Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

My Azure Standard Order (One Hundred Pounds of Potatoes? Really?!)

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Since I took a picture last week of my grocery store trip and so many of you seemed to enjoy it, I decided to take a picture of this week’s Azure Standard order for you.

The stinky part about sharing this is that not all of you have the option of ordering from Azure Standard. :(  I feel very blessed that they deliver to Nebraska, especially since I have very few options in my small town for organic food. Plus, Azure’s prices are amazing! (Read this post to learn more about Azure Standard and to see if they deliver in your area.)

This month, I ordered loads of fresh produce, a case of white cheddar cheese, and five pound bags of frozen green beans and peas. We got a 20 pound box of organic braeburn apples, plus a 20 pound box of pink ladies. There will be no limits on apples eaten for snacks at our house!

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Asa makes a mean Homemade Guacamole, so the avocados I got will be handed to him in a few days to make us some dip. I got a lovely two pound bag of kiwi, some lettuce, leeks, and tomatoes. Aahhhh, so many delicious options for my family!

Now, let me explain my crazyness bulk potato purchase. You see, last month I ordered 50 pounds of potatoes but they didn’t come in. So what did I do this month? I ordered two different varieties of 50 pound potato options, hoping that this would ensure that we’d get at least one 50 pound box of potatoes. Both were good deals, both were organic.

And what do you think happened? Both varieties of potatoes arrived on the truck. I now have 100 pounds of potatoes in my kitchen. (50 russet and 50 yellow)

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What will I do with 100 pounds of potatoes? Well, feed them to my family, of course. I’ll make French fries and baked potatoes and mashed potatoes and hashbrowns for the freezer. In addition, I will likely bag some of them up, drive around town, and deliver them to some of my friends. Nothing says “I treasure our friendship” like the gift of a bag of potatoes, right?

Oh how my friends must roll their eyes at me.

We plan to get a good start on the potatoes tomorrow since it is Justus’ 13th birthday and he has ordered homemade fries to go with our lunch. I gasped when he first requested this, asking if he thought this was a wise choice, seeing as we only had 100 pounds of potatoes to get us through the month.

He smiled, because he’s sweet. But I’m pretty sure inside, he was rolling his eyes too. On second thought, he may have really been calculating how many potatoes we really could eat tomorrow since there was no need to hold back.

Think of me tomorrow. I may be slicing two hours worth of potatoes into French fries at lunchtime. ;)

Do you have the privilege of ordering from Azure Standard? Are you a part of a different food co-op? What would you do with one hundred pounds of potatoes? 

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My Grocery Store Visit – Compromising and Feeling Peace

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This afternoon Elias, Malachi, and I made a trip to the store. Once we got home and the boys had unloaded all of our food onto the kitchen counter, I thought it all looked so pretty that I just had to take a picture. Plus, I thought you might enjoy hearing some of what went through my head while I was shopping today.

Well, at least you might enjoy the food thinking part of what went through my head while I was shopping. You don’t want to know all the vast amount of other thoughts that whizzed through my noggin as I pass from bananas to eggs like:  “Shoot, I kind of need bandaids, but they are clear on the other side of the store and I don’t want to go all the way over there, so I don’t think I need bandaids that badly today.” Which quickly was replaced by, “Why must they have the lacy women’s undergarments displayed RIGHT BY THE FOOD???” And upon seeing said lacy apparel to my right, I said out loud, “Look over to the left, boys!! I think that’s Phineas and Ferb on those boxes of mac and cheese!” We then make it safely by the bras with my boys’ attention diverted because they are now focused on the idea of eating a cheesy Perry the Platypus. (Side note:  I kindly called the store manager about this issue once, and while they were very nice about it and listened to my thoughts on the matter, they are bound by coorporate policy to have the store set up as it is. At least I tried.)

Well, anyway. Back to the food.

