Many, many, many of you have emailed or left comments asking what on earth I feed my family for snacks since we try to avoid packaged crackers and other “stuff”. (See my list of the ingredients we try to avoid eating.)

Snacks are one of the most difficult foods to come up with, in my opinion. Especially when it seems that all afternoon I seem to be bombarded with, “Mama, I’m hungry again.” 

One thing we’re working on is simply to encourage our kids to just eat more at meal time…and that seems to be working somewhat. But really…they do get hungry between meals. They can’t help it. They’re growing boys. (With hollow legs.)

I have found that I really have to think ahead and try to be prepared when it comes to snacks. Otherwise, I get frustrated when they ask me for one. (Like it’s their fault they’re starving again.)

Here’s a list of foods that I feel great about offering as snacks…

*Fresh fruit or veggies (of course)
*Homemade tortillas with peanut butter and honey or jelly or other yummy things inside
*Muffins or quick breads
    ~Applesauce bread
    ~Orange Muffins
    ~Chocolate swirl muffins
*Homemade bread and butter
*Whole wheat soft pretzels
*Nuts
*Popcorn with coconut oil and sea salt…or sprinkled with parmesan cheese
*Mudballs
*Milkshakes (recipe coming soon)
*Applesauce
*Homemade wheat crackers
*Homemade graham crackers (recipe coming soon) (oh so…yummy!!)
*Yogurt with fruit
*Breakfast cookies
*Breakfast bars
*Slushies
    ~Strawberry-Peach
    ~Pineapple-Orange
*Smoothies
*A treat made with natural sugars and whole wheat flour

There really are some great choices for snacks out there that provide your family with nutrition! 

What kinds of things do you make for your kids for snacks? 

Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more great kitchen ideas.

Gretchen emailed me with this question:

I just read some of your series on “Getting Real with Food“. I am in the midst of being a “coupon queen” but trying to quit. I am doing some organic foods and trying to cook so much more homemade food. My question to you is, how do I make this transition?

I am having a lot of trouble just trying to figure out how to stop couponing. I get organic produce delivered to me. I am starting to buy my pantry staples in bulk. Do you have any advice?

My answer:

(And by the way, we’re not talking about trying to stop couponing because there’s anything wrong with couponing…it’s the fact that usually coupons we find are for unhealthy foods, and our focus is on getting food for cheap or free instead of buying good, quality foods.)

Okay, now…My answer:

I SO understand your “pain” with trying to stop couponing. It seriously is painful…I’m not kidding when I say that. I loved doing it so much and it was such a part of who I was…not to mention it was something that made me feel so good about how I was taking care of my family. I didn’t want to give it up. But I did want to eat healthier. Oh, it was painful.
 
I remember walking through the grocery store one day when I had first learned about high fructose corn syrup and MSG and hydrogenated oils. And I was determined to still use some coupons because I thought surely I still could on some things. You know, like granola bars. Those are healthy, right? And I kept checking labels and EVERYTHING I had a coupon for had at least one thing in it that we shouldn’t be eating. I was getting so discouraged. And I started getting mad at the grocery store. And I thought it suddenly smelled stinky. And then I was starting to feeling teary. 
 
I think I might have used one coupon that day on toilet paper or something…and saving those 50 cents didn’t really make me feel good like normal coupon shopping had. It made me feel worse.
 
Ultimately I think what helped me the most was that I pretty much stopped shopping at grocery stores. I began getting my food in all different ways, like from local farmers, our farmer’s market, a food co-op, and other bulk food stores and graneries. This means I hardly needed to walk into a grocery store anymore, which is where my couponing took place. 
 
And, where I used to have SO MUCH FUN couponing at the grocery store…I now have SO MUCH FUN pouring over my food co-op catalogs and seeing what’s on sale for the month and what produce is available. I really kinda make it an “event”…when I have a quiet moment with my feet up to look through the catalogs and make my order. AND, I have so much fun seeing what awesome food I can get at the farmer’s market, and so much fun finding great foods from area farmers. 
 
And the joy I used to feel knowing I was “taking such good care of my family by saving so much money with coupons” I now feel knowing that I’m taking such good care of my family by feeding them so well. 

And this joy feels even better!
 
