I’m not going to add to the endless parade of horrific facts in your feed. I think it’s safe to say that at this point, we’ve all heard enough to hesitate before handing our kiddos another piece of candy or drive-thru burger. However, knowing there’s danger in most processed food doesn’t answer the questions moms face everyday. What food am I going to feed my family and how am I going to have time to make that food?
At first glance, switching to a mainly whole food diet seems daunting. It sounds overwhelming, time-consuming, and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Our family has been heavily whole food oriented for the past few years, originally to accommodate my son’s dye allergy. I feel like I have it down pretty pat now; here’s my system.
-I order groceries every Sunday. My order is pretty consistent, and I always check what I have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry before adding to cart. I bulk buy meat to freeze when it goes on sale. I try really, really hard to buy ingredients only. Literally items with one or two ingredients.
-My order always includes frozen veggies. Convenience is worth it with littles running around. I also include a lot of snacking veggies like mini peppers, english cucumbers, carrots, etc.
-We keep limited ready-to-eat snacks on hand. Apples, organic pretzels, and cheese sticks are always available. If we have a baked good type of snack, I bake it myself, usually for our Family Meeting treat on Tuesdays. Popcorn kernels popped on the stove are a regular part of Family Movie Nights.
-I have a running list of meals we enjoy that are quick and use whole ingredients. If there’s a side or part of a meal that takes a bit more prep, I try to get it done early in the day before witching hour.
-If it’s going to be a day where I know I’ll want to get take-out or a pizza, I’ll put food in the crockpot in the morning instead. Scrambled eggs might not be exciting, but they’ll fill my kids bellies with more nutrition and are quicker than running to town for a drive-thru anyways.
All of these together have made eating mainly whole foods attainable for our family. We still buy some processed foods (I’m Texan…I can’t give up bluebell ice cream), and we go out to eat occasionally, but we eat much cleaner than we did before.
Disclaimer/Reality Check: Any little switch helps. Maybe you serve your kid apple slices instead of gummies this week. Maybe next week you make two meals with whole foods instead of reaching for that frozen pizza. It all adds up, mama! This column will be about motherhood, parenting, and homemaking for the most part. I could write about my experience teaching kids to swim, or a diatribe against inappropriate children’s swimsuits. Most importantly, I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
