I will continue next week in this series on how we make the switch from processed foods to whole foods but I want to take a break and give you our weekly food menu to see how we implement changes.

Week 1 eliminating processed foods menu

Sunday

breakfast: breakfast burritos—we went with these because Sunday mornings are busy getting everyone ready for church.  I usually make these and then take them with us in the car for the 40 minute drive.

***I made these last month and kept them in my freezer.  I did make them with store bought tortillas which I will switch to a whole wheat with less than 5 ingredients next month.  We did use breakfast sausage–which I won’t use next month just  turkey bacon bits that we have been making.

lunch:  peanut butter and honey sandwiches-since we are at church for usually about 2 hours and I don’t allow them to snack during that time, by the time church is finished they are famished.  I bring peanut butter and honey sandwiches all packed in a cooler to be eaten on way home.  I also pack their water bottles, whatever vegetables we have cut up, and some easy fruit like grapes, bananas, or cut up apples.  My husband and I can munch on fruit or veges on way home but still be hungry for dinner.

***I used store bought peanut butter because we had that in the pantry, but I will be making my own next month when I am out.  Bread was store bought as well, we try and get the lesser ingredients natural one Koplingers at the bread store and freeze it for the month.

dinner:  easy chicken and rice casserole—I make this in the crockpot before we leave for church, then we can eat an early dinner. I used my homemade dried soup mix instead of canned with this.

 

Monday

breakfast: homemade yogurt and granola

lunch: munchie plate full of finger foods– peanut butter and crackers, cucumbers and carrot,watermelon and grapes, smoothies, cheese cubes

***again store bought peanut butter, because in pantry and crackers because I have saltines still in pantry.

dinner: chicken nuggets, -What I will change in this recipe is the bread crumbs.  I will be making my own in food processor with some day old homemade bread, when I am out of the canned stuff in my pantry.

sweet potatoes with dab of butter and sea salt,  broccoli steamed, and watermelon

 

Tuesday

breakfast: pancake muffins–we did use REAL maple syrup this month, little more costly but if we do muffins then we can use sparingly.

lunch:  chicken and rice soup–with leftover chicken and rice from dinner sunday.

**I did use processed american cheese but next month when I am out of the stuff I have on hand I will be making my own—excited for that:)

dinner:lentil rice casserole, chips and salsa, watermelon

Tonights dinner I had to make in the crockpot because I had errands to run, works wonderfully.  I did use tortilla chips–I think the only other “better” option would be to make my own from whole wheat tortillas and then bake them?!?!!?  Not sure will work on that.  Salsa we have discovered how easy it is to make salsa.  Love it!!!

Wednesday 

breakfast: oatmeal

lunch: munchie lunch–hummus and pita chips, cucumbers and carrots, grapes

dinner : mexican haystacks

We had guests over this day and it worked out well to make a big batch of mexican haystacks.  That way if you have anyone that doesn’t particularly enjoy something they can choose it or leave it.  It is a good, cheap large family/friend meal:)

***Our local grocery store had grapes on sale for $1.99 for a bag of them, which is cheaper than anywhere else.  They taste amazing.  I had boughten 10 bags of them, came home washed them and laid them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer. When frozen put in plastic baggies.  These are delicious to snack on.  We serve a few with lunch.

Thursday

breakfast: breakfast burritos

lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cucumbers and carrots, watermelon

**this was store bought peanut butter and bread–just until we use it up.

dinner:  leftover lentil rice casserole on whole wheat tortillas and topped with lettuce,salsa, shredded cheese, and sour cream.

***This was a great, filling meal.  Completely meatless but with all of the vegetable toppings my husband said it filled him well.  I was out of sour cream so I substituted homemade plain yogurt for it.  I will probably avoid sour cream and just use yogurt because it has calcium in it and no “extras.”

Macaroni and cheese—we did not use chicken bouillon from store, I used our homemade “healthy” version.

***this had velveeta cheese, leftover nacho cheese from the haystacks and was made with white flour noodles.  I would like to use whole wheat in future and again, make my own velveeta cheese.

