Sunday, January 12, 2014

Menu and Meal Planning

 CHALLENGE - ENSURING THE FAMILY EATS A HEALTHY MEAL


Our evenings are busy almost every night of the week.  If we are not running Daniel to football/wrestling practice, we are running Savannah to gymnastics/soccer practice...all depending on the season.  In the midst of all this, Mike and I have to fit in our gym time, we have to make sure all homework is completed, and we have to feed everyone.

This makes meal planning essential!!   The crock pot needs to become your BEST FRIEND!!   

Every Sunday morning, we sit down and make a menu for the week, we will sometimes include a Chipotle night .  Rarely do we deviate from this menu. The written menu is only for supper, but we also plan breakfast and our lunches.  I use this plan to make my grocery list.  This also helps control the costs.  The kids buy their lunches, and that is a huge time saver in the mornings.  I found it to be a money saver as well...for $2.50 a school lunch, it is pretty balanced and it is hot (I was spending much more than that on lunches and they were cold).  Our school district has done a really good job ensuring the lunches are healthy. 

This week I tried something a little different.  Usually I do some meal prep on Sunday (lunch stuff and breakfast), but today I meal prepped almost our entire menu and put it in the freezer.  This will make my mornings go so much smoother.

I pulled three of my menu items from the following blog as well as the idea for freezer bags : http://www.graciouslysaved.com/2013/08/12-easy-paleo-ish-crock-pot-meals.html

Here is our week's menu:


And here are the prepped meals for five nights of supper:

Let me lead in to this with - I am not a coupon clipper and I often don't buy generic.  

I ran the numbers, only counting the ingredients I had to purchase today and prorating the cost of those ingredients that I will be able to use more than once, suppers for this week only cost a total of $50.75.  For a family of four, that comes to about $2.54 per person per meal.  These menu items are gluten free, so that adds a little bit of cost to some things like the soy sauce for Tuesday's meal and sausage for Wednesday's.  The most expensive menu item was the salmon and the most inexpensive was the chili.  But, it is a good well rounded menu that will not get too many groans from the kids and will provide leftovers for Sunday's supper.  

It took me just over an hour and a half to prep these five meals as well as cook some chicken for my lunch salads and make a breakfast casserole (eggs and gluten free sausage) for the week. 

Very often people tend to stop at fast food restaurants or lean on prepackaged meals for their convenience and ease.  But with a little time and planning, it is easy to make meals that are healthy and not overly time consuming.  

 


















Monday, January 6, 2014

Continuous Improvement

It is the beginning of a new year. 

Every year brings a slew of new years resolutions....the same ones set from year to year....lose weight, get healthy, save money, and so on....

But what is a resolution - from dictionary.search.yahoo.com - A course of action determined or decided on.

So we resolve to lose weight...get healthy...those are such broad statements...how about breaking those down into manageable goals.  We live in a world of instant gratification...we resolve to lose weight....we workout for a week...see no results...then quit....If that resolution was broken into a serious of manageable goals...at years end you could be one of the rare ones who actually achieved their New Year's Resolution. 

This year, I've decided not to set any resolutions...for two main reasons. 
One, I am absent minded and have terrible follow through.  I'll forget in a month that I set a resolution, I'll lose the paper or file I created with that resolution, I'll never look at it again. 
Two, I am happy with me.  What more can I say about that.  Of course there are always areas for improvement, but overall, I have to say that I like me.  I am a good mom & wife (I think), am a good employee, workout 6 days a week, eat pretty healthy a good portion of the time, have good friends, and am financially stable. 

I find that I succeed if things become routine....I know that sounds boring...but it is true.  I do the same thing day after day, eat the same breakfast/lunch day after day, make a menu for suppers but we tend to repeat a lot of the same meals week after week...routine...

Resolutions (or lack thereof) and routine were really not the reason for me writing today....but I got sidetracked. 

What I really wanted to write about is the physical improvement that I have seen since beginning CrossFit in December 2011. 

Let me give you my January 2012 physical self - 
Back Squat max was 135
Dead Lift max was 175
I could not do a strict pull up
I could not do a double under

My December 2013 self 
Back Squat - I have not completed a 1 Rep Max (RM) in a while, but in August my 5RM was 183
Dead Lift - again I have not tested this since July but then it was 255
Strict Pull ups - I can do a 35# 1RM weighted pull up
Double Unders - I can do 75 unbroken, that is my personal record.

It amazes me everyday the improvements I have made, not only in my lifts, as a result of CrossFit and the community that I am a part of...
  • My confidence has improved, not that has ever been lacking, but I am more confident in the decisions I make and rarely second guess myself.  I believe that my increased confidence has helped me move forward in my career.  
  • I do not care as much about the number on the scale.  This just isn't important to me anymore.  I weigh as much now, if not a little more, as I did two years ago.  I exercise every day, I eat right....I do what I can.  The thing that has changed is my muscle mass.  Two years ago, I ran, A LOT....half marathons, one marathon, 10Ks, obstacle course races....but I was not strong.  Today...I don't run near as much...but I am strong and have awesome muscles!! 
  • I am setting a great example for my children.  I am showing them that it is okay to be active, be strong, take time for yourself, and how to work towards a goal. 
  • My marriage is even stronger.  We workout together, compete together (or against one another), celebrate each others PRs, and encourage when we are just having an off moment.  We are on this journey together which makes it even better!
Tri-State Throwdown, Centerville CrossFit August 2013

Continuous improvement, you can always get better!