SO, hang in there. It sounds like you are very much on the right track!!!! Since you get your organic produce delivered to you  and you’re ordering staples in bulk….you are making the transition very well.
 
And hey, use some coupons sometimes while you’re transitioning…on some things that are more “compromise foods” or toiletry items (I still use those kinds of coupons actually when I can). 
 
Or, still use coupons to get free or almost free items that you can share with a food pantry.
 
I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me more if I haven’t answered you as specifically as you would like. 
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Anyone have anything they’d like to add?

(Visit Tammy’s Recipes for other kitchen tips.)

Last time I posted in this series, I talked about some of the no-no ingredients you should try to avoid. And I promised to explain a bit more about why you should avoid them. 

Then I started writing this very difficult post and found that it was a very difficult post to write. ;)

Most of the nutrition information that I have read and learned comes from Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions. But I really wanted to show you how many other great sources explaining some of these “no-nos” there were out there too.

So I began to do research. (Yeah, that’s the part where this post got very difficult to write. It began to require lots of reading and lots of note taking….and I really did need to begin making dinner for my family.)  :)

As little boys begin to look more and more pitifully hungry (and as I still don’t even have the chicken thawed) I decided to just provide you with the links I found. Then you can read the information for yourself and pick and choose what you’d like to read instead of me trying to decide what you’d like to learn.

Oh, but guess what? Some of the sites contradict each other. Not surprising really. That’s one of the biggest reasons I want to stick with eating real food.  I know what it is. I know what’s in it. There is no controversy in that.

Here are the ingredients I suggested to you here that were no-nos…and the links I found to provide you will more information than you could possibly ever want to know. And then some. :)

Partially Hydrogenated Oils: 

Here’s what I found at the Weston Price site specifically about hydrogenated oils. And here’s a link from that same site to a page full of links that talks more about fats in general. (You’ve gotta love a link to more links.)

I Googled Hydrogenated Oils too…just so that I could read what other sources said about it. I wanted to see if anyone out there said, “No really, eat all the hydrogenated oils you want. It’s okay.” I didn’t read them all, but all the links I did read said to avoid them. Check it out.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (or High Tukfrose Corn Syrup, as my friend’s little girl says it!):

Here, check out this link at the Weston Price site which describes High Fructose Corn Syrup very well. 

And, I found this article quite interesting.

Here are all the links I came up with when I Googled it. 

Food Dyes:

I appreciated what Dr. Mercola said about Food Dyes. He had several other articles too here. I very much trust Dr. Mercola and his research.

Here’s what I came up with when I Googled Food Dyes. 

Artificial Sweeteners:

The information I found at Dr. Mercola’s website provided TONS of information abour artificial sweeteners..

When I Googled Artificial Sweeteners, I found different sites with conflicting information. 

Okay…after you go click around on some of these links, you’ll see why I wasn’t able to conglomerate (whoa, big word) all of that information and put it into one post for you. So sorry if this was just about the most boring post ever. (For comic relief go here.)

I think now I’ll take a shift in the direction of this Getting Real With Food Series, and start just sharing more specifics about more of the things we eat and drink and why and how I make them and where I get them. (You know I love talking about my cow in the freezer.) 

One more thing! Remember to just take little baby steps and don’t try to change everything at once. If you’re reading some of this information and you feel overwhelmed…stop reading it. Just work to change small things, one at a time. That’s do-able!
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Go on over to Tammy’s Recipes for other kitchen encouragement.

Catch up on the rest of this series here!

In my latest post of this series, I talked about some simple ways for you to make some changes in your diet in order to begin eating healthier.

I also recommended that you start taking a good look at the labels on the food you buy. 

Today I’d like to share a few ingredients that you should be alerted to when you see them on a food label. The big NO-NO list. Try to avoid eating foods with these ingredients…at all costs…don’t even get near the stuff…avoid it like the plague…run far, far away! (Or…maybe we’ll be realistic and say…try really hard to not eat it most of the time if you can possibly help it...)

Okay here’s the biggie no-no list:

Hydrogenated oils

High fructose corn syrup

Food dyes

Artificial sugars

I’ll explain these poisons no-no’s in more detail in the next post of this series…but first let me admit to you (so that you don’t feel overwhelmed…maybe) that sometimes our family puts some of this into our mouths. They are found in MANY, MANY “foods” out there, and they are very hard to avoid!! So, don’t despair…just do your BEST! (Isn’t that the point of this whole eating right thing? Do your best! That’s it!)

