Heavenly Homemakers

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Meals I’m Making with my Grocery Haul

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I recently shared details about all the groceries I bought in April. Some have asked, “What meals do you make with all of these groceries?” So I decided to give you a peek into what I’ve done with all this food!

If you’d like to see more specifics about what I bought and how much I spent (oy!), you can do that here.

 

First, did you see that I bought quite a few boxes of prepared snacks at Costco and Sam’s? Yep, it’s soccer season! I used all of the following groceries for snacks either to take to the ball field or on stroller walks for the littles:

  • Granola Bites
  • Yogurt Squeezies
  • Heavenly Hunk Snacks
  • Fruit Bars
  • Gogurt
  • Applesauce Squeezies

Next, it can be assumed that all of the fresh fruits and veggies I pick up throughout the month serve as snacks between meals or as side dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Along with frozen veggies, I typically keep these on hand as much as possible:

  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Petite Carrots
  • Blueberries
  • Strawberries
  • Clementines
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Grapes

Now, here’s an idea of some of the meals I put together with some of groceries I bought in April:

  1. I used the canned chicken and croissants that I got at Costco to make a meal of Chicken Salad on croissants with spinach.
  2. I used the Cinnamon Streusel Bread from Costco along with eggs from our neighbor to make french toast. SOOO good.
  3. We marinated the chicken thighs in barbecue sauce, then threw the chicken on the smoker. This is one of our favorite meals!
  4. Usually, on Fridays, we make a simple meal of chicken nuggets and fries in our Air Fryer. We call this “French Fry Friday.” But I also call it “Mom’s Night Off.”
  5. We used the pizza-making-kit to have a fun pizza night. Everyone loved this!
  6. The loaves of bread I bought were used to make quick sandwiches. All of the adults in our family often need to eat on the run, so it’s good that I keep bread and lunchmeat on hand for them. Also, about once each week we make peanut butter sandwiches for lunch for the little ones.
  7. I also used a loaf of bread along with the sliced cheese to make a meal of grilled cheese sandwiches. I served it with tomato soup, which I already had on hand, and fruits and veggies.
  8. I plan to use the Tilapia for fish tacos soon!
  9. I baked the package of hamburger patties and put together burgers for all of us to eat while watching Malachi play a soccer game one evening. We went through almost the entire package of 18 burgers that night because an outing like that calls for all hands on deck!

That’s some of us at a recent soccer game. :)

Snacks I made with these groceries

  1. I used the almond butter from Costco to make two big batches of Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Bites. I love having these on hand for the kids to eat. (I already had honey and coconut flour to use in this recipe.)
  2. I used the baking ingredients to make muffins. We eat muffins like crazy at our house, working our way through these recipes.
  3. I use all of the mixed greens and frozen fruit to make our daily smoothies. (Like this for the grown-ups. Like this for the kids.)

Justus College Graduation Party

Our Justus graduated from college at the end of April. We had a “Fire Pit Party” so much of the food I’d picked up from Costco or Sam’s was set aside for this gathering. I filled in some gaps with a last-minute Walmart pickup order.

  • Hotdogs, Brats, and Buns
  • Boxes of Individual Chips
  • Potato Salad
  • Grapes
  • Strawberries with Cream Cheese Parfait
  • Small water bottles

Stay tuned for a post coming soon that shares the cost breakdown for some of these meals!

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Big Family Food: Total Grocery Spending for April 2022

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I decided to keep a running tab of all of our grocery spending for April. Ready for the great big break-down?

We are currently a household of 11. This includes 5 adults and six littles. Most days we feed extras like a fiance and a girlfriend of our boys #2 and #3. Plus any others we are blessed to enjoy at mealtime or after ball games!

Throughout the month, I typically:

  1. Head to Lincoln one time to stock up at Costco and Sam’s.
  2. Place several Walmart Pick-Up orders to supplement the fresh produce and other groceries we need.
  3. Get local milk at a farm once each week.
  4. Pick up WIC items and a few other groceries at a local grocery store close to our house.