I loaded our cart full of goodies today – and most of the items were not organic. I used to cringe at this. But here’s the deal:  It’s February. This is not the best time of year for me to obtain organic produce. After all, I live in Nebraska. It’s cold here.  I have an Azure Standard order coming next week, but in the meantime, we need fresh fruits and veggies at our house. So there you have it.

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I typically at least try to avoid non-organic produce on the dirty dozen list, focusing on oranges and pineapple this time of year. But today? Well, today, I just wanted a bigger variety of fresh fruit for my family, and nothing organic was available. We wanted apples. There were no organic apples. So I got regular ol’ Galas. And then the boys saw a big display of strawberries. We all started drooling, even though really, non-organic strawberries in February aren’t much to drool over. Neither are blueberries. But I got them both. And we can’t wait to eat them with our breakfast tomorrow!

Also, I got some “Hormel Naturals” turkey for sandwiches for an upcoming out of town basketball trip. It’s better than the worst – and I bought it without guilt. And I got some Dole peach cups (100% juice) for the same trip. What a fun treat!

Here’s the deal:  We all should be striving for nourishment and good health. Not perfection. Not a guilt trip. Not fear. Not frustration.

We do the best we can. We compromise wisely when we have to. I didn’t compromise by putting poptarts and twinkies in my cart. I compromised by buying some fruits and veggies that were not organic, therefore “less than ideal”. I need not feel guilt. And even if the strawberries are completely flavorless because it is, after all, February – we are going to enjoy them as a special treat in the middle of winter and not worry one bit about it!

Those are my thoughts. Feel free to share your thoughts on this subject in the comments section. Feel free to suck down a strawberry every now and again that isn’t organic. Feel free to trust that God is bigger than pesticides.

Oh, and one more thing:  While we were picking out our pineapple, I told the boys, “You have to pick it up and smell its bottom to see if it is a good one or not.” Elias thought that was way too funny:  “smell its bottom…” Hahahaha.

Yeah, be thankful that most of this post shared what goes through my head – not what goes through the head of my eleven year old son. :)

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Oh Beautiful Jars!! Stocked and Ready For Gawking

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One of the jobs on my “To Do” List was to refill all of the jars in my pantry so that I’d have easy access to all of the staple ingredients I reach for so often. Since I typically purchase these ingredients in 25-50 pound quantities, I store them big buckets, and pour a smaller portion into easy-access jars in my kitchen, refilling as needed. (Read more here about where I purchase most of my food, and scroll through these posts to learn more about my bulk shopping and storage.)

My favorite part of this system, besides the fact, of course, that this just makes my life easier and saves us money while we strive to eat a whole foods diet is this:  I love staring at my jars full of pretty food.

It’s a slight obsession. A major obsession? Yeah, probably something like that.

Well, after just a few minutes of going back and forth from storage room to kitchen, lugging buckets and bags of dry goods (a great upper arm work-out!), all of my jars are re-stocked and ready to go. Pasta, sucanat, wheat, salt, beans, corn, and rice. Oh so beautiful.

 This is the part of my pantry I stare at when I most need a fix:

Hey, it’s much healthier than my former Pepsi addiction, right? :)

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Our Whole Foods Pantry, Freezers and Refrigerator

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Real Food Ingredients Resource Page

After several hours of list making, link finding and price figuring, here is the resource I’ve been promising for such a long time! I’ve tried to include everything that typically can be found in my fridge, freezers, pantry and bulk storage. I obviously don’t have all of these items on hand all of the time, but I do try to keep a good stock of most of these items so that I am flexible to put together a variety of healthy meals, as well as open our home to guests frequently.

I’ve included prices I prefer to spend on each item, but prices vary depending on which site is offering a sale. Keep in mind that prices are going to vary depending on where you live as well. Because I live in a small town with very few whole foods/organic food grocery store options, I buy most of my food from local farmers, from online shops or from Azure Standard, depending on where I find a better deal. (Plus, I try to save up most of my Swagbuck earnings to purchase food occasionally for “free” from Amazon.)

