There are hot dogs in my fridge. Please help me.

[bobandjess99]

I keep failing. I'm a complete failure in the area of healthy family eating.
I have tried SO MANY times to overhaul our families eating habits, in any number of different ways, for ..well..my entire life. A solid decade.
We know how we SHOULD be eating, for the most part, but we return to our bad habits. Over and over again. i love sugar, yummy processed sugar.

I tried hard last summer..we were eating decently for a while. And then it all went to crap again, and my house is full of hamburger helper, frozen dinners, sugar cereals, commercial soups, sweets, and pop.

I've tried pretty much every "method" out there for switching. The one that has produced the best success is the "clear out everything and replace" method, as opposed to the "make small changes over time" method. the reason being, if there IS bad stuff in the house, I WILL eat it/want it. I have ZERO willpower. So it all has to go.
We've been eating down, and in a week or 2, we'll be ready to start fresh AGAIN, and try to eat whole foods, traditional foods, etc.

Anyway...the ay we get tripped up is the "we're starving and there's nothing to eat" times..which happen often. So then we go out. then i start thinking about how we went our 5 times last week, and wouldn't it be nice to have some ready, convenience foods around, so we don't have to go out? So then I'm back to buying instant stuff, processed stuff, "microwave in 2 minutes!" stuff, cookies, crackers, chips, etc. And then we're back to eating crap again.

Another issue is money..the good stuff is pricey. We're broke.
Another issue is time. There's never enough, and meals are often on the fly. I'm exhausted, and sleep deprived, and unlikely to give up my sleep time to get up, for example, and pre-prepare food. not gonna happen.


I need to get back on track, and really just want some encouragement, some tips and tricks, some support, some commiseration.
Thanks guys.

[mbravebird]

First of all, what kind of hotdogs?? Some stores sell the grass-fed kind, amazingly enough! And lots of stores sell the non-nitrite kind now, which is the only real concern with hot dogs.

Maybe as a part of this latest re-set (which sounds like a normal part of change, by the way!), you can get your family to agree to one or two meals that they're willing to have over and over again until you get more in the swing of things. For us, that meal is Tinkyada rice pasta (made with whole grain rice, but tastes just like regular pasta), canned tomato sauce mixed in with sauteed grassfed beef & onions. It's whole grains without phytic acid, high-quality fat and protein, and takes a half hour to make.

We've been making that meal a lot since the baby came -- I got my husband to agree to the menu change, so that I could take the pressure off. And with the pressure off, I can slowly expand to more exciting and tasty things, which are also easy: beef tikka masala, chicken broth and resulting soup, chili, chicken and rice, beef stew. My requirement for a meal on my menu is that it takes no more than 45 minutes out of my day.

When I have an overwhelming week, we have spaghetti with beef sauce all week (leftovers in the lunchbox!), and then I push the reset button. In the past six months, we've learned to love spaghetti with beef sauce (because we love our baby, and I love my sleep!). Just find a good meal that everyone can agree to have over and over, and forget about trying to be perfect. You'll get to a better rhythm eventually.

Moneywise, I would recommend sticking with ground beef (which should cost about 5 a pound, grassfed). If you start making most meals at home, you should be saving enough money to afford the 5 a pound. If you like hamburger helper, find a way to make your own version of it, and start there. When you're ready to expand to expand to chicken broth and soups, consider getting chicken backs, which are cheap and give you some meat to pick off the bones and add back into the soup. Connect up with the money-saving threads on here, or KerryAnn's "thrifty menu" on cookingtf.com, or the food stamps tf budget on nourishedkitchen.com.

Love that reset button. Gotta have it!!

[FernG]

It sounds like maybe cooking simple meals from scratch with less expensive ingredients would be a big step for you.

Could you plan a week of low-prep dinners?
Monday - crock pot roast (chicken, beef, pork, whatever you want) - add veggies for the last few hours.
Tuesday - sandwiches with left-over meat and salad/fruit for lunch
- veggie soup with a little meat for dinner
Wednesday - grilled cheese and salad/fruit
Thursday - baked bean with bacon, rice, squash
Friday - another roast and veggies
Saturday - left-over roast sandwiches and salad
Sunday - left-over roast veggie soup

That is my basic meal plan, but the roasts change a lot depending on the seasoning - vinegar BBQ, cayenne BBQ, rosemary, sesame garlic, Indian, berry and jalapeno, tomato and basil, garlic and jalapeno, etc.

If you need to get rid of all the convince foods, then fill in the breakfasts with crock-pot oatmeal with various fruits and fill in the lunches with egg sandwiches or chicken salad sandwiches or tuna.

Good luck!

[Teenytoona]

bobandjess, I have the same problem! I"m also the only one interested in making these extensive changes, so I'm the accountable one if there's no follow through. I know my weak areas are meal planning and dish clean-up. If there are no clean dishes, then I won't want to cook and nor will DH, and then we go out. Also, if there's no meal planned, then the same will happen. So I'm jumping into monthly meal planning.

