posts but I honestly can't stress the importance of meal planning enough. If you want to eat healthy, you MUST have a plan and have those foods right in your own home or you WILL opt for something that is usually a lot less healthy, like fast food or a frozen dinner. Here's what my "plan" usually looks like (foods that always (or almost always) make it into my grocery cart some time during the month, many on a weekly basis).
-Apples (green and red)
-Bananas
-Grapefruit/Clementines
-Kiwi
-Fresh Pineapple
-Pears
-Any type of fresh berry that 's on sale (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
(Winter is hard for fruit, I love the variety that summer brings)
-Frozen peaches, strawberries, blueberries, or pineapple (for smoothies)
-Carrots
-Celery
-Sweet Potatoes
-Fresh/frozen broccoli
-Red, yellow, & orange peppers
-Asparagus
-Fresh/frozen green beans
-Frozen peas
-Boxes of organic spinach, kale, or mixed greens (spinach, kale, and chard) (use for smoothies & salads)
- Lettuce (rotate between romaine, butter, spring mix, iceberg)
-Avocados
-Onions
-Lemons and limes
-Salsa
-Hummus (red pepper or roasted pine nut are our favorites)
-Whole milk (hormone free)
-Almond milk (unsweetened, original)
-Greek Yogurt (plain)
-Block cheese
-Butter (unsalted)(NO butter substitute, REAL butter)
-Olive oil
-Coconut oil (I buy this in bulk at Sams)
-Steel cut oats
-Old fashioned oats
-Natural peanut butter
-Almond butter
-Granola
-Quinoa (buy in bulk at Sams)
-Honey (I love raw or local honey, but sometimes I have to buy it at the store because we go through a lot of it, just make sure it doesn't have any added ingredients)
-100% pure maple syrup (buy in bulk at Sams)
-Chia seeds (buy in bulk at Sams)
-Flax seeds (order online)
-Whole chicken (use meat throughout the week and make chicken stock from bones)
-Wild caught salmon
-Ground beef from our local locker
-Whole wheat flour
-Organic marinara sauce (I choose organic because it has the least amount of added sugar)
-Dry black beans and pinto beans (I cook them in my crockpot to use them)
-Canned organic beans (garbanzo, black, pinto)(at Aldi, I can get organic for the same price as conventional at Walmart and they have less added junk)
-Unsweetened applesauce (great for baking)
-There are other things that I add depending on what my meals look like for the week but these are things we eat on a very regular basis.
Things that do NOT make it into my cart (mostly because of added sugar/sodium or fake ingredients/tons of preservatives, or being overly prosessed)
-Any pre-packaged snacks (little debbie snacks, fruit gummy snacks, pudding cups, etc.)
-Margarine, or anything that tries to impersonate butter (NEVER NEVER NEVER)
-Pancake "syrup"- Mrs. Butterworths etc. (if it has more ingredients than 100% maple syrup, don't buy it)
-Pre-packaged oatmeal
-Flavored yogurt
-Soda, gatoraide, capri sun, juice boxes
-Most salad dressings (I either make my own or there is one brand at Aldi that is all natural and doesn't have a bunch of weird junk it them: Specially Selected House/Raspberry vinaigrette)
-American cheese slices (like kraft)
-White bread
-Any frozen meal (chicken nuggets, corn dogs, frozen pizza, etc.)
-Pre-packaged granola bars (some have as much sugar as a candy bar, yikes!)
-Seasoning mixes (ranch, chili, taco, etc. I just make my own)
-Most fruit juice (too much sugar and all the beneficial fiber removed. My kids are fine with water.)
-Hot dogs/Processed lunch meat
-Canned soups
-Sugary cereals (this is not to say we don't have this in the house. HA! I just won't buy it. Rem loves the stuff so I make him buy it. I'm a terribly mean wife, I know!)
-Low fat ANYTHING
-White rice/boxed rice mixes (rice a roni etc)
-Any boxed meal (mac & cheese, hamburger helper, etc)
-Any artificial sugar or any product made with artificial sugar (you MUST read labels)
-Anything with MSG added to it
-I'm a big label reader. If it has tons of added sugar or weird ingredients (even if it claims to be healthy), I don't buy it. The biggest thing you can do to help you work toward a cleaner diet is simply read the label! I end up making a LOT of things myself, instead of buying them because we still enjoy eating some of those things, but we don't enjoy all the added junk that corporate food companies choose to add to their products.
