Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Big Family Food: How to Use Produce Before it Goes Bad

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Here are some suggestions for how to use produce before it goes bad!

Obviously, my biggest tip is: EAT IT.

Great post. See ya next time.

But I actually have a few other tips too, simply because I realized that as I regularly buy my big family such a large amount of fresh produce, I also have a system for how we eat it all up to avoid anything going bad. If only everything could be turned into banana bread like over-ripe bananas!

First, a look at my produce selections

I frequently buy a large quantity of fresh fruits and veggies each time I go to the store. My hauls look something like:

Typically, I load my carts with:

  • Berries
  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Pears
  • Grapes
  • Mixed Greens
  • Nectarines
  • Kiwi
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Whatever is in season and for sale at a good price

How to Use Produce Before it Goes Bad

We usually go through what you see in each of those pictures in about a week or a week and a half. Here’s my system to eat it before it goes bad:

  1. We eat the berries first. These are the most sensitive and tend to go bad quickly. We try to eat all of our berries within just two days, and usually, it’s not a problem because we love berries! If they do begin to go bad, I freeze them for smoothies so that they don’t go to waste.
  2. We start on the grapes next. They’ve stayed good in the fridge while we’ve worked our way through the berries. If they begin to get squishy, I freeze them for smoothies.
  3. Mixed greens get eaten within a week, otherwise they get slimy. We go through two pounds every week by eating them in these smoothies and these. So they almost never have a chance to go bad at our house.
  4. We’ve been eating on the bananas all along, but we never feel urgency to eat them quickly because we love over-ripe bananas in smoothies and muffins. Sometimes I buy extras just so we’ll have enough to use in these recipes. ;)
  5. Clementines are also being served all throughout the week after the berries are finished off. We find that they taste best if eaten within one week, but sometimes they last longer. If they start to get hard (or mushy), I peel and freeze them for smoothies like this.
  6.  Meanwhile, the pears, kiwi, and nectarines have ripened and are ready to eat. We start slicing these to put on our plates at every meal. If we can’t get through all the nectarines before they turn mushy, I slice and freeze them for smoothies.
  7. The potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onions, and cucumbers have kept just fine, so we just use these as needed without much worry.
  8. The apples are usually just fine too, although we have found that if we haven’t eaten them in a few days, they stay crispier if we refrigerate them. If we do happen to have any grainy apples, I blend them and make Applesauce Bread.

What do we do when the produce has run out and we haven’t made it back to the store?

We open cans of fruit (in 100% juice) like pears, peaches, and pineapple. This gets us through until we can make a run to the store.

What about other veggies?

We keep frozen green beans and peas in the freezer at all times. That way, if I’m out of fresh vegetables, I can quickly steam something from the freezer.

What do you do to keep produce from going bad?

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Big Family Food: Ways I Can Cut Our Grocery Budget

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We eat big around here. Are there even ways I can actually cut our grocery budget?

This is what I’ve been exploring lately. What are some ways I can cut our grocery budget without causing more work or frustration?

I was so positively challenged by Reanna’s comment on this post:

If you are considering ways to save on your grocery budget you might consider buying more in “ bulk” and less single serving items. I’ve never bought individual applesauces, or other single serving items. I also only buy simple snacks such as fruit or crackers. We mainly concentrate on eating more during mealtime and not snacking as much. Snacks can be very expensive!

I 100% agree with her idea to avoid single-serve items, and I used to shop and serve food in just the ways she described. But with caring for so many little ones all while trying to keep up with our big kids (we’re planning another wedding, eeee!) – I have resorted to all kinds of convenience food items just to survive. (Our three littlest babies are each about 9-months apart in age, our three-year-old is potty training, and three days every week we enjoy our former foster babe, another three-year-old oy!)

My first thought when I read the comment was, “Yes, but not right now. Maybe after we get through this season.” But then I let her ideas simmer a while and I started to think about ways I could make some money-saving changes.

What I need to consider before I decide to cut our grocery budget:

  • Is the money-saving change worth the time and energy it will take to make up for the convenience?
  • Will it be worth the messes it might make? (We are already drowning in baby-made messes around here.)
  • Is the cost savings enough to make a substantial difference? (As in, will I spend $6.50 instead of $7.00 but create a significant amount of additional work for myself? If so, saving $0.50 will not likely feel worth it.)
  • Will any changes I make mean that we are eating less nourishing foods overall?

A word about snacks:

Well, three words about snacks: We eat them. A lot of them. Not all of us though – here’s how it works at our house!

Our three-year-olds, two-year-old, and one-year-old kids eat several snacks throughout the day. I would have some incredibly grumpy babies if I didn’t give them a mid-morning muffin (or something similar) and some berries. Sometimes I actually feel like all I’m doing is figuring out yet another good snack I can offer to truly hungry little ones.

I give them substantial meals, of course, but their little tummies can only handle so much at a time. We go through grapes, berries, apple slices, granola, cereal, and muffins like crazy – all eaten between meals.

Now, on the other hand, I almost never give our 6-year-old and 8-year-old snacks between meals. They are expected to eat their fill during meal time and I’ve found that if they eat a snack, they don’t eat a good meal later (which makes them need a snack later, which makes me want to cry later, truth). So the snacking is limited to the kids under 3 – and also to the hungry mom who rarely has time to sit and eat a full meal, thank you for understanding.