I buy almost all of the listed items in bulk quantities because I know we’ll use it. I also try to purchase just about all of the items in this list in organic form if possible.

Because you are all reading from different locations, I also recommend that you read through the comments on this post in order to find a health food co-op or whole food resources in your area. Also, check out LocalHarvest to find meat, milk, eggs and produce in your area.

Hopefully the linking system I used in each section is user friendly!

And now, without further ado, here is my very long list of grocery items I love to have on hand:

Dairy

In addition to the following products, occasionally I make butter and mozzarella cheese, if I have enough milk/cream/time.

Milk – I am blessed to buy raw, organic milk from local farmers.
Cream – I buy this raw from our milk farmers.
Buttermilk – Homemade
 Kefir – Homemade
 Yogurt – Homemade
Sour Cream – Homemade
Butter – I usually purchase a case of Willow Made Sweet Cream, Salted Butter from Azure Standard if I can get it for $3.50/pound or less. Otherwise, I just buy real butter from the grocery store.
Cheese – I purchase raw organic Landmark white cheddar cheese from Azure Standard. It is $5.50/pound if purchased by the case.

Meat/Eggs/Beans

I purchase most of my grass fed beef and free range whole chickens from a local farm – NorthStar Neighbors. Occasionally, I will get it from Tropical Traditions if they have a great sale.

Hamburger Meat
Cube Steak
Stew Meat
Beef Roast 
Chickens (whole) – I try stretch these to feed my family six meals!
Chicken Breasts – I typically purchase Smart Chicken brand when it’s on sale at our local grocery store for $4.0o/pound or less.
Deer Meat – from local hunters who like to share
Tuna (canned) – I buy Natural Value Yellow-Fin by the case either from Amazon, Vitacost, or Azure Standard, shooting for $1.50/can or less.
Salmon (canned) – Rubinstein’s Wild Alaska pink salmon from Azure Standard or Roland’s from Amazon
Frozen Fish, sometimes – I live in Nebraska, what can I say? We don’t have fresh fish here. I don’t necessarily trust frozen fish from a regular grocery store, but occasionally I will buy some tilapia or salmon.
Eggs – I buy these from my friend who raises free range chickens.
Red Beans –  Azure Standard – $1.00/pound
Black Beans – Azure Standard – $1.40/pound
Pinto Beans – Azure Standard – $0.88/pound
Garbonzo Beans – Azure Standard – $0.85/pound
Lentils – Azure Standard – $0.49/pound

Grains

Hard White Wheat – I buy this in bulk from Azure Standard – $0.83/pound.
Whole Kernel Corn – Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – $0.68/pound
Popcorn – Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $1.25/pound
Rolled Oats – Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $0.80/pound
Brown Rice –  Azure Standard, Tropical Traditions or Amazon – $1.80/pound
Whole Wheat Pasta – Tropical Traditions or Amazon – around $2.00/pound

I sometimes have Kamut, Millet, Buckwheat, Spelt and/or Barley on hand – purchased from Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – all less than $1.00/pound.

Baking/Cooking

Coconut Flour – Azukar Organics through Amazon (best price!) or Tropical Traditions when it’s buy one get one free – $3.50/pound or less.
Sucanat – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Amazon – $2.50/pound or less
Raw Honey – I purchase from a local bee keeper – or I buy it from Azure Standard
Grade B Maple Syrup – Farmers Market, Vitacost, or Amazon – $17.00/quart or less
Cocoa Powder – Azure Standard or Tropical Traditions – $4.25/pound or less
Vanilla Extract – I make my own; read how you can too!
Corn Starch – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $3.20/8 ounce box
Arrowroot Powder – Azure Standard – $2.57/pound or less
Aluminum Free Baking Powder – Azure Standard or Amazon – $2.65/pound
Baking Soda – Azure Standard or Amazon – $1.00/pound or less
Shredded Coconut – Tropical Traditions– $17.50/gallon pail
Chocolate Chips – Homemade, Vitacost, or Amazon – $4.50/package or less
Butterscotch Baking Chips – Homemade
Active Dry Yeast – Azure Standard or Sams

Herbs and Spices

These are purchased either from Tropical Traditions, Azure Standard or Mountain Rose Herbs. I didn’t link to any specific site for these – where I buy these depends on who has the best price at the time.

