And the support is walking out the door.....

So I have learned one big huge thing during this process.  This is very very hard work!!!  I have also learned that my family is not on board as much as they were in the beginning and we haven't even hit some of the hardest steps yet including sugar and whole grains.  They are starting to complain about packing lunches every night.  I have also noticed them not loving my breakfast selections.  What have I started learning?  When you don't eat processed food you have to plan more, cook more, and do more dishes.  I am in the kitchen more then I was before and there is twice as many dishes to do.  I can't seem to keep up with all those darn dishes.  So what is the new plan you may ask?  Time to involve the family more.  I know they are starting to give up on me, but I think I can keep them with me if I just let them be a bigger part of what we are doing. 

Since I have older teenage kids there is not reason they can't be more a part of planning.  One thing I did do already to have them doing there own lunches was I made up a list of lunch items broke into these catagories, main, dairy, fruit/veggie, side and dessert.  I had them all circle in a different color what items they would eat off the entire list.  It consisted of about 80-90 items total.  All things that all 3 kids circled I made sure to buy and have all of them in the house.  I also did a couple of the stuff that only 1 or 2 of them circled.  That way they can look at the list and we have everything on it for them to pack into there lunches.  They still ask me questions and for some help but they are taking more charge of there lunches and that leaves less for me to do each night.  Considering I am not home many nights that is a very very good thing.  

I am hoping to incorporate this same method into snacks, and breakfast.  Dinner I have handled as I have always been one to plan dinners so that is not a new thing.  I figure the more input they give the more they are willing to eat it.  

The one thing that has changed more to the positive is that, my 5 year old has started being more willing to at least try one bit of things.  She has also eating second bites of things I would not have expected.  Hooray for that!  I know we still have a long way to go before she is what I would call a good eater, however I will take any small victory I can. 

Week Four--All about meat!

Here is this weeks challenge--All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish.

Didn't think would be all that hard except one thing I learned, finding local meat is really really hard unless you want to A. either buy part of a cow, or B. spend $12-$18 a pound.  YIKES!!  I can't afford to feed my family that.  So, what to do.  This is what I decided.  I did my research and asked meat people at certain grocery stores where there meat comes from.  I will stay away from big brand meat products.   Harmon's chicken is raised locally and humanly and does not contain antibiotics or growth hormones.  It also does not break the bank in price.  Costco sells organic whole chickens for a reasonable price so I could get those and cut them up or just use them and roast them whole. They are also from a local farm and organic so ok to eat.  I will not buy meat from Wal-Mart as there's is all about price so it comes from big manufactures that do not treat the animals right and inject them with things we should not be eating to make a larger profit.  I also will not buy meat from any grocery store that can not tell me where it comes from.  I am hoping to be able to get part of a cow from a place here locally soon but in doing my research on that I learned that they usually only sell it from April-October.  Until then I will just be careful as to what I buy a the stores.  

So I will spend a lot of time focusing on making meat more of a side dish and less of a main dish.  I will also plan 2 meals a week that do not have meat in them.  Liking this idea because it will also save me money.  

I already planned two meals this week without meat so we will see how the family is about those as they are used to having meat with every meal.  I have found one good one is soup as it is filling but doesn't have to have meat in it to be that way.  Include a yummy grilled cheese sandwich and you have a great meal. 

Cool Lunch containers that I found!

All 3 of the cool lunch containers that I found for relatively cheap.  The first one with the blue lid is ziploc and you get 2 to a package for around $2.50, middle one is fit n fresh brand and is for salads and it was about $5.00 and the purple lidded one is also fit n fresh and was $6.00.  Considering they will get used again and again I will definitely get my money's worth.  Also since I don't have to use as many baggies they will save me money as well.  Now the money will only get saved if my kids don't loose them.  You would think since I have a almost 16 year old, a 14 year old and a 12 year old they should be old enough and that would not be a problem one would think.  However some how they loose things at school more then my 5 year old does.  Go figure!

This is just a simple ziploc brand 3 compartment container.  Best thing about this one,  you can put stuff in all three containers and one of them can be of a more liquid variety.  When you snap the lid on and throw it around like it is going to be in someones backpack nothing leaked into the other compartments or out of the container.  We tested it thoroughly by throwing it around the kitchen with jelly in one of the small compartments. 

This one is specifically designed for salads the brand is called fit N fresh.  I found it and the other one on here with the purple lid at Ross, but have seen them at target and other stores as well.  You put the salad in the bottom there is an ice pack above it inside.  You put the dressing in the area where the yellow knob is and when you are ready to eat the salad you turn the knob and it pops the lid open on inside and puts the dressing on your salad.  Even comes with a knife and fork.  My 14 year old daughter took it for school one day and she said it worked great.  Only problem was her friends made fun of her.  However, these are close friends that she has had for a long time that always tease each other, so didn't stop her from taking it again :) 

Here is the inside of the lid shows the ice pack and where to put the dressing. 

This one is also called fit N fresh.  It is there lunch buddy.  Great for taking multiple items, not wasting baggies and keeping everything cold.  The rectangle container has a spot on the bottom for larger items and ice pack and then the 2 containers on top.  You then put the lid on and it is all contained and kept cold inside.  Bonus, you can even turn the lid over and use it for a plate.  Although my kids thought this was silly why not just put the food right on the table.  Well, I have worked in restaurants and know how well those surfaces don't get cleaned so EWWW is all I could think.  Only two disadvantage to this one that we learned the hard way.  One, a sandwich on the bottom touching the ice pack will end up with soggy bread.  Two, if you don't snap the containers all the way closed they will leak.  Didn't realize how hard you had to snap them to get them closed the first time.  OOOPS! 