Here are more specifics about what I bought and spent during the month of April 2022:

Walmart Pick-Up

In order to keep up with all of the fresh produce we eat at our house, I have been placing a Walmart Pick-Up order a few times each month. My friend Pam comes to help me with the kids each morning, and she is awesome enough to grab my pick-up orders when I schedule them right before her time to come over.

Walmart Pick-Up April 6: $112 

Walmart Pick-Up April 12: $167 – I was prepping for a huge Easter dinner, so this order included candy for our Easter egg hunt plus some treats to supplement our big meal.

Walmart Pick-Up April 29: $127 – Justus graduated from college on the 30th, so along with fresh produce, I ordered brats and other food we needed to feed people who came to his reception.

Local Grocery Store

We have a very nice store just a few blocks from our house. They are great, however, their prices are usually higher so it’s hard for me to justify doing much shopping there since we buy so many groceries.

I run there a couple of times each month, though, to grab a few needed items, to take advantage of sales, and to get WIC items. (Three of our foster daughters qualify for WIC, which provides them with free formula, milk, cheese, cereal, produce, and a few other items. This is a huge blessing!)

Since these trips are short and sweet, I try to take one or two littles with me so they can have a fun outing and learn a little bit about shopping and obeying at the store. Here’s a summary of our April Grand Central Trips:

Grand Central April 3: $15 – I ran in and grabbed milk because we were almost out!

Grand Central April 11: $42 – I picked up all of our WIC items for the month, plus filled in a few gaps by grabbing some buns and frozen items we needed. WIC covered most of our cart that day, praise God.

Local Farm Milk: $40 – We are in a group that takes turns picking up farm-fresh milk each Tuesday. We get 2-gallons each week, and it is incredible milk!

April Trip to Lincoln

Costco – $420

  • Bottled water
  • Olives
  • Granola Bites
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Clementines
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Canned chicken
  • Tortilla Chips
  • Gogurt
  • Heavenly Hunk snacks
  • Coffee
  • Olive Oil
  • Sugar
  • Brown sugar
  • Almond butter
  • Bread
  • Brat rolls
  • Croissants
  • Boxes of chips
  • Frozen pizza
  • Tilapia
  • Chicken thighs
  • Chicken nuggets
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • Cheddar jack cheese
  • Applesauce squeezies
  • Yogurt squeezies
  • Kombucha
  • Italian dressing
  • Mustard
  • Fruit bars
  • Cinnamon streusel bread
  • Pizza making kit (with four crusts and sauce)

Sam’s – $229

  • Boneless chicken thighs marked down!
  • Red grapes
  • Frozen cheese curds
  • Frozen orange chicken box
  • Case of canned baked beans
  • Case of canned corn
  • Spaghetti sauce
  • Sliced pepper jack cheese
  • Sliced colby jack cheese
  • 2-pack of whole wheat sandwich bread
  • Turkey lunch meat
  • Potato salad
  • Pepperoni
  • Mixed greens
  • Spinach x2
  • Bananas
  • Half and half
  • Sour cream
  • Hamburger patties
  • Hamburger buns
  • Applesauce
  • Spaghetti sauce
  • Fish sticks
  • Raspberries
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Apple juice

Total Grocery Spending for April

$1,152 

I try to keep our spending under $1,200 each month, so mission accomplished. We fed guests, we ate well, and as far as I can remember, we didn’t eat out at all this month.

Wait. I was sick one day so Matt ordered pizza while caring for so many littles while Mommy was in bed. :)

Care to share what your grocery spending was for April?

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How to Say “Thank You” to a Teacher

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Need to say “thank you” to a teacher? Let’s talk about ways to do that…

Teachers work incredibly hard. As the school year winds to a close, let’s talk about ways to say thank you.

Note: Homeschoolers! Oh, moms and dads, you deserve so much thanks! You work so very hard and I will tell you from experience that your work pays off. Take care of you. Take time for you. Take time for rest. Nurture your relationship with God. Take some time this summer to reflect and refresh. It is needed and good. :)

Our littles go to public school right now.