Redmonds Real Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
Turmeric
Minced Onion
Onion Powder
Onion Salt
Oregano
Basil
Cayenne Pepper
Black Pepper
Chili Powder
Paprika
Parsley
Cumin
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

Condiments and Sauces

Ketchup – I make homemade ketchup or purchase Muir Glen Organic Ketchup from Amazon, Vitacost, or Azure Standard – $2.70/bottle
Mayonnaise – I like Hain Safflower Mayo from Azure Standard or Vitacost – $5.50/jar or less
Mustard – Azure Standard – $2.35/bottle
Worcestershire Sauce – Azure Standard – $5.00/bottle
Soy Sauce – Azure Standard – $5.50/bottle
Liquid Smoke – Walmart  ;)
Salad Dressings – I make my own, recipes are found here.
Jams and Preserves – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $3.00/jar
Peanut Butter – I make my own, recipe found here

Fats

Coconut Oil, Virgin (tastes like coconut) – Tropical Traditions, Amazon, Vitacost, or Mountain Rose Herbs – $18.00/quart or less
Coconut Oil, Expeller Pressed (flavorless) – Tropical Traditions, Amazon, Mountain Rose Herbs – $13.00/quart or less
Olive Oil – Azure Standard, Vitacost, or Tropical Traditions – $17.00/25 ounces or less
Butter – Azure Standard (Yes, I’d already mentioned this in the dairy section, but it’s also a fat. Apparently, I love butter enough to mention it twice.)
Palm Shortening – Tropical Traditions, Amazon

Fruits and Vegetables

Tomato Sauce, Tomato Soup, Tomato Juice – we grow and can our own supply for each year or I get them from Vitacost when we run out of our home canned goods
Green Beans, Sweet Corn, Peaches, Strawberries, Applesauce – we grow or buy from local farmers and preserve these ourselves each year.
Frozen Peas – Azure Standard – $7.70/5 pounds
All Other Fresh Produce – Azure Standard or local grocery stores

Nuts

Peanuts – Azure Standard or Amazon – $3.70/pound
Pistachios, Cashews, Almonds – Braga Organic Farms 
Dried Fruit – Azure Standard or Braga Organic Farms

Cereal and Chips (purchased rarely)

Cornflakes – Amazon or Vitacost – $3.00/box
Rice Crispies – Amazon or Vitacost– $3.00/box
Corn Chips – Amazon or Vitacost – $4.00/bag

So that you will always and forever have easy access to this resource list, I have added a link at the top of my site called Whole Foods Resources. I’ve also added this pantry button to my side bar, which will link to this post:

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How We Afford Buying in Bulk

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I’m working through a series on buying whole foods in bulk!
If you haven’t read them yet, you may be interested in :
Why I Buy in Bulk, Buying in Bulk:  Do You Have the Space? and
Buying in Bulk:  A Year’s Supply. And now:  How To Afford Buying in Bulk:

Guess what? Last Thursday was Maple Syrup Day! We now have five gallons of maple syrup to last us the year:

The total price tag wasn’t small, and yet, we got an excellent price per ounce on high quality maple syrup for our family. This means that even though we had to pay quite a bit upfront, we just saved quite a bit of money!

I’m sure many of you are wondering how we afford to purchase our year’s supply of maple syrup all at once, or three months worth of meat at one time, etc. Hopefully you took the time to read the following posts:  How I Grocery Shop and Our 2011 Grocery Budget which will answer some of your questions.