Here is what the inside looks like with the ice pack in the middle.  The 2 little containers fit perfectly on top of it. 

Couple bumps in the road this week!

So it is a little more then half way through week 3 and we have hit some bumps in the road this week.  I realized that packing lunches is hard.  So is making sure to get up and make sure my kids get breakfast before they leave for school.  The first one is out the door at 7:05am so this means I have to have breakfast ready by 6:45am.  I used to not get up until 6:30 so setting the alarm a half hour earlier is really really rough. 

I also didn't do great with the budget and having foods available for lunch.  So I did pretty well in finding things for side dishes for my kids to pack in there lunches, however I didn't really think about the main dish part of lunch and I already spent and allotted my grocery money already.  OOPS!!!  So last night as we are trying to put lunches together all the kids say "Mom, what are we going to have as a main dish in our lunches?"  Umm, guess it is time to get creative, but the first thing I did was apologize to them that I didn't do great at this so far.  I also made sure they understood that we are all doing this together and we are all learning a new way of life.  Thank goodness my kids love me and are understanding :)  Also I am grateful that I have the ability to turn something into nothing my kids went to school with some great lunches today for which I am glad I could help them make.  I rummaged through the fridge and found some leftover cooked chicken from a dinner over the weekend, it was still good and made some delicious chicken salad sandwiches.  I know many people that read this would think you have 3 teenagers why are they not packing there own lunches?  I think at some point they will, but first they have be taught and learn how to do it just as well as I do.  I know to plan things differently with the next pay checks grocery money I will remember to put more priority on lunches then I did this time. 

Only other bump in the road this week has been getting my oldest son to school on time.  Since he was eating breakfast at school before we would leave about 7:00 and school starts at 7:45 so this worked well.  He didn't take the bus because it didn't get there in time for him to eat breakfast.  However, part of my trade off with him to convince him that eating breakfast at home would be worth his while I told him that he could sleep in an extra half hour and I would still drive him to school.  So, since he hates to wake in the morning extra sleep sounded great to him.  We are still learning obviously how to make our new routine work as he was almost late for school 2 days this week.  HMM, we will figure this out, but wow changing up your routines sure is hard. 

Week Three--No fast foods or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

Now we did a little flip flop on week 3 and 4 because my kids ran out of lunch money last friday and I didn't want to give them more for just one week.  Now here are the guidelines for this weeks challenge:

For this challenge you must avoid:

• Restaurants with drive-thru windows
• Convenience stores that also typically sell gas
• Places where you watch them assemble your food through a glass wall
• Restaurants that are situated in a “food court” setting
• School lunches (most schools do not have a fully functioning kitchen and simply heat precooked meals)
• Airplane food

The places where you can eat during this challenge:

• Restaurants with waiter service (which aren’t always ideal when it comes to food quality, but we just had to draw the line somewhere)
• Grocery stores (we recommend hitting the salad bar, vegetable sides and brown rice sushi)
• Your own kitchen! 
• Friends’ house!

 Wow, this is where it starts getting rough.  I will admit we are a family that loves to go out to eat.  We eat fast food at least once or twice a week and go out to restaurants probably about twice a month.  I also have not packed lunches for my kids for school since my oldest was in 2nd grade.  Keep in mind he is almost 16.  So not only will this challenge help us to be more healthy it will probably save us money also. 

One of the hardest parts of this week is the extra amount of time.  We all know that all the places we shouldn't be eating that we go to we go there to eat because it is fast and easy.  In order to pack lunches every day I have to plan food to be in the house to pack lunches.  We also have to remember to put them together every night before we head up to bed.  Now my kids or I have activities or obligations almost every night of the week so that also is going to be a challenge.  My oldest son has also been eating breakfast at school every day.  Part of the reason for that is that I am not a morning person and my kids are always on there own for breakfast every morning.  This basically means cold cereal.  Since he does not like cold cereal he would eat at school.  So on top of lunches I also had to try to include breakfasts.  

So, here it goes, time to really start planning.  Now I am a good planner it is not something I don't know how to do or something I have not done before.  I have always been pretty good about planning dinner but to have to add breakfast and lunch now, wow.  I also want to do all this without raising my food budget.  I figured that one way to do that would be to plan a certain after school snack for everyone to have the same thing everyday.  So now I am adding in snack planning as well.  Geez, what in the world am I thinking.  

Week 3 here we go. I know it can be done as many other families do it all the time.  Hope my family still loves me and is on board at the end of this week :)

Ending week two in a good way

Week 2 ended alright.  We did not have to many problems in regards to drinks.  Although it was hard to get rid of the hot chocolate and chocolate milk, I really didn't miss it.  The kids did slip up and little have have the chocolate milk at school with lunches because they forgot, but that is ok they didn't have soda even when it was offered to them and available for free.  I have to give my older teenage kids great credit they are real troopers.  Going along with mom's crazy plans is not always easy but they have been great.  They have dealt with crazy friends thinking what they have to do is nuts, and telling people no when things are offered.  I guess for all I know they tell there friends how insane I am :) 

My five year old at the beginning week did have a hard time not having juice or chocolate milk.  However, as the week went on she figured that plain milk and water are not so bad after all.  She is adjusting so far better then expected.  I am seeing now that it is true if you do not have it in the house they will not ask for or reach for it anymore.  

I also found some great juices at costco called odwalla.  They come 12 to a box and are single serve size I think about 12 ounces each.  They are all natural with about 5 different fruits and veggies in each one.  So this made the juice part easy.  Everyone gets one a week of these juices.  The kids actually learned that if they drank just a little bit everyday and kept the rest in the fridge through the week it lasted all week long. 

I am happy with how week 2 went I am happy with how well my family is doing and I am proud of them all.