Will they always? I have no idea. But God has made it very obvious that this is His plan for our 8 and 6-year-olds while I care for all of their little siblings all day. We’ve needed this and it is good. Brayden and Bonus Girl’s teachers have been fantastic and we want to thank them. Help us with ideas!

How to Say “Thank You” to a Teacher

I’d like to put several items into a gift bag for our kids’ teachers this year. Here are some ideas I have, and I’m hoping you’ll add your ideas in the comments. :)

  • Gift cards – for coffee shops, specialty shops, movies, and/or restaurants
  • Pamper Yourself items – like lotion, lip balm, and soap (these are our favorites!)
  • Handmade thank you notes from the kids
  • Summer Fun items – like sunscreen, a fun water bottle, and a new beach towel
  • Journal and pens – for the little bit of downtime teachers get; hopefully they can sit and journal in the sunshine!
  • Grilling supplies – like marinades and fun spices
  • A good book to read
  • A pretty indoor or outdoor plant
  • Homemade goodies that the kids help make*
  • Fun drink mixes
  • Homemade Vanilla – if you have some ready to share!
  • Variety of coffee and fun ice cube trays so they can make iced coffee

*Here’s a list of fun treats kids can help make to give to teachers:

What ideas do you have for teacher thank you gifts?

P.S. You might also want to gift coaches, piano teachers, special ed teachers, secretaries, custodians, and bus drivers. Who am I forgetting?

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Big Family Food: I Have Got to Organize My Kitchen!

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Got to organize, got to organize, I have got to organize my kitchen…

Ok. This is starting to get nuts. I’m nuts. My food situation is nuts. Oh my goodness, I just realized I am completely out of nuts. Or am I?

What’s wrong, Laura?

Nothing’s wrong actually. :) And really, I’m kind of having fun as I face this new “food challenge.” But I also feel like I’ve been a homemaker since 1994 and all of a sudden I no longer know what I’m doing.

When we started adding kids to our tribe in 1997, I learned slowly how to fulfill our family’s food needs. I learned how to save money while our family grew. I learned how to feed my family healthy foods. Then, I learned how to feed teenage boys. All the while, I learned how to feed guests.

I learned and I grew and I had a system. I HAD A SYSTEM.

And then everything changed.

My old system doesn’t work anymore. It hasn’t for quite some time and I’ve been adapting. My Great Big Costco Experiment proves that I am over here HOLDING ONTO MY HOTDOG while trying to figure out how to grocery shop for and feed such a large family now.

I actually love this. Not sure how to feed this tribe anymore? The old ways don’t work? Need to develop a new system to make this happen efficiently?

Bring it on.

But also, what happened to all that fruit I bought yesterday? I bought this and this at Costco one Thursday:

Then just a few days later I had to order this from Walmart:

Then a few days later I needed this:

I love that we have such a large family and that we eat so much good food. I just can’t figure out how to keep up.

Is there such a thing? Can I keep up?

Or is this my new norm?

Moms with lots of kids, tell me: Am I going to need to go to the store every few days from now on? After all, the little kids are just going to turn into big kids, and then I’ll look back on my groceries of 2022 and laugh at myself.

I Have Got to Organize THIS!!

I’m not sure I have any answers yet, but I am working now to figure out a new system that works. For grocery shopping, for keeping up with so many mouths and appetites, for dealing with pickiness, and for organizing it all in my house.

So that’s what I’ve been working on lately!

One of my biggest issues (besides keeping up with grocery purchases) is figuring out how to organize all of our food efficiently. Here’s what I’m working with:

  • We have a lovely closet-like pantry and a refrigerator/freezer in our kitchen.
  • Out in a storage room, we have additional shelves for non-perishables. We also have a second fridge/freezer out there plus two deep freezers.

It’s ugly out there, but it’s storage space so that’s what matters.