But overall, I would say that we can’t afford NOT to buy in bulk. We are a family of six big eaters, plus we feed a lot of extra people each month. Buying large quantities of many different foods saves us hundreds (maybe thousands?) of dollars each year. I can pay $1.60 for a small 21 ounce bag of organic rolled oats – or I can pay almost half that amount per ounce and buy 50 pounds of organic rolled oats for $35.55. It may feel like I’m spending less if I only pay $1.60 for a bag of oats, but since I’d have to buy so many bags of it, overall, I’d actually be spending more.

If it’s food that will keep well without spoiling and I know it’s food that we’ll eat – buying in bulk is usually the better option for our family.

And now, a little bit more about our budget and how bulk purchasing is possible for us:

We have $550 in our monthly grocery budget, which equals $6600 for the year. Some months I only spend $200, some months I spend $800. It all balances out. I don’t need a bulk quantity of every single food, every single month. Some months I buy a huge amount of wheat and a few months worth of organic brown rice. Some months I buy a case of butter and order several big bags of organic nuts. Some months I hardly buy anything at all, except for milk, eggs and produce. And by the end of the year, all the purchases have averaged out to $550/month.

If you’re just getting started with bulk purchasing, it may feel like your budget is taking a big hit. Here are some suggestions for buying in bulk while staying within your budget:

  • Try to hold back part of your grocery budget from one month in order to apply it to bulk purchasing the following month. For instance, if your grocery budget is $300/month, eat a few less expensive meals this month. Anything under $300 that you spend can be applied toward bulk purchasing next month.
  • If there are other areas of your overall family budget that you can cut back on or skip for a while so that you can save up, be intentional about saving that money for bulk purchases. Can you eat out less? Skip the movie? Pass by the coffee shop? Avoid paying the electric bill? Just kidding. Please pay your electric bill. ;)
  • Begin with very basic staple foods that you know your family will eat. I recommend starting with foods such as oats, rice, wheat or flour, sucanat, honey – any foods that you know won’t go to waste if bought in a large quantity and kept in storage for 3-12 months.
  • Don’t buy everything at once. Maybe pick just one or two items each month to get started. If you buy rice in bulk this month, you’ll be able to check that off your grocery list for the next few months, freeing up a little bit of your budget for other bulk purchases.
  • Buy in bulk according to your family’s needs. I tend to buy 50 pound bags of food because we go through a lot of groceries at our house. Ten pound or 25 pound bags may be better for your family.
  • If you find a good deal and buy a bulk quantity of an item, ration it if necessary. It won’t save much money when you find a great deal and stock up on chocolate chips, if your family begins to eat way more chocolate chips than normal. Not that this is easy when there are bulk amounts of chocolate chips in the house. Why did I have to use chocolate as an example? I should have brought up baking powder or salt or something less tempting. Yes, don’t overindulge in baking powder. There, that’s better. :)

Next time, I’ll talk more about what food items work well for bulk purchasing, what keeps well in the pantry and what freezes well.

How do you budget for bulk purchases?

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Buying In Bulk – Gallons of Maple Syrup and Honey

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I’m working through a series in buying whole foods in bulk!
If you haven’t read them yet, you may be interested in : 
Why I Buy in Bulk and Buying in Bulk:  Do You Have the Space?

It’s almost Maple Syrup Day!! That’s not a national holiday (that I know of) – just the one Thursday every July that I buy three gallons of maple syrup. Why? Because that’s when the “maple syrup people” come to our Farmer’s Market for their once a year stop in my town. I buy what I hope will last me the year (although this year it didn’t, and I had to grab some from Amazon to get us by).

