Another Week of Meals

I'm happy to report that I've made it out of the grocery store again this week on budget (well, not exactly, I overspent by 8 cents yesterday!). I was able to afford some unexpected items in addition to the weekly spend thanks to great sales going on, including an extra 2 bottles of organic unfiltered apple juice, 4 extra jars of all natural spaghetti sauce, 18 cups of all natural yogurt for lunchboxes, a package of lunch meat, 4 extra cups of mozzerella cheese, and a free bottle of club soda thanks to a coupon all for $55 (and 8 cents)! I was even able to squeak out 4 extra freezer meals for future use within the usual grocery spending. Our chicken sitter (caring for our 2 chickens over the winter in the country) brought us a dozen enormous beautiful brown eggs, and I'm making pineaple jam this weekend from a case I'm expecting with my Bountiful Baskets order tommorrow.

So, here's the weekly breakdown of dinner meals, my next post will be my freezing endevour this week, I'm finishing up today so I'll post soon!

1. Chili Dogs and Broccoli Slaw (left over moose chili from last week, quick sale all beef organic hotdogs, all natural whole wheat buns. juliene cut broccolli stalks saved from last week, finely chopped last of the baby carrot bag, with a light mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper dressing- pictured above)





2. Linguine with Creamy Mushroom and Ham Sauce (**recipe at the bottom of this post)





3. Elk Pot Roast, Roasted Potatos, and Veggie (yet to be determined by Bountiful Baskets!)





4. Black Beans and Rice (I'll post this EASY, CHEAP recipe in my next freezer post, its a new family favorite!)





5. Sweet and Sour Antelope Meatballs on Rice, Stir Fried Veggies (again, veggies yet to be determined!)





6. Pulled BBQ Sliders and Fruit Salad (leftover pot roast in homeade bbq sauce with homeade whole wheat rolls)





7. Antelope Meatloaf, Mashed Potatos, and Roasted Veggies (this meatloaf/meatball recipe will be in the next freezer post, what a timesaver, its already cooked and ready to go!)

I also purchased ingredients for 24 calzones which will also be in the next freezer post for lunchboxes and weekend convenience.

**Linguine With Creamy Mushroom and Ham Sauce- 1 onion chopped, 1 garlic clove minced, 12 oz mushrooms sliced, 1/4 sherry or white wine, 1 tsp dried thyme 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 2tbs flour, 2 cups mild, 1 cup chopped ham or turkey, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 cup fresh parsley, 1 lb organic whole grain linguine. Sautee garlic and onion til soft, add mushrooms, sherry if using, and spices- cook uncovered about 5 min until mushrooms release juices. Sprinke with flour, stirring to combine, gradually whisk in milk, stir and cook until smooth and thickened, stir in ham and parsley if using. Toss with cooked pasta. (taken from the Lactose-Free Family Cookbook by Jan Main)

Our Weekly Meal Plan on a Squeaky Tight Budget

Wednesday is grocery day around here, and my bulk order from http://www.vitacost.com/ arrived yesterday, so here's our meal plan for the week:

Breakfast:
I never plan in advance, but thanks to my online order of hot and cold grain cereals, as well as bread on hand for toast, we are set for whatever the kids choose this week. Normally we use only a gallon of milk per week, the kids dont like drinking it plain.

Lunch:
My 2 sons pack a lunch each day, organic pb&j on whole wheat white bread, a side of raw fruit or veggie, an organic snack bar or baked treat from the kitchen, and water. Thankfully, that's usually all they want, but a couple days a week they ask for Annie's mac and cheese which I usually pick up when its $1.25 per box- they split the box plus a raw fruit or veggie, and snack bar/baked treat with water.

My husband and I have leftovers, cook up a few eggs, or make a sandwich- I dont really plan lunches since my daughter and baby that are home during the day arent the least bit picky and will eat whatever I serve- I just make sure there's sandwich fixings, raw fruits and veggies from our Bountiful Basket.

Snacks:
The kids usually snack on raw fruits, baked goodies, pb sadwiches (they love pb!), make and egg or something simple.

Dinner:
Here's where I do my real planning, otherwise we end up running out for fast food, or to the grocery store for some quick fix convenience food junk.

