School lunch

I have a Kindergartener this year.

For some reason I feel the need to capitalize the "K" in Kindergarten.  I don't think it's grammatically necessary...just necessary for my psyche, I guess.

Anyway.  It's all-day Kindergarten so that means the cave-girl takes her lunch!  I've found that my kids are a lot more likely to eat what is in front of them when no other options exist.  At home they have a habit of declining lunch or dinner options because they know we can walk to the fridge and get something else -- although, I don't often indulge their need for additional options.  When we go somewhere, they might complain but, in the end, they eat what I packed because there aren't other options. Hunger usually wins!

Enter school lunches.  You get what you get and you don't get upset.  Over the summer, we made of list of things that the cave-girl thought she would like in her lunch.  She made a pretty good list!  My friend Erin {also Erin-my-hair-gal} blogs over at Pushups and Carrots.  She posted some good school lunch ideas over on her Facebook page. Like her while you're there.  It's the right thing to do.

Erin's photo from Pushups and Carrots FB page.  Hope she doesn't mind :-)

Packing real-food lunches can be a little more time consuming but I AM GAME.  BRING IT.
But HONESTLY.  It only takes me 10 minutes to pull her lunch together.  No. Big. Deal.
Here's what our first week looked like:

MON:  l/o* chicken thigh meat with bbq sauce, veg & hummus, banana muffin, cheese*
TUES:  l/o tortellini*, veg & hummus, cheese*, applesauce, banana & pb --> which she didn't eat because the banana got mushy in her lunch bag --> SAD.
WED:  l/o pulled pork, olives, pineapple, almond/raisin trail mix, 2 hard-boiled eggs
THURS:  l/o chicken thigh meat, squeezie-applesauce, grapes, carrots, almonds, 2 hard-boiled eggs and {special treat} chocolate chip cookies
FRI:  Bacon, 2 hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, grapes, carrots, and squeezie-applesauce

l/o chicken, pickle, mango, applesauce, mozz cheese, veg and hummus (in the carrot) and 2 hard-boiled eggs (not shown)

I have to include an afternoon snack, too.  The list above includes the snack but we are realizing she needs MORE FOOD.  You can see there was more food by Wednesday than Monday...Kindergarten is hard work! 

*l/o = leftovers
*finishing off the LAST bag before phasing it out of the kids' diet
*my kids eat some dairy which I sort of explained here


I am working on keeping a lunch-friendly-pantry stocked with real-food-goodness.  These things take time but here are some of my strategies:

1.  Prep ahead:  I made and froze banana muffins and chocolate chip cookies {I think they've updated this recipe because I don't normally put coconut flour in, although I am pro-coconut flour so I'll have to give this a try!}. I am also going to make some fruit bars or snacks...something like this or maybe this.

 2.  Use leftovers:  I was pleasantly surprised at cave-girl's willingness to eat cold meat leftovers.  For the win!

3.  It's ok to pack non-lunch-box foods: Sandwiches are SO LAST SEASON.  Olives and hardboiled eggs aren't traditional lunch box fare but I don't care.  She likes them and they are nutrient dense.  Boom.  Up next week --> SARDINES!

4.  Include a treat: On gym days she'll get a sweet-treat.  Other days I toss in a squeezie-applesauce or olives because they are among her FAVES.

5.  Prowl the inter-webs for ideas:  Here's one I cyber-stumbled upon today:
 http://thepaleomama.com/2013/08/40daysofglutenfreelunche/
Here's another from Nom Nom Paleo:  http://nomnompaleo.com/post/59118514268/forky-friday-paleo-lunchbox-round-up-2013 

How do you manage school lunches?
What are your kids' faves?
Any great ideas you want to share?

In TOTALLY unrelated news:
1.  My bangs are entering the shaggy phase.  I might need to visit Erin-my-hair-gal for a mid-grow-out-intervention. 
2.  Yesterday I had the WORST food day {in a long while} since going Paleo.  It involved diet soda, an ENTIRE candy bar, bad hot dogs, and mass-produced cookies.  Ugh.  What was I thinking???  BUT TODAY IS A NEW DAY!  Thankfully, a consistently clean diet makes EPIC slip-ups such as yesterday a little easier to recover from.
3.  I am ready for Fall.  I am sick of shorts.

Grocery Update

So, it's August 21 and I've done a little more grocery shopping...I promise not to bore you with my grocery shopping escapades every month.  