Friday 

breakfast:  oatmeal

lunch and dinner:  taco chili haystacks

We had another large family over to visit this day and I needed to feed a big crowd–think 20!!!! I made a big batch of the taco chili with my dried beans that I cooked and froze, I used bulgar burger with my hamburger to stretch the meat.  Taco seasoning and Ranch mix both were homemade.

I made a big pot of brown rice, and had toppings like lettuce, onions, green peppers, mild pepper rings, salsa, shredded cheese, and sour cream—again using my nonfat yogurt.  I did have a bottle of ranch and some corn chips to add on top.  These are definitely not whole foods and I can improve upon them, in time.

Saturday

breakfast:  egg, bacon, in a muffin cup

lunch:  leftover chili mixed with leftover macaroni and cheese—this made a yummy chili mac for lunch.  Worked out well because I kind of “overcooked” the macaroni and when mixed with the chili it tastes fine:)

dinner: beef shish kabobs,  grilled zucchini, watermelon, and radiatore salad.

**dinner was good except for the radiatore noodle salad.  I need to make it with whole wheat pastas and real chicken pieces, not lunchmeat.

 

Snacks for the week:

It depended upon the day whether we had snacks or not.  I am TRYING to get away from doing 3 snacks a day.  We are down to one at night time and one sometimes in the afternoon.  Usually it is the little ones that need something to keep their tummies good until dinner.

We have been having popsicles every night.  We are usually outside swimming or playing and popsicles kind of work nicely for a treat after a fun day of playing.  As the weather changes, we won’t be having popsicles and I look forward to doing things like popcorn again.

But when we have guests, which we did this week, popsicles are ALWAYS an afternoon treat.

Each day, I made sure to have a plate of vegetables cut up on the counter.  Produce is in season right now, so we can get cucumbers by the bushel, sugar snap peas, and carrots are on the counter pretty much all day.

I made a homemade trail mix and snack mix for the children.  They are getting better acquainted with it, but they are not highly enthusiastic to it.  In time, if I offer a little bit each day.

Drinks

We keep it simple with water for most all of the day.  The little ones get diluted 1/2 and 1/2 apple juice and water for breakfast each day.  The two year old gets another sippy filled with this in the day too.  We serve milk if we have it at dinner time.  Mostly they drink water.

Myself, I have a love of coffee going on.  I will drink my water throughout the day–I put in a peppermint tea bag to keep it flavored, but coffee is a flaw in my life.  I am just making my first batch of kombucha tea and am so excited to be able to share about it in the next few weeks.  I would ultimately like to replace my coffee with kombucha tea.  One of my goals.

Wrap up:

Fresh fruit and vegetables are a plenty around here at this time. I try and focus on buying lots of them and serving them each day.  We usually buy 2 watermelons a week since they are cheap this time.

 

This week processed foods are:

peanut butter

store bought bread

tortillas

coffee and creamer

velveeta type cheese

tortilla chips

corn chips

ranch

white pasta

lunchmeat

If I missed any, I apologize.  I will work to eliminate these as well.

Keep looking for part 4 

 

 

 

 

 

From our list yesterday of the 10 things we have been working on changing this is how we did it.

A few years ago I stared buying things in bulk from a Mennonite bulk food store.  Here is what we buy in 25 or 50 pound bags and then store them in 5 gallon buckets with lids in the basement and gallon glass jar containers in my pantry upstairs.

• white whole wheat flour
• raw sugar
• oats
• brown rice
• popcorn seeds

 

Flour

We used to do our baking with white flour.  We then switched to whole wheat flour.  That was a hard one for my husband to enjoy because he did not like the heaviness of the bread or the bad taste of cookies.  I had a few recipes that I made that were okay but definitely not LOVED by my family.  I was so thankful when I was introduced to white whole wheat flour.  Basically it tastes very similar to the white flour but has all the whole wheat properties.  I would recommend buying this kind as it is just as good as whole wheat but not as heavy as a bread.

Sugar

Raw sugar was an easy one to switch over to from white sugar as the taste is exactly the same.  The only difference that I noticed is that when I made Italian dressing, I would have to let the sugar crystals sit for a few minutes and dissolve as they are bigger and take longer than white, not a problem just something to be aware of.

