Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

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

by 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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!

Our Big Family Food Needs (Follow Our Journey!)

by 17 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I always thought it was so much fun to read about big family food needs! You know, those grocery pictures from moms who tell about how they feed their ten kids every day?

I was fascinated by the pictures of their huge grocery hauls. Seeing their weekly super-sized piles of bananas, their multiple gallons of milk, and everything else it took to feed their families always made me smile.

And now? Now, I get to be the one with big family food needs! God has grown our family from six to twelve! So would you look at that? I’ve become a mom with huge banana piles to enjoy. Therefore, I decided that I get to share about this too! Want to follow along?

Our Big Family Food Needs

Here’s a peek at a week’s worth of overflowing Wal-mart shopping cart. (And that is why, if I’m shopping at Wal-mart, I only shop Walmart pick-up now, oy!)

When I go to Costco, I skip the regular carts altogether and grab one of their big orange utility carts. Where do I put the huge haul to get it all home? Oh not to worry. It all fits in the back of the “Mama Copp Mobile.”

It’s a 12-passenger with a lot of cargo space in the back for ALL THE GROCERIES. And the strollers and fold-up wagon, of course.

Everything feels big right now.

Big van. Big needs. Big responsibilities. Big messes. Big family. Big food.

I love this, even if this comes with some big hardships too. We can’t grow if we don’t struggle.

Did someone say grow??

We’re growing in several ways. Adult kids, a daughter-in-law, an almost daughter-in-law, a girlfriend (not pictured), two adopted boys, and four little girls that we’re still fostering. Our current family total is 15, counting Matt and me. Nine kids still live at home (technically one of them lives on the college campus across town but he’s still considered part of our “household”).

A Little Back-Story

Many of you have followed our story from the beginning of this blog. You watched our four biological sons grow from little to big. And we thought our grocery needs were big then (because they were, ha).

Beginning in 2018, God surprised us by making us foster parents. Then adoptive parents. And foster parents again. Six little ones are a part of our family right now.

An answered prayer?

People look at all our babies and tell us how lucky we are. “Look at all those babies you get to snuggle!” And they’re not wrong. It’s absolutely amazing! Sometimes I ask God, “Why did you choose us for this? Why do we get to be so blessed as to enjoy all of these soft cheeks, squishy toddlers, baby cuddles, piggy tails, and pre-schooler giggles? Why do we get to have such a big family? Why did you choose us to be this family, these parents, to have all these kids?”

It appears that He chose us because we asked for it. Not this, actually. We were praying, but we didn’t ask Him for foster care and adoption. We never asked God to grow our family. We were actually on our way toward empty nesting, and we weren’t even sad about it. Our high-need parenting years were almost over and Matt and I were looking forward to the time we would have to devote to different ministries (lol). So we asked God:

Teach us how to truly love our neighbors. We are ready to serve you in new ways. Show us what you want for us!

Oh. So see? We actually did ask for this. We just had no idea how He would answer.

It’s what God wants for all of us.

Not foster care or adoption specifically. But He wants open hearts ready to serve in whatever ways He calls us. His ways are incredible and His plans are big. He asks us all to become uncomfortable with Him because constantly sitting in comfort doesn’t accomplish much for God’s Kingdom.

Did I say this was about food?

I’m getting there. But first I needed to share the beginning of the story.

I wish I could say, “So long story short…” but goodness has this story been long. And it’s only been three and a half years. So much has happened in our family and so much of it has involved challenge that it pains me to begin sharing it.

Our gain comes with loss. Heartache is at the root of our family’s growth. Our bonus children bring baggage that only God can heal. And while I don’t like to admit it, I’ve had to grieve loss too. Loss of what I thought my life would look like right now. Loss of freedom. Loss of comfort. Loss of well, sleep, ha.

I thought I knew who God was. Turns out, I only knew a little bit. We can’t know what we know until we know it. And as we’ve been brought through so many new life challenges, God keeps showing us more about who He is. How He works. What His power can do.

The more we walk this new journey, the more we realize how much more there is to God and His ways. It makes me wonder what in the world I might be able to share with you next month. Next year. Five years from now. What a God!

So here we are.

I guess I should start talking about groceries now because that’s really what you came for. But oh I can’t talk about the food until I talk about the faith. The journey that brought us to today. The path we’re on that continues to lead us down unknown futures.

