A Step in the Right Direction- A family Diet change! Part #2

After our decision to change our family's diet, my husband and I spent an entire day of homeschool devoted to teaching the kids about processed food and healthy eating. The 2 favorite meal items in this house are Mac-n-cheese (Kraft) and frozen chicken nuggets. So we had the kids "guess" what was in those 2 favorite things (you know, the obvious things like Macaroni, cheese, chicken, breading...) then we actually had them read the ingredients from the box and frozen bag. Most of the kids especially Alexia our 7 year old were pretty grossed out about the ingredients so we then decided to go to the grocery store and find all natural ingredients to make their favorite foods. (I know, not the healthiest meal but it got the point across that we can find healthier versions of our favorite things.) It worked like a charm. The kids said the chicken nuggets were the best they ever had and the mere joke about buying frozen again has been met with the look of disgust lol.


So our "NO PROCESSED FOODS" journey began. and BOY, am I in over my head. I had no idea the kind of TIME involved in this lifestyle of eating. EVERYDAY is consumed with food preparation thoughts, ideas, looking up recipes and cooking. We can't just have a bowl of cereal around here or a Pop Tart for breakfast. I have to either bake some bread or muffins at night for the kids in the morning or wake up early to make fruit smoothies.  Dinner sometimes takes 2 hours to prepare when you can't just make mashed potatoes from a box of flakes. I am now having to peel, cut, boil then mash them if we want mashed potatoes. But LUNCH!! What in the world do people make for lunch lol. I bought a bread machine and started buying the "all natural" lunch meat but most of the kids don't like sandwiches. I started making soup BUT lately it is like 92 degrees out so who in the world wants a hot bowl of soup. AND what about those evenings like dance days and Wednesday night church? I need something fast and frankly something that I don't have to think too much about. We have done the crock-pot thing but I am still having a hard time finding anything other than "Roast and vegetables" for the crockpot and who wants that more than once a week. So the search for quick and easy "non-processed" meals is ON!!!