Ways I Can Cut Our Grocery Budget

I feel a little bit silly that I haven’t actually looked at cutting such obvious grocery spending options for so long. On the other hand, this mama is tired, has a lot of meetings, and hasn’t had quite enough sleep for approximately 1,460 nights in a row. So that’s why I’m so grateful that Reanna suggested that I consider a different way to shop and serve food.

I discovered peach cups and pear cups and applesauce squeezies a couple of years ago, loved how handy they were, and never looked back. And with that, I never really looked again at the price comparison either. Until I was challenged to consider the necessity of extra spending.

Pear cups cost $0.13/ounce. But a can of pears costs $06.7/ounce – half the cost of the convenient cups. Peaches? Same story. Half the price to buy a can instead of the little cups.

When we hit the road or need to pack food to eat at a soccer game or at the park, the cups will be wonderful and helpful with so many kids. But at home? I can easily open a can and dole out the peaches or pears in little bowls.

IT’S SO OBVIOUS. But I’ve been tired. So.

Meanwhile, the applesauce.

For the past three years, I have been buying cases and cases of applesauce squeezies. These gems are so helpful I can’t put it into words. And what happens when I give my littlest kids a bowl of applesauce? You don’t want to know, but I’ll tell you anyway. They paint with it. On their shirts, hair, feet, and under the table. I learned the hard way not to give them a bowl of applesauce, and there are too many of them eating (read: painting) at once to help them all eat it in a clean way.

Squeezies though? I can hand them out, and actually leave the room to go potty by myself. This is a miracle and though shalt not take my applesauce squeezies from mine house.

But do I need them forever and always? As it turns out, my 6 and 8-year olds are quite handy with a spoon. I can easily serve them applesauce in a bowl and save money on an entire case of applesauce squeezies every week. How about that? A jar of applesauce is $0.5/ounce while the squeezies are $0.15/ounce or more. Triple the savings! And if I’d ever get back to canning applesauce again, well, that’ll save even more.

What else can I cut or change?

I already buy almost everything in bulk. At Costco, at Sam’s, and through Azure Standard. And when I consider all the needs of our day, plus my lack of time to make more of our food from scratch, I’ve had a difficult time knowing what else I can cut.

But one thing I’ve committed to, besides buying fewer individually packaged fruit options, is to buy fewer individually wrapped items in general.

The only time I truly need individually wrapped snacks is when we go to tennis matches, soccer games, or other trips and outings. My goal right now is to keep items like this on hand but to save them for outings instead of resorting to handing them out at home during snack time.

Here’s a post filled with easy food ideas to pack and take to games and events.

What I don’t plan to change now (or ever?)

As I’ve shopped lately and done some price comparisons, here are some foods I’ve decided to continue to buy for the sake of convenience, even though they are a little more pricey.

  • Diced Ham – For $0.24/ounce, I can buy a package of ham that’s all cut and ready to dump into an egg casserole or this soup. A whole ham costs about $0.14/ounce. But I have to cook it and cut it (which is fine when I make a whole ham for a meal and use the leftovers in soup and such). Having the diced ham in my freezer ready to help me put a meal together in 5-minutes is worth the extra cost by far!
  • Frozen Shredded Hashbrowns – I buy 4-pound bags of Mr. Dell’s hashbrowns for $0.7/ounce. I can buy a bag of yellow potatoes for $0.4/ounce. Dude, gimme both. :) Those frozen hashbrowns save me so much time and make meal prep so very easy! They are delicious and the Mr. Dell’s brand includes only potatoes. So I feel great about using them for many of our meals. And whole potatoes? We use those too, and they are also an inexpensive convenience food in my book. But only when I make them like this or this.
  • Pre-Made Pizza Crust – I keep these in the freezer at all times. Do I know how to make pizza crust? Yes. Is it hard? No. But right now it’s fantastic to go to the freezer and grab crusts already made for me. I then grab a couple of cans of pizza sauce, shredded cheese, and whatever other toppings I have on hand. We quickly make pizza and it’s super easy. It’s also a lot cheaper than ordering pizza.”
  • Shredded Cheese – Talking about the shredded cheese for pizzas reminded me of the beauty of the gift of bags of pre-shredded cheese. I used to buy huge blocks of cheese and my kids would shred it in our food processor. Gone are the days. My bigs are either gone or don’t have time, and I have decided not to give my babies a cheese grater. Smart, eh?Grating cheese would never happen if I had to wait until I had time for the task. So bagged shredded cheese it is! Are there ingredients added to the bag to keep the cheese from clumping together? La-la-la! I can’t hear you, I don’t know what you’re talking about… :)

Well, I’m quite sure that as I consider ways I can save, I’ll be able to add to this list. Any other ideas you all want to throw out there?!

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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: The DISHES!!

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I’m not sure. Can we even talk about our Big Family Food Journey without taking pictures of all the dishes? Eeek.

What you see pictured above is what our kitchen almost always looks like by lunchtime. It looks that way again after dinner and confession: I almost always leave the kitchen looking like this disaster when I go to bed at night. Yowza.

Why do I do this? Why do I not wash all the dishes after dinner? BECAUSE I AM TIRED. And because my hands are literally always full. Yes, I sometimes “wear” our littlest babe, but usually one of our other babies wants to be held too. So I am almost always working with just one hand.

Therefore, I go to bed and the kitchen is usually a disaster.

Where is the help?

Ah, the help is helping alright. They are holding kids, chasing kids, keeping kids alive, and even changing diapers (awesome daddies in training!).

This is my all-time favorite picture of Elias and baby Keith!

And of course, Matt is surrounded by babes from the minute he walks in the door each evening until we put them all to bed each night.

