I went last week to buy my new diet food. Lifestyle food for me. I spent about 4 hours in the store while Sean and a few of the kids patiently waited as I read labels and compared prices. I brought home my haul, claimed a crisper drawer in the fridge, a cupboard for my cans and a small freezer for chicken breasts, shrimp and such. Then I began.
I began my journey into trying to cook totally different. I made my self shrimp stir fry with brown rice while simultaneously making two 9x13 pans of lasagna. I made myself grilled chicken breast while side by side sat pepper jack cheese burgers for the crew. While whipping together two jelly roll pans of pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting I ate a snack of 1 cup vanilla 0 fat yogurt with 14 almonds. I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite, I didn't cheat and I feel fantastic. But there's a problem.
Hubby eats his dinner, then half of mine. The kids are all pouting they want mamas shrimp instead of the dinner I have made for them. The problem isn't in my cooking two separate meals at each meal time. The problem isn't that I am wanting or craving the ohhhh so yummy goodness of their comfort food fair. The problem is everybody wants the stuff I bought to lose weight.
We have a budget, like any other family. Our grocery budget may seem huge to some since we spend any where from $800 to $1,000 a month on groceries but there are NINE people eating. My budget isn't that flexible. To be honest it was a stretch for me to get the healthy foods I got, thank goodness for my ever compassionate hubby! How sad is it that I can spend that kind of money and basically am feeding the family the very things I got fat on? How sad is it that if I were to try and make meals for all of us going by my new menu for myself we would run out of food half way through the month? Pretty pathetic... Makes me feel like a crap stick mom. A way Ive never felt before when Ive made my kids meals and treats.
No one in my family has a weight problem... but am I setting them up for one? I grew up with very health conscious parents and well, I ended up obese. My hubby grew up in New Jersey where food is the whole point of the day, or at least his day :) and he has no problem. I didn't have a weight problem until I became pregnant, and pregnant, and pregnant ... you get the idea, and I used it as an excuse to sit on my tush and eat enough food to sustain a small country for a year. What to do?
I am feeling really bad about this today. I am not giving in or giving up. I am not going back to eating the way I used to, the 'yummy but unhealthy for me' way they do :( How can I give all of us a healthier meal plan without going broke? I sure would appreciate any ideas, any websites on healthy cooking on a budget, any ways to cut this cost and provide my family with all that they deserve.
Hi HoneyB
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty cool that you family wants to eat your healthy food. My next door neighbors are obese and so are their kids (my kids are not). I do not want my daughters to have to battle weight like me and my wife do. So part of me changing my eating is to also change the way my family eats. Do we get pizza every now and then?..Yes..but for the most part we eat pretty good. I would suggest, if available to you, Costco or Sam's Club. They sell veggies in bulk (like 7 pound bags of carrots and 3 pound bags of salads). We purchase most our meat at Costco unless there is a great deal at the local grocery store. If you don't have a membership already, they let you in to look around so you can see what they offer before you sign up.
The other thing we is that me and my wife sit down and go though the sale ad right before we shop and plan our meals for the week based off of what we already have in the house and what is on sale that week. We even stock up on baby food when that is on sale so we never have to pay regular price for anything unless it is an emergency.
Great job on sticking to it!
Al
I don't know if this will help you, HoneyB, but here's what I do. I eat the same thing my family eats at dinner time. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are on my own. I allot myself 500 calories for dinner so I can eat basically anything my family eats. We try to avoid ordering pizza, or cooking pasta because it's so calorie-dense. Many of our meals are stirfrys or grilled meats with veggies or salad on the side. If no one wants to cook, sometimes we just have sandwiches.
ReplyDeleteLike Al, I also go to Costco but I have to be very careful not to overspend. I only buy staple items I know we'll use, and I use their monthly coupon book.
Don't feel bad about feeding your kids what you can afford. As long as they stay active, they will burn off those calories and stay slim. Encourage them to get outside and play!
We eat really really good ... just not what I would call healthy. I had to change mine because of the way I cook, the way my hubby likes his Italian food I think i would get a thimble full if I tried to figure out what 500 cal is :))) :P
ReplyDeleteYou guys have great ideas about going to a bigger chain. I think we might have one about an hour and half away, we live in the upper north woods of Minnesota. I could freeze stuff and I think it might work out well.
I love love love to cook and until now I just thought about beautiful really satisfying food as what I wanted for them... comfort foods I would suppose.
They play outside all of the time thank goodness, we live in the middle of nothing, they are woods babies :) No one here has a weight issue except me ... it will get better when the garden is at harvest I think :)
When we talk about the amount it takes to feed nine, were talking a simple meal like french toast in our house is 2 loaves of bread and 18 eggs. Hamburgers on the grill is 5 lbs of meat. Spaghetti is 2 1/2 pounds of pasta, 2 lbs of meat, and a large pasta pot of sauce. Thats a whole lotta lettuce!