Truth: The future is unknown for all of us. We can dream some dreams and make some plans. But our tomorrows are under the control of One who dreams bigger and plans better. It’s incredibly exciting when we choose to put our trust in the Father!

Big Family Food, then?

Yes, Big Family Food. I thought it would be fun to share what this looks like in our family right now. I have a series in the works to share:

  • What my grocery store hauls look like
  • How much I spend (are you sitting down?)
  • How I cook for this many
  • How I manage our meal plans and snacking needs
  • Where and how I store all the food
  • How we afford it
  • How I keep from going crazy (she has, in fact, already gone crazy)

Who We’re Feeding Daily

  • 3 adults (Matt and me, plus Justus who is finishing out his senior year of college and living at home to save money)
  • 1 high schooler
  • 2 elementary kids (currently ages 8 and 6)
  • 2 toddlers (who just turned 2 and 3)
  • 1 baby (currently age 17 months, but I’m in denial and refuse to call her a toddler yet)
  • 1 infant (who doesn’t affect our grocery budget yet)

And yes, I’ve been around the block enough to know that what our big family food needs are now will only keep getting bigger as these little ones grow into big ones!

Who We’re Feeding Frequently

  • All of the above plus…
  • Elias, our college junior, who lives in an apartment across town. We supply him with some of the food he takes back to his apartment, plus he comes home (often with his roommates) a few times a week for meals
  • 20ish college students most Sundays for lunch (our kids bring their friends, the friends bring friends, it’s turned into a big thing and WE LOVE IT)
  • Some of Malachi’s high school friends once or twice each week so they can hang out during their lunch period.
  • Whoever else God brings to our table during the week

Our grocery needs go beyond our family

But then again, we kind of feel like everyone is family. All the college kids? They are ours. The high school kids? Ours. Extras who we’ve just met who came with the regulars? Welcome to the Coppinger Zoo. You are ours now too (here, please hold this baby).

So actually, if ever we are eating a meal with “just our family” we feel like something is off. Where are the extras? How is it just us right now?

How do we do it?

Well, that’s what I thought would be fun to talk about during the next few weeks. I’ll start taking more pictures as I grocery shop and cook and serve meals. It won’t be glamorous and some of what you see might make you cringe. I’ve had to let go of trying to execute plans perfectly and instead settle many days for “just surviving.”

But hey. At least the kids are cute.

Join us?

 

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

Clean Out the Fridge, Freezer, and Pantry: What to Make

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Is it time to clean out your fridge, freezer, and pantry? Here are some ideas for what to make!

I super love to grocery shop. Scratch that. I love to have a grocery store in my own house. I’m not actually such a huge fan of going into the store and buying all the food. After all, one cart is usually not big enough for my family anymore. And the new self-checkout at Walmart with a heaping cart of groceries? IT IS JUST TOO MUCH.

Here’s a picture of the final time I shopped and bagged my own groceries before finding some different/better options!

My current favorite ways to buy groceries are:

I said something about having a grocery store in my house?

What I mean is, I try, if possible, to have just about every common grocery item in my house at all times. This means I can make just about any meal or snack food we need or want without having to run out to the store. I can just go to my store room and grab what we need. Or I can look around my food storage and plan meals and snacks based on what we have.

I don’t take it for granted that I can do this. I am incredibly thankful for storage space, extra fridge and freezers, and the financial ability to stock up regularly.

I almost never let our food supply get depleted as this actually costs more money and takes more work in the long run. Every few months though, I feel like I should challenge myself to use up some of the forgotten and neglected food that has been stuffed into the back of our pantry and freezers.

You know what I’m talking about, right? Those random half-packages of pasta. The meat that was on sale and sounded good at the time but is now almost freezer-burned. The jars of peaches we canned two summers ago and are somehow saving for a rainy day?? Just eat ’em already, right?

If you need some motivation to clear out some of your hidden and neglected food, I thought I’d share what I did recently in an effort to use up some miscellaneous groceries that I didn’t want to go bad.