Sometimes in the evening, if all the kids are being held/watched by Daddy and the big bros (and their fiance/girlfriends or whoever is at the house at the moment) – I can get the dinner dishes done before bed. But usually, the dishes have to wait until morning.

How I take care of the dishes

Besides neglecting them? Ah yes. It’s this:

My typical routine is to get our 6 & 8-year-olds off to the school bus in the morning at 7:10 (which stops a block from our house, praise God!), settle in our 3-year-old with a show, drink my coffee, and read my Bible/journal, then tackle the kitchen before our baby girls are ready to get out of their cribs. (Usually, Matt has fed the littlest baby a bottle in the wee morning hours and she goes back to sleep. I take sippy cups of milk to our one and two-year-old girls at 6:45 when I go in to wake up our 6yo for school. So the baby girls enjoy their milk and sleep again until around 8:00.)

While it would be wonderful to wake up to a clean kitchen to start each new day, that’s just not how it works for us right now. So after my coffee/Bible time, I fill the dishwasher and run it. (We usually run a full dishwasher twice every day.)

Please don’t cringe when you look at my dishwasher loading methods – I know it’s horrendous! But I don’t care, because there are way more important things to care about. :) The top is filled with sippies, bottles, and coffee mugs and then I usually haphazardly throw cooking utensils on top. They all get clean, and they don’t care if they are unorganized so neither do I. (I do also have a third rack above this one, which I use for lids.)

Once the dishwasher is loaded, I hand wash the big bowls and pots from the night before.

After Malachi gets home from his morning classes, he unloads the dishwasher and we start over again with snack and lunch dishes. Eat and repeat. :)

Someday, I’ll have more kitchen help again!

When our older four boys were all still living at home and capable, I almost never had to even wash a dish! We got into a system where they would all take turns loading and unloading the dishwasher, sweeping, and wiping everything down. Now, three out of the four have graduated and moved on, leaving only Malachi (now 17) at our house. (Justus, our college senior, actually lives at home this year too, but he’s almost never here. When he is though, he’s always grabbing a baby so I can get something done!)

Malachi can’t take on all the chores that his brothers left behind, tho he really is a super help to me in many ways and always does what he can. Also? He’s running a videography business, taking college classes, is in a melodrama, is playing tennis and soccer, and for some reason, he also likes to hang out with friends from time to time.

—> We hire a lot of help now – I’ll share about that in another post! <—

I could have taken a lot more pictures of all the dirty dishes at our house. But why? Why would you want to see that? You don’t want to see that. Trust me on this. :)

Stay tuned for more from our Big Family Food series.

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Big Family Food: Meals I’ve Served Recently

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Want a peek at some of the meals I’ve served to my family and to guests within the past few weeks?

You’ve taken a look at some of my recent grocery shopping trips. Plus, throughout this Big Family Food series, some of what I’ve shared includes:

This post will show some picture examples of what some of our meals have looked like!

Meals I’ve Served Recently

One Sunday morning, I filled a crockpot with this Hearty Bean Casserole, then served it for lunch with a variety of fresh fruit I had just picked up. It was such a pretty buffet because of the colorful fruit. Also, it is worth noting that everyone who was skeptical of trying this casserole for the first time ended up loving it. :)

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Tuesday nights we usually feed around 12 people (7 adults), or sometimes more if Elias and his roommates come over from his apartment on campus. One Tuesday recently I made two pans of Simple Pizza Chicken Bake. I served it with a variety of fruit and veggie options. Plus I had just made a big batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins so I set those out too.

Our 6-year old does so much better at mealtime if I let her choose from the offered fruits and vegetables instead of just presenting her with a plate. Also, I had our 8, 6, and 3-year-olds help me make the Simple Pizza Chicken Bake and the Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. When they feel ownership in the meal, they eat it better. :)

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Elias turned 20 in January so he invited several friends over for a big Waffle night. I got zero pictures of the huge buffet full of waffles, toppings, bacon, and egg casserole. But I did remember to ask Malachi to step back and snap a picture of our full loving room. Nights like these are my favorite. :)

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On Wednesday afternoons, I leave my littles with sitters so I can go hide at the library to work for four quiet hours. I go home refreshed from the fun of writing (in the quiet), and you can be sure that there are three babies ready for mama to hold them when I walk through the door.

Therefore, I try to have dinner ready, or almost ready before I even leave for the library. Otherwise, I go from quiet to chaos very quickly, trying to make dinner while holding three babies and answering “urgent” questions from the 3, 6, and 8yo kiddos. Here’s what I made one Wednesday before I left: Crock Pot Taco Pasta (it cooked all afternoon while I was gone), green beans, pineapple, and grapes.

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The Wednesday after that, before leaving for the library, I put together six pizzas (from crusts that I’d purchased and frozen). I slid them into the oven and simply turned on the oven to bake once I got home at 5:00. Magic. I pulled out fresh spinach and ranch dressing while the pizza was baking and the kids ate “salad” as an appetizer. :)

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Here’s a meal I put together on a day I had meetings and needed something quick to warm up later at mealtime.

The day before, I had made seven pounds of hamburger in my Instant Pot (I love this method!) so I set aside a couple of pounds and turned it into a pan of Sloppy Joes. Just before time to eat that night, I quickly steamed some frozen peas and warmed some white queso for anyone who wanted to drizzle it into their sloppy joe. This particular night I didn’t offer many side dish choices because I knew everyone liked/would eat this simple meal and I didn’t want to work harder than necessary. :)

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I mentioned above that Tuesday nights we typically need a bigger meal because we feed more adults. This meal was perfect for that because it allowed people to choose which soup they wanted, but the toppings and sides went with either soup. (Chili and Simple Ham and Potato)

It was also perfect because I was able to dump all the ingredients for both soups into crockpots earlier in the day while the babies were all eating lunch. They cooked all afternoon (the soups, not the babies) and at dinner time I stirred them and served them with strawberries, grapes, and raspberries.

