Nourishment should be simple
I think food is on my mind every second of the day. As a mother, my entire life is revolving around food. If I’m not preparing food, I am prepping food for later. I’m taking food out of the freezer for the days to come. I have a running list of food to get at the store when I run out of an item, or think of something I’d like to get. I write down a meal plan every week for my shopping trip, and I am constantly making snacks for my busy growing children. Food is always consuming my mind, because my family is consuming it all day long!
Washing our 17 lb blueberry haul this summer
There are so many reasons I think women or parents today are in a crisis and food is one of them.
- Food is at an all time high with inflation
- There are way too many options
- Organic vs Non Organic
- Dye, Sugar, Non GMO
- Pasture Raised, Free Range, Hormones, Antibiotics
- High Protein, High Fiber
- Homemade is best
- Budget
- Time
This list above is daunting. Just reading it over puts a heavy cloud above my head that makes me want to take a nap.
This is too hard.
I know I’m not alone in this.
Take into account all of these factors and then try to feed our most precious gifts, our children, multiple times a day.
I have to admit, I have become very wrapped up in this to the point of being a full on crazy person.
I miss the old days
There were days when I could put a few pieces of fresh fruit, a smooshed banana and some toasted oat cereal, all organic of course in front of my children on a cute plate and call it lunch. This I miss dearly. My oldest son did not have one non organic piece of food or drink pass his lips till he was probably five. My children didn’t even know what soda was till they were eight. And McDonalds and Chuckee Cheese and all the lovely standard kid places that most people go to were not on my radar at all.
I also always look back to my childhood or think back to my mom and her shopping trips and it was not as difficult. My mom didn’t stand in front of the meat section and try to figure out which ground beef package was organic, free of hormones, pasture raised, no antibiotics, no additives, 100% beef. No, she looked at the few options in front of her and probably picked the one on sale. Talk about mothers and mental health problems? The world has made us completely paralyzed.
Now my little kids are bigger kids and can eat more than me most days. An 18 oz container of organic berries goes quick with three kids and doesn’t make sense for my budget anymore. Grocery prices have grown and so have my children, so I have had to adjust accordingly.
How to navigate the crazy
I have come a long ways. And my budget has come a long ways as well. When my children were little I still worked, and we were a two income family. After my third baby was a year old I retired. Since then we have been a single income family and therefore our budget looks very different. Add inflation, and the fact that I live on the coast, well our budget has taken a hit.
Naturally when you are trying to save money and you already drink coffee at home and bring your lunch to work instead of going out to eat, (can you sense my sarcasm?) you look at the one thing that you can cut and it’s your grocery bill. But where do you cut?
This is where the internet is overwhelmingly obnoxious. Everyone, and I mean everyone knows the best tried and true method that the entire world should implement this very second to see the savings roll in.
Really?
Every family is so different, so very different that I skim over this with an eye roll most of the time. I can never sit here and tell you exactly what to cut from your budget or exactly what 20 items to only purchase every shopping trip so you can save money. You get the point.
How I feed my family of five
I can tell you what I do that helps my budget and keeps things simple for me. I also have a few recipes that save my life a few days a week that I will share. But take these as they are. I’m not trying to say that these recipes will change your world, but I do love hearing a new recipe or even a quick dinner idea that may even just spark an idea for my family.
As mothers we just want to simply and sanely feed and nourish the people we love most.
Eggs and toast
I make eggs and toast or biscuits on the regular. Eggs are a great cheap source of protein, you can make them in a variety of ways, and they feed bellies. Hard boiled, scrambled, fried, quiche, the list goes on. Toast, whether it’s homemade or store bought is filling and nutritious. Add a fruit on the side if you have it and dinner or breakfast or lunch is served. I make this meal when I don’t have a plan or I am so tired I just can’t muster much else. And… I don’t feel bad about it. It is just a meal we eat, not one we all love, but we eat and continue on till the next meal.
EASY DROP BISCUITS
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp sugar (I have made them without, they are still good)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk (any kind works)
- 1/2 cup melted butter or oil (any kind)
Drop by big spoon fulls on baking sheet with parchment paper and bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 10-12. These are really good and somehow make just eggs seem a little more exciting, at least my kids think so:)
Blueberry Muffins
These are my favorite muffins ever and I found the recipe here. I make them ALL the time. I seem to always have the ingredients on hand, blueberries are a super food, and I use dextrose as a sweetener if I have it and less sugar if I don’t. They always turn out, they are always enjoyed. Great for breakfast or a snack or whenever really.
Unconventional is ok
I remember hearing a mom say that she was making dinner and the kids and her had decided on popcorn, apples and cheese. I was liberated in so many ways. Another health conscience normal loving mother was bucking the system and having snacks for dinner, big kids and parents included.
I did snack dinners and lunches all the time when my kids were little, we all loved it. But hearing her say this I realized it doesn’t have to be traditional at any point in time. Maybe no one is super hungry and popcorn and fruit and cheese or cut up cucumbers may just be enough. There are many meals and snacks being made, they don’t all need to be a certain way. And this is a huge money saver as well.
Something Different
We do desserts mainly on weekends or randomly, but not every day. But sometimes if dinner isn’t anything grand, I will make a dessert. For example I will make grilled chicken with a side of corn. This fills everyone up pretty good, but if a homemade cookie or a apple crisp shortly follows, we are very full and satisfied. So I’m kinda sneaking in my dessert with dinner, sorta.
This helps me with time, budget and overall morale. Children are quick to forget that dinner was a vegetable and chicken they may not love, if dessert is right around the corner. And it helps me encourage them to eat a few more bites of their healthy dinner so they can have the yummy dessert.
Staying the course
Feeding our families 3+ meals a day is a job, but a job we get to do, and I feel so grateful. And with that gratitude comes a privilege of doing it the way I want and need to do it. There are no two families alike and we are very different individuals.
Again, like I have written before here, let us stand assured that how us mothers are deciding to feed our families is best for our family. It’s great to get ideas or a new recipe, but in the end, every kid, every budget, every families appliance situation even is going to be different. And that’s ok. It doesn’t have to be a crisis. Just own it and cook it!