Clean Out the Fridge, Freezer, and Pantry: What to Make

1. Creative Casserole

Listen, you may never make a casserole like this again, so hopefully, your family doesn’t love it so much that they ask you to duplicate it every week. But when cleaning out the fridge, if you take some kind of pasta or rice, some kind of meat, and some kind of sauce and mix it together, it’ll probably taste pretty good. And you can call it “Creative Casserole.” These are truly a favorite around here.

If you have a half tub of cottage cheese or sour cream in the fridge to stir in, that’ll probably be good too. Shredded cheese? Yes, please.

And just like that, you’ve used up a few neglected food items, saved some money, and fed your family a tasty meal!

2. Trail Mix

If you have any assortment of nuts and dried fruit, you can dump them all into a bag or bowl and voila. You have trail mix. It’s a great snack for everyone to enjoy – even for breakfast!

3. Omelets, Breakfast Casseroles, or Scrambles

And speaking of breakfast, or even lunch or dinner – why not grab out the tidbits of this veggie and that meat to scramble with eggs? Or if you’re feeling fancy, make omelets! If you have frozen meats, cheeses, and veggies to use up, omelets or scrambles are a fun way to use them up! Or stir them into a Breakfast Casserole like this.

4. Saucy Meat in the Crockpot

This is one of my favorite ways to use up two items: Sauce and Meat.

You can hardly go wrong, and you should trust me on this because I am the queen of grabbing the tail end of three different kinds of sauces from my fridge, pouring them all on a roast or package of chicken, and slow cooking it in my crockpot. It always turns out good – no matter what combination of sauce I use.

Then the shelves on the door of my fridge that hold our sauces become less cluttered. The meat in my freezer has been put to good use. And my family has a great meal!

5. Smoothies

I often have several bags of frozen fruit in my freezers, and using them up really frees up space! I’ve found that you really can’t go wrong by throwing any combination of fruits into a blender for a smoothie. So go ahead. Dump in the oranges with the grapes with the blueberries with the bananas. It’ll be great and your freezer will be less cluttered!

6. Stir-Fry

Collect all of the miscellaneous fresh vegetables in your fridge that have started to shrivel up: broccoli, carrots, squash, mushrooms, sweet peppers, etc. Rinse them, chop them, and make your family a delicious stir-fry side dish. Bonus points if you chop up some leftover cooked meat like steak, roast, or chicken to stir in to make this a main dish!

7. Pie, Crisp, or Cobbler

If you had great intentions during a fall harvest and froze fruit like apples, peaches, or berries – dig them out now and make a special dessert! Since it IS fruit and it MIGHT be topped with oats, you could MAYBE even make it for a special breakfast. :) Here’s my cobbler recipe. Here’s my fruit pie recipe. Here’s my fruit crisp recipe. Use them with any fruit you have!

 

What other great ideas do you have to share?!

 

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

Favorite Fall Recipes: Crockpot, Oven, and More!

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I love lots of recipes in the fall. But these are my favorite fall recipes!

Favorite Fall Recipes For the Crock Pot

I use my crockpot all year long. But somehow in the fall, the food tastes more comforting when it comes out of the crockpot!

Favorite Fall Soup Recipes

Because it’s fall. So it’s soup time.

Favorite Fall Throw-Together-Quickly Recipes (10-20 minutes start to finish):

We need a lot of these quick ideas handy because we are on the go for soccer games during the fall!

Fall Apple Treat Recipes

It’s a great year for apples. We love making these fun treats with all the fall apples!

Fall Pumpkin Treat Recipes

There’s something about pumpkin recipes from September to December!

What are your favorite fall recipes?

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

What To Buy at the Store to Get Through a Busy Week

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

As if all weeks aren’t busy weeks…

But some weeks are busier than others.

Like the week our oldest son got married. We had to juggle in all of our normal daily chores (caring for kids, changing diapers, doing laundry, working for a living, silly things like that). Plus we had company trickling in and all the last-minute wedding prep.

There were a lot of people and we went through a lot of food. Here’s how I managed our kitchen…

What To Buy at the Store to Get Through a Busy Week

Here’s what worked for me and what always works for me when our week is extra busy:

1. I bought a lot of fruit.

When there are a lot of people to feed and not there is not much time for cooking or baking, stock your house with fruit. Make it easy to see and easy to grab. These will be your busy-week snacks. Here’s what I bought for our wedding week:

  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Clementines
  • Watermelon
  • Strawberries
  • Grapes
  • Blueberries
  • Pears
  • Applesauce Squeezies
  • 100% Fruit Cups

I left fresh fruit in bowls on two different countertops. There was an additional bowl full of applesauce squeezies and fruit cups. People helped themselves all day long for snacks and for something to go along with their meals. We pulled out big bowls of cut watermelon and sliced strawberries for lunch and dinner side dishes. It was easy and tasty and crowd-pleasing!