Meanwhile, our two-year-old was melting down (my precious way of saying that she was screaming, stomping on my feet, and grabbing my legs) while I was trying to put all of this together. Why was she mad? Because I wouldn’t let her eat cookies. Raise your hand if you’re a mean mom like me. ;)

This is why I don’t have time to shower.

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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: What I Feed Our Babies

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Curious what I feed our babies? While they don’t eat large quantities like our big kids, I still felt like this would be fun to talk about within our Big Family Food series! After all, there are a lot of babies at our house. :)

We currently have six kids ages 8 and under. Four of our kids are 3 and under. (Five kids 3 and under three days each week – I’ll explain below.) We have 3 exclusively in diapers, 1 who still sleeps in diapers, and 1 who comes over three days a week and is still in diapers. Five in diapers, you ask? Yep. We just line-em-up and change diapers (or run to the potty). All day long.

Our little ones’ ages are currently 8, 6, 3, 3, 2, 17 months, and 7 months. Here are five of the kids huddled around Daddy as he reads Brayden’s birthday card out loud.

The fella on the left (below) was our foster son for 18 months. He is reunited with his dad now, praise God! But because he is a relative of our current foster/adopted kids, his dad lets him come for frequent visits each week. THIS IS SUCH A GIFT. For all of us. :) :) :)

The picture below shows two of our little girls. Girlie on the left is 17 months old and not yet walking due to foot and leg issues we’re working on. She gets around though – up and down the stairs, into the cupboards and trashcans, and has the best belly laugh on the planet. :) Girlie on the right just turned 2 and has come so far since she moved in last summer! She is as sweet as she is stubborn and helps me be a “mommy” to all the babies in our house.

Aww, there they are again, busy as ever.

Matt, Malachi (age 17, but remember when he used to be my baby?!), and I took the kids to a Historic Farm for a fun fall festival they were hosting last October. I’m pictured here, holding our littlest girlie who just turned 7 months old. Her smile is as big as her face and she is pretty chill most of the time. I think she knows she has to be since she is the youngest of ten!

Never a dull moment?! That would be correct. Here’s Daddy holding our 2yo and Keith chugging down some juice while Brayden and Bonus Sister act out a play.

What’s more fun to look at? Kids or food?

Kids. Obviously. But let’s move on now to show you what our littlest kids eat. (And big kids too, just in larger quantities.)

Here’s a sample of breakfast plates I fixed for Keith (age 3) and two of our girls (ages 2 and 1). A breakfast cookie (plain, no dried fruit or chocolate chips), rewarmed Breakfast Casserole, and blueberries.

Another day, this was what their breakfast looked like. Bananas, pears, and sourdough toast (a special treat from a friend!)…

I buy applesauce squeezies, pear cups, peach cups, and mandarin orange cups in bulk. I keep a tray stocked with them at all times so I can open them up and hand them to babies and kids as needed for side dishes or snacks between meals.

I try occasionally to take one or two kids to the store with me. It’s a fun outing for them and gives us one-on-one time together, which is rare and precious since we have so many kids now. Here, Keith went with me to get fresh produce. It was fun to talk to him about all the fun fruit and veggies choices we were making, what Daddy loves, what sisters loved, and so on. :)

I recently told you about my favorite way to eat an apple. Turns out, it’s one of the kids’ favorites too! Often, I’ll cut really thin slices of apples onto a plate with this cheese. We go through half a bag of apples this way as the kids just keep reaching in for more. So good!

I use my Blendtec like crazy when feeding my family. This Orange Julius recipe makes a fun snack or “side dish” with our meals.

We go through a lot of eggs at our house! Keith loves to help me crack them as we prep for breakfast.

How sick are you of me talking about these smoothies? Yes, Laura, we know. You like to make these smoothies with greens in them so that your kids can drink salad and be happy about being so nourished. So I guess I’ve mentioned these before then?

Here’s a fun parent hack if you aren’t already doing this! Whenever we make Mac and Cheese for the kids, we dump frozen peas into the bottom of each bowl, like this:

Then, we put the hot mac and cheese on top of the frozen peas. Stir it together, and boom. The peas are cooked, the mac and cheese is instantly cooled, and the combo of mac and cheese with peas tastes really good!

While we most often blend our greens into smoothies like I shared above, our kids will also eat fresh spinach on a plate with a dab of ranch for dipping. They eat the spinach just like they dip carrots in ranch. And on this particular day, Keith also tried dipping his strawberry in ranch. Hmmm… Looks like a silly goose to me.

Muffins!!!! Oh my goodness, the muffins. We eat them and then we eat some more. It is my goal to bake and keep muffins on hand, even if I don’t ever get any other baking done. All the kids love them and they help to stretch our meals or to provide an easy-to-grab snack at all times. (Here are 40 muffin recipes I reference frequently.)

I’ll keep taking pictures of our kids’ plates during the next few weeks so I can share more!

What are your favorite meals for itty-bitties?

Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family!

