Weekly Meal Plan

10/29/09 - 11/5/09

Dinners:
1. Dinner Beans
2. Chili, Cornbread, & salad
3. Curried Chicken with Apricots
4. Tomato Vegetable Soup with french bread

Lunches:
1. Pear & cheese tortilla, Sweet Potato Fries, fruit
2. Fried egg sandwich, frozen peas, applesauce
3. Additional snacks for Gracie's lunch: roasted pumpkin seeds, mint savory pancake with yogurt, fruit

Breakfast:
1. Soaked oatmeal
2. 5 Grain Porridge (soaked)

Extras/Deserts:
1. Applesauce cookies
2. Gingerbread
3. Yogurt
4. Halloween treats (Nooooooo!)

At $5 for 60 lollipops, this actually wasn't too bad a deal. And they're organic & made with real fruit juice, no HFCS. And very tasty!

Our neighborhood goes all out for Halloween, so we've invited friends of ours to go trick-or-treating with us. They're going to come over Saturday morning, and we're going to spend the day assembling our costumes and carving pumpkins. And hopefully, roasting (not burning, ahem) pumpkin seeds. If I don't forget. The whole tedious idea was Gracie's. And, since we've recently had a cold snap (40s at night!), I thought it would be nice to have chili before going out with the kids that night.

Notice only four dinners. This is more in line with our usual week. We tend to have leftovers on two of the remaining days and the other night is our weekly get together with friends.

Cost of groceries: $126
Beer & wine: $12
Trick-or-treat candy: $20
Total: $158

This is $38 dollars over budget. Obviously, the candy is not a normal purchase. Without that, it would have been much closer. This is somewhat amazing to me, given that my dairy and egg purchases were at Whole Foods.

I've been reading more about the benefits of raw milk, and so I thought I might give it a try for the family. Ross grew up on raw milk, but the kids only had it when they were nursing - from me (ha, ha, ha!). Actually, a lot of what I've been reading about raw milk dovetails with what I read about the benefits of nursing, which makes sense in a way. Namely, the importance of milk as a "living" substance, and all the benefits that entails. I got most of my information from Nourishing Traditions, and you can read about it here.

I've also been reading about the benefits of pasture raised beef & poultry, and how the result is higher omega-3 fatty acids. If you haven't read about the omega-6 vs. omega-3 debate, here's a very accessible document on that. Basically, the thinking is that one of the major factors in our obesity epidemic is the fact that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in our diet has gone from being rather low to extremely high, due to cooking with seed oils.

Since I couldn't possibly afford to buy all raw milk, I also purchased a half gallon of organic milk from grass-fed cows. Because it's from grass-fed cows, it will also be higher in omega-3s. Did you know that milk from conventionally raised cows is lower in omega-3s because their diet is grain and soy? The pasteurized milk will be used for making yogurt, where it's not important to start with "living" milk, since you essentially pasteurize it in the yogurt-making process.

So after mulling over all of this information, I decided to bite the bullet and get myself to Whole Foods. After gasping at the $40 bill, I recovered a bit when I realized that $10 of it was from candy, not exactly a recurring expense. Here's the break-down:

Half gallon Organic whole milk - pasteurized: $3.69
Half gallon Organic whole milk - raw: $9.99 (gasp!)
Organic heavy whipping cream (pastured-fed): $3.69
Organic butter (pasture-fed): $2.99
Organic free range eggs: $3.39 (times 3 for 3 dozen)
Total: about $30, or 1/4 of my budget

This does not seem an unreasonable percentage to me. What do you think? I also get quite a bit of my produce organic. So to be able to be close to $120 for the week is rather impressive to me. I know that I realize a huge savings by not getting very much processed food. And, as usual, not a single coupon was used. I don't find that they offer coupons for whole foods, and I don't tend to purchase the items that they offer coupons for.

What factors control your food-purchasing decisions?

Weekly Meal Plan

10/22/09 - 10/29/09

Dinners:
1. Lentil Soup
2. Sweet Potato & Peanut Butter Stew (from freezer) over rice
3. Curry Chicken (from freezer) with green onions, raisins, peanuts, apples, & pineapple
4. Butternut Squash Ravioli
5. Pesto Vegetable Lasagna
6. Dinner at favorite restaurant for Anniversary #9 (Woohoo!)

