Wow, three posts in a row. I'm doing pretty well so far! :)
Today I was talking to a friend about her interest in Paleo. We were discussing how to not get discouraged and how to have a good start so you want to stick to it. I was surprise when she said "You make it look so easy!" To which I responded, "Actually, it is easy. Once you get into it and find an easy system." That, and doing your research makes all of the difference.
Because of this conversation, I thought it might be helpful to share with you all what my grocery list generally looks like, and the sorts of meals I semi-plan for the week.
Here is what my last two grocery lists generally looked like:
Meat-
4 kc strips
4 pork tenderloins
2 bacon wrapped pork filets (yes, you can have bacon!)
6 pre-marinated chicken breasts
1 pkg turkey bacon
2 cartons of eggs (we always try to get organic and free range, just depends on pricing that day.)
1 carton egg whites (we like to mix egg whites with one normal egg for breakfast. Help keeps the cholesterol down.)
1 pkg of frozen salmon (we usually buy this at Costco frozen in a bag, just because we don't eat it as often as the other meats, so it keeps longer this way.)
*Keep in mind that we do not buy all of this every time. More regularly we get steak, just because it is harder to buy larger packages of it like you can chicken, and doesn't handle the freezer as long as other meats that are packaged better. We already have a large package of Harvestland chicken (but we wanted to try some of the pre-marinated ones) and a package of salmon. Harvestland is awesome because the chicken is cage free, no steroids, no hormones, no antibiotics, no animal by-products, all veggie diet, AND, one of the coolest things is that you can buy it with each piece individually wrapped inside of the larger normal package. This is extremely helpful, so that you don't have to cook it all at once, or end up wasting a few pieces by trying to freeze them unpackaged. As for the pork, I am not a huge fan of tenderloins and filets personally, at least not as much as Cody, so he usually gets that just to treat himself. Oh, and another time, we treated ourselves to some pork ribs. I do love ribs! There was a great deal going on at our store, so we decided to go for it. Also, we prefer not to buy the bagged frozen chicken. For all of our meat, we try to either go straight to the meat counter, of if that is closed or we can't get everything we want for a reasonable price, we go to the packaged section of meat. Not the frozen isle, unless absolutely necessary (or its salmon, as I mentioned earlier.)
Veggies-
1 tub of triple washed salad (ready to eat, which is convenient. The one I got was a "spring mix" mixed with baby spinach.
1 large pkg organic baby carrots
2 large butternut squashes (the other time I got 2 spaghetti squashes)
1 stalk of celery
1 stalk of broccoli
*One trip, I also got frozen spinach for smoothies. From what I have read and from what they were saying on The Perfect Human Diet documentary, sometimes frozen veggies are better, because they are flash frozen. This means that the hold their nutrients over time, while fresh veggies do not. This is also helpful because frozen veggies tend to be a lot less expensive.
Fruit-
5 or 6 apples
1 pkg organic grapes
3 avocados
*I also sometimes either get some raspberries and blackberries for smoothies... sometimes frozen, sometimes fresh. And some oranges too, if I'm feeling frisky that day.
Misc-
Olive Oil (when we are out)
Olive Oil cooking spray (ditto)
seasonings and sea salt, when needed
roasted, unsalted cashews and sunflower seeds, usually from the self serve organic area
foil, which we use a lot for baking and grilling
vinegar (balsamic and red wine, for adding flavor to meats and for dressing recipes)
And that, my friends, is it. About 20 items max. I would say it is normally closer to 15, just because we don't go through it all in 2 weeks. We can go through the fast lane!!! :) We do shop weekly, just to restock on things here and there, but it is not a full shopping night for us. We want to make sure that we always have what we need on hand, that way we don't end up without something, get lazy, and run to a drive thru. Yes, the meat does get pricey, but our grocery bills have not gone up very much, and to us, our health outweighs the extra money.
So, now, our fridge and cabinets look like this:
As for meals. Basically, we cook a few steaks or chicken to last a few days of lunch and some dinners. But normally we cook our meat for dinner right at dinner time. I boil enough eggs for snacks through the week as well. Cody likes his veggies raw, but I like mine cooked. So one night, I might make some butternut squash, another night, throw a bunch of carrots and broccoli in with whatever meat I am cooking. I just make sure that I have something else besides salad, celery, and raw carrots to eat so I don't get tired of them. I also prewash a bowl of grapes and leave them in the fridge. That is handy for snacks or when a sweet craving kicks in. You can sometimes catch me standing at the open fridge, popping grapes in my mouth until my sweet craving subsides.
Here is an example of a normal day of food for me:
Breakfast- scrambled or over medium eggs. My honey makes them for me every morning :) He is a keeper!!!
Mid Morning- 1 apple, and sometimes some a few cashews. If I get really hungry early, I go ahead and get my 2 boiled eggs out of the fridge and have those as well. I don't bring the eggs everyday, but when I do, I always have them either mid morning or mid afternoon.
Lunch- Meat, so either chicken or steak usually, just because it is easier to pack and eat at work. Some veggies, usually either baked butternut squash (YUM) or a salad. And some grapes.
Mid Afternoon- I usually don't finish my grapes at lunch, so I bring them back with me to my desk to snack on the rest of the afternoon. If I still have cashews, I might have a few of those too. (And possibly the 2 boiled eggs, as I mentioned before.)
Dinner- Meat (again, usually steak or chicken.) Veggies, so come cooked carrots and broccoli, or my beloved butternut squash. And probably a few grapes again.
All Day- LOTS OF WATER!!!!
That about covers it. I eat a lot throughout the day to keep the hunger away (so I don't end up going for the cookies that a coworker brought,) and to keep my metabolism going. We like to keep it pretty simple on the day to day. I do switch it up every so often, and make a fruit and spinach smoothie or something to help fight hunger and cravings. I have been exploring a lot of recipes as well, so some Paleo bread might be added to my day at some point as well!
One more thing before I call it a night. I have found another very helpful website. Here is what the main page says:
Primal Docs is a network of over 500 physicians, healthcare practitioners, and independent businesses with a practical and evolutionary approach to health and nutrition. We are at the forefront of what is “Real Healthcare Reform”.
http://primaldocs.com/
You can find doctors that support paleo, and they also have a ton of articles about Paleo, from how it affects your health, dealing with people's reactions to you being Paleo, and many many more topics that I found very helpful. Then even have recipes and events!!! Very cool.
Well, I apologize for another long post. I have a lot of information to share, and I am excited to be able to share it all with you. I know the length of my post will start dying down once I get all of the basics out of the way. I hope you all are enjoying what I have had to offer so far and that it has been helpful in starting your journey in trying Paleo. I have not been doing it long, but I am (obviously) very passionate about it already, and I hope that I help other people to find that as well.
Have a good night everyone!
Good post! Your meals look a lot like mine did when I was doing Southbeach, except I had cheese... dairy is the devil...
ReplyDeleteYea, I am hooked on this way of eating. No dairy, no carbs, no extra sugar. Just the basics!!! I feel really good!!!
Delete