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Big Family Food: Making the Meal Stretch

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Today we’ll talk about Making the Meal Stretch as I share our Big Family Food Journey. But this post could also be titled: Feeding Picky Kids. See also: How to Add a Big Variety of Fruits and Vegetables to the Table. Sounds like we have a lot of ground to cover today!

What I am about to share will tell you how we regularly:

  • Feed our big family without making a huge portion of the main dish for every meal
  • Accommodate picky eaters, and…
  • Provide lots of fruits and veggies for our crew.
  • Bonus: This stretches the grocery budget too!

Another Bonus: This method works for families of all sizes, small and large!

Big Family Food: Making the Meal Stretch

Even though we typically feed 8-15 or more at every meal, I don’t always make a double or triple batch of our main dish. That could get really expensive! So instead, I often make one large main dish and then provide a big variety of nourishing sides to fill us up!

Here’s a list of items I might pull out to serve with the main dish we have prepared. Typically I prepare (or simply pull from the fridge or pantry) four or five of these:

For instance…

Here’s an example of some food I set out to serve with a 9×13 Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole one night. We had company, so there were 18 of us eating. (Note: Several were little ones who ate very small portions.) With our casserole, I served:

  • a pan of warm homemade rolls
  • a pot of steamed green beans
  • a pot of buttered corn
  • a plate of clementines and kiwi
  • and a plate of sliced cheese.

Not pictured from this meal: corn, rolls, and casserole. Plus the adorable face of our 2yo. :)
Everyone got full and we even had a little bit of corn and casserole leftover.

Stretch the Meal, Accommodate the Picky Eaters

If I set out 4-5 of the above-listed items to go with our meals, I tell the kids to pick 2-3 (or more if they want). This has worked so beautifully because in the case of our foster/adopted kids, letting them choose their sides gives them a sense of control when so much of their life has felt out of control.

But I don’t let them rule the show. As in, I don’t let the kids ask for something that isn’t already an offering on our buffet.

If I’ve set out the main dish, a bowl of grapes, sliced apples, steamed broccoli, and mixed greens with ranch – they don’t get to turn up their nose and ask for a pickle or a PBJ. I know what all of our kids like and don’t like. So I know that the choices I set out WILL accommodate all of the kids’ preferences in some way. I have them choose at least one fruit and one veggie from the choices provided and that’s that.

See how this stretches the meal?

I feel like I’ve talked more about accommodating picky eaters than I have about stretching the meal to feed 10-20 people. So let’s talk a little bit about how my method of serving several side dishes makes our main dish stretch farther!

If I were to make a Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole and serve it with a salad – we would run out of casserole after everyone had only one small or medium-sized helping. But if I make a Simple Ham and Hashbrown Casserole and set it out with:

…then everyone can help themselves to the casserole, and fill up on all/some of the sides that are available. (Just like the example I shared above when we served one casserole to 18 people.)

Yes, sometimes I make a double batch of the main dish – 2 big casseroles, an extra huge pot of soup, or several pounds of meat. But this can really eat away at our grocery budget and typically it means I fight more food battles with the littles. Making one biggish portion of our main dish and serving a big variety of sides works much better for us!

Samples of Making Our Meals Stretch

Here are some examples of what I might serve with main dishes to stretch our meals.

Roast with:

Taco Meat with:

  • Tortillas and Chips
  • Black Beans or Refried Beans
  • Stick-of-Butter-Rice
  • Corn
  • Salsa
  • Avocados
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Olives
  • Cheese
  • Pineapple
  • Grapes

Hearty Bean Casserole with:

  • Biscuits or Muffins
  • Apple slices
  • Clementines
  • Salad
  • Grape tomatoes

Hamburgers with:

Pizza with:

If I make these smoothies, I don’t typically set out anything else. They include greens and fruit, so that covers everything!

Spaghetti with:

  • Steamed broccoli
  • Fresh greens with ranch
  • Corn
  • Sweet peppers
  • Cantaloupe
  • Pears

Grilled Chicken with:

  • Peas
  • Fresh greens with ranch
  • Raspberries
  • Pickles
  • Bread and butter or muffins

In some ways, it might seem easier to some to make a main dish with just a couple of sides and call it good. But that doesn’t work for my family. There are too many of us and many of my little ones and teens are picky. I’ve found that I fight fewer food battles by setting out several sides. Plus most of these sides don’t take any effort to put on our counter for our kids to pick from!

It’s really very easy.

Fruit mostly just has to be washed and served. Or if I need to cut or slice it, I try to do it ahead of time and just pull out a bowl of cantaloupe or watermelon, etc. at mealtime. Veggies just have to be steamed and served. Pickles come in a jar. Muffins have already been baked – I just take the lid off the container. Easy, easy, easy!

Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family!

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Big Family Food: Grocery Shopping for $110

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Have you been following along on our Big Family Food Journey? Today I’m going to share a picture of a recent Walmart pickup order for our family.

First, a brief grocery budget breakdown

I’ll detail our grocery budget more in another post. But it’s mostly divided up this way each month:

Costco $600
Walmart Pick-Up $250
Azure Standard $60
Amazon Subscribe and Save $100
Local Farm Meat, Eggs, and Milk $170

I’ll likely need to reevaluate this soon, so stay tuned!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a GREAT BIG SHOPPING WEEK post that I’m working on. But here’s a small shopping day to give you an idea of what some of our groceries look like.

On this particular grocery shopping trip, I put in a Walmart Pick-Up order. I love doing this because it is such a simple way to shop for my family. I grab my computer and put everything into the cart that I need. I select a time to go pick it up, and that’s that. Walmart employees do my shopping, checkout, and bagging for me – for free! They even put it into my van. This saves me at least two hours of time and energy. It is a life-saver for me!