I’m very blessed to have so much outside room for storage. The problems have been that:

  • We have so many little ones (3, 2, 1, and 9months) that I have very little time to organize all of the food in storage. Whenever I get home from grocery shopping we all just stuff food into whatever freezers, fridges, and pantry spaces we can find room. There is no system and has not been organized.
  • Every time I need something from our storage room (at least a dozen times every day), I have to make my way from the kitchen, through the living room, through Justus’ room, and into the outside storage room. It’s not such a big deal, except that alllllll of the little ones want to follow me out there, then they get mad that they can’t play out there, then I have to grab up babies to get them back into the house…

IT IS A MESS.

As in, the system is a mess and the storage room has been a mess.

These “before pictures” don’t make it look like a total mess, but trust me, we couldn’t even walk in this room.

With all of the cases and boxes of food and paper goods, the storage room barely had a path to walk through to get to anything we needed.

I’ve been praying about how to make it work better, and dumb as it is, I’ve shed some tears over it. I’ve just been frustrated because I need to make it better and I haven’t been sure how.

Finally one day, I just started digging into my kitchen pantry. My goal was to get everything organized in a way that put everything in my kitchen pantry that I used the most. Everything else was going out to the storage room shelves.

Here is my kitchen the day I pulled everything out to regroup.

Meanwhile, I realized that I have an area in my kitchen, just behind my sink, that was basically wasted space. (I didn’t take a before picture, so sorry! I was too focused on figuring out a new system. Just know that it was messy and unusable.)

It occurred to me that with some work, we could turn that space into something useful and helpful for storage and efficiency. But what exactly should we do to make that area usable?

Have I ever told you about my dear friend Pam?

I’m not sure what I would do without her. She comes over for a couple of hours every weekday morning – to help with the kids, to help me with appointments, to help me with housework – whatever I need, she’s there.

Pam helped me brainstorm, then she worked with me to reorganize that unusable kitchen area. Sooooooo thankful!!! Keith “helped” her unscrew a little table that was attached to the wall taking up and wasting space. She yanked stuff off the wall. The baby girls and I scrubbed the walls and floor. Then Pam helped me move a shelf from the storage room into that area in the kitchen.

During nap time, I took trip after trip from storage room to kitchen, filling the shelves, then redoing the pantry.

Here’s the new shelf we moved into the kitchen:

And here’s the reorganized pantry:

Having the additional shelf in the kitchen changes everything! It looks so much nicer than the mess that was there before, plus now I have all of my non-perishables right in my kitchen. I still have to make the trek out to our storage room for food in our extra fridge and freezers, but having everything else right where I need it is SO HELPFUL!!

And speaking of the storage room:

We can walk through it and all that’s stored in there now is all of our paper goods, woot!

There is still more organizing that can be done in our house, but having our kitchen and food more organized sure is a huge blessing!

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Tips to Save Time in the Kitchen

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Since 2007 I’ve been sharing tips for how to save time in the kitchen. Here are some of my best!
Now that it’s 2022 and we’ve added more amazing kids to our family, I find that I continue to find more and more ways to use my time as wisely as possible.

My current favorite ways to save time in the kitchen:

Here are some additional time-saving ideas – in case you want to be awesome and make Cinnamon Rolls and Granola:

I’ve been buying granola as of late and the only cinnamon rolls we eat are ones I bought at Christmas-time from my nephew and nieces who were baking to raise money to buy more chickens for their family project. :)

So apparently that’s my newest time-saving tip: Buy it from someone else, ha. Goodness, how far I’ve come. I’m the one who used to make everything from scratch. I don’t even remember that old me anymore. :) I don’t have any guilt over this – the old me or the new me. That’s God at work, people. :)

Still, we are eating quite a lot of nourishing foods each day, even if we do compromise here and there.

What are some of your time-saving tricks?
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Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake? Yes.

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Yes, I made a new cake with spinach, a Chocolate Pumpkin Spinach Cake. It’s official. I’m ridiculous. But wait until you try this!

You can think I’m crazy if you want to. You’d be right. But adding spinach to cake? Well, it’s a hilarious way to eat vegetables. Your family will be none the wiser unless they watch you make the cake. Then you have some explaining to do.