Lunches:
1. Butternut Ravioli, sliced egg, fruit, pumpkin muffin
2. Bean & spinach burrito, fruit, pumpkin muffin
Snacks for Gracie's lunch: Curry roasted chickpeas, veggie chips, fruit

Breakfasts: Soaked Oatmeal, Left-over oatmeal fried with egg & sausage, Five Grain Porridge (soaked)
Snacks: Banana bread, yogurt, granola

There are two meals this week in which my freezer will be my sou chef. I'd noticed that I've been good about stocking away food into the freezer. Not so much about eating from the freezer. Kind of like money going into the savings account, but never coming out for that trip to the Caribbean. And what could be more relaxing after a hard day's work, than taking out a meal that you had already prepared? Other than a tropical cruise, of course.

So I made concerted effort to use something from the freezer. Which also means I need to have more meals planned, since the amounts stored are less than what I usually cook. The curry is just the sauce, which I will then combine with the chicken that I've already cooked. It's from a book called "Nourishing Traditions," which deserves a blog entry all to itself, it's so revolutionary. It was like when I read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan.

The Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew is one of those dishes that people crinkle their nose at. "Peanut butter? Sweet potatoes? Really?" But my husband loves this meal. Really. It's one of his favorites. It's out of the "Joy of Cooking."

I will attempt, once again, to make Ravioli. Apparently, this is my Mt. Everest of cooking. Wish me luck! Also making an appearance for the first time: Five Grain Porridge (which my fingers want to spell "pooridge," somewhat double entendre-y) and Pesto Vegetable Lasagna. The Five Grain Porridge is another recipe from "Nourishing Traditions." We've loved the soaked oatmeal, but I have yet to try and foist "pooridge" on my family. One word: millet. Well, plus four other grains, but still. I fear that they will rise up one day against my anti-cereal dictum and go out and buy Frosted Flakes, like normal people. I'll let you know how that one flies.

The menu looks a little more daunting than usual, with regard to the number of items on it. I'll let you know how it goes!

Green shipping ROI: Return(s) on investment

When I received my Ball canning jars today, I heard an ominous tinkling sound. Immediately, I thought of the scene in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, when Jim Carrey dresses up as a delivery man to deliver a fake package so that he can kidnap an abused furry little dog. One of my (many) favorite scenes in the movie is when he first does a handstand on the package and then kicks it down the hallway, if he's going for a goal.

"Hmm, that can't be good be a good sound."

Sure enough, one of the jars had shattered. It's no wonder, given the crappy packaging the company did. They only put filler on the top. Since when do packages only get battered from the top?

Anyway my next thought, of course, was what to do about this. I grimaced at the idea of shipping the whole entire box back to the company, just for one jar. All that fuel! What a waste of energy! What if I just sent the one broken jar back? Well, that seemed ludicrous - and somewhat dangerous. Ross suggested taking a picture of the broken glass and emailing it to them. So I finally called them. Their solution? We'll just credit you the amount. Let's see 12 jars for roughly $12, plus a wee bit for shipping (suggested by my helpful cheap-ass self) comes to... $1.15!

Wow, what a waste of my time...

Update: Now Ralph's supermarket sells Ball jars and supplies! I'm so happy! I can now pick up a dozen here and there, rather than try to estimate all of my canning needs!

"Growing a Social Movement to Change the Food System"

Last night I went to a lecture on changing the food system at the San Diego Natural History Museum. All of us from my Green Group went - our first field trip! It was given by Erika Lesser, the Executive Director of Slow Food USA. It's part of a series called "Sustainable Planet: Food." I'd heard of Slow Food USA and was interested in learning more about the organization, so I was excited. I was especially interested to hear about the "Time for Lunch" program, which seeks to reform the school lunch program. They also have started several farm to school programs. Apparently, I was impressed enough to break my Buy Nothing (New) Challenge and buy a new membership. Sigh...