Here’s what I got this particular trip:

I mostly needed fruits and veggies so I got carrots, broccoli, premade salads (for my college kid), greens, bananas, pears, and blueberries. I also got a few jars of spaghetti sauce, frozen fruit for smoothies, frozen corn, canned pineapple, cream, lime juice, frozen sweet potato fries, and Fritos (to go with upcoming meals of chili and taco soup).

We go through a huge amount of fresh and frozen produce, so I often need to make purchases like this often. But something to consider:

Look how much good food we got for $110!

This grocery haul provided awesome side dishes for our family. Fantastic snacks for all of our littles (and bigs). Smoothies to nourish us on the run. And it made life easier because it meant that for several days, I had easy-to-grab food to feed the kids quickly.

During a big Costco trip, I’ll bring home sometimes 6x this amount of food (oh yes I will). When I order food online, our living room is filled with cases of staples. But the picture you see above is a very typical Walmart Pickup order for us – one that I put in every 1-2 weeks as needed.

I can’t wait to show you more! 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 Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

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If you’ve been following our Big Family Food series, you’ve only just begun to see how food works at our house right now. I am having so much fun sharing and can’t wait to keep adding to this series. Today I’m going to tell you about a big food shopping trip I had in January!

Where I shop for groceries:

First, let me detail a little bit for you where we buy food for our family.

  • I try to sneak away to Lincoln (about an hour away from home) once each month for a big grocery shopping day. At the very least I hit Costco. Sometimes I’ll also go to Aldi. And I just signed up for a Sam’s membership (which I’ll talk about below).
  • I usually place 2-3 local Walmart pick-up orders each month. This fills in the gaps before I can go to Costco again, and keeps us supplied with fresh produce. As you’ll see below, WE GO THROUGH A LOT OF FRESH PRODUCE. Oy!
  • We get two gallons of fresh milk from a local farm once each week. Of course, that isn’t enough for our family, so I also grab a few gallons each month from the store too.
  • This leads me to share that we get WIC benefits for our foster babes, which is a huge blessing because it provides milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, and my favorite: FRESH PRODUCE! ;) Typically, I go pick up our WIC food items at a local grocery store that is close to our house.
  • I order several staples every couple of months from Azure Standard, which is a food co-op that delivers groceries right into town for us to pick up! My favorites from them are big bags of frozen veggies, cases of tortillas, and either fresh flour or grain to grind into flour. (Currently, I’m just buying flour because I don’t have time to grind it right now.) You can read here to learn more about the items I often buy from Azure.

The day I spent HOW MUCH?!

So now let me tell you about my great big food shopping trip day back in January. I needed to take our littlest babe to Lincoln for an appointment, so she and I headed out with cooler bags and boxes to get our groceries stocked up! It’s not often I get one-on-one time with our kids, so this was special, even if it was ridiculously cold outside that day!

Oh wait – this first!

Since I was going to be shopping by myself with a six-month-old, and I know that I usually need at least two big Costco carts, which isn’t possible with a baby in tow, I tried out a new idea and I super love it!

I sat down at my computer one day and ordered all of the dry-good staples I like to pick up at Costco. I tell you what, I am going to do this every time from now on! There’s no way all of these items plus all of the fresh and frozen items would have fit into one cart (which you’ll see below). So in just a few days after ordering, and with free shipping right to my porch, here’s my online Costco order:

I know it’s hard to see everything in these boxes, but here’s the rundown:

  • 2 Cases of applesauce pouches
  • Box of peach cups
  • Box of mandarin orange cups
  • Box of packs of nuts
  • Case of olives
  • Case of black beans
  • Case of baked beans
  • Box of quinoa and rice mix (such a wonderful convenience food to have on hand!)
  • Bag of coffee
  • Several big containers of spices we use regularly
  • Brown sugar
  • Pack of canned chicken
  • Bag of dried blueberries
  • French fried onions

January Costco Online Order $267

Then, I went into Costco with the babe and filled our cart with everything else we needed!

I’m all about grocery shopping, but one of my favorite things about Costco is the clothing they offer! I found really nice coats for three of our kids for just $7 each. Our littlest just moved up a size in clothing, so I found a few outfits and jammies for her. I grabbed a case of diapers. And what about food? Oh joy, all the good food!

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Boneless Chicken Thighs
  • Flautas (we love these for a quick meal in our Air Fryer!)
  • Tilapia
  • Grapes
  • Mixed Greens
  • Sparkling Water (a fun treat for all the bigs at our house, including me) ;)
  • Tortilla Chips
  • French Fries
  • Chicken Nuggets
  • Pizzas
  • 2 cases of Naked (because it never gets old to say “I got Naked at Costco.”)
  • Ham
  • Turkey
  • Croissants
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Blackberries
  • Pears

January In-Store Costco Trip $256

Sam’s too?

Well, shucks if I didn’t get sucked into an offer for “Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard.” But a free Sam’s membership, just to try and see if I like it for a year? Why not?

—- > Pssst, here’s a link for you to take advantage of this also if you want!) Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard. Online only. <——

The biggest pull for me is that there is a Sam’s in Grand Island (45 minutes west of us) but not a Costco (which is in Lincoln, an hour to the east). So I think it will be nice to have this Sams membership when I am in GI. Plus, I wanted to compare Sam’s to Costco and see what might meet our needs better.

So after our Costco shopping was complete, Baby and I headed to Sam’s to check it out before her appointment.