Therin lies all the ingredients for a pumpkin chocolate cake, plus a generous amount of fresh spinach. All blended up, it turns into a cake. For Popeye. And everyone else.

Hey, this is a million times better than this fun – but full of sugar and white flour – add spinach to a cake mix idea. I still plan to make that from time to time because it’s fun and truly a good way to get my kids to eat greens.

But this Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake has both pumpkin and spinach, so it’s basically a health food. Covered in frosting. ;)

Chocolate Pumpkin Spinach CakeYum

4.5 from 2 reviews
Chocolate Pumpkin SPINACH Cake? Yes.
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 can pumpkin puree (15 ounces)
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup water
  • 2-3 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 cup sucanat or brown sugar
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients into a high power blender (like a Blendtec) starting with liquids first.
  2. Blend until well mixed and smooth.
  3. Pour ingredients into a 9x13 inch cake pan.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  5. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

Want some low-sugar frosting options? Follow this search I did, and find all kinds of fun frosting ideas. Plus, you’ll see more cake recipes, and you know you want to add spinach to all of those!!

Have you tried this idea? Tell me how it went for you!

My family cannot tell there’s spinach in our cake. I love this!

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Big Family Food: Have Grocery Prices Gone Up at Sam’s?

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There’s so much talk about high grocery costs! So have grocery prices gone up at Sam’s also?

I had just made a run to our local grocery store – the one I try to support if at all possible. But they aren’t a chain so their prices are often higher than most other stores. Their sales are good though, and I like to support them since they are local, so I go there when I can. (Read here to get some great tips and recipes to help keep food costs down!)

One particular day recently though, I came home so discouraged. It seemed that everything everyone had been saying about grocery prices going up was very true. Everything I needed at the store that day seemed to have doubled in price. Ouch, that can really add up. And because we go through so much food at our house, I just couldn’t justify putting many “convenience foods” (Like bagels, hashbrowns, frozen fruit, yogurt…) into my cart.

I stuck to the very basics, came home with very few groceries, and tried to think creatively about how I could stay within our grocery budget while still recognizing that my cooking/baking time is very, very limited.

(Ha, “came home with very few groceries” was still a cart full. I had planned to get much more for our family that day, that’s all.) ;)

A few days later, I was able to head out of town to Sam’s to try to really stock up on items we needed. I took our 6-year-old with me for a much-needed one-on-one outing. She was BEAMING the entire time we were out! (And chatting. And chatting, and chatting. I’m learning that girls are different than boys, ha!)

Have Grocery Prices Gone Up at Sam’s?

My fear was that Sam’s grocery prices were going to be just as hiked up as they had been at our small grocery store.

I was getting low on just about all of our staples, plus I always need fresh produce. So I decided not to hold back while shopping that day. I was hoping to get enough food to last us at least two weeks. Maybe?? But I was also hoping to avoid going broke.

The only carts available that day were the flats, which I knew I would need. But I also don’t like how difficult it is to get everything onto a flat without stuff falling out. So I took the advice left by JJ on this post, and I grabbed boxes at the front of the store. Instead of just putting items onto the flat, I loaded them into the big boxes that sat on the flat. Worked like a charm!!!

After check out, the boxes filled the back of our Transit, but they sure did stack up nicely!

Then, of course, unloading it and putting it all away once we got home was the fun challenge.

What I got:

  • Big bag of apples
  • Big bag of pears
  • Big bag of nectarines
  • Bananas
  • 1 container of mixed greens
  • 2 containers of spinach
  • Container of blueberries
  • Container of strawberries
  • Container of kiwi
  • Asparagus
  • Big bag of petite baby carrots
  • 2 large bags of Fritos
  • 2 large bags of tortilla chips
  • Case of peaches
  • Case of mandarine oranges
  • Case of Rotel
  • Case of refried beans
  • Box of beef hotdogs
  • Box of orange chicken
  • Box of cheese curds
  • Bag of chicken nuggets
  • Pack of lime juice bottles
  • Coffee creamer
  • 1/2 & 1/2
  • Big bag of tator tots
  • Turkey lunch meat
  • Ham lunch meat
  • White queso
  • Sliced colby jack cheese
  • Shredded colby jack cheese
  • Box of avocado mash cups
  • Double bag of plain bagels
  • 2 large bags of frozen fruit
  • A few clothing items we needed

Total for food: $367

I was AMAZED and grateful that I got so much food for less than $400!