As exciting as it may be. 

I spent $112.77 at two different stores so I am still within my budget with ten days left in the month.  I have $8.96 left!  You can see my first grocery post here.

As the month progresses, there are a few things I am noticing about this month's spending.  

1.  I mentioned before that I would prefer to think of groceries as a YEARLY expense but that isn't how most people approach it.  This month is a great example of how the monthly approach doesn't work for me.  

2.  I did a lot of PANTRY STOCKING this month.  If I go over my $400 it will be because of the items that I got this month that I won't need to purchase for another 3-6 months.  
{coconut oil, coffee, 7 1/2 doz eggs for baking/freezing muffins, etc. for lunches, fish sticks = $50.26}

3.  Plus, I stocked some ON-SALE ITEMS that will be ideal for school lunches {applesauce pouches were on sale at Costco!}.  Normally I buy applesauce by the jar but the pouches were on sale AND my sweet cave-girl is about to start Kindergarten...I think she deserves some special organic squeezie applesauce :-) 

4.  I need to be more aware of tracking the THIS-IS-A-SPECIAL-TREAT items that I buy throughout the month.  This month it was fresh mozzarella and basil {because our garden tomatoes were screaming for fresh mozz and basil}.  And tortilla chips earlier this month for some much *needed* nachos.  Life goes on *sigh.*  Those purchases came to $12.97.

I don't anticipate doing any more shopping this month, so it looks like I'll probably meet my budget goal :-)  Yay me!

Lots of people ask me what DO we eat on a paleo lifestyle.  Well, you can check out the receipts in this post and my previous post to see what I bought at the grocery store.  Our dinners are pretty ho-hum {ahhhemmm...ask my cave-man..."How many more nights are we having chicken with vegetables" is something I might have heard before...} so there is very little gourmet dining in our cave!  Check out last night's feast:  turkey burgers, bacon, salad, tomatoes, and mushrooms.

PLANTS & PROTEIN! 

In other news -- my bangs are growing out nicely.  

Paleo & My Monthly Grocery Budget

So, this month I am going to track *really* track our grocery budget to spending ratio.  I have a figure in mind but I don't monitor it over the course of the month.  I just use my superior mental abilities to know whether or not I'm within my budget.  

Or not.  

THE BUDGET BREAKDOWN
We aim for $400/month.  I don't use a weekly figure because some weeks I shop more than others.  Some weeks I buy meat.  Some weeks I buy lunch meat.  Some weeks I buy shrimp.  Some weeks I buy coffee.  You see?  Not every week is the same so the weekly budget doesn't really make sense for me.  I'd actually prefer to think of the food budget in terms of the year because I think there are seasons of higher/lower spending...like if we purchased a share of a cow.  That would be a significant up-front cost or several payments but it would last a long time.

It's the 13th and so far I have spend $278.27.  That includes our monthly CSA cost and some rare -- monthly or less often than monthly -- purchases like coffee, {not-so-paleo} fish sticks, squeezy apple sauce pouches, almonds, coconut oil, and gluten-free bread.  Coffee and coconut oil are things I might purchase every 3 months.  The rest of those things are probably monthly purchases.  The gluten-free bread was a treat...I might never buy it again for all I know.  For the rest of the month I imagine my purchases will be more proteins, fruits, {a few} veggies {remember, I already paid for our CSA!}, and some dairy products.

Let me break some things down here.  
1.)  Overall, I do the best I can to get things organic.  Our CSA from Spiral Path Farms is organic.  We can't always afford to get grassfed/pastured meats.  The point is to make the best choices that you can with the resources you have available.
2.)  My family is different shades of paleo.

I don't eat grains, refined sugar, or dairy (except for a splash of half/half in my coffee and butter). Except for when I am celebrating my dad's 60th birthday.  In which case I eat ALL of those things.

Hubs doesn't eat any grains, refined sugar, and very little dairy (butter and he tolerates cheese well).  

The cave kiddos don't eat any grains or refined sugar.  They do eat hummus and dairy -- cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and MILK.  I make every effort to buy *better* dairy products.  I get organic dairy products and am slowly phasing in almond and coconut milk products with good ingredients.  Phasing out milk usually draws a collective *gasp* from people.  Simmer down.  There are plenty of food sources with adequate calcium besides milk.  
Another *gasp.*  Say it isn't so!  
It IS so.  Here's a quick and easy read on non-dairy calcium.  