Notice something about each item in the No-No list. None of them are REAL FOOD! (Remember, we’re working toward eating real food, right?!)  They might have started out as real food (might have)…but after undergoing several processes of “this and thats”…they usually end up being some form of freaked out chemical when it’s all said and done. (I made that up all by myself, “freaked out chemical”…like it?)

And then these freaked out chemicals are mixed together with other ingredients (that we may or may not recognize)…put into a box, usually with a label telling you how good it is for you…placed on a shelf and sold to you as “health food”. Or at least as “a part of this balanced breakfast”. 

I promise to explain each of these no-no’s in my next Getting Real With Food post…because I think it’s got to be frustrating for you to hear me tell you to avoid them, but not really tell you all of the reasons why. It’s just that I feel like the explanations of each of those terms deserve a blog post of it’s own…and I really don’t want this particular blog post to go on for three years. :)

But, I will tell you this. The process those ingredients have gone through to make them become the freaked out chemicals that they are effect your digestive system in ways that are really scary. When food digests poorly…every organ in your body is effected negatively. Beyond that, these ingredients have the power to change the healthy cells in your body to become unhealthy cells. The cells around your heart…the cells around your brain…

Here are just a few of the foods that contain at least one, if not all of the ingredients in the no-no list:

Pop and candy (Well, we probably all knew that.)
Juice that isn’t 100% fruit (Although sometimes there’s food coloring added to the 100% juice too. Grr.)
Peanut butter (Choosy moms choose…hydrogenated oils? Grr again.)
Cereal (I have been shocked to see that almost ALL boxes of cereal have both high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils in them. And food coloring. Even the ones considered to be healthy cereals.)
Crackers (Grr to Shabisco and Beebler.) (Names have been changed to protect the guilty.)

Unfortunately, that list could go on and on…but I’ll stop with just those few. 

Remember though to focus on making small changes! YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING AT ONCE!!! 

Also remember…REAL FOOD tastes so good! Really, really good. (Much better than the “food” provided for you by Keneral Zills and Mellogs.)

Hope to see you back here at WeavenlyDomeShakers…WAIT… Why am I changing MY name? Guess I got on a little carried away there…

Hope to see you back here at HeavenlyHomemakers for more Getting Real with Food encouragement!

Find more Works for me Wednesday here.

Previously in this series, I talked about how I have finally come around to understanding that spending money on food…good, wholesome, real food…is important, necessary and right. If you didn’t read that post, you might want to start there! 

For my family of six, I spend around $500 a month. (This amount does not include non-food household items.)

My husband (who hasn’t gained a pound in our almost 14 years of marriage) eats enough for three grown men. His job is physically demanding, plus he often plays soccer or goes jogging. The guy can eat. And… 

My four sons take after their daddy. They can put away some serious food. I have decided that as soon as they’re old enough, they must take a job to support their eating habits. What in the world am I gonna do when they’re all teenagers at once? :)

So let me tell you what our $500/month goes to…

We bought a half a cow this year (which actuallydoesn’t appear to be enough to last the year..). It is a locally raised cow, fed only grass…woohoo! It cost us $725, which breaks down to $61 a month for beef.

This year we also bought a grass fed lamb from this same farmer, costing us $160, or $13/month. (If you haven’t eaten lamb before…OH MY GOODNESS…you need to! It has become our favorite meat ever. YUM!)

I buy large whole free range chickens from another local farmer that we trust…and spend approximately $17 per month.

We buy our milk from friends who have a wonderful milk cow. (Ah, we love that milk cow!). We buy an average of six gallons a week at $4/gallon. (This is a GREAT price for organic, grass fed, hormone free, incredible milk.)

Our eggs we buy from some other friends who have free range chickens (remember this?!). We go through at least three dozen a week at $1.50/dozen. (I think that’s also a GREAT price for what we’re getting!)

