Real Food Friday: The Beginning!

Okay, so, this blog was supposed to be all about my police wife life, but it's my blog, so I make the rules. :)  I recently read the (teeny tiny) book "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan, and I've been following Lisa over at 100 Days of Real Food on and off for a few months.  I also just picked up another book by Michael Pollan, "In Defense of Food."  I'm intrigued by the idea of eating only real, unprocessed food, and I (mostly) have Hubby Blue on the same page with me.  So, this week, we ate (mostly) real food.  I'll probably post more on the topic in later posts, but if you're interested in the topic on your own, I highly recommend checking out 100 Days of Real Food or either of these books.  I find it fascinating that other cultures who eat what we would think of as an "unhealthy" diet (I'm talking Italians with all the pasta, French with all the butter, etc.) are actually healthier than we Americans are.  I was especially interested when I read that the family on 100 Days of Real Food of 4 took a "100 days of real food on a budget" pledge and survived for 100 days on less than what a family of 4 would get on food stamps.

So, as I said before, this is my blog and my record of what life is like being married to a cop!  We are definitely on a budget, but I decided that if this family could do it, we could certainly try it.  In an effort to hold myself to this change and to this budget, I'm going to be recording what we eat and what we spend here.  If it helps you along the way too, great!  We're not throwing away the processed food we have in the house, but as we use it up, we'll be buying the real food variety of things (i.e. butter instead of margarine, 100% maple syrup as opposed to sugar-free).  My goal is to buy and eat mostly produce, real dairy, real meat, and whole grains (and eat less of it) ...and if I'm going to buy something processed, to buy things with less than 5 or 6 ingredients.  Take Triscuits, for example: the only ingredients in Triscuits are whole grain soft white winter wheat, soybean oil, and salt.  Who knew?!  We're not into the organic thing at this point...and according to the reading I've done, non-organic produce is better than no produce at all!  So, here is what we ate this week:

Breakfasts:

Homemade granola with blueberries and milk x 2

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes x 2

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa (made with honey instead of sweetener and without chia seeds)

Lunches:

Chicken salad with chopped apples and walnuts (leftover chicken from Sunday dinner) sandwich, 2 pieces of fruit or veggies x 2

Leftover chicken noodle soup, Butternut Squash Salad, orange
Cinnamon raisin bread sandwich with cream cheese x 2, with 2 of the following: Butternut Squash Salad, bell peppers, plain yogurt with strawberries

*For Hubby Blue: Ham and cheese sandwich with 2 pieces of fruit x 4, leftover pizza with 2 pieces of fruit x 1

Dinners:
Sunday: The Best Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Monday: Hubby Blue's homemade pizza (not exactly "real food" but at least made with 1 cup of whole wheat flour instead of all white)
Tuesday: Chicken Noodle Soup (broth made from leftover chicken bones, leftover chicken, whole wheat noodles), (froze the leftovers) multigrain bread
Wednesday: Grilled vegetable sandwiches with monterey jack cheese
Thursday: Veggie, Ham and Cheddar Quiche with Whole Wheat Crust
Friday: Leftover quiche
Saturday plan: Not sure yet...we still have plenty of fruit and vegetables and homemade cinnamon raisin bread leftover

Snacks:
Plain yogurt with frozen berries and drizzle of honey
Triscuits and cheddar
Apple with peanut butter
Homemade cinnamon raisin bread
"Trail mix": almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins, chocolate chips
Oranges/apples/bananas

And this is what I spent:
Breadsmith 12/1 (this is a chain bakery that makes bread with whole ingredients and no preservatives):
2 loaves of bread: $9 (I know...this hurt...more on this later)

Aldi 12/2
Oranges, carrots, green peppers, zucchini, broccoli, apples, celery, tomatoes, bananas, eggs, milk, bag of salad, sliced almonds, raisins, 2 blocks of real cheese, pure maple syrup, fresh mozzarella.........$37.49

Grocery 12/2
Triscuits, whole wheat pasta, lunchmeat (not really "real food" but HB likes it for lunch), plain (regular) yogurt, 1 red onion, 2 ripe bananas (needed them for the pancakes), Terra chips (an impulse buy as they were a manager's special), 1 whole chicken..............$19.10

Aldi 12/6
Milk, honey, frozen strawberries.................$9.67

Total for the Week: $75.26

That brings us in right at our budget of $75 for the week!

I hope you enjoyed the inaugural edition of Real Food Friday. :)