YOU are the person responsible for what you bring home from the store and what you and your family put in your mouth. You don't NEED soda to survive. You don't NEED Oreos to survive. Yes, I know it tastes good but what are you getting out of it? A whole lot of calories and a few minutes of enjoyment while you are eating it. I'm not going to sit here and say that I NEVER drink soda because I did share one with Rem when we went to see a movie last week, but it is something that I choose not to keep in my house. It's SO much easier to avoid certain things if you don't keep them around you. I know some people will think I'm a complete control freak but Gavin is almost four and has never had a soda (besides a few sips of ours at a restaurant). It's not a habit I want my kids to grow up with and I just can't justify giving them straight sugar with absolutely no nutritional value. When they get older, they can decide for themselves what they want to eat or drink but for now, I am trying to instill good eating habits that they will hopefully continue throughout their lives. It's much harder to say no to something once it has become a habit. Why not try to start a habit of good eating while they are still young so it's not so hard to make good food choices as they grow up. My kids don't know any different. They don't think they are missing out because mommy won't buy junk food for them. They have no idea that there is another way of eating besides what they are eating right now. The other night, Rem was talking about McDonalds and how the boys have never even had a happy meal and Gav was asking what a happy meal was. I asked him what he thought would be in a happy meal and this was his response, "Chicken, blueberries, carrots, and bananas." To him, this would be a "happy" meal. I have had people say to me, "You are just setting your kids up to want all kinds of junk food because you never let them eat it." Here's my response: They do get plenty of treats. We go to birthday parties, I make cookies, we go for treats at the Dairy Queen every once in a while, they get treats at Nana and Papa's and Grandma and Grandpa's. It's not like junk food has never touched their lips, because it has. We just choose to not let this be an everyday occurrence. We want the majority of what they are eating to be highly nutritious to give their little bodies the fuel they need to grow. We want them to learn to make responsible food choices. There is no denying that kids learn habits from their parents and we just want to be a good example of making healthy food choices. If kids are used to eating chicken nuggets and french fries or boxed macaroni and cheese for supper often, then that's what they will become accustomed to and it will be very hard to change their tastes for more healthy foods. When they are used to overly salted, overly sugared, highly processed tasting food, plain veggies are going to taste absolutely disgusting to them. I didn't grow up eating a ton of processed foods but definitely more than I do now and when we first started to eat clean, some things were super hard for me to eat, I would almost have to choke them down. My kids on the other hand, have always eaten very clean and they love eating plain vegetables (Gav loves carrots and celery and Owen loves sweet peppers.) Their palates haven't become accustomed to tons of sugar, salt or artificial flavors and they can really appreciate the flavors of the fresh food they are eating. So no, I won't go out and buy my kids a happy meal or let them drink soda on a regular basis because other people make me feel like they are "missing out." I feel like kids who are used to eating like that are really the ones missing out. Their bodies are missing out on the vital nutrients they need to build strong immune systems, strong muscles and bones, and strong brains. So my kids are missing out on a whole lot of sugar and added junk......I'll take it. I'm sure a lot of people think I act like I'm the best wife/mom out there because of the food I choose for my family but I don't want to come across like that. I don't want people to think I judge the mom's who pull through the drive through or buy hamburger helper to feed their families. I just want to share what I have learned about healthy eating and the benefits I have seen in my own family. It's clear that the way that most American's are eating isn't doing much for their health. We have astronomical numbers of people with high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, ect. and many of these issues could be fixed simply by making smarter food choices. It's almost like people think it's too much work to start eating a clean diet and exercising and would rather choose to be on pharmaceutical drugs for the rest of their lives (which carry MANY risks as opposed to the low to no risk of changing what they are eating.) Instead of focusing on what you CAN'T eat, why not focus on what you are GAINING by NOT eating a bunch of processed junk. When you go to the store this week, buy a new healthy food you have never tried before. Replace the pre-packaged things you are buying with a healthy, homemade version. Instead of buying that box of sugary cereal, buy some steel cut oats and make homemade oatmeal. Buy veggies and hummus for a snack instead of pudding packs. There are so many options that don't take a lot of effort, you just have to try them. There really is nothing to lose by choosing healthier options. We all have to start somewhere, so why not make it now!?
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