Meal plan 12-26 July

With my mental health taking a fast plummet to the ground with no sign of survivors I am stepping my lifestyle up a gear in hopes that if survivors are found they at least have a chance of recovery.

First things first - what we eat.
We don't eat bad, a lot of our meals are healthy and for the most part clean but we do get take away through the week, or I skip meals that I shouldn't. No more.
Clean, healthy and sugar free (baby steps with that one!)

So lets see the meal plan!

SATURDAY
Breakfast - Fruit & Spinach Smoothies
Lunch - Poached Eggs on Toast
Dinner - Roasted Vegetable Tacos with Cumin Cashew Crema

SUNDAY
Breakfast - Blueberry & Banana Quinoa Muffins
Lunch - Fruit Pizza
Dinner - Ginger & Peanut Chickpea Sliders with Sweet Lime Cashew Cream

MONDAY
Breakfast - Berry Parfait
Lunch - Slowcooker Black Beans & Chicken
Dinner - Mango Cashew Chicken

TUESDAY
Breakfast - Pink Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches
Dinner - Pumpkin Risotto

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast - Blueberry& Banana Quinoa Muffins
Lunch - Slowcooker Black Beans & Chicken
Dinner - Fish & Sweet Potato Cakes with steamed veggies

THURSDAY
Breakfast - Pink Breakfast Smoothie
Lunch - Poached Eggs on Toast
Dinner - Pork, Apple & Sage Meatballs with sweet potato mash

FRIDAY
Breakfast - Fruit & Spinach Smoothies
Lunch - Slowcooker Black Beans & Chicken
Dinner - Turkey Chilli with Wholegrain Cornbread

SNACKS
Fruit Kebabs
Fruit & Yoghurt
Nuts
Boiled Eggs
Frozen Banana Bites
Peanut Butter Dip with Fruit

Secondly - fitness
Endorphins do amazing things for us as does self esteem, being healthy and feeling great surely has to help in some way.

Morning Yoga
Bootcamp 3 x per week at Ballarat Health Studio - 45 minutes of intense workouts at 6am!
30 day challenges
On Thursday & Fridays I will also be walking/jogging around Wendouree Lake which is 6km and probably work in a weekend walk with the whole family too
Yoga to promote better sleep 

I also need to think of some ideas for when the boys are in daycare and the girls are in school of things to do for ME

Get some pork on your fork!

I have a serious craving for pork! A really serious craving, drooling at the thought of sticky pork ribs or salty pork crackling.
They aren't the healthiest of options though are they?
Since I'm spending $40 a week on bootcamp (when hubby isn't interstate) then I don't want to undo all my hard work by eating crap.

So off to pinterest I go to find some clean pork recipes and share them here and drool over them like I've just seen Channing Tatum in his birthday suit.



This I think will be dinner tomorrow night, mmmmmm looks so good, now I want pineapple too!

Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple

I would tweak this a little, instead of the sour cream I'd use Greek yoghurt as there are no organic options near me, certainly sounds good though!

Almond Crusted Pork Chops with a Creamy Mustard Sauce

It has been ssooooo long since I had meatballs and these sound delish, some go really dry when you cook them but I think the apple in these will keep them nice and moist

Pork Apple & Sage Meatballs

Egg rolls nom nom, I could never say no. These aren't crispy since they're baked not fried but that picture makes them look devine, I'm not sure about the ginger dipping sauce as I'm not a huge ginger fan but a plum or garlic sauce would work well I think.

Pork Mushroom Egg Rolls with Creamy Ginger Sauce

These are just a few of the many recipes that have had me drooling tonight.

A family of 6 living on $600 or less a month (foodwise)

 

When a lot of people find out how little we spend compared to others on food they automatically assume I a) don't feed my children, b) don't have a healthy or balanced diet or c) think I'm crazy

Now c maybe up for debate but I certainly do feed my children and we eat very healthily and a very balanced diet.

Here is the receipt from my latest shopping, this doesn't include fruit and vegetables either or toiletries because I forgot the toiletries and I shop at a separate fruit and vegetable store so add another $80 on there.

 

 

So lets call it $190 for arguments sake. This $190 now includes all groceries, meats, fruits and vegetables and toiletries :) This is to last us 2 weeks, to calculate that to a month you have $380.
So what do we eat for $380 a month?

Here is a fortnightly example, I double batch so you will only see a week. This way I just cook double and have a meal ready for next week. If it cannot be frozen I just simply make it again the next week, buying in bulk saves money!

Breakfasts consist of:
Slow cooked oats - I do mix it up a little with different variations like cherry and almond or banana and blueberry.
Eggs and vegemite soldiers
Smoothies
Yoghurt and fruit sprinkled with some oats although I Plan on making my own granola one day
Scrambled eggs with baby spinach, capsicum, garlic and tomato.
For quick and on the go I have these breakfast muffins handy.

