Today's shopping trip was, umm,
different. Not only was Kaedmon is a funk, but I attempted to break out of my "If-I-don't-have-a-coupon-and-it's-not-on-sale, I'm-not-buying-it" frame of mind. Why, you ask? The Kings need to be healthier Kings, that's why.
For the longest time, I have had the mentality that says: "God knows I can't afford healthy food. I'll just pray that he protects me from the horrible stuff that's in it." To an extent, that's how I remain. We are very limited as a family when it comes to our grocery budget. We have seven mouths to feed and we feel the pressure of that every single week. A typical week goes like this: "I must stick to the budget. I must stick to the budget. I must stick to the budget." So I do and what happens? We are out of food by Monday (I grocery shop on Thursday). Something had to give. Our grocery budget had to increase. But how? In four words: Bye bye, DISH Network. Sad, but true.
So now that I have a slightly larger grocery budget, I am attempting the slightly impossible: feed our family of seven on food that is minimally processed, chock full of whole grains, free of trans fats, hydrogenated (partially AND fully) oils, and high fructose corn syrup. I want to buy as organic as possible (but let's just be honest- that's hardly going to happen) and I want to avoid soy.
Soy? Yeah- I'm not really sure why. I just have a bad feeling about soy. I have read up on it a bit and I worry for the females in my family mostly. I do NOT want Clara to have the same hormonal issues that I do and I believe soy has been linked to all sorts of junk like that.
First stop? Whole Foods. I hear they have a brand called 365 that is reasonably priced and I want to investigate. I want to start by saying that I remember why I don't shop at Whole Foods: it's depressing. Of course I want to buy everything in the store, but I can't. It's extremely expensive and we'd have to have a few of our utilities disconnected for me to spend as much as I desired.
So I picked up a few things. And I feel good about it.
- Carrots
- Celery
- Creamy and chunky peanut butter
- Cereal
- Fruit bars
- Baby banana puffs (soy free!)
- Sweet potato chips
The total was almost $17. I am okay with that. I wish I could have bought more (especially the Dogfish Head 90 minute- but I abstained). The only purchase that pained me a bit were the puffs- at $3.00! They are better than what I was feeding her at $1.59 a piece, however, and nearly twice the size. My heart rate has returned to normal and I am doing well.
A thought that came to mind: I am planning on emailing some of the popular brands at Whole Foods (Earthbound, Happy Baby, Annie's, etc.) and tell them that I love their products and would appreciate coupons. I have heard this works almost 100% of the time!
And I have one happy baby enjoying her puffs:
I also hit Meijer this morning. I am finding the Meijer Naturals brand to be somewhat satisfying. They are GMO-free (is that right?) and contain no artificial dyes, flavors, or preservatives. I found some cookies and pita chips that I like.
It was a bit more of a realistic shopping trip and not as coupon-crazy. My average Meijer trip would be in the ballpark of spend $50, save $40. Trying to make better choices, I spent $85 and saved $40.
I also had a great trip at Target this week.
The floss and the Maalox were free. The cereals were .83 each. Not too bad! All-in-all, I spent $11 and saved $31!
Some last thoughts:
- I wonder: if you could recommend 5 of the most important changes that a person could make to become healthier (in regard to foods, drink, vitamins, supplements, etc.), what would they be? For example, I keep hearing about Agave nectar. What's with all the hype? Another example? I keep hearing we should make the switch to coconut oil. I would love to hear thoughts on this.
- Does it concern anyone else that this is shelf-stable and, yet, called yogurt? Should that be a sign that I shouldn't feed it to my daughter?
