The Fridge

“Mom...

Do you have another baby in your tummy?”

Dang it, kids. Mommy’s pudge is partly your fault. 

If I were to break it down...50% pregnancies and hormones and 50% lack of self discipline. 

🤦🏻‍♀️

In other news, a friend sent me a book: Instant Loss on a Budget (half off on Amazon incidentally, and I don’t get money for saying this because I don’t know how to do affiliate links yet 😬). I just started reading it, but one line stuck with me... it isn’t so much eating healthy that is expensive but *dieting* that is expensive. 

I’ll let you know any other insights as I start making my way through the book, but I can say off the bat it is why we chose not to do Keto again. 

I loved the benefits I got from Keto. I lost weight really fast. I was a firm believer. 

But the instant I couldn’t stick to Keto due to my travel schedule and staying with host families and being a good guest, I gained the weight (and then some) back FAST. Also, when my husband and I were ready to go about this next journey of eating healthy, we realized right now at least, we can’t afford Keto so that got ruled out pretty fast. We also weren’t thrilled with cutting out some of the good things that strict Keto doesn’t allow, like fruits and whole grains and things that stretch our food budget— like rice and potatoes! 

I had religiously done Real Food and Whole30 awhile back and loved the benefits. I am no dietician or nutritionist but they were similar to what I experienced with Keto: weight loss, more energy and focus, more mental clarity, less depression, etc. 

This time around, I just want something sustainable. Something that is not going to cause me to gain tons of weight back fast if I don’t follow it religiously, and something our whole family can do. Right now, my only “rule” this month is to avoid sugar and not eat out (for health + financial reasons even though we usually only eat pizza or Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A is for rich people.)

Kidding. 

One trick that helps us immensely is organizing our food in the refrigerator. I have three plastic Tupperware containers for each day of the week (ziplock bags could work too) and put as many of the ingredients I can in each bin for breakfast, lunch, and snack for the week. 

See the pic below. 

This helps so my husband just has to pull out a box when he’s home and I am working. It also helps manage the snacking. 

I did not get a chance to organize this after my last grocery trip and, guess what... 30 clementines, gone in 24 hours!!!! 

Now, I know I have a lot of kids and clementines aren’t very big, but that’s 6 clementines apiece! 

How am I going to survive the teen years?! 

Anyway, putting the snacks in a box for each day of the week helped SO MUCH to stretch the budget and limit the snacking. I call for a do-over this week! 

Just a quick example:

If fruit and yogurt were on the menu for breakfast, I washed the berries and put them in a Tupperware container. I mix the berries with things they love: raspberries and things they don’t love but will eat: blackberries. And the things that make their plate seem full: blueberries! 

If eggs were on the menu, I’d put the number of eggs to cook. Oatmeal? Put the packets in! 

If lunch was salad, I put the whole bag of salad in the Tupperware with some cooked chicken in a bag. If it was meat and cheese and veggies, that goes in. 

Snack might be a cheese stick, one for each person. Or an orange or other piece of fruit, one for each person. 

Got to get organized again this week! 

Thanks for the support, prayers, and solidarity! See ya Wednesday.