2. I bought a variety of bagels and cream cheese.

This made breakfast feel special without any effort on my part. Everyone could pick their favorite (I bought cinnamon, blueberry, and plain). They could toast them and add cream cheese or butter. And hey, they could eat them with fruit. :)

Remember when I used to make Homemade Bagels?! :)

3. I bought a lot of boneless chicken thighs.

They are inexpensive (usually $3/pound or less). You can marinate them in whatever sauce or dressing you like. You can grill them, smoke them, or bake them. They are always a hit.

4. I bought hoagie buns, lunch meats, and cheeses.

This way, people could make sandwiches the way they liked, but “making subs” felt more special than making a plain ol’ sandwich.

5. I bought baby carrots and cheese sticks.

Again, for snacks. Or to go with meals. They are easy to grab and take no prep. Petite baby carrots are our fav!

6. I bought ice cream.

Because of the company. And because it’s fun. And because I wanted some.

7. I bought high-quality hotdogs, burger patties, and buns.

Grilling burgers and dogs is such a great way to feed extras and the meal always comes together fast. Most people love this meal so it’s easy to feed kids and adults this way.

8. I bought frozen vegetables.

I always buy these. But it is especially nice to have frozen green beans, peas, and corn in the freezer to supplement our meals.

9. I bought pizza fixings.

I set out all the toppings and people built their own. Easy and fun for all!

  • Pizza crust
  • Pizza sauce
  • Mushrooms
  • Olives
  • Cheese
  • Pepperoni
  • Sweet peppers

10. I bought cereal.

If all else fails, people could grab a bowl of cereal for themselves or for a little one. We went through several boxes during wedding week and it saved us from several meltdowns!

What are your favorite foods to have on hand during busy weeks?

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

Snacks I Like to Make When I Have 10 Extra Minutes

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Whenever I can find a few extra minutes, here are the snacks I like to make!

I barely have time to eat these days, much less cook or bake. But therein lies the problem: all these kids who are taking up so much of my time need good snacks that I can grab quickly for them. And since I mostly have to eat on the fly, anytime I have something easy to grab for myself I appreciate it so much!

Current count: 10 kids. Our two oldest are missing from this picture!

Also? I. Love. To. Cook. And. Bake.

When I’m so busy with all of our kids and the appointments and meetings that come with foster care, I actually find that I miss my kitchen. Creating food for people truly feeds me (haha, it’s kinda punny). So if and when I find a few extra minutes, I find it to be so fulfilling and relaxing if I can stir some muffins together for the oven or roll out a batch of Cookie Dough Bites.

What a win, huh? I get my kitchen therapy, and then we end up with snacks for the family!

OH! But this only works if the recipes are simple and quick. I’m an instant gratification kind of a gal. I’ve never liked spending extra time on any task. I prefer to get it started, get it finished, and have a fun, fast result!

Snacks I Like to Make When I Have 10 Extra Minutes

Here are the recipes I go back to over and over that can be put together quickly and grabbed and eaten by our family as needed:

Muffins

40 + Real Food Muffin Recipes

So. Many. Muffins. We eat them by the dozen and we love all varieties. Sometimes I make mini-muffins, but regular-sized muffins can be made faster, so that’s my usual style. Muffins make great breakfasts or snacks, and with this many little ones, I’ve found that they are the baked good I try to keep on hand at all times.

Crustless Cheesecake

I can throw the ingredients for these into my Blendtec, whip it all for 30 seconds, then it’s ready to pour and bake. When I need a pick-me-up, I can grab one of these from the fridge and eat it on my way to grab a diaper for a baby. They are low in sugar and full of protein. I love them!

Flourless Brownies

We can stir these together quickly and they are incredible for breakfast or snacks! If you pull them out of the oven when they look slightly under-done, they will be super moist and amazing. Make them with almond butter or peanut butter and you will love these!!

