It's the last day of February - so I'm clocking in with my final numbers! I came in $355.58 under budget for groceries this month! I would have liked to had the number smaller, but it is what it is. This month I re-committed to eating whole foods, no matter the cost (meaning, I know I can buy lots of boxed items at the regular grocery store for free or close to free, but if it is doing my body no good, there is a high price to pay in the end.) I have really enjoyed Lindsay's blog at Passionate Homemaking. It's hard to link just one article from Lindsay's Blog, so I will just link her home page. I just saw she has another new article today I am going to read on additives and preservatives.
I spent time at the Feingold website this week too reading to my children what is in all those "great" foods - additives that come from crude oil sources, or the throw aways from paper factories. Scary stuff to me. I made a deal - if they refused the bad snacks offered them at church this month, I would give them $10 each. They have made it to the end of the month and they succeeded. Everyone is now $10 richer! And richer in health for NOT eating the sugars, additives and preservatives. It really does make a difference in how they behave.
This month we began doing some soaking of grains for pancakes and oatmeal ala - Nourishing Traditions. I'm still studying on this, but think it has some validity for certain foods.
We added Lifeway kefir (I'm not ready to make my own YET) to our diet and I've already seen the benefits in the way of improved digestion. The kids really love the kefir smoothie!
I also started buying only sprouted grain products like the kind from the Food for Life company (sprouted bread, english muffins and tortillas) and trying to eat less grains and more whole raw vegetables and fruit.
I feel we've made some great strides this month in our already pretty healthy diet. I'm trying my best to keep our family healthy so we can be able bodied to do God's work while we are on earth!
Great job on the pantry plan. I agree with you, I felt a little cruddy last month eating all the processed food from my pantry. I had planned to eat better this month, but ended up coming home from a trip with a carload of free food. Most of it was fruit and veggies, though. I am still going to try to keep my grocery budget low and eat healthy this month. I wonder if it is possible???
ReplyDeleteThe Happy Housewife
http://happyhousewife.wordpress.com
Hi Happy Housewife! Yeah! You can do it! I am going to be using up more of my stash - I still have lots of deer meat, ground turkey and chicken breasts. That's great on your free groceries and mostly veggies! I'm trying hard to up my veggies each day!
ReplyDeleteYipee! Another Feingolder, another homeschooler feeding their children well!
ReplyDeleteBless you for researching AND implementing all you read. Your children will reap from all your efforts.
Take care!
Babsi