Okay, so lets put some of this together here…

Meat from farmers total per month:  $91
Milk, 24 gallons/month:  $96
Eggs, 12 dozen/month:  $18
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 Total on meat, milk and eggs/month:   $205

Next, the bulk of my groceries are purchased from Azure Standard food co-op…which is where I order my grains (wheat, oats, rice), rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice), sea salt,  some fresh produce, tuna, frozen fruits and veggies, and some other stuff I can’t think of right now. :) I spend anywhere from $100-$250/month depending on how many large items I’m out of that month.

The remaining amount I spend at the grocery store buying fresh fruits and veggies. (And occasionally Smart Chicken brand chicken breasts when they are REALLY on sale.)

And, if you remember seeing my pantry and freezers, you know I also have a big garden, so I do a lot of canning and freezing in the fall. That stocks us up for the year on tomato products, green beans, corn, peaches, pears and applesauce. We also try to grow enough potatoes to last us for several months. (And I take advantage of any extra fruits and veggies anyone else has an abundance of to offer!)

Do you know all the yummy meals I can put together for my family with all of this great REAL and wholesome food? I LOVE it! 

Next in this Getting Real With Food series, I’ll offer some suggestions for where to start if you’re looking to begin a healthier eating style. You CAN do it!!

I KNOW I told you that I’d show you my freezers and refrigerator this time…but my Azure Standard food co-op order came in this week. Don’t you want to see what I got?!

But first let’s review…

Nerd information about Laura #1:  Laura loves jars. Like crazy.

Now…

Nerd information about Laura #2:  Laura loves to pull out everything from her Azure order boxes and lay everything out on the counter…and then just look at it for many, many minutes.

…and when she’s finally satisfied after a long time of staring at her groceries, Laura will slowly put everything into smaller containers (like JARS!) and put everything where it goes.

…but she’s such a nerd about it that she really doesn’t want anyone to help her because she has a system and she really just has so much fun with putting it all away and looking at it all, that having helpers would just sort of ruin the fun.

(There, now I’m done talking about myself in third person. :) )

This time, after I laid my order out on the counter, I took a picture for you (just in case you wanted to stare at it for several minutes too).

Here’s what I got this month:
Natural Value plastic bags (a safe plastic…on sale this month), 5 pounds frozen peas, 4 oz. cumin, 5 pounds Landmark raw white cheddar cheese, 2 jars Natural Value peanut butter, 2 pounds raw cashews, 1 pound fresh leeks, 5 pounds carrots, 5 pounds oranges, 5 pounds pinto beans, 5 pounds cocoa (think of all the brownies I can make!), Braggs apple cider vinegar.

Not pictured:
25 pounds Redmonds real salt, 10 pounds frozen strawberries, 3 boxes Julies ice cream sandwiches (a total splurge…one that made my kids cheer all the way home), case of 12 big bags of Kettle brand organic blue corn chips(I highly recommend these chips…they are YUMMY, and are priced VERY REASONABLY. Even though they don’t give us much in the way of nutrition, they are at least a decent chip.)

My total for all this food was $237.49.

Sound like a lot? Maybe. However, this is the bulk of my grocery spending for the month (about half). The salt was my big purchase this time (25 pounds costs around $50!)…but that will last us well over a year and a half, even with all the canning I do. The baggies I bought for freezing produce this fall, since they were a very good price this month.

The cocoa will last a long, long time (as long as Laura can control how many brownies she makes) (oops, switched back to third person again). The chips will last quite a while, as will the beans, strawberries, cashews, vinegar and cumin. Everything else will be eaten in a month most likely. 

Now, just a couple more things about what I did with part of my order! 

Yesterday I used the leeks I ordered and several of the carrots and made a big pot of chicken broth, and a big pot of beef broth. Now I have big jars full of broth ready to make soups and sauces and gravies. 

AND…take a look at this beautiful 10 pound bag of frozen strawberries!!

I divided the bag into 3 gallon sized freezer bags for easier freezer access. Now we have plenty of strawberries for smoothies and slushies and milkshakes and snacks. YUM!!!

All this food, along with the fresh milk and eggs we buy from local farmers…and along with my freezers full of meat and veggies…and my pantry full of grains and canned tomato products…

We are ALL SET!

Okay…coming up next will really be my fridge and freezers…but thanks for letting me show you my Azure order. 

(Am I the only one who likes to stare at their groceries? Just wondering…)  :)