While grocery prices have gone up here and there, I didn’t find that the prices at Sam’s were shocking by any means.

Are Sam’s and Costco still going to save us money?

Absolutely.

Yes, prices have gone up somewhat because that’s what’s happening right now. But the savings I experienced at Sam’s that day was significant compared to what I’d found at a regular grocery store. Plus, overall prices were still extremely reasonable at Sam’s.

Next time I go to Costco I’ll do a similar comparison to see if the savings are still there. :)

What have you experienced with grocery prices where you shop? Are they going up?

P.S. Read this post to get great tips and recipes for help in keeping food costs down!

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Add Spinach to Cake (It Tastes AMAZING!!!)

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It’s true. I add spinach to cake now. We will get greens into these kids, will we not?!

Look at this and tell me that you see spinach:

Right? And neither did he:

Now, he is a 3-year-old. Therefore, he also eats the occasional dirt or piece of tortilla that has been stuck under his car seat since last Christmas. So can he really be trusted?

Look at that face. If he can’t be trusted, who can? Though he is not to be trusted with choosing an outfit. It was snowing the day he was determined to wear these swim trunks. Why? Because they had sharks on them, which perfectly matched the sharks on his shirt. Obviously.

So about adding spinach to cake. I got the idea from Justus’ fiance.

She can absolutely be trusted. With food, with picking outfits, and of course, with picking a husband. She’s a keeper.

One day in my kitchen she saw me making these smoothies (yes, she already knows we’re weird and she still wants to marry into the Coppinger family). She was like: “Hey, did you know you can add spinach to a cake mix? I saw it on a reel!”

Fascinated, and seeing as I am in a desperate way to get as many nourishing foods into my kids as possible, I decided to pick up a cake mix the next time I was at the store. (<— Read that sentence again. Weirdest thing I’ve ever typed. Hahahahaha. Who even am I anymore?)

Yes, I picked up a cake mix. To help us eat greens. Yo. Betty Crocker gets salad into the children. We love her.

There’s the blender filled with spinach, oil, and water. If that doesn’t look like a delicious cake waiting to happen, I don’t know what does.

Then, in went eggs and cake mix.

It’s a cake mix? It’s a smoothie? No one actually knows what this is.

In fact, Malachi (our 17-year-old) watched in horror as he saw me blend this up and then pour it into a cake pan. “Mom, what are you doing??!!”

Poor kid. He knows his mom is tired. He really thought I’d lost my mind (some more). He thought I was pouring smoothie into a pan and putting it into the oven.

So then I told him what I was actually doing and he was disgusted that he’d seen the entire thing transpire. Not knowing there was spinach in the cake would have been much better, thought he. But alas, the damage had been done. He’d seen the spinach get blended into the cake. He left for soccer practice full of skepticism.

Would you look at that? It’s just a chocolate cake. Full of spinach that no one can see. Bah.

I frosted it, you know, just to add more sugar to our nourishing cake. What in the world. I then took a blurry picture.

Let’s take another look at that first taste-tester, shall we?

Can you see a slight green tint within the chocolate? No, you cannot. Only because you know it’s there do you think that you see greenish-brown.

Below you can read about how you can also put greens into your cake. We have all lost our minds. I guess we don’t care if our kids eat the sugar as long as they are also eating salad??

How to Add Spinach to CakeYum

5.0 from 4 reviews
Add Spinach to Cake (It Tastes AMAZING!!!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1 chocolate cake mix
  • 1¼ cups water
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 3-4 cups fresh spinach
Instructions
  1. Blend everything up in a high power blender.
  2. Pour the batter into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  4. Allow cake to cool before frosting.