People have looked at me a little funny as I walk away with so much maple syrup, wondering why I would possibly want so much. Well, because we’re a family of six, because we have a lot of company, because we use it on our pancakes and waffles and french toast and in our milk shakes and soothers and in several other recipes. The maple syrup they bring to the Farmer’s Market is pure – I trust this family. Maple syrup is one of my top sweeteners of choice, and buying three gallons at a time saves me quite a bit of money and time. If I buy my year’s supply of maple syrup in July at the Farmer’s Market, I don’t have to think about maple syrup again until well…this year, it lasted us until May. 

I do the same thing with our hard white wheat berries, buying our entire year’s supply in February when my friend organizes a big truck delivery of the wonderful golden kernels. If you haven’t read my exclusive interview with myself after I purchased 500 pounds of wheat at one time, you may find it helpful – or at least amusing.

Do I buy everything in 365 day quantities? No. But with things like wheat and maple syrup, it just sort of makes sense for me to do it this way.  When I know it’s something we use continually, when I find a great price, when I know I may have a harder time getting my hands on a certain product – I stock up.

Take honey for example (because I thought you might need yet another sweet and sticky example after reading about maple syrup). Our “honey man” harvests a very limited quantity of raw, pure honey each fall. If I don’t buy all the honey I’ll need for the year in September, he’ll likely not have any more for me later. It makes sense for me to buy a year’s supply at once. 

I also do this with produce during the summer and fall. I know we’ll be needing 52 weeks worth of corn, green beans, tomato sauce, tomato soup, applesauce, peaches and pears…so I plant my garden and make my local farm produce purchases accordingly. (I also keep my nose the the ground – or is that my ear? I forget – and snatch all kinds of free produce people are happy to part with when they are feeling overloaded.)  During the months of July, August and September, we are crazy busy with preserving – either canning or freezing – our year’s supply of corn, green beans – all the foods I just mentioned. It just makes sense for our family.

I’m sure some of you are wondering:  How do we afford to buy such large quantities of maple syrup, wheat, honey, etc. at one time?  Here are two posts that might help answer that question:  How I Grocery Shop and Our 2011 Grocery Budget. I’ll be a little more specific about this topic next week! (to be continued…)

I’m curious if you buy a year’s supply of anything, or if you prefer buying smaller quantities?

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Buying in Bulk – Do You Have the Space?

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Before I can talk about the foods I like having on hand and the foods I purchase or preserve in large quantities, I think it’s best to let you know a little bit more about our family’s storage capabilities. God has blessed us with a large house that has a large storage room. We have (through the years) invested in not one, but three large freezers. We have a large pantry and a large kitchen and after you’ve typed the word large this many times in the same paragraph, it begins to sound funny in your head. Large. Large. Is it just me, or does the word large sound funny now? (It’s largely possible that it’s just me.)

I say all of that (in large part) to let you know that I’ll be sharing what works for our family – then you can take that information and do whatever will work for yours. Even if your house and storage abilities aren’t as large as mine, you still may be able to swipe some of my ideas (or learn something from all the brilliant minds who leave comments and share what works for them!). But make adaptions based on what God has blessed you with. If you have a small home with minimal storage, you’ll have to get more creative. For instance, you could sell your couch and build your own living room furniture from your bulk purchases. Fifty pound bags of wheat and oats would make very cushy chairs. Five gallon buckets full of rice and beans could serve as your end tables and you could use jars of coconut oil and canned peaches as book ends. Bags of pasta would be fine accents on your “wheat and oat couches” – you know, like pillows? Adorable. 

Or not.

Don’t ever ask me to come help you decorate your home. It’s clearly not my strong suit. Moving on…

Why do we have three large freezers? Well, we’ve found that it’s an investment that has saved us hundreds of dollars each year. We bought them used, and if you recall, they are as ugly as can be – one of the reasons we got them for such a low price. Having them has enabled us to purchase high quality meat in bulk quantities. Even more exciting, when we’ve been blessed to get our hands on free strawberries or peaches – when our garden has been producing bumper crops of green beans – when we are able to get a great deal on a year’s supply of corn to put up for the winter – we’ve got the freezer space to handle the quantity. By the end of summer, our freezers are crammed full of produce, much of which we’ve grown ourselves or purchased for a very reasonable price from local farmers and gardeners.