AFFORDING PALEO
Lots of people who know we are on a budget wonder how we can AFFORD to eat paleo.  Regardless of what your lifestyle is, it will always be a challenge to feed your family on a budget.   CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Ok.  Here's the thing.  Close your eyes for a moment.  

Closed?  I didn't think so.  Well, I guess you can read the next few paragraphs so you know what to imagine behind your closed eyes.

Imagine the cereal/oatmeal/pop-tart aisle, the cracker/pretzel/chips/granola bar/snacks aisle.  Imagine the pasta aisle.  Imagine the bread/bagel/donut aisle.  Imagine the flour/sugar/brown sugar/artificial sweetener aisle.

Now imagine how many of those items are in your cart and how much they cost.  A LOT.  Right?  

I skip those aisles completely.  That saves me a lot of money that I can spend on nutrient-dense foods and ingredients for making better snacks and treats.  It takes a while to phase those purchases out...baby steps, right?  Only recently did I completely STOP buying a box of cereal each month.  I thought, "How could a household with 2 kids possibly LIVE without a box of cereal?"  Turns out, pretty well.  We've been paleo for almost 2 years and it took me that long to finally abandon cereal.

The other thing is SHOP IN YOUR PANTRY & FREEZER.  During tight months, I dig to the back of the cupboards and freezer for long forgotten packs of ground beef and frozen peas and olives and artichoke hearts to create no-cost-meals.  Well, I suppose technically I paid for them at some point but it was apparently so long ago that it feels free -- and it was free for that month's budget!

So, anyway.  I've got $121.73 left to go.  I'll let you know how it turns out!

*Thanks to Diane at Balanced Bites for the great resources.  She is my go-to source for understanding and implementing paleo. 

*I'm thinking that I'll write about our pantry staples and some of my cave-kiddos fave foods.  Anything you'd like to hear about?

Paleo It Foward: Take 1

So, yesterday I was listening to the Balanced Bites podcast and I was a tad bit inspired by Liz to start blogging.  I know that the podcast is supposed to inspire me to be a better paleo-er {and normally it does} but yesterday it prompted me to join the over-crowded inter-webs and put my voice out there. 

Thanks Liz and Diane.  If you're listening, I sort of have a big crush on you both.  Call me maybe. 

Anywaaaay.  There are a lot of noble reasons to start blogging.  They range from sharing knowledge to creating awareness to promoting a business.  

I will do none of these.

My noble reason is so that my husband doesn't have to hear me wax poetic about paleo all the day long.  Here's the thing.  I am one of those lucky gals whose hubs is in-it-to-win-it with paleo.  He is all for eating clean, he gets the benefits...blah, blah, blah.  BUT, for whatever reason, he doesn't want to talk about it incessantly, obsess about it, analyze it, and research it non-stop.  Like me.

It's weird how he is interested in other things.  Oh, well.  
Lucky for me he is on board with paleo.  
Lucky for you {and him} I'll be blogging about our paleo-life.  

I am calling it "Paleo It Forward" because, at the very least, I hope to share the good stuff that I learn.  I'll pass along good articles, websites, bloggers, recipes...anything I think might make your life a little better.

Just to be clear about a few things so you don't get made at me: 

~ I don't write recipes but I excel at testing them and reporting my opinions.

~ I am not a food photographer so the photos I take of our Tuesday meatloaf will probably disappoint you.

~ This is MY blog and the only person whose expectations I am concerned about meeting are my own.  

The rest of the scoop about me is as follows --> I (& the hubs) are in our mid-awesome-30s, we have 2 cave-kiddos (5yo & 2yo), we eat on a BUDGET, we do as much organic/grass-fed/real food as we can manage.  I meal-plan-prep, exercise, and don't blow-dry my hair.  I am currently growing out my bangs so I might talk about that sometimes, too.

I sort of plan to talk more about paleo-kids and the budget issue another time because I have a lot of things to say about that {and my husband is tired of hearing it, hence, this blog}.  

The first thing that I'll "Paleo It Forward" for you is a list of my fave bloggers {in no particular order other than the order that they come into my mind}:
Michelle Tam @ Nom Nom Paleo
Diane Sanfillipo  @ Balanced Bites 
Jennifer Maltby @ The Unrefined Kitchen {best paleo pizza crust}
OK, that's all I can think of off the top of my head without going to my FB page to see all the pages that I like.

Enjoy.
{Gosh, I hope this isn't horrible.}