Hi everyone, its good to be back. My laptop is back in commission so here I am. Did you miss me?
Feeding our families is one of the most important things that we do as mothers or fathers. In past generations, days and lives revolved largely around growing and preparing food and chores to keep farms and homes running. Our lives are so much easier now that we can turn on a food processor, heat a stove by turning a knob, wash our laundry by putting the clothes into a washer or buying a gallon of milk instead of milking a cow. So much easier but are they better?
Don’t get me wrong, I do not wish to beat my clothing on rocks or a washboard (with 10 people in our family, yikes!) and I love my Kitchenaid but its something I think about alot. In many ways, I don’t think we are better off. My great grandmother lived to be 115…true story. She passed away in the year 2000. Was she lucky or was it the life she lived of fresh air, very little chemicals or pesticides and lots of real food.
This week the topic of couponing has been going around my homeschooling group. Did I ever tell you that I am an ex-coupon queen? For a few years I consistently fed my family for under $50 a week. It was a lot of fun to go out and get those deals for little or free but after my friend Amy got sick I really started to put eating real food at the top of my list. Now, I know that there are “organic” products out there that can be bought with coupons but I have a hard time trusting companies that make all kinds of processed foods to also produce an organic product because they believe in it so much…not. Now I keep my grocery budget between $100 to $150 a week for 10 people.
How do I do this?
I don’t buy cleaners (except bleach, if you live on a farm you need bleach sometimes)
I don’t buy junk food (bananas and apples and real snacks like popcorn are cheap and good for you).
We drink water, water kefir and tea (if you grow a few herbs you can make some really good teas)
We use cloth diapers, napkins, un-paper towels
We grow or buy produce at the Farmers market or wherever I can get good produce on sale. Gardening is a an important and fun activity which the kids can really help out with. Even if your kids do not like veggies, you have a much better chance of getting them to eat it if they grew it.
We buy less and reuse what we have. Our kids do not need to be given so many things, they are better off and appreciate what they are given.
Stick to the outer edge of the store, thats where the real food is. Fruits, dairy and meats are on the perimeter, whats in the middle…junk! I took a look at the weekly sales ad of Publix, the supermarket most people shop at here. Out of the over 200 items on sale there were only a handful that I would consider giving my family. What I do buy from the middle of the store is pasta, rice, grains, dried peas and beans, 7th Generation dishwashing liquid and detergent (love it), tomato paste, oils
Do not waste anything. Put all leftovers away for lunches or snacks or incorporate them in a new meal.
Make your food like your grandmother…from scratch. Its lots cheaper and not much harder and its real food. You know what is in it and there are less preservatives in it.
Buy in season. I love living all the seasons and there are fruits and veggies that go with them. My kids love strawberry season and they know that once they are not in season we will not eat them until they are in season again. Produce in season is always on sale and you get to try so many different types. We also preserve alot of it so that in the winter if we are eating strawberries it is in a jam type of food and it takes us back to the summer. Try your hand at preserving the seasons.
Eat simple meals
Eat less meat
Cut out junk foods and drinks (water is really great)
Make your own cleaners or buy a good liquid castile soap and dilute it to make a spray (have I ever told you that I love Dr Bronners, you can do everything with it). With a few ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, washing soda and borax you can make everything you need to clean and wash in your home, body care, as well as in the kitchen. Instead of paying $3 for cleaning spray you can make it for pennies once you have your supplies.
I have less issues with eating fruits and veggies, eggs and milk that are not organic than feeding my family all the processed foods that have little to no nutrition or are have an ingredients list that runs the length of the packaging. It would be wonderful to eat everything local, organic and as fresh as possible but if that is not possible then at putting foods your grandmother would have recognized as food is my rule.
How do you make organic more affordable. Share your tips. It will help us all.