So, what if you don’t have large freezers or a large pantry or storage space? I was kidding earlier (mostly) about building furniture with your bags of oats, but there really are some great and creative ways for you to make good use of the space you do have. Take a look at how beautifully Jodi has decorated her home with her canned produce. 

I think this is gorgeous:

A colorful close-up:

Think about the usable areas of your home. Can you slide some food containers under your beds? Are there some closet floors that could house some buckets of dry goods? Can you think of a cute way to stack a few containers in a corner of your kitchen? Any chance you have an open wall somewhere that you could purchase an inexpensive shelf that you can decorate with food like Jodi did?

While you may not have the space to store 500 pounds of wheat (our year’s supply!) like I can, I bet you do have a few (or more) bulk storage possibilities in your home.

I’d love for you all to share your tricks and strategies for food storage in your homes. Share what type of home you live in and how you make good uses of your storage spaces.

And really, can’t you just picture the coconut oil jar book ends?  Adorable.

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Why I Buy in Bulk

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Hello my name is Laura and am obsessed with buying food in bulk. I love purchasing large quantities of food at one time – and then staring at it. Staring at bulk groceries makes me happy. Dreaming about all the delicious food I can make with my large food stores gives me a thrill. 

I’m pretty sure (pretty sure?) I am a little weird (only a little weird?) when it comes to my love of food. I know there are people who only give food a thought at the moment they become hungry and they think I’m strange for caring so much about my coconut flakes. They see my pantry and storage room and think I must have some weird phobia about losing our food supply, which must be why I buy up to 500 pounds of wheat at one time. They hear how many tomato plants we have in our garden and wonder if we know that we’ll have tomatoes coming out of our ears.

Yes, we’re aware. We did this last year too. And the year before that. We happen to like having tomatoes coming out of our ears. We think it tickles.

So why do we buy food (or preserve food) in such large quantities?

We do it because it’s practical for our family and saves us a good deal of money. Buying in bulk has made our real, whole food eating choices much more practical and affordable. We are blessed with a good amount of storage space, making the idea possible in the first place. Overall, I have found that purchasing food in bulk makes my kitchen duties much, much easier. Instead of buying a package of pasta every time we need a package of pasta (which is at least once each week), I buy a case of pasta once every two months and forget about it in between. When I need pasta, I go to my storage room and get pasta. 

Maybe I like bulk food so much because I don’t have to think so hard. Yes, that’s why I like it. I may like staring at my food and dreaming about our meals, but I’m not a big fan of thinking so hard every time I need to make a meal. I like buying ahead, buying in bulk, then having the capability to grab whatever food I need out of my storage and getting right to work in my kitchen. It’s all rather lovely.

I also really love that by having a large store of food, I can make bigger quantities of food if we have spur of the moment guests. It’s so nice to be able to say, “Stay for dinner – we have plenty!”

Buying in bulk (and preserving large quantities of food) just works for me. I love it.

During the next few weeks, I’ll share more about how buying in bulk works for our family, more about how we store our bulk, and most importantly, how we afford making bigger bulk purchases. I’m also working hard to put together a reference page sharing what food I always like to have on hand and what my favorite sources are for these items.

I know bulk purchasing doesn’t work for everyone. My intent with these posts isn’t to encourage everyone to buy in bulk. There may be just one of you in your household, making bulk purchasing impractical. Or you may have a small living space and then where are you supposed to store your bulk – on the roof?

So do share. If you buy in bulk, what are your reasons? And if you don’t buy in bulk, what are your reasons?  For all of you who have no interest in bulk food purchases, thank you for putting up with my obsession and embracing my “I smile at big bags of oats” insanity. 