Lunches are generally:
Scrambled eggs with baby spinach, capsicum, garlic and tomato
Salad wraps with poached chicken
Poached eggs on homemade bread
Frittata and salad
Yogurt and fruit
Vegetable sticks and fruit with a homemade dip

Our dinner menu is:

S- Homemade pizzas - the kids love participating
S - Turkey chilli con carne with brown rice
M - Pumpkin soup - great winter warmer
T - Rainbow Chicken - I also add kale to this
W - Pea & ham soup - another winter classic
T - Fajitas - I do add a mix of beef and chicken here
F - Sweet potato & pear soup - can you tell I love soups in winter?!

Snacks generally are nuts, fruit, raw vegetables and yogurt.
School lunches are a little different but I'll do a new blog post on those.


Rainbow Chicken Salad

I love food with colour, it makes me feel happy. Colourful food generally means healthy food so even better!

I stumbled upon a recipe earlier in the week for a salad that looked delicious. Healthy, partially raw and pretty.

So tonight I made it

Http://pinchofyum.com/rainbow-chicken-salad-almond-honey-mustard-dressing

I added pumpkin seeds to mine just because I had them here, it was a weird combination but onei couldn't get enough of, the blueberries and the chicken went surprisingly well together.

I have enough left over for lunch tomorrow too :)

This is the kind of thing I want to eat more of, it's great to eat a meal and feel satisfied yet not bloated (at the moment I am confusing that with hunger) 

I finished it off by eating the rest or the orange I used for the dressing. 

Thursday I will have lots to update on as I have a doctors appointment that I've been meaning yo make for over a year.

Broccoli & Leek Soup

BROCOLLI & LEEK SOUP

Here's my recipe. I was going to use one I found online but my terrors hid my phone so I had to make it up. I have to say it turned out quite nice.

2 leeks

1 decent head of broccoli

3 cups chicken stock

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 cup coconut milk (or cows milk/cream or both if no allergies)

Chop leeks and saute with garlic for a few minutes, add the broccoli and saute for a further 3 minutes.

Add your stock and cook until broccoli is soft but not mushy (we don't want mushy!)

Blend with a stick blender or food processor/blender.

Stir in milk.

Serve.

Some nice parmesan bread would be perfect with this. 

It's healthy, allergy safe (for most common allergies) and tastes delicious.

Clean eating meal plan Jan 25th - Feb 8th

I don't really have the energy to write this so please excuse how simple it is.
I've done our meal plan and will hopefully get some recipes and pictures up as we cook this week. Most things I'm making in bulk not only to feed us 6 but to freeze for next weeks meals to save time and money.

Saturday 25th
Breakfast - Peanut butter & apples
Lunch - Fish nuggets & sweet potato fries
Dinner - Kale, pumpkin & potato soup

Sunday 26th
Breakfast - Breakfast parfait
Lunch - Chicken salad sandwich
Dinner - Free meal since we won't be home

Monday 27th

Breakfast - Mango & banana smoothie
Lunch - Chicken salad with apples
Dinner - Sweet potato gnocchi
 

Tuesday 28th
Breakfast - Boiled egg with vegemite toast
Lunch - Banana boats
Dinner - Balsamic steak rolls

Wednesday 29th

Breakfast - Breakfast parfait
Lunch - Turkey, brie & apple sandwich
Dinner - Mushroom & spinach omelette 

Thursday 30th

Breakfast - Berry crumble
Lunch - Egg salad wrap
Dinner - Cashew chicken

Friday 31st

Breakfast - Boiled egg with vegemite toast
Lunch - Salad & hummus wrap
Dinner - Spinach & feta quinoa cakes with a lemon & dill yogurt sauce

The following week will be repeats of these in a different order.

 

New year, new me ....

It's almost lame the amount of people who make New Years resolutions and stick to them for a week.

Well my new year doesn't start January 1st like everybody else. My new year starts January 21st, my 27th birthday (yikes 27 already!) so what will is new year bring? Hard work is what, I expect no magic wands, I expect sweat, tears maybe even blood and most of all a clearer headspace.

Here are my goals and expectations of myself in this new year.

- I will not drink alcohol AT ALL this year (I've been self medicating with alcohol far too much lately)

- I will exercise at least 5 times a week

- I will go for a walk every morning with my dog and children

- I will do a meal plan every fortnight and I will stick to it!

- I will make my kids school snacks so I know they are healthy

- I will get a new mental health plan written up

- I will start seeing a counsellor again

These are just a few I have many more goals to organise my life (I am determined to because the happy, organised housewife and mother!) 

When my husband was working in Queensland I used to walk with the kids every morning, we would walk a 2.5 km circuit and try and beat our time everyday, we made it fun. It was tiring, some days it was too hot and you'd get half way and wonder why you did it, the twins are heavy to push in the stroller but the feeling when you get home sweaty and motivated for your day.

I look at myself now, so unmotivated, living in a mess, a screaming banshee (I'd be surprised if the neighbours aren't at all concerned for my kids some days!) I don't want to be like that, I don't want the kids running for cover if I get frustrated, it's not fair to them, it's not fair on anybody. It will end!

New year, new me .... That's a promise! I know it won't be easy, there will be times where I'll give in to temptation nobody is perfect but I will learn from those mistakes and I will become a better person.

2014/aged 27 - my year to shine.