1. Elk Pot Roast, Chunky Mashed Potatos/Beef Gravy, and Brussel Sprouts- roasted with OO and garlic.




2. Turkey Meatloaf and Veggie Pasta Salad-brussel sprouts chopped (set aside from last night)/sliced black olive/parmasean/wholegrain pasta salad served warm dressed only with OO, salt and pepper.




3. Spicy Pulled Meat Tacos and Garden Salad with Homeade Ranch Dressing(half of roast from day one set aside and reseasoned overnight in the crock pot until fork tender), Ranch made from sour cream, lemon juice, skim milk to save on calories, dill weed, garlic, and paprika, salt and pepper, fresh cracked is best!




4. Ethiopian Stew, delicious and simple- simmer cubed potato and carrot in chicken broth along with a seasoning packet made by my friend Lindsey, tomato sauce, and chickpeas (both made myself to avoid canned BPA), my kids LOVE this soup and its hearty enough to serve alone.




5. Plowman's Share and Homeade Buscuits (3 layers: 1st cubed cooked potato, 2nd elk pot roast meat, topped with a bag of frozen green beans -organic of course), you can add cheese if you like, but we are trying to cut down on dairy consumption so I don't. Everyone loves to sprinkle with soy sauce to add flavor, or dip in homeade ranch dressing, and since it's all made ahead of time, it assembles quick in a 9X13.




6. Homeade Chili and Corn Chips (store bought, quartered corn tortillas baked till crispy). I'm combining elk hamburger, various roasted peppers/onions, tomatos, and pinto beans-again, made from scratch to avoid BPA, chili powder, garlic, and cumin- cook it low and slow, serve with sour cream.




7. Broccoli Steak and Rice- marinated antelope steak stirfried with fresh broccoli, tossed with a beef, soy, and ginger sauce (I set aside half of the gravy from meal #1 for the base of this sauce.)

I usually dont stick to the meal plan in order depending on what we're in the mood for, and this week is a bit heavy on meat consumption, but that's the benefit of a hunting husband, the freezer's always full of organic, wild grass and mountian stream fed meat!

You can see that I try to double up and set out ingredients for later meals to cut down on kitchen time for myself. Along with my Bountiful Baskets, and $85 monthly order from vitacost, I only spend $56 in the grocery store today for the week, it would've been $50, but I found some organic all beef hotdogs on quicksale which I'll work into next weeks menu. this month I did opt for conventional produce baskets instead of the organic for more variety- doing so saved me and extra $90, bringing my monthy grocery budget for this month down to $345 for our family of 6, oh woops, I forgot to add the quicksale hotdogs, I guess it's really $351 for the month!

Goals For This Week

1.Make ahead and freeze homeade organic bagels and dry waffle mixes

2.Learn from a friend how to make organic tortillas.

Up For A Challenge?

Wow, its been several months since I've posted here, but I'm really excited about what the next month will hold. A friend and I are hosting a "Processed Free" household blog challenge this month and would love for you to join us! The goal is to make as many reasonable changes as possible this month to avoid processed packaged foods and products. I already know I wont complete the month completely processed free since we are travelling several times this month and staying with friends and family who will be providing meals so kindly for us. HOWEVER......I am implementing some great changes that hopefully will make our home a healthier place.

Here are a few of my goals to tackle this month, I'll post the progress as some of its a new experiment for me!

1. Making up a batch of shampoo/conditioner and lotion from all natural ingredients


2. Minimize eating out during our 2 trips out of town this month.


3. Swapping out my usual Organic Bountiful Baket for the Conventional in an effort to save a little cash and get a bigger variety of fruit and veggies.


4. Make a bulk order of organic pantry staples, and make a bulk freezer purchase of certian items from Natural Grocers (its 3 hours away, but we will be travelling through at the end of the month) to keep me out of the grocery store as much as possible where temptation for convenience food abounds.


5. Avoid all canned food, even those labeled organic since most contain BPA.


6. Attend a Local Food Growers exhibition at a nearby college to seek out more natural grocery sources.


7. Toss the plastic dishes and start eating on real ones!

Feel free to link up your own blog or leave a comment regarding the challenge, I'm always on the lookout for new ideas/recipes- here's a link to my friend Lindsey's blog post http://faithfulhomemaking.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-march-time-for-challenge.html , she's MUCH more prepared than me, and even posted her next weeks menu for a family of 6. Also check out this article "The 15 Grossest Things You're Eating" http://www.rodale.com/gross-food?page=0 if you're needing a little motivation to get started!

