Preparing healthy foods will take some time commitment. Don't worry, it doesn't have to drain your whole life. But, realistically, it will take some additional time. Most often, foods that are nourishing are not as convenient as boxed, prepackaged foods. Except for maybe bananas and berries. My suggestion is to set aside a chunk of time each week to do some preliminary food prep. Doing so will make nourishing foods more accessible... and will prevent resorting to less nourishing processed foods.
Mixed Berry Delight
All that being said, here is a corollary:
Make Unwholesome Food Inaccessible
Make the commitment to stop bringing unwholesome foods home. You can do this! Before you grocery shop, make a meal plan -- even for snacks. Write your shopping list only for the items you need for your meal plan. Sticking to your list will ensure that you have everything you need for the week!
Naturally, we are not going to starve ourselves (or our children!), so when there are no chips, boxed cereals, cookies or snack mixes to quickly pull out of our pantry, we will have to follow the healthy meal plan. We will have to pop popcorn, make pita chips, bake cookies or make trail mix. It does take a bit of extra effort. That is why it is so beneficial to have a set aside time to prepare these things in advance, as much as possible.
Have you made a plan for this week's meals and snacks? I will be working on mine and doing my grocery shopping later this evening. If you don't already have a plan in place:
- Create a plan for a week's worth of meals and snacks.
- Shop according to your meal plan.
- Leave the unwholesome stuff and the store.
- Soon after shopping, spend an hour or so preparing some foods.
- Be joyful you've taken another healthy step!
- Get ready to do it again next week!
Do you have a wholesome, quick snack that you could share with everyone? Please comment and add your great ideas!
Photo Credit: Allposters.com
7 comments:
Amy Ellen,
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your kind comments on our Geography Fair.
You asked how often we completed a lapbook like this. This was actually our first really involved one like this. We usually do more of a notebook method. I will reserve this to more in depth unit studies probably, although we had lots of fun doing it. They can be as simple or complicated as you make them.
Thanks for asking!
Have a great week! Stop by for a visit anytime!
Tammy
My plan for staying away from bad foods is.... DON'T BUY IT!!. If it's not in the house, we won't eat it. But anyway, remember, I don't have really little kids at home, that really helps in getting things done around the house :) When they were really little, it would take me all day and then some to keep up with the house.
We love popcorn, I recently cut out the butter by airpopping it and gently spraying the popcorn with a cooking spray. Then we use a little popcorn seasoning. Wonderful stuff :)
Wonderful post. My baby BIL comes over and complains because you have to MAKE food in this house.
I usually line the counters with fresh fruit. My children will grab apples, grapes and things like that if I keep them out in plain sight. Also a batch of yummy muffins goes quickly around here.
On the other hand, the chips are put up high and only taken out with permission. We haven't banned them; they're just in controlled portions.
We love popcorn, too! Great high fiber, easy to make snack and inexpensive, too.
Hi! I found your blog this week, and love it!
I keep nuts, dried fruit (apricots and cranberries, mostly), and turkey jerky handy in a snack basket for my kids to grab. Every once in a while I make a trail mix with chocolate chips, too. We also love smoothies for snacks, and quickly devour whatever fruit happens to be in our box that week.
We also like making popcorn on the stove when we watch movies. I found organic popping corn at the regular grocery store around the corner! Score!!
We've noticed that the kids love berries and grapes!! However, those wonderful little "candies" don't get eaten just because they are brought home. We found ourselves throwing much of it away--very discouraging to this mom who wants them to eat healthy.
When we take them out of their packages, wash, de-stem, de-vine them and place them in a dish on the table or counter; they literally disappear.
Since endeavoring to make sure this is done, we have not thrown grapes or berries away.
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