My Foodie Month: Week 3

Another splurge week, as it is the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL FOR THE SUMMER! WOOP! We put things like wild caught ocean trout and London Broil on the menu this week to celebrate the conclusion of a really difficult school year.
Some people celebrate with cocktails.
We celebrate with ALL DA FOODS.
That's how we roll.

Ramsey Farmer's Market

1 lb nitrate/sugar free bacon

3 dozen farm eggs

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$30

Oakland Giant Farmer's Market

1/4 lb Prosciutto
1 jar Roasted Red Peppers (I'll make these myself now that the summer is here!)
1 container of guacamole
Watermelon
White Potatoes
1.5 lb. London Broil Steak
5 pink lady apples
Pineapple
Cantaloupe
1 bunch kale
2 Persian cucumbers
2 packages of Portobello Mushrooms
2 pints strawberries
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch dill
Grape tomatoes
Lettuce
1 pint blueberries
2 lbs carrots
Chopped broccoli
Jar Kalamata olives
1.65 lb wild caught ocean trout

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$87.00

Amazon Fresh

2 Aluminum Foil
Kind Granola Bars
Tissues
2 4-count yoplait yogurt
Annie's Pizza Poppers
4 GoGo Squeez Organic Apple Sauce
4 Apple Snax Packs
1 gallon distilled white vinegar
Annie's Organic Canned pasta
4 bags Roasted Plantains
Sabra Guacamole
2 New Barn Oganic Almondmilk
Ghee
Vanilla Extract
Trail Mix
2 jars pickles
2 boxes linguini
Dave's Killer Bread

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$116.56

GRAND TOTAL WEEK 3

$233.56

Tally for the Month

$731.75

My Foodie Month: Week 2

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This week was my meat shopping week, so our bill was high. Look at all of the meat that I got from Amazon Fresh! I also splurged a bit on some ingredients that I will need to have stocked to be able to do my Whole 30 plan for the month. So, again, I have items in my shopping list that are stretchers (aka ingredients that can be stretched through several meals, ie, dates, raisins, tapioca flour, ghee, etc.).

Stop & Shop

2 Boxes Kind Breakfast bars

Organic pitted Dates

2 Packs of Yogurt Raisins

1 Pack of Organic Raisins

Organic Bananas

5 Green Apples

3 Doz Coke

1lb Skirt Steak

2 Boxes Sourdough Pretzels

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$59.03

Ramsey Farmer's Market

2 pints fresh strawberries

Oatmeal Cookies

1 Bunch Kale

3 Zucchinis

4 tomatoes

1 lb nitrate/sugar free bacon

3 dozen farm eggs

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$54

Oakland Giant Farmer's Market

Romaine Lettuce

Brussels Sprouts

Pineapple

2 Red Lettuce

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Sweet Potatoes

1/2 Watermelon

Butterhead Lettuce

Red Grapes

Cantaloupe

Persian Cucumbers

2 pints blueberries

Fresh Peeled Garlic

4 Avocados 

Red Potatoes

Yukon Gold Potatoes

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$52.11

Amazon Fresh

7 lbs of antibiotic-free chicken breasts

2.5 lbs antibiotic-free chicken thighs

2 lbs grass-fed beef

2 lb frozen shrimp

1 package of chicken sausage

1 container of ghee

Tapioca Flour

Cinnamon

Sponges

2 bags of plantains

almond milk

Sandwich bags

2 boxes frozen spinach

1 can salsa verde

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$118.80

GRAND TOTAL WEEK 2

$283.94

Tally for the Month

$498.19

Busy

Life is busy. Like, insanely busy. As a mom of twin (almost) 4 year olds, I am constantly on the go. From taking care of the kids, the house, and work, it feels like 24 hours is NOT ENOUGH TIME! How can we squeeze taking care of OURSELVES into this insanity??! But we all have the same 24 hours in a day. It's all about how you use them!

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I know personally taking care of myself was secondary for a long time. Long before I had children, taking care of myself took a backseat to my social life and my work life. After kids, I totally lost sight of myself and fell apart. I just didn't have TIME!

Last year I made the commitment to make time for me, and take care of myself, and I'm happy to say that I've been able to stick with it. I'm down almost 30 lbs today, and still going.  Taking some time for myself each day has made me a better wife, mom, and person overall!

How do I do it every day? Here are my top 5 tips for squeezing your own health and SANITY into each very busy and already very packed day.