No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites

These call for nut butter and coconut flour, so they are high in protein and fiber, filling, and tasty (sweetened with honey!). I have several recipe varieties, which really means I use the same ingredients with a few tweaks depending on what I have on hand and what sounds good. All my kids love to snack on these!

Fat Bombs

I can quickly melt all the ingredients together on the stove for these, then pour them into silicone cups for the fridge. These stick with us for a while and taste like a peanut butter cup!

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

What are your favorite quick snack recipes?

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

Groceries You Can Buy for $35 (This is Exciting!)

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’m very encouraged to see and the groceries you can buy for $35. Check it out!

Groceries You Can Buy for $35

Keith and I went to the store recently, on a mission to get as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. We got:
  • Bananas
  • Broccoli
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Pears
  • Clementines
  • Mixed Greens (organic)
  • Bag of Spinach (x2)
  • Grapes
  • Potatoes
  • Apples
And it was only $35.
Groceries can really add up. Our family spends a lot on food because there are so many of us. But I love that fruits and vegetables – the best foods we can put in our bodies – can be bought so reasonably.
Sometimes I think we have in our heads that produce costs too much, so we hold back and don’t buy enough. The picture above proves otherwise.
Look at the variety! Look at the meal and snack options! And beyond the health benefits, I’ve found that having all that great produce handy makes life easier because I can quickly grab fruit for the kids’ snacks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Need more fruit snacking ideas? This post is full of them!

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

Now, obviously, we eat more than fruits and vegetables. This $35 purchase didn’t last us more than 2-3 days (because we feed 11 people daily).
But I wanted us to be encouraged! We can get a lot of bang for our buck when we buy fruits and vegetables!

Challenge:

  • Go to the grocery store.
  • Go when you’re hungry. :)
  • Head directly to the produce department and fill your cart with everything that looks good. (It’ll all look good when you’re hungry!)
  • Make your purchase and be amazed at all you got at such a reasonable price.
  • Go home and eat your produce.
  • Eat it again the next day.
  • Offer it as snacks to hungry kids.
  • Enhance your meals with easy fruit and veggie options.

Ready to get a lot of bang for your buck at the grocery store?! Head over and fill your cart with produce. It’s delicious, reasonably priced, and so, super good for us!

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

My Current Favorite Places to Grocery Shop (and My Current Grocery Budget)

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Life is ever-changing (said the mom who suddenly has ten eleven kids). I’ve evolved and adapted the way I grocery shop to make it work better for our family situation. Here’s an update on our grocery budget and on my favorite places to grocery shop!

First, my favorite places to grocery shop right now:

1. Costco and Sam’s

Read here about what I like to buy at Costco and Sam’s. I typically spend $500-$800 each month at these stores.

2. Walmart Pick-Up

I’m not sure how I ever lived without this!! I absolutely love that I can shop online for any of the groceries we need, schedule a time, then all I have to do is go pick it up! This has been a tremendous help during this season of our lives!

I spend around $250 each month using Walmart Pick-Up. Most of this is fresh fruits and vegetables to get us through until I can make it back to Costco. And also ice cream. #priorities

2. Aldi

Now that we’ve moved to Lincoln, I’ll likely be running to Aldi once a week for these food items. What great savings for these real food groceries.

3. Azure Standard

I only get a few items now from Azure Standard, but I do like ordering from them what I have a hard time finding from other places. And I love that it is delivered right to my town!

I spend about $60 there each month on average. Here are some of the items I like to buy from Azure.

4. Amazon Subscribe and Save

Costco and Sam’s are typically less expensive than Amazon, yet I still really love that cases of groceries can be delivered to my door! Here’s what I often include in my Amazon Subscribe and Save order. I spend about $50 each month this way.

Our Total Grocery Budget

If you add all that up, you’ll see that we are currently spending around $1,200 for groceries every month. This does not include what we spend on diapers and other household items. This is only food. For these people (updated January, 2024):

This is 13 people who live in our home. We also feed our other adult/married kids once a week or so and anyone else we can bring in around our table. We love inviting people to our home to eat with us!

And that’s that! How about you? What are your favorite ways to shop for groceries?

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

Nourishing Smoothies My Kids Actually Love

by 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You’ll read in this post about how I have to cheat just a little bit in order to make these smoothies for my kids. But at least these are still nourishing smoothies, and my kids all love them! Even my high schooler.