Also, snacks are abig failure here too. I need to pick a couple of days a month and just make big batches of snackables. TO start, I think I will do big batches of popcorn and maybe cookies. I figure homemade sugary junk is better than Keebler's or entemann's, right? Anyone have some fun to make and good to eat snack ideas?

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

Anyway...the ay we get tripped up is the "we're starving and there's nothing to eat" times..which happen often. So then we go out. then i start thinking about how we went our 5 times last week, and wouldn't it be nice to have some ready, convenience foods around, so we don't have to go out?

This is where I'd start. Because TF food preparation isn't always quick, I'd start by meal planning, grocery shopping for your meal plan, and making extra batches of meals and freeze them. This will give you "convenience" meals that you can pull out, defrost and serve. There isn't a meal that I do that I don't intentionally cook up extra of something so I can stick it in the freezer for future use.

For example, I cook up and freeze extra batches of garbanzo beans to use to make hummus, pinto beans for refried bean dip, extra cut up cooked chicken to add to anything, I have frozen rice, beans, homemade bagels, muffins and all sorts of stuff in my freezer. I freeze individual sized homemade whole wheat pizza dough that defrosts rather quickly.

In my refrigerator I always have fruits, veggies, yogurt, sour cream, hard boiled eggs, cheese, etc. that can be combined and mixed up with other things for instant snacks or meals. I have homemade granola that can be made into bars or eaten like trail mix with added dried fruits and coconut or like a cereal with yogurt. Popcorn is a favorite snack.

It really all starts with a plan and a commitment to stick to that plan week by week and only shopping for the meals and snacks you plan on stocking. There are times when we have little in the way of variety, but it's all good food and no one starves because there *is* food available. My motto is, if you aren't hungry enough to eat what we do have, then you aren't hungry enough for me to make an extra trip to the store.

ETA: We haven't been to a restaurant in over 6 months - I think the last time we went was because my folks came to town and took us all out. I just don't consider going out to eat or picking up take out as an option - it doesn't exist in my mind. Sometimes you just have to remove a possibility, you know? And eating out is expensive -- you can easily put that money towards good food.

[LauraLoo]

At the risk of seeming too preachy, because I know how hard it is, I have some other ideas for helping you get organized -

My meal planning takes about a hour each week and I use that time to write out all of my meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner. I print out recipes (if I don't already have them) and keep them in a folder. I go back to my meal planning sheet and outline what things need to be done ahead of time. So, if I'm doing a meat and rice dish for dinner, I know that the night before I need to pull out rice to soak and meat to defrost and I put that activity on my meal planner the day before. If I'm doing oatmeal for breakfast one day, I know that I need to soak the oatmeal the day before while I'm doing breakfast. I work in my prep while I'm doing my other cooking, if that makes sense. Having a detailed meal planning outline saves me from scrambling at the last minute.

I use my nights before I go to bed to check my plan for the next day to make sure everything is covered (and my meal planning & recipe folder helps to keep things centralized,) and in the morning during breakfast to catch up on other things - like kefir, yogurt and kombucha. There are days in the week that I know we'll be home for a good portion of the day and I use those days to make things that are more intensive and messy to keep clean up to a minimum. So I'm really working my family schedule and homeschooling schedule into all of our meal planning. It's a lot of initial planning, but once I'm in the swing of it, it's pretty easy.

[SuburbanHippie]

Oscar Mayer makes nitrate free hot dogs now. They're so good! I also recently tried Applewood Farms GFCF hot dogs and they're pretty good too.

You don't have to try to change what you like to eat. Just make it yourself instead of buying it. If you like burgers and fries, then make them from organic beef and potatoes. You catch my drift? My family will never enjoy kefir straight out of the glass, but they do love my pancakes so I started soaking my grains in it the night before in it. They love them!

If you're crunched for time, you need to utilize the crock pot. Plan out your meals carefully before you go grocery shopping and you'll be set! Here's a good slow cooker blog. Obviously, you may have to tweak some recipes to be eating TF. But anything is better than chips, fast food, and microwavable meals.

[lil_earthmomma]

You are doing a great thing for your family by wanting better for them. Implementing good eating choices takes practice!

My favorite on the go, no time, energy etc to prepare a meal option is those grocery store type rotisserie chickens. They have enough drippings to make a quick gravy (I just add stock and a bit of cream to the drippings in a pot and bring to a boil and serve) and throw together a salad. Great meal in under 15 min.

Other quick meals in our house:
Breakfast for supper
Stir fry with frozen veg, frozen shrimp
snack platters with veggies, fruit, cheese, meats, nuts and various homemade dips (the boys LOVE this)
Giant Salad (salad greens with meat, cheese, hard boiled egg, nuts, etc. pretty much salad with a protein. Lots of variations like chicken cesear, chef salad, salmon dill salad, crab salad.... I can go on and on...)

