Gorilla Munch Cereal

The kid's favorite cereal.  Sometimes Henry's has them on sale for 2 for $4.  They eat them alone on the go or at home with "milk" (rice milk or almond milk)

http://www.naturespath.com/

Is eating healthy expensive?

I do think that eating healthy seems expensive.  Let me tell you that we support a family of FIVE with a very limited income.  If I can do this... you can too.  As with anything it's just a matter of how bad you want it.

I keep getting asked questions like this... This is an actual question that I recieved on my Facebook inbox.

Q:"Allie - you are truly an inspiration!! I don't even cook real homemade food more than once a week & I have only ONE kid!!!! Where do you buy most of groceries? I know you hit the farmers markets, but where have you found the "pantry" to be budget friendly? Each time I see "organic" or "gluten" free at the store - it all seems so much more expensive (even at Winco). Keep up the great work! I am so proud of you!!!!!"

A:"I have realized that the "pantry friendly" items can be trouble to the wallet.  I have to make my own "to go" foods.  I just make A LOT when I cook.  For example if I make chicken and veggies... I will stir fry and cook tripple of what I think we will eat and then store it.  The way that I think about it now is I had no problem going to Carl's Jr spending $20 bucks or going out to eat for Dinner at Red Robin and dropping $40 or even $5 at Starbucks (daily) or $10 at the field snackbar for hotdogs and candy for the kids (then of course we would all be hungry on the way home so we'd have fast food again-another $10 bucks +).  I was always, always, always having allergy issues, congestion and sinus infections so I would go to Rite Aid and buy things like nose spray, saline, meds, ect.  The kids were always sick as well so I would spend gas for the Dr and prescriptions and spend hours in waiting rooms.   Now we don't do any of that (as often) and I spend about $100 bucks (give or take) a week at the store to feed me, lincoln and more than half of the time Nolan and Taylor.  I made a deal with myself to stop letting food go bad.  (to me now it's a huge money waster and if even a cucumber goes bad I feel like I should have just tossed money in the trash).  It's all how you look at it I guess.  It never seemed like a waste of time for me to sit at a restauant or wait in line for 15 minutes for food but I can cook things on my own with the time I have gained from cutting all of those things out that used to be normal for us.  I just keep telling myself "No more excuses"  I fall off sometimes and I don't always eat the best things but I NEVER ever eat dairy or soy cause those are the biggest ones Dylan and Lincoln can't tolerate. :)  I'm happy that it's inspiring other people.  If I can do this anyone can.  I seriously used to be able to eat an entire package of oreos alone!  LOL  :)  And as for where I shop... I prefer Henry's but our Super Target has a lot of organic produce and options."

Some things that I didn't add where how important it is to get a lunch box/ice chest/mini cooler of some sort.  I also contantly use my thermos products that I thought were extremely expensive even on sale and Target (They were pretty much 2 for $20) but they have helped save me a lot of money in the long run!

SEA WORLD TRIP



Shamu on the left Nolan on the right

If you pack a lunch you will be less likely to eat unhealthy food.  Today we packed our lunch for Sea World.  Policy says "no ice chests or outside food".  We chanced it.  I would have made a trip back to the car to get our grub but they let us in no questions asked.  I am considering asking the pediatritian to give us some sort of official note saying that my kids do have food allergies.   
We packed: water, organic tortilla chips, homemade organic apple sauce, shredded chicken (free range organic made in crock pot while batch cooking for the week), rice chex, 2 sippy cups of almond milk, organic black beans and an organic banana. 

The kids did get an icecream (link's was a strawberry juice bar) and on the way home Nolan got McDonald's (NOT organic but ya gotta live a little).  Lucky kid got to splurge since he doesn't have food intollerances like his brothers. Since we packed a lunch we were able to stay on track and not make any excuses to eat the food at the park.  Saved us money too!  Moral of the story: PACK YOUR FOOD... Every time you leave the house have healthy snacks on hand.
Your kids may not want what you packed the first 10 times you ask them but I tell ya, once those little tummies start grumbling they will find the cooler on their own.