Meal Planning

I take 45 minutes every Wednesday night while my hubby and I are watching a show to meal plan for the following week. I sit down with the next week's schedule, a blank meal planning template, Pinterest open, a list of my family's favorite meals, and my grocery list. Then I get to work.

First, I plan out all of my own breakfasts, then I look to the dinners. I try to alternate meat/meatless dishes each night, and I always throw in one or two family favorites, like homemade pizzas or turkey taco salads. I also plan for busy nights when I know we will be home late by planning a crock pot or instant pot meal. Then I go back and fill in my snacks and lunches.

After I get everything planned out, I shop online. I buy many of my organics from Amazon Fresh.  I set the delivery to come on Saturday morning before 6 a.m., that way I can unpack groceries as I drink my coffee in the morning. Whatever I don't get from them, I find at the farm on Saturday mornings.

Here is a link to my full meal planning arsenal. Feel free to use any/all of the resources on this page, and contact me if you have any questions!

Drink Water

Drinking water has so many health benefits that you are probably missing out on if you are not drinking enough of it! From clearer skin, to increased energy levels, to curbing cravings, water can really be your missing link.

Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces each day. I aim for 100 ounces a day (I miss the mark some days, but aiming for that always ensures that I get the minimum!). Get yourself a giant water jug if you're in the office. I like this one from Under Armor because it holds 64 ounces of water AND keeps it cold.

Quit the Gym

I am NOT a gym person. I hate the smells. I hate the sounds. I have no idea what I'm doing without a trainer (and ain't NOBODY got time or MONEY for DAT!). I hate feeling like I'm imposing on other people to watch my kids while I workout.  I hate being forced to look at naked ladies in the locker room (if you're a naked lady in the locker room, power to you, I just don't really appreciate coming around the corner of the lockers to be confronted by a full frontal of a stranger). I hate having to leave my house at 5 a.m. and go out into the freezing cold weather during the winter.  All of that is enough for me to NOT GO. And when I don't go, I'm losing money. And I hate losing money more than I hate any of those other things.

Beachbody on Demand is my GO TO these days. It has a ton of different programs from the top trainers in the industry, all at your fingertips. I sleep in my workout clothes, roll out of bed, stumble downstairs, and get to work before my kids get up. The greatest part is how flexible it is. I can workout before the kids get up during the week, and during naps or after bed on the weekends. And now that the warm weather is upon us, y'all KNOW I'll be taking the workout train outside! Woop!

Currently I'm working on 21 Day Fix Extreme. It's an advanced program, which I have gradually worked my way up to over the last year. It's a 30 minute a day, 21 day long program that incorporates light weights and cardio designed to get you slim and shredded. It works together with portion control containers, meal planning, a daily dose of dense nutrition that I KNOW I wouldn't get otherwise, and an accountability and support group that motivates me and kicks my butt to get it done. Without someone there telling me to get up and do it, I don't know that I would get to a gym, these days!

Multi-Task

I am the QUEEN of multi-tasking. Instead of just sitting and watching TV, pick up a set of weights and workout those guns. If you have to take your kids to a soccer or softball practice, get up and walk around the outside of the field or track. There are a ton of ways that you can get some physical activity in with almost anything you are doing throughout your day!

Get Your Friends Involved

Everything is better with friends. From a glass of wine to a boot camp workout, when your friends back you up and cheer you on, you can move mountains.

Let your friends know that you are on a health and wellness journey, and see if they want to join you! Instead of meeting for dinner, meet at a park and go for a walk. Take the kids with you and loop the playground while they get in some socialization and fresh air.

I don't know what I would do without my friends. The majority of them have joined me in my health and fitness goals, and I am so blessed to be able to chat with them and decide on healthy snacks with them when we get together. And the ones who haven't joined me (yet!) cheer me on every day. They are liking my Facebook statuses and commenting and sending me text messages encouraging me to push forward. I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing network around me!

No matter what, make sure that you are making healthy decisions with what you put into your mouth every time you open it. You can't outrun your fork, so no matter what you are doing in terms of activities, it's all for nothing if you can't control your cravings. Mind over matter. You have to DECIDE and BE AWARE of what you are doing!  This is a lifestyle change for you and everyone around you, so be kind to yourself and understand that you are not ALWAYS going to be able to be perfect. But you can at least take one small step in the right direction TODAY!

I hope that these tips help you get started living a healthier lifestyle, for both you AND your family. As always, if you still have questions or need a little bit of extra support, please reach out and let me know! I am happy to help!