I like it!

I feel like I’m going to like Costco better, but at the same time, Sam’s had some fun sales and clearance that I really appreciated! I got a couple of birthday gifts for our littles for super cheap since it was right after Christmas. Awesome fun! Plus they had some really neat food clearance items too.

I filled my cart here too, which I wasn’t expecting to do. But it doesn’t take much to fill a cart when you’re buying in bulk!

  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Pepperoni
  • Rice Cake snacks (for one of our college kids to take to his apartment)
  • Clementines
  • Salad Mix
  • Cheese Slices (x2)
  • Canned Pineapple
  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Instant Oatmeal Pouches (for a special treat for the kids)
  • Box of Spaghetti Noodles
  • Tub of Whole Milk Yogurt
  • Whatever else is buried under there that I can see. I lost my receipt. :)

January Sams Food Purchase $117

Then we had to take it all in and put it all away. :/

This is a huge job, not just because of the big food shopping trip and how it filled the back of our van, but also because there are so many babies who need to be held, especially after Mommy has been gone all day! So while I juggled baby snuggles, Matt, Malachi, Brayden, and our 6yo Girlie trudged in and out bringing everything in. :)

Food piled up all over the living room and kitchen, and we slowly got it put away.

Hmmm. I need to show you my freezers and food storage spaces huh?! Sounds like a good upcoming post in our Big Family Food series!

Big Family Food Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

Between my online Costco order, my in-store Costco purchase, and my Sams purchase, my total was $640. I was expecting it to be much more, actually. (It was more with the clothes, coats, toys, paper towels, and diapers. But I only count actual food in our food budget.)

I feel like $640 isn’t bad for a great big, once-a-month Costco and Sam’s shopping trip. But here’s something that I am both giggling at and trying to re-evaluate:

Much of this food was gone after a week and a half.

A WEEK AND A HALF!

We still have plenty of pasta, rice, beans, fries, and fruit cups left. There’s a little chicken left in the freezer plus half the flautas. We haven’t finished all of the ‘Pellegrinos, ha.

But did you see all the fresh produce in those pictures? I’m talking six pounds of grapes, eight pounds of strawberries, two tubs of blueberries, seven pounds of apples, five pounds of clementines, eight pounds of pears, two containers of greens, a tub of pineapple, and whatever else I missed. Ten days later, we were left with 3 apples and a small bowl of shriveled grapes. Whoa, baby. Where does it all go?

Truly, feeding this tribe and watching the food disappear fills me with joy!! My college-age niece, who drops by frequently, opened my fridge just after the ten days had passed since my shopping trip and was like, “Whoa, your fridge is so empty!” Hahaha, I know, Kailey. I know.

Not to worry, because we really do have plenty of food in the house at all times. It’s the fresh food that’s hard to keep up with.

I’m chewing on this:

I think it’s time to re-think our grocery budget and my shopping practices. The budget might need to increase or shift in some places. Also, I don’t know how I’d make it happen (because I have to move a few mountains to be able to go out of town for these big shopping trips), but I might need more than a once-a-month Costco or Sam’s trip.

So stay tuned to our Big Family Food series. I’ll share as I figure all of this out. I hope you’re having as much fun with this series as I am!

Where are your favorite places to grocery shop?

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P.S. I finished this post and scheduled it. Then I went back to Sam’s a few days later because I was in Lincoln for an event and there was a Sam’s a mile away. I spent another $250 on produce and meat. Yes. It’s time to take another look at our grocery budget. Oy! But hey, at least I’m getting the most out of my free Sam’s membership!

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Big Family Food: What’s On Every Plate

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I’m so glad you’re following our Big Family Food journey! (Missed the first posts? Catch them here.)

I thought it would be good to follow my Great Compromise post with a post that shares what I make sure to put on every plate, no matter what.

Like I talked about here, sometimes I have no time – or very little time – to cook. Our days are full of this:

I could go on and on with pictures of the days of our lives. It’s amazing, and did I mention full? So when it comes to food, now, instead of making sure every part of our meal is the healthiest of the healthy, here is what I focus on:

I make sure there are fruits and vegetables on every plate.

This is something I recommend for everyone, no matter your family size or what season in life you are enjoying. No matter what else is on your plate, just be sure there are fruits and vegetables there too.

It’s really quite simple. In fact, I’ve found that it’s the simplest way to put together meals!

See from the pictures how there are several fruits and veggies on each plate – no matter what I serve?

The same goes for when/if all I have time to make is Mac and Cheese, Frozen Pizza, Chicken Nuggets, or PBJ. Here are some examples of “compromise” meals I might put together:

  • Mac and Cheese with peas and grapes
  • Frozen Pizza with fresh spinach dipped in ranch and apple slices
  • Chicken Nuggets with sweet potato fries and these rockin smoothies
  • PBJ with clementines and steamed broccoli

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Matt and I survive on these smoothies. I make a blenderful every other day and we share it. They are jam-packed with nourishment and give us WAY MORE GREENS than we could ever chew. I’ve gotten to the point that I stuff my Blendtec full of spring mix (about 1/2 pound), add some frozen fruit, pour in some milk, blend it and go. We would never eat that many greens at one time. But in this smoothie? We drink it down and love it.

So Matt and I tend to drink these smoothies even while grabbing a couple of chicken nuggets or a piece of pizza on the fly. Meanwhile, I make this version for the kids.