Afterward, one of the questions from the audience was from a French woman addressing the issue of spending quality time around the table. I thought this was a great question, and Ms. Lesser answered by saying that one of Slow Food USA's core values is taking time to cook, which seems pretty self-evident from it's name. Still, she talked about how cooking has to compete with work, driving, and family time. She indicated that the key to this is building and maintaining food traditions within the family.

What are some food traditions that you have in your house?

Buy Nothing (New) Challenge: Halloween

I admit it: I'm one of those moms who kind of likes making her kids costumes. Not that I'm a "seamstress" or even "a passable sewer." I really don't know what comes over me. Any normal person would 1) Ask the child what he/she wants to be for Halloween and 2) Buy it. End of story.

But not me. In years past, I have 1) Seen a clever "easy-to-make" or "no-sew" costume idea in a magazine, 2) Somehow convinced my child that that is what she wants to be (optional), 3) Driven to two or three stores to buy the items needed to make the costume, 4) Puzzled over the directions ("Easy, my ass!") and 5) Stayed up hours to make the costume. The result is something vaguely resembling the picture in the magazine and twice as expensive as what a costume at Target would have cost. But it's handmade. Right.

Halloween 2007: Drake was a pirate, Gracie was the Little Mermaid, and I, because I wanted to be obtuse, was pirated software. That's a hardware key around my neck and a picture of the software pinned to my jeans. I thought I was just so clever...

Both kids have adored this donkey costume. In fact, Drake calls all sweaters & jackets "donkeys" because of this costume.

So here we are: another Halloween. On top of everything, I had this brilliant idea not to buy anything new. Apparently, I just love making my life more difficult. I can't even buy the makings for a costume. But hallelujah! I'm saved! Drake's daycare is having a fundraiser where people donate old costumes and then you get a credit towards buying one. Or, in our case, since we didn't donate a costume, you can just buy one outright. Which is what we did.

One morning, I was dropping him off. He saw the costumes. I found his size. He picked one out. I paid for it. DONE. Even better, it was handmade! Some sort of super hero. I think it's Robin. It made my entire day. Now I just need to work on two costumes: a Nature Fairy (Gracie) and a Black Widow Spider (me).

How about you? Are you "Buy" or "Make" when it comes to costumes? What do your kids prefer?

Babies as consumers?

The other day I was reading this article complaining about Elmo being on the back of Pampers, while other Muppets are on the front. Apparently, this sufficiently confused the author, such that, in the dark of night, he didn't know at first, what was front and what was back. He argued that the back should be plain, for a "stylish, uncluttered diaper."

My response? "Pah!" Seriously? While I can sympathize with people that just don't want to do the work involved with cloth diapers, I really can't see anything stylish about disposables. Due to completely ineffective elastic, they don't even fit a baby's heiny right! Even though style is not one of my requirements for diapers, of all things, I have to admit to going all cutesy, wutesy with the printed ones. Flowers! Cars! A cow (which particularly struck a chord when he was still a nursling)!Now this is stylish - and commercial-free.

However, I did identify with the author's lament about the sheer advertising of it all. (These guys are bothered too.) Why do diapers need Elmo & his friends, Winnie the Pooh, or Mickey Mouse (the three signature characters of the Big Three diaper manufacturers)? The truth is, they don't. It's just another form of marketing. Evidently, not even the pre-potty set is immune to cross-platform advertising.

But now, for my confession. Little Man is now potty training, and guess what underpants I've strategically bought for him? (Or "panties" as I invariably call them half the time, leftover from potty training my daughter three years ago. Hopefully, my little boy does not grow up referring to his "panties.") Yep. Elmo! And a package of assorted Disney characters, whom he doesn't even know, because he hasn't seen 'Toy Story' or 'Cars.' And Thomas the Tank Engine! But we also have some with dinosaurs (his favorite) and generic cars and trucks.

And how's it going? Well, I'm (almost) sad to say: they're working. He really does not like to pee in his underpants. He had an accident a few weeks ago, and he hobbled over to me, legs spread wide, "I pee. On. Thomas!" He was so upset. But really, I think he would have had the same reaction regardless of what, or who, he'd peed on.

Do you buy character-based items? Do you see a difference between those and non-character items?