And that’s how it’s done.

Will this be a way I frequently get greens into my children?

I don’t think that it will. But then again, I’m kind of on a roll with thinking of new ways to add veggie nourishment to our food. Wonder what else I can add spinach to?

Oh, in case you’re wondering…

Malachi’s Response:

He loved this cake and couldn’t get over it. “It’s so good! How is it this good?!” said we, between bites of cake.

I bet he’ll never be skeptical again when I put green stuff into a cake pan.

Listen, we all loved this cake. We decided that spinach makes it extra moist. I dare you to try it. :)

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Big Family Food: Sneaking Veggies and Avoiding Food Fights

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Does anyone else have picky kids? No? Oh. Well, I guess this “sneaking veggies and avoiding food fights” post is just for me then. But just in case you want to read along just for fun…

Phew. Just when I thought I’d been parenting long enough to have been around all the blocks multiple times, God gave us more precious kids and said, “Here you go. Start all over again. It’ll be just like the first go-’round except that it’ll be also very different. All of these kids are dealing with trauma of some sort. Also, some of them only like sugar dipped in sugar.”

God didn’t say exactly that. He actually said, “I have called you to this. You are equipped for this, even when you feel like you aren’t. I am with you. I will never forsake you. I will give you everything you need. You can trust me. You are loved.”

What a God we serve! Never have I realized my need for Him more than now. And I’m not talking about my work in the kitchen. Clothing and feeding these babes is the “easy” part compared to the rest (though I need Him for the physical work too, no doubt). He continually teaches me what to do and how to do this life. Praise Him!

So here we are. I’m too busy to focus on food compared to how much I used to focus on it in the past. At the same time I:

The biggest way I make sure we are all getting plenty of nourishment, even when I serve compromise foods is this: We have fruits and veggies with every meal.

Awesome, right? Right. Except that some of our kids are very picky, and some of them have sensory/texture issues, so I can’t just say, “go eat your green beans.” Because someone might actually throw up. Good times.

Sneaking Veggies and Avoiding Food Fights

We’ve tried idea after idea with multiple kids, and I can’t say that we’ve settled on what works for each of them. But we are making some progress, and for that, I am very thankful. When it comes to food, we simply want our kids to be nourished and healthy, and we are doing what we can to help make that happen.

Veggies are the hardest for some of our kids to get down. So I’m having fun being creative with ways to sneak them into our meals.

Let me be clear:

When I say “sneak veggies” I’m not necessarily trying to pull a fast one on our kids. In fact, our kids are in the kitchen watching me and “helping” me so they actually watch me sneak veggies all the time.

It’s been super good for our 6-year-old and 8-year-old to be a part of our kitchen life. They are learning by helping and watching. But we’ve learned with these two (who have experienced so much trauma, have been lied to, and have had life yanked out from under them too many times) that we have to be fully honest always.

So we “sneak” veggies simply by adding them to meals in any way we can.

And our kids know that we do this. They think it’s fun!

Here are some examples:

1. When I make broth, I add as many veggies as I can, especially onions and carrots. After it’s cooked, I blend the veggies and whisk them into the broth. As a result, we have orange, flavorful broth, and in almost every batch of soup I make, it looks like “cheesy soup.” Ha. Everyone loves my soup, and no one thinks about the hidden veggies that add so much flavor and nourishment.

2. I tear pieces of spinach into our quesadillas or sandwiches.

This works great, and not one kid complains! In fact, the first time our 6-year-old saw me tearing spinach into our quesadillas, she was like, “Oh, is that how we’re going to eat our veggies tonight?” :)

You betcha, girlfriend!

Later, when she was eating her quesadillas, with a big grin she said, “Mom, I can’t even tell there’s spinach in here! I can’t even taste it!”

One day I made the most delicious sandwiches with whatever buns I had on hand, shredded chicken, ranch dressing, torn up greens, and sliced cheese melted on top. They were SO DELICIOUS. And we couldn’t taste the greens at all.