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Healthy, Homemade Baby Food

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(No, this post is not a hint toward what our boys’ surprise was. Oh my. I simply get a lot of reader questions regarding what to feed baby. That’s it. Our surprise was much less exciting than a baby announcement – I’ll post about it tonight!)  :)

Pureed Bananas:  Ripe bananas run through my food processor until smooth – great for baby!

Ah, the memories. I used to always make food for my babies, back when my babies were babies. I still make food for my babies, but my oldest baby is 14 now. He prefers steak to pureed veggies. He’d also like to know when I’ll stop calling him my baby. (The answer is never, but I do try to avoid saying it in front of “the guys”. I’m not that uncool.)

Before I talk about making baby food, first I’ll quickly share what I don’t recommend feeding babies (but keep in mind I’m just a mom, not a doctor):

  • Any kind of sugar before age one and really, do they need much after that?
  • Salt, unless it’s a very pure form of sea salt and then, very little
  • Grains, even the baby cereal that’s usually recommended. It fills ’em up, but their little tummies have a hard time digesting rice, oats and other grains, which can cause digestive issues now or later. I say wait on the grains if you can.

Making baby food is super simple, very inexpensive and takes very little time. One of the easiest foods to make for baby is Pureed Squash. You can read how to make pureed squash here. Making sweet potatoes is just as simple:

To Make Sweet Potatoes: Scrub them, stab them, bake them in a covered dish for about an hour, then peel them and puree them. So easy!

Pureeing green beans or peas are a little trickier as the “skin” kinda hangs around and keeps the food from being smooth. After failed attempts at making pureed green beans and peas, I found it easier to wait a little while before offering these to my babes. They made the perfect “finger food”. Frozen peas, by the way, are yummy and great if Baby is teething!

The one way I found to get green beans and peas into my little guys before they were old enough for “finger food” was to use a Kidco Baby Food Grinder. Man, I loved that thing. Whatever I had cooked or fixed for the rest of us to eat – green beans, peas, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, pears, bananas, peaches, nectarines (do I need to keep listing them?) – I’d stick it in my Kidco Baby Food Grinder and have instant baby food that my boys would eat faster than I could make! The “skin” or any difficult to eat part of the food would be “ground out” and the soft baby food would rise to the top. If you have a baby and you don’t have a Kidco Baby Food Grinder, I really, really recommend getting one!

Also, one of my very smart cousins told me about the BabyCook, which appears to have been invented after my babies needed pureed food, hmph. I’ve seen the BabyCook in action and it’s about as cool as they come. With the BabyCook, you can very quickly steam veggies, reheat food – even defrost food to make a healthy, quick meal for baby. Once the food is steamed, you can use the BabyCook to puree it to any desired consistency. Babies nothin’. I’m thinking I need one of these for me!

I used to always freeze pre-made baby food in ice cube trays, pop them out and re-warm them for a quick meal. It worked pretty well, but I’d love to hear if anyone else has a more efficient method of making baby food ahead of time?!

And, while we’re on the subject of baby food, I wanted to mention what another smart cousin showed me last week. Homemade baby food is great, but sometimes a little convenience on the go is a good thing. Have you seen these cool little Baby Food Pouches from Ella’s Kitchen? (Or here are some other ones I found from HappyBaby). Really, where were these things when my babies were babies?

Share your favorite baby food making, freezing, storing and serving tricks!

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Healthy Snacks I Feed My Family

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Here is a big list of healthy snacks that I feed my family. This list is guaranteed to keep your children full and happily satisfied forever – or at least until the next time they need a snack (which may be within the next five minutes, so you may want to read quickly).

I obviously don’t have all of these snacks on hand at all times, but when my kids are hungry between meals, this is an idea of what I might offer.

vanilla_wafers

Whole Wheat Vanilla Wafers

What are your favorite healthy snacks to feed your kids?

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