As you know, Matt and I drink our salads – loading our smoothies with a huge amount of greens, then blending in frozen fruit and milk. We don’t add any sweeteners, and we are good with that. The fruit sweetens these enough for us, and at the end of the day, we are simply trying to get as much nourishment as possible during these days that it’s very difficult to even find time to eat at all.

Our kids though? They aren’t huge fans. Who can blame them? They like their smoothies sweeter than we do. And the truth is the amount of greens that I put in “the adult smoothies” is pretty substantial. Spring mix in that amount does change the taste of the smoothie and indeed, green (greens) and red (fruit) make brown. So our smoothies aren’t pretty. :)

When there is this much sweetness going on at our house,
why would Matt and I need to add sweetener to our smoothies? Ok then.

How to Make Nourishing Smoothies that are Kid Friendly

Back when I “only had four kids” who weren’t all babies at the same time, I took the time to add separate ingredients to my smoothies. Goodness, somehow I even had a freezer full of fruits that we had picked, prepared, and frozen ourselves!! (How in the world did I ever have time to do all that work!?) I sweetened those smoothies with maple syrup or honey, and my kids guzzled them down.

But now.

I know it may sound silly, but as I’ve shared so many times lately, I’m often preparing food with just one hand as I am almost always holding one of our babies. So getting a bunch of different ingredients out of the fridge or freezer to add to the blender? Well, I’ve just found that I have to keep everything to a minimum.

The solution I’ve found is a bit of a cheater method. I buy frozen mixed fruit in bulk from Costco (which is totally not cheating – those good fruits are there to save us all, amen!). Bags of mixed fruit make it easier to give us a variety without pulling out several different bags. One bag. Two or seven fruits. Beautiful!

But here’s the cheat part: I use containers of Vanilla Yogurt. I add around 16 ounces to our blender, along with milk. This covers three ingredients with one grab from the fridge (vanilla, yogurt, and sweetener), so the vanilla yogurt sweetens the kids’ smoothies and flavors them too. Yes, it adds sugar to their smoothies. I’ve decided that I don’t actually care. THIS IS HOW I GET MY KIDS TO EAT SPINACH.

Oh yeah. Because I put fresh spinach into my Blendtec when I make these too. Not as much as I do when I make smoothies for Matt and me. But enough to be sure they all get a nice serving of fresh greens. Between the tasty fruits and the sweetened yogurt – every single one of my kids will drink a big cup full of smoothie and some of them ask for more.

They even know there’s spinach included and I think they are kind of proud. (And probably relieved that they aren’t being forced to eat a salad with dinner.)

These cups hide weird smoothie colors

If I add greens to the blender along with frozen blueberries and strawberries, the dark color of the berries hides the greens. But if I add greens to the blender along with bananas and peaches, the smoothies turn out…not pretty. No matter! All the kids drink their smoothies better from cups with lids and straws anyway. These cups make it fun (except for when they argue about who gets which cup, oy).

Nourishing Smoothies My Kids Actually Love

Here’s “the recipe” even though we all know that measuring ingredients into a smoothie isn’t a real thing. So add the words “give or take” to any of these as you make smoothies based on what you have and what you can put into your blender with one hand.

Nourishing Smoothies My Kids Actually Love
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 5 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 cups fresh spinach
  • 3 cups frozen fruit (any combination of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, peaches, pineapple, oranges, or grapes)
  • 2 cups vanilla yogurt
  • 2 cups milk
Instructions
  1. Blend ingredients together in a high power blender until smooth.

 

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

How to Eat Healthier While Traveling

by Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

paleo while traveling

Remember when I shared how I survive road trips while eating paleo? We can eat healthier while traveling by planning ahead, eating before we leave the house, and pack our own homemade delicious snacks… but sometimes we are just hungry and we’re miles away from resources and a kitchen and there are business all about with their flashy signs and great deals and what’s a girl to do but order a medium potato óle? Again, I urge you to set your boundaries and know why you chose to eat the way you do. If you’re doing the Whole Thirty challenge. You can not afford to go off-plan. One sip of a milkshake will set back two weeks of the dairy and sugar cleanse you are on. It can take 30 days for your body to fully rid itself of the dairy and up to 90 days for gluten. But if you’re just trying to lose 5 pounds, you may give yourself a treat here and there. I get it.