Great fruit and vegetable choices for your plates

To make it easy for all of us, I’ve put together a list of easy-to-serve fruit and veggie choices to serve with meals:

It truly is easy to add any of these to your meal plates! It’s one of best my Big Family Food tips: always add fruit and veggies to whatever I find time to make for my family. Even if all I do is open some cans of pineapple and a bag of baby carrots!

Read here about how to have fun filling your cart with fresh produce your family will love!

Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family!

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

Big Family Food: The Great Compromise (Is that Frozen Pizza?)

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As we begin our Big Family Food series, I thought it would be wise if I shared what might seem to be “The Great Compromise.” Why? Because as I share our current Big Family Food journey, you will see items in my grocery cart that might shock you. I shall now take a moment to explain myself.

I could sum up my food journey right now with this:

  1. I used to care deeply about the free-range chicken. (2004)
  2. I began to question if I should care so much about the free-range chicken. (2010)
  3. I started to care quite a bit less about the free-range chicken. (2018)
  4. I couldn’t care less about the free-range chicken. (2021)
  5. I have completely run out of chicken. (Real-time update)

We now have ten kids. We eat a lot and the needs are many. Food needs? Well, sure. But beyond that, the emotional needs. The spiritual needs. And I guess it’s even worth mentioning the laundry needs. Goodness, the diapers. Also the dishes.

So at this point, I’ve completely revamped my priorities, mostly because I have no choice. We have four kids under the age of three so I do almost everything one-handed. If I even think about rolling out and cooking all of our tortillas right now, I will have a melt-down (man, they were delicious though). Also, did I use to make our own mozzarella? What in the actual world?

Do I even care about healthy food anymore?

I don’t know. I guess. But in some ways, I almost feel like I should apologize for ever talking about it and making it a big deal. Hear me out.

Is it important to try and stay healthy? Absolutely. Is what we put in our mouths important to our health? So very important. Is it good to be informed and educated and to do our best when it comes to healthy eating? Sure.

I’m really glad that I know what I know. Like – I’m glad I know that hydrogenated oils are bad. I know that butter and coconut oil is good. I know that high fructose corn syrup and msg are bad. I know that vegetables and fruits are good. So I have a good framework in my kitchen for ingredients that are of the real food, nourishing variety.

But I no longer overthink our food and I no longer worry over every ingredient, nor do I make everything from scratch like I used to. I don’t have time or energy and I actually don’t really care anymore. I mean, I do. Like, sort of – as in I’ll never buy margarine or fruit loops. While I think it’s important to teach my kids about healthy eating habits and good food choices, we have very little space for that right now.

  • Our kids need to know how much God loves them. How much we love them.
  • Our kids need security and safety.
  • Our kids need to be held and kissed and rocked.
  • Sometimes, our kids really need a bath and sometimes I have to actually get out my broom and sweep my floor. With one hand. So.

My Big Family Food life is very different from my Regular-Sized Family Food life of 2009.

From 2004-2014 I was very focused on all things healthy. Healthy food, healthy supplements, healthy cleaners. ALL GOOD THINGS. Praise God for all these good things and for people who know about them and teach us about them! I have friends who are my go-to people for all these good things.

But I used to spend more time learning “how to soak my grains” than I did learning “what it means to live through the Holy Spirit.” Soaking my grains (and making my mozzarella) made me anxious and fearful (was I doing it all right? What if I gave my family cancer because I wasn’t doing it right?!). Learning to live through the Holy Spirit is making me free. 

I’m choosing now to live in freedom, and I hope you are too. This means that you might be a free, joy-filled, Holy Spirit living, grain soaking, mozzarella cheese maker!!! I think this is fantastic!

As for me and my house, we will not soak the grains and we will buy the cheese at the store. I will even buy it pre-shredded – in bulk – and I will not feel bad about this.

What is Our Great Compromise?

We buy a lot of food that is different from what I ever used to buy, but I don’t actually consider it to be a compromise. It’s simply a new way of life for us because our entire life is different now. Many days we are simply trying to survive and get the children fed (frozen pizza and beef hotdogs). Other days I have a little more time and make full meals (but just this kind because “more time” doesn’t mean “lots of time”).

As I begin to share my grocery hauls with you, you’ll see:

  • Frozen pizza
  • White flour buns
  • Bags of French fries (that we cook in an air fryer, which is SO YUM)
  • Bags of chicken nuggets
  • Boxes of mac and cheese
  • Other frozen prepared food
  • Boxes of crackers
  • Who knows what else

You’ll also see:

  • Lots of fresh veggies and fruit
  • Lots of frozen veggies and fruit
  • Lots of canned fruit, fruit cups, and applesauce pouches in 100% juice
  • Whole grains like brown rice, oats, and wheat
  • REAL BUTTER (do you even know me at all?!)
  • Coconut oil, honey, real maple syrup, and other real food baking ingredients
  • Whole milk products like yogurt, cottage cheese, and well, whole milk (we also still get raw farm milk but not enough for our family’s needs right now)
  • Grass-fed beef and wait for it…
  • The occasional free-range chicken

What?! Well, sometimes. I mean, if I have the funds and the grocery source, I’ll grab that good meat. And if I can’t? If there’s only “regular beef” and “whats-it chicken?” Well, it’s still meat and I refuse to overthink or even underthink it. I don’t even actually think about it at all. We simply need to eat and I need to get out of the meat section to get home to my family. I buy the meat. We cook the meat. We eat the meat.

Love wins

Thank God for freedom! Thank God for you, this community here! And thank God for these mixed-green smoothies that I drink every single day because they give me more nourishment on the fly than I could ever get any other way, woot!

Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family!

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