A Pictures Worth A Thousand Words

If a picture's worth a thousand words, here's 3,000 to describe Mama's birthday feast. The kids made the menu, and of course, I happily obliged- it was my birthday after all!

We did manage to do much better this week inspite of moving (and birthday partying)- staying on track and eating well!

New Food, New Budget

I'm finding its incredibly easy to spend TONS of money on organic food and products- just ask my credit card company! I'm resolved however to keeping our grocery budget the same since a huge part of my inspirations for the changes we are making is the resourcefullness and self-reliance of the African people we met on our recent vacation. I normally shop with $110 cash each week for our family of 6 not including the cost of diapers & formula/baby food. I added an extra $10 to the month and came up with this new monthly spending break up since I need to pay for certain things online, and can't use cash only anymore.

*PER MONTH TOTAL GROCERY SPENDING $450.00*

*Bountiful Baskets $150 (http://www.bountifulbaskets.com/ produce delivered twice each month, we will order 2 organic baskets and 2 organic bread packs each time- monthly total 4 baskets and 20 loaves of bread- sounds like alot, but the loaves are small and go fast in school lunch sandwiches).

*Internet Grocery Shopping $100 (http://www.vitacost.com/ kitchen staples and some toiletry items).

*Local Groceries $200 ($50 per week- dairy, additional produce, some meats, eggs, etc).

Like I said, resourcefullness is the goal, but I'll keep you all updated as to whether or not I'm sticking to the breakdown!

Not Completely Off The Wagon, But Definately Dragging in the Dust!

Wow, thanks to working on our new house and preparing for a move, we've all but fallen off the organic real food wagon this week! We've made numerous trips to McDonalds and Mr D's deli nacho bar, and with no time to shop this week we are out of healthy staples. Getting back on track midweek by baking up some healthy rhubarb bread sounded like a great idea, until halfway through I realized we were out of natural sweetener of any kind and whole wheat flour, so, I finished the recipe with refined sugar and bleached flour (gasp!).

However, I did make a wonderful quick dish tonight, the last of the brown rice in the cupboard, cubed butternut squash, backyard fresh scrambled eggs for protien, and some Braggs Liquid Aminos (soy sauce alternative), kind of a fried rice type meal.

Another suprising experiment I'm calling Pot Luck Popsicles, I started with yogurt, pureed plums and nectarines, vegetable broth (like I said, it was an experiment), then realized I had nothing to sweeten my very yucky liquid with, added acai berry juice that I can't stand the taste of and need to use up (this only added to the nasty brew), and in a last ditch attempt to save the project, added some of last weeks chokecherry syrup- amazingly, they are actually pretty good, although, I think I'll probably not try it again soon!

I'm optimistic about starting fresh this weekend with a fresh load of Bountiful Baskets produce, and shipment of pantry staples from Vitacost that will hopefully last the month. I started a new book called "Potatos Not Prozac" about sugar sensitivity, I'll let you know how it turns out, and incredibly, I did manage to loose one more pound this week despite all the junk food I ingested.

As Organic As It Gets

This week we decided to spend Sunday afternoon on a picnic in the nearby mountians, we picked 2 gallons of wild chokecherries that I made jam out of- grown with nothing but rain and good clean dirt, thats as organic as it gets! I cooked down the 2 gallons of fruit to 3 quarts of juice, boiled with 2 lbs of raw sugar, and 2 boxes of pectin (it didnt set with 2 boxes, so I'll have to unseal the jars and add another, we've used some as pancake syrupthough, and its DELICIOUS!). Our new house has a crabapple tree thats covered, so hopefully soon I can experiment with that as well, I'm hoping to make it back up to the mountians and pick more chokecherries before the cold weather sets in.

This was a yummy experiment, marscapone cheese, whole grain organic bread, cucumbers, and salt and pepper, John and Heidi loved them, but the boys neither one ate them in their lunchboxes.

William asked me if I could make a cinnamon smoothie, it sounded disgusting, but I gave it a go: heres what I threw in the blender, plain yogurt, milk, ice, bananas, and cinnamon sugar- It was super tasty! He hates bananas, but he never even guessed they were mixed in!