Reflection

For most people, December is the usual time for yearly reflection.  As teachers, Steve and I often have to remind ourselves that the "year" doesn't actually begin in September and end in June.  As such, we tend to reflect on our yearly progress right around May, when the wrap up for the current school year begins and/or we're so burnt out that we have dreams of summer and a new school year.  In the spirit of the "pantry raid" project, it seems like this is a good time to reflect on what (if anything!) we've accomplished:

Here's the data: Since 2/28, I have been grocery shopping 13 times.  I have spent a grand total of $969.19.  This averages out to $74.55 a week.  Not bad!  I have nothing to compare this to since we weren't really tracking our grocery spending before, and I guess I could figure it out, but I don't feel like it.

Both Steve and I have lost about 5 pounds each.  I attiribute this to the following: 1) the stomach flu.   We only had it once, but it nearly killed me.  But: I didn't gain any of the weight I lost back!  2) One of the reasons I think our grocery bill hasn't necessarily gone down THAT much is because we are buying more expensive foods.  Before we were eating a fair amount of processed foods and we've cut almost all of that out in favor of mostly organic, whole foods.  I clip coupons and the only problem with whole foods is that there really aren't coupons out there for broccoli or bananas.  All the coupons are for processed crap that we don't eat and as a result even though we're buying less, we're spending just about the same.  Before you think I'm being all judgy about the food, we still do buy some processed foods, just way less than before.  We LOVE: Wise potato chips, Jiffy corn bread, brownie mix, and I truly believe that a life without Kraft macaroni and cheese is not a life to be lived.  But we've cut way back, and I think our waistlines have benefited. 

If anyone is interested in reading how we did it, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of Michael Pollen's Food Rules. It's just that: simple food "rules" to live by, and it has nothing to do with losing weight or dieting.  It really is about living healthier and being aware of where your food comes from.  It's very balanced, non judgmental, non-crunchy granola. It's everything that I am with the exception of the balanced and judgmental part. Oh, and it's only about a hundred pages.

So there's my kinda crappy reflection.  The good thing that came out of this project was that we're eating healthier, being more aware of what we purchase and how much we might be wasting, and I think that we're going to try to keep up with it.  We have about 3 weeks or so until our farm share starts and then I'll transition the blog to how the hell we're going to keep up with that.  12 quarts of strawberries this week, anyone?

Here's the meal plan for this week:
Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!!! I'm not cooking a thing :)
Monday: Eggplant Stacks with Pasta (attempting - pathetically - to bring back Meatless Monday!)
Tuesday: Chicken Nuggets with Peas (pathetic, I know, but we had it all in the house)
Wednesday: Fusilli with Spinach & Asiago Cheese
Thursday: Tacos.  The real kind with the crunchy shells and the ground beef. Steve's request. 
Friday: Who knows?

In the spirit of Mother's Day (and what do mothers do better than brag about their kids!?!), here are my favorite two pictures of my little cherubs.  Here's me and Emma:

And here's one of Will getting ready to hit the links:

There were obviously some outfit "readjustments" that were made without my approval :)

Happy Mother's Day!