If finances are tight, eating out ever can wreck your food budget.

I’m not here to talk you into anything. But I’d like to encourage you in your healthy food journey! Let’s hear it for REAL FOOD! Where can you get real food while traveling? There are some ways to eat healthier from fast food. Some offer salads that aren’t half bad. But if you’re counting calories, you’ll be surprised what you find in the dressings or add-ons. I don’t count calories, but I do avoid most commercial dressings.

The #1 way I eat healthier while traveling is to “eat out” at the grocery store.

Go to the grocery store! Just pretend the grocery store is a huge buffet. Grab a cart, bring all the kids inside and walk around the outer edge of the store and buy lots of things that you can eat immediately. Get some fruit. A few vegetables. Some protein. I promise this will save you money and keep you feeling great. My husband will argue that he doesn’t get full this way, but I argue it’s because he just didn’t eat enough—and next time he will need to get a rotisserie chicken or some other hot meat.

What do we actually buy to make a meal for the family?

Anything we want! And we don’t just do this for traveling, we swing by the grocery store to grab food for picnics, parks days, play-dates, etc. Here are a few meal suggestions that I’ve bought in the past:

Romain lettuce, lunch meat, guacamole, bell peppers, dill pickles, grapes, oranges, carrots. My total was $23 and we had enough for two full meals. We used the lettuce to make wraps with the guac, meat, peppers, and pickles and ate the fruit and carrots on the side. (Hint: I usually have a knife handy to slice bell peppers, cucumbers, etc.)

Last time we splurged and spent a whopping $45 dollars. We bought oranges, apples, bananas, guacamole, Nuthins, Ritz crackers, salt & vinegar potato chips, 12 pack of Lärabars, lunch meat, almonds, and a jug of water. Oh, and The Wonky Donky.

My kids are currently 9, 6, 5, and 2 years old. The six of us generally eat paleo, but nobody but me reacts to gluten, dairy, or sugar, so they’re allowed to eat whatever they want. I prep them before we go inside the store: “Don’t ask for a bunch of things you know we’re not going to buy. I will let you know when it’s time for you to pick something out. You will stay with me and not run off down the aisles. Let’s go get some yummy lunch!”

Here’s a $12 dinner: Small jar of peanut butter, jelly, loaf of bread, bag of oranges, and a 6-pack of ice cream sandwiches. Even though it’s still processed food, it goes better for my family than buying a meal’s worth from a fast-food joint. And you will probably have leftovers of everything but the ice-cream sandwiches!

A few grocery store recipes to eat healthier while traveling:

1) Single serve apple sauce, yogurt cups, deli meat and cheese, Hawaiian rolls, carrots, grapes.

2) Hot chicken from the deli, clearance French bread, sliced cheese, rocket apples, dill pickles.

3) Premade salad mixes, a $1 bowl, can of chicken, small bottle of dressing, ask for forks at the deli counter.

4) Fruit/veggie pouch for the toddler, variety of Naked or Bolthouse Farms juices to sample, bag of chips and jar of favorite dip, box of Lärabars, container of mixed nuts.

5) A protein, a vegetable, a fruit, some add-ons to make the meal fun.

6) Yes, sometimes I still find myself munching down on a handful of potato óles and I have no shame in this.

healthier food while traveling

Don’t make food while traveling harder than it has to be. Just . . . pick out some yummy healthier foods and eat.

My favorite is to let each kid pick out something. One kid will get to pick out his favorite vegetables, while another is in charge of the fruit, one helps decide which type of meat or nuts. You get the idea. They’re much happier this way and so am I.

Is this something you have ever done? Can you bypass the fast-food and grab lunch at the grocery store and eat at the park? Or the trunk of the suburban? Or your friend’s backyard?

Tasha Hackett Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie. When Eloise and Zeke meet under an extremely embarrassing circumstance, Eloise is fine with pretending the whole thing never happened. But they continue to be thrown together when Zeke lands a job working for her brother and it appears God has other plans for this couple. Find a copy of this touching romance wherever books are sold.

To connect more with Tasha and her historical fiction writing, you can find her at www.TashaHackett.com.

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