We are also on a very tight budget, so we do what we can. We buy meat on sale, we eat a lot of soup (we love soup so this isn't a hardship) and stews, casseroles etc. Anything to help us stretch our food budget. Soup is also great because you can make enough to last a week in the fridge and then just reheat for an instant meal. Great for lunches, on the go dinners and between meal snacks.


Feed the freezer. When you make a meal, make double and freeze, then you have a frozen reheatable dinner and you know what went into it.

Ban yourself from buying processed food. Make it a game with your family! If you turn it into a fun challenge, you might find that everyone works together to create new and interesting meals!

[tanyam926]

I have the same problems op and I am getting some great ideas from your thread.

I love how everyone is so helpful w/out being judgemental. What seems easy to some (w/practice, patience, and time to get into a routine) is so difficult for others (me) bc we are still in the changeover process.

Although I cook a lot we do have junk in the house and I also have no willpower.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[bobandjess99]

Thanks guys.
I went through my pantry and actually took stock of what i have, and I know I need to helthy staples on hand that I don't normally stock now.
I will sy that one change from last summer that DID stick is no more pre-packaged taco mix, which is full of MSG. I have been using just regular spices to seson our tacos with. I coinsider that a real accomplishment, lol.
We're part of a raw milk share, so i can get raw milk and butter and cream and stuff, as well as grassfed beef, pastured poultry and pork and eggs. I need to just find a way to take things from being ingredients, to being food.

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

I have been using just regular spices to seson our tacos with. I coinsider that a real accomplishment, lol.

That is a real accomplishment! Tacos with good seasonings and grass-fed beef is a great tf meal! There is even a brand of chips at the regular grocery store where the corn is lime-soaked.

So, can you be OK with making that meal until you find another one that feels easy?

How could you convert your Hamburger Helper meal? What seasonings do they use? Could you use tinkyada pasta with the HH instead of regular? I just found this homemade version of the HH seasoning mix:
http://www.cheapcooking.com/Recipes/hamburgerhelper.htm

What other convenience/pre-packaged meals are you eating now, or like to eat? What do you go out for when you go out?

[napless]

I need sourdough motivation, please!

I am a TF newbie. I attended a sourdough workshop a couple of months ago. I have been faithfully feeding my sourdough starter ever since, but have yet to do anything with it!!

All the recipes that I got at the course require that I get the sourdough ready (add more flour, work in some butter) the night before I want to bake. I am never that organized. I don't think about baking until the moment I want to bake - so I can't use the sourdough and end up using my same old recipes.

Please inspire me - tell me how much I'll love using this once I get started, or help me find some recipes that I can use on the spur of the moment! I really feel intimidated by it!

[chaoticzenmom]

My first thought when I read your first post was "get rid of that microwave!" That's done wonders for my kitchen. It forces me to think ahead and come up with healthier ways to heat stuff. I also shop the edges of the grocery store (when I'm ever in one, we get so much outside the grocery store now). It sounds like you're well on your way to your ideal. Really, our ideals grow with us, so you'll probably never really get there. We haven't yet. We're planning to raise and kill our own chickens and then, maybe we'll be closer to ideal....maybe.

This is for fun, for personal growth, for nutrition, an adventure. Don't let it stress you out, just let it be fun. Try putting the microwave away for a few weeks. We did and it never came back.
Lisa

[Kino]

Do you know how to cook? Because that was my greatest obstacle I think I like YUM food, but didn't know how to make it. I felt like I was forcing myself to eat my own cooking.

You've gotten great advice. The sitting down, planning *every* meal for the week - this especially included searching recipe books and the net, and then making the corresponding grocery list really got me going! It took quite a chunk of my time at first because of my autoimmunities/allergies and lack of experience, but I continue to improve with time.

Freezer foods is my next challenge. I live within walking distance of a Whole Foods so it is my scapegoat I'm moving soon!

[writteninkursive]

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

Also, snacks are abig failure here too. I need to pick a couple of days a month and just make big batches of snackables. TO start, I think I will do big batches of popcorn and maybe cookies. I figure homemade sugary junk is better than Keebler's or entemann's, right? Anyone have some fun to make and good to eat snack ideas?

If you buy produce - bags of apples, carrots, celery, cucumbers and have some ranch dip or sour cream or peanut butter, you can have happy, healthy snacking all week. My daughter taught me this, as she is a produce maniac. I learn by watching her that produce is the BEST snack food! And Daisy sour cream is amazing. It has one ingredient, as opposed to store brands which have like 457.

[LauraLoo]

For us it didn't necessarily help to make substitutes of beloved foods. I tried making homemade chicken nuggets to get them off of the frozen ones and they wouldn't eat them. I decided to wait and let their taste buds rest for a bit. A few months later, I tried making them again and they loved them. It was the same thing for frozen french fries, ranch dressing and canned chicken noodle soup. I'm mentioning this because I was hugely disappointed when the nuggets were a flop and I found myself considering just buying those to get us through some easy lunches. I'm glad I resisted since it was just a matter of time to get them through the withdrawals.