I definitely do not use as much sugar as I used to, we try and use honey to sweeten things as we know it is better than the sugar.  I tried Sucanat sugar which is a cane sugar an even better choice than the raw sugar, but I was just not into the taste.  It was dryer, maybe in time if I learned some new recipes but for now I don’t buy it.

Oatmeal

Eating oatmeal was an adjustment for my family.  For a long time I just used it in energy bites, granola bars, and even no bake cookies!!  But my family and myself has learned to enjoy a bowl of oatmeal with some homemade strawberry jam or apple butter on top.

Rice

Brown rice was another easy one to switch over to. We have an easy way of making it.  We put in 4 cups of brown rice into a large pot  then pour in 8 cups of water.  I put the lid on it and turn the burner on high and let it come to a boil.  Once it is boiling hard, I turn it down to simmer a #1 on my range.  I then let it sit and absorb all of the water, when I can look into the pot and see it absorbed I shut it off.  Usually there is a little bit of water still in the bottom of the pot, I then just leave the lid on and let it continue to absorb the water.  I NEVER stir the rice except for when I first put it in with the water.  I have heard that it makes the rice sticky to stir it during cooking times.  This makes it perfect every time.

Popcorn 

Popcorn seeds, we have been slowly using this up more.  We will make air popped popcorn and spray it with butter and then add some sea salt or ranch powder mix.  We did it  A LOT through the winter months and then since it has been warmer,I have gotten lapsed and made more garbage bag snack mix and popsicles for our snacks.  But I REFUSE to make another bag of snack mix and popsicle season is coming to an end.  I am hoping to be back on popcorn soon.  It is the best food!  You can eat a whole bowl and it is barely any fat or calories.

Salt

Another area was switching from Iodized table salt to sea salt. This is one of those “health” areas that are controversial as to if it is “really” better for you.  From what I have read, sea salt comes from the ocean.  When it evaporates it leaves behind the salt.  This salt contains naturally occurring minerals and involves a minimal amount of processing before it hits the shelf.

Iodized table salt is found in underground mines.  It goes through a refining process that is designed to remove virtually all trace minerals.  An additive is then placed in the salt to prevent clumping.  Iodized salt gets it name from common practice of adding iodine to the salt.

Health experts will argue if one is better than the other and who knows I am not a chemist but if you look at the practices and how they get to your table…sea salt to me sounds like the most minimal amount of processing before eating.  So that is what we use.

Oils and butters

I used to buy the margarine sticks and “tub butters” when we were first married.  I didn’t like the real butter sticks because it was so hard.  I preferred the spreadable form of butter on my bread. I would also buy canola oil –because it was the “better” vegetable oil.   Then I started reading about the processes that are done to make the oils and realized I need to stop.

Unlike butter or coconut oil, margarine and vegetable oils can’t be extracted just by pressing or separating naturally.  They must be chemically removed, deodorized, and altered.  Oils are some of the MOST chemically altered foods in our diets, yet packaging promotes them as “healthy.”  There is a whole long list and process that goes along with making margarine and vegetable oils and  if you really want to learn how they do it you can google it.  It would be a whole post by itself.  I am doing the short version—-margarine and vegetable oils—-bad for you!!!

I admit the last few months, I still bought margarine sticks for our cookie baking, but no more!  I am just using up what I have in my freezer and then I am done.  I buy salted butter to spread on our bread—as it is easier and then unsalted works well for baking.   I despised paying for the butter as it is significantly higher in price than margarine, but I realize that with our whole lifestyle change  I don’t make cookies as often as we did before so the cost works out to be the same.

I buy our coconut oil in gallon size jars.  In the summer it is easier to work with as it melts, due to the heat, but in the winter it is usually pretty solid.  If I am going to use it for baking, I just have to heat it up in a saucepan on the stove.  Something to get used to.  Was always easier to just pour my bottle of canola in, but I would rather take the few extra minutes to melt it, knowing I am doing better for my family.

We also keep olive oil on hand in gallon containers.  This is great for making salad dressings or if I want to saute something.

 

Keep reading part 3 to see how we make the change