3. We fill our smoothies with greens.

The kids put the greens into the blender themselves, laugh about the weird color of the smoothies, then guzzle them down. They love that they are getting both fruits and veggies in this treat, and think that they are winning over the veggies. Because they are. Take that, spinach. 

4. We make pumpkin muffins and pie.

Is this stretching it just a little bit? Yes. But listen: there’s pumpkin in pumpkin pie, is there not? There is. So it’s a vegetable pie. Amen.

(Also, is pumpkin technically a fruit? What even is a gourd?)

Also muffins. Pumpkin muffins, sweet potato muffins, acorn squash muffins. It all turns out the same product that has nourishment within. See also: Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

These Flourless Pumpkin Muffins are especially nourishing. :)

5. I add veggies to spaghetti sauce.

Ha, check this out and learn a little bit more deeply how weird I actually am.

Three of our foster babes qualify for the WIC program, so we get quite a few containers of baby food every month. This is super nice, and because I have so many I’ve started using some of the pureed veggies in creative ways. Last week I stirred pureed pumpkin into our spaghetti sauce and no one questioned it as they asked for seconds and thirds.

6. I added the same veggies to a pot of Chili.

We add shredded cheese, sour cream, and fritos to our bowls of chili. So when I added pureed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots to a big pot of chili, no one noticed!

If you don’t have pureed baby food (I won’t buy it once our WIC benefits run out), I suggest adding canned pureed pumpkin or blended cooked carrots – anything you have on hand!

7. We learned that we can add greens to cake mix. For real.

It’s as easy as this. You can also add a can of pumpkin like this. Or add both pumpkin and spinach. It works great!

What ways have you found to add more veggies to your family table?

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Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family! And read here to catch up on other posts in this series you may have missed. :)

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Big Family Food: March 2022 Costco Trip

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I think I’m getting the hang of how to “do Costco” for my family. Here’s a look at my March 2022 Costco Trip!

Did you read My Big Costco Experiment? That is when I figured out how to shop Costco effectively for my family. It looks something like this:

My New Costco Plan

  1. Walk into the store, take a deep breath, and shop for all non-perishables. Clothing, paper products, canned goods, boxed snacks and chips, baking products, applesauce, and whatever else doesn’t require refrigeration or extra care.
  2. Check-out, load the van, then go back in.
  3. Take a bathroom break.
  4. Eat a hotdog and drink a big cup of water.
  5. I’m not even kidding. This job makes a person need some major sustenance and $1.50 for the big dog/drink combo is pretty rockin’.
  6. Grab an empty cart again and fill it with all the fresh produce, frozen foods, refrigerated foods, and bread products that we need.
  7. Check out again, load the van again, open the box of Kombucha I just bought, and drink a bottle for refreshment and survival.

Anyone else shop at Costco like this?

So, March 2022 Costco Trip Round 1:

  • 2 bags tortilla chips
  • 2 loaves bread
  • hot dog buns
  • hamburger buns
  • bag of veggie straws
  • bag of granola
  • case of tuna
  • box of granola bars (x2)
  • jars of peanut butter
  • quinoa and rice packets
  • case of canned chicken
  • bag of brown sugar
  • case of mac and cheese
  • a bunch of clothes and a bridal shower gift :)

Total for the food: $149

The much-needed hotdog (in case you thought I was kidding):

Then Back for Round Two:

  • bag of frozen meatballs
  • bag of frozen hamburger patties
  • bag of frozen corn
  • bag of frozen green beans
  • bag of frozen peas
  • goat milk cheese
  • 2 gallons milk
  • tortellini
  • heavy cream
  • white queso
  • naked smoothies (x2)
  • avocado mash (x2)
  • shredded mozzarella cheese
  • shredded colby jack cheese
  • polish sausage
  • container of croissants
  • red grapes
  • blueberries
  • blackberries
  • raspberries
  • strawberries
  • spring mix
  • fresh spinach
  • pink lady apples
  • gala apples

Total: $265

Total Costco Trip (for groceries): $414

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Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family! And read here to catch up on other posts in this series you may have missed. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!