We have recently switched to buying all-organic groceries. (We bought mostly natural/organic before, but also bought some was not.) We finally decided to go all in. We can't really afford to shop at Earth Fare on a $250.00 monthly budget, not considering how much we eat, although we would LOVE to, so we have had to learn to pull from our resources, which has caused us to have to sacrifice some foods that we really like but can't find with an "organic label."
DH and his friends hunt, so we get deer and turkey meat from that. We now own chickens (free range) and we get eggs from them. We want to invest in a cow for beef and milk, but for now we buy natural meats and organic milk from Ingles. All our produce from the local fruit stand. And everything else from WalMart. If you look hard enough you can find all natural condiments, canned foods, and even things like cheese and beef broth at WalMart.
I really enjoy cooking from scratch, and something about knowing our food is pure and healthy, that is even better.
Meal time and grocery shopping runs a lot smoother now, thanks to the meal planning app I downloaded. With one meatless meal and two crockpot dinners a week, it is a little hard to think up meals we haven't recently had, so this helps make things less stressful.
I usually begin preparing dinner during DD's quiet time. I use that time to get everything out, chopped up, mixed, etc And afterward I can go outside for some quiet/nature time and read my Bible (app-lol), pray, or think. Oh my, I Love pretty weather. It is good for my mental health. Getting off track here....After quiet time, DD helps cook, clean, and set the table. I Love family dinners! I honestly think that is essential in keeping our family close because DH is at work all day. It gives us time to focus on each other and talk. Off track again...
These are some of the meals I have recently made.
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients:
Stuffed Pepper Cups
Ingredients:
1 Pound Ground Beef
3 Large Green Peppers
Refried Beans
Rice
Cheese
Directions:
This is a simple recipe. First prepare your seasoning, brown your beef/mix in seasoning and water, boil your rice, and heat up the beans.
Then cut the top portion of the pepper off and pull the core and seeds out. Boil the pepper for 5 minutes.
Once you get the pepper out of the water, fill it with your ingredients. Rice first, then beans, beef, and top generously with cheese. Put in the oven at 250 degrees, long enough to melt the cheese. Then it is ready to serve.
No sides are required since they are all in the peppers, but we like to do corn anyway.
Chicken and Red Potatoes
Ingredients:
1 Pound of Chicken
5 medium Red Potatoes
McCormick's All Natural Chicken and Red Potatoes Seasoning
Apple Juice or White Wine
Directions:
Prepare by cutting up the chicken and slicing potatoes into chucks.
Put in a container with seasoning and apple juice and shake, or mix in a bowl.
Cook thoroughly on medium in a pan.
Serve.
We has fresh green beans and rice as sides.
*s
Organic just taste so much better!! We eat organically! Just tonight we let the babies make organic pizza!! We have publix down here and it is amazing and so pro organic. Lol! A lot people eat organically somewhat around here since we are all crops! We have really awesome farmers markets and a couple times a year local farmers(just about everybody) gathers around the court house and sells fresh goods! Everything homemade!!! We love fresh honey!! A lot of people also hunt around here. We don't have the heart to kill so we just buy organic meat but that's even rare. Though my husband is a meats and potatoes kind of guy we eat mostly veggies and fruit. My kids aren't that big on meat either. Anyhow I agree if you look hard enough you can find organic stuff....I found hotdogs the other day. It's a green world in our house!!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to live in an area like that! We are the kind of area that everybody raises chickens. lol But there are farmer's market like that around the court house in Ringgold every month during harvest season. And then we have some fruit stands. We have no Publix! I am so jealous! Is that where you do all your shopping? Poor Drew. So you have meatless meals for dinner? Jessie would kill me if I didn't buy meat for almost every meal. In fact, he hasn't realized I have started doing meatless meals once a week, because I try to cook things that aren't meant to have meat in them so he really doesn't notice. We are big on green too. Now that we have more room I'm able to recycle and I've just started learning to make my own cleaning products. I like it a lot better and it's fun to do. Jessie makes fun of me because I am a huge hippie, yet I drive a car. It's a gas saver though. :)
ReplyDeleteI have never made organic pizza, but I bet it is good!!!
He doesn't mind. It pretty much started out the same way....a meatless day that turned almost full time. The kids just eat meatless stuff better so that's what I made more of. He's into health right now(one of his guy phases) and knows that there is no needed benefit from eating meat so he just goes with it. But we are southern and can't go without our fried goodness! It's just unsouthern! Lol! Yea around here for every season there's some kind of crop so always something to pick! Spring and summer and the big seasons....lots of veggies and fruit and honeysuckles(type of flower)!! Also bees are making honey and spring animals are being born(more milk)!
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