How Meal Planning on a Weeknight Transformed my Weekend

Meal Planning.  If you want to have some assurance that you will successfully fight off the temptation monster and feed your family healthy meals all week long, meal planning is a necessary evil.

I have spent years trying to figure out the exact right formula for meal planning in a way that saves time, money, and energy. I've used a variety of menu planning documents. I've shopped at a plethora of stores. I've used physical coupons, couponing websites, coupon apps -- you name it, I've tried it to save myself some cash.

But here's the deal. No matter what you do, you are paying for it in some way. If you use 300 coupons and get everything for 12 cents, you lose out on healthy foods and are buying nothing but deodorants that are full of metals, Spaghetti-Os, and laundry detergent.  And if you shop organic, you are paying out the wazoo for foods that are grown responsibly and paying for the transportation of those good foods. And if you shop LOCALLY, you are spending money on the gas that it takes to go to a million different places to get different things.  It's exhausting, no matter what.

Not to mention that it eats into so much valuable time on your weekends! I used to DREAD Sundays, because I knew that I would be spending a good hour sitting at my kitchen table, sorting through recipes, trying to find deals, deciding which food stores to go to, and then another 2 hours spent away from my family in the grocery store.  I'm not saying that I didn't appreciate the quiet alone time in the grocery store, but there are definitely other things that I would rather be doing, especially during the winter when it's raining and snowing outside!

This week, it dawned on me. What the EFF am I doing??! There are so many options out there for shopping, and I'm not even taking advantage of them!!! So I thought about where I shop the most, and what I shop for the most.  Turns out, I was going to Stop and Shop for stuff that my hubby likes (such as Cheerios, deli meats, and potato breads), and I  was hitting up Trader Joe's for organic fruits and veggies, organic meats and cheeses, and snack foods for my daughters.

I can get all of these things from my subscription services. Namely, Amazon Fresh, Door-to-Door Organics, and Thrive Market.  And for a portion of the cost!

On Amazon Fresh, you get free delivery when your order reaches $40.  They have an assortment of organics, same day delivery options, and, my favorite, you can reserve a doorstep delivery time for before 7:00 a.m.  So when I woke up yesterday, all of my food was sitting on my doorstep already in reusable totes (which they collect if you leave them out during your next delivery).

With D2D Organics, you get fresh organic fruits and veggies, meats, cheeses, and so much more, for a low delivery cost of $5.  If your order hits $75, you then get free delivery. They also drop off your goods on your doorstep, in boxes that they collect every time they deliver. My favorite part about this service is that it's a weekly delivery, so they come each week with a new box of goodies, which you can customize and add recurring items to.  As long as you check in before 10:00 p.m. the night before your scheduled delivery, you can make changes and add as much as you need.

Thrive Market is a yearly subscription (around $60/year). From this service, I order goods such as shampoos and conditioners, face wash, sponges, and oils.  They also carry an assortment of snack foods and goodies for littles.  And for every person who signs up, a membership is donated to a low-income family. It's an amazing community-driven company.

Now, how did this change my weekend?  Well, Wednesday night, after my kids went to bed, I spent 1 hour standing at my kitchen counter. I planned everything out for next week, and then got onto Amazon Fresh and D2D.  Since my D2D is delivered on Thursdays, I split my shopping list into 2 parts - the first half of the week, and the second.  And then I got to work ordering everything I needed and updating my accounts. On Thursday, my fruits, veggies, and meats were delivered to my doorstep, and on Saturday morning I brought in my snacks and different requests from my hubby. And when I shop at the stores on the weekends, I always end up grabbing things I don't need, and my grocery budget quickly balloons to upwards of $250/week.  This week, I spent $175 on groceries.  And had food for the weekend (my husband always ends up eating dry cereal on Saturday and Sunday morning because we are out of everything by Friday when I shop on Sundays).

Yesterday, I spent the morning sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and a book.  This morning, I made a batch of cupcakes that I've been wanting to make for over a month, and now I'm sitting down writing this blog post.  We had tons of food in the house all weekend long to keep everyone satiated.  My plan for the morning is to run to Stop and Shop to grab my husband's deli meats for his lunches this week, and then to do some shopping for my updated bathroom.  These are things I would NOT have been able to do if it hadn't been for the fact that I spent some time that I would have otherwise spent watching TV on the couch Wednesday night planning my menu for the following week.

Do you have any tips or tricks to help free up some time on the weekends? I'd love to hear them!

Alright, I'm going to go feed the birds.  Happy Sunday!