Can you spot the bad?
Here's a sneak peak into my kitchen. I'm working on a written description as well since I left out a few things (my oil cupboard!) and want to give a little more detail on what I buy, where I buy, what I cook, how often I cook, how messy my kitchen is, etc.
All in all, between two humans and a dog, 99% of our meals are cooked at home, and the cost to cook at home (Humans - 6 main meals; Dog - 2 meals) is about $4.00/meal. This doesn't include the occasional dog treat (1-2/day) or human snacks (2-3/day inc post workout).
Additionally, here's a link to a Google document with the information below the video as well as written description of what's in my kitchen.
Enjoy!
Where I shop
- Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, Harris Teeter, Eastern Market, Safeway (sometimes). From April – October I participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture) and get most of my seasonal veggies (local – from within a 150 mile radius) from the stand. Also get some meat (ground buffalo) and veggies from a weekly farmer’s market in Penn Quarter from April – December. The buffalo are grass fed and free of hormones, antibiotics, or other growth stimulants.
How often I shop
- Once a week.
That often?!
- Yes. Fresh veggies don’t have a long shelf life and we eat a lot
What I buy
- Meats (cow, chicken, pig, fish), veggies, healthy fats, spices. I try to vary the meat so I’m not eating the same cut or making the same recipe every week. I try to have a couple recipes in mind so one recipe can act both dinner and lunch for the next day, or a roasted chicken can be picked over for a couple days as 1-2oz snacks.
Non-paleo foods in the house
- Jams/jellies – Family orchard in Michigan and I love to support them whenever in MI
- Chocolate treats – my better half finished a 30 day challenge and treated herself to some chocolate coconut things. Cruel. Also a bar of dark chocolate and some hot cocoa powder.
- Nuts – technically paleo friendly, but that bag of cashews didn’t last long after filming. If I’m hungry I can do some damage.
- Alcohol – liquor and wine. A mixed drink or glass of wine is nice from time to time, but it’s not a temptation during the challenge.
- Grains – rice, quinoa, cornmeal. Taking up shelf space.
Stew for the dog?
- Yes. He (barking in the background at 7:25) eats real food, too. It’s a mix of chicken thighs, mushrooms, squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, spices, etc. Basically whatever is on hand or whatever food might be on its last leg that we don’t want to eat. It changes week to week and he’s not picky. If we have time this goes in the crockpot overnight, but if we’re short on time it’s cooked on the stove stir-fry style. This is mixed with some grain-free dry food and he LOVES it. Also started giving him fish oil and he licks his bowl clean.
7 comments:
Hey, Jen, I promise I'll watch it when you get the written part up there. I saw a long shot of the fridge at the beginning and figured you were imparting some wisdom. :-)
Written part is up!
Thanks for the written description! My thoughts:
1. Wow. You sure have a lot on hand. I shop just so that my fridge is bare by the end of the week, but the freezer is usually packed with frozen vegetables and some meats that can be thawed and cooked if I run out of anything. I don''t keep a lot of extras around because I'd just find a way to snack mindlessly on strange combinations. Now that I'm using Zone limits, though, that problem's gone.
2. My spice collection has expanded considerably in the past few weeks and that's a plus, I think, since I'm now learning about what goes with what. Sort of, anyway.
3. There's a lot I'd like to throw out at my place - the three boxes of Lucky Charms, all the bread and pasta, a ton of sugar-filled products. That'd never fly with my SO, though. To be fair, he's much easier to shop for than I am. His breakfast is toast. His lunches are peanut-butter sandwiches, which he supplements with Pringles jalapeno flavored chips. His food costs are way lower than mine (yes, I know the health costs are something else, but that doesn't stop the grocery bill envy).
4. Jen, you mentioned frozen white fish that you aren't sure how to use. I struck out twice with tilapia because it's so bland and flavorless yet slimy in texture. I finally found a recipe that's decent for tilapia and might work with other white fish as well -
http://downanddirtypaleorecipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/lime-garlic-tilapia-asparagus-and.html
Lime Garlic Tilapia
Ingredients:
Tilapia Fillets
Minced Garlic (We use lots of GARLIC)
Lime Juice
Pepper to Taste
Olive or Coconut Oil
1 Teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 Tablespoon melted Ghee (butter with milk solid removed)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat Baking dish with choice of oil.Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle ghee on top. Top with garlic, parsley, and pepper.Bake about 30 minutes, oruntil the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork.
Saute onions in ghee or olive oil. Add sliced Butternut Squash, reduce heat and cover. Cook until tender.
Place Asparagus in steamer. Start to cook about 10 after placing tilapia in oven. Cook until tender.
I walked into the house at about 5:25PM and my wife, Jenn, was just starting to prepare this. We were eating dinner about 35 mins later. I think writing this post up is taking me longer, ha. All in all it was great. Hope you like it.
It's hard to snack mindlessly on frozen steak and broccoli, but those aren't bad things to snack on. Lately dried mangos are my weakness, but being on Zone as well keeps me in check.
Spices are still a work in progress. I like to use amounts listed in recipes as a gauge, then add/subtract depending on how it smells/tastes. I wish I could throw random spices together and have a wonderful creation, but I don't have that Spidy 'spice sense'.
Buying for two people with separate nutritional needs/styles (paleo vs non-paleo) can be tough (and more expensive) since you have the added tempations of sugary goods in the house.
Thanks for the fish recipe. I like to use something that has worked well for others. I tried a stew recipe with butternut squash and pork that I will not share with others as we are throwing out what's left because it was awful.
I went through my cupboards over the weekend and got rid of more 'bad': tub of splenda, bisquick, egg replacer (for when I was vegan - was going to give it to a classmate but it was easier to toss), vegetable oil, corn starch, powdered sugar, and brown rice (haven't used in probably a year). The bad I still have is Soyaki sauce, almond milk, sugar, white and whole wheat flour, canola oil (bottle and spray), and wine. The wine isn't tempting but I would like to eventually drink it to get rid of it. I have the sugar and flour just because but, again, not tempting. We're having a bake sale at work and I'll use it to make something to sell. Everything else I haven't used or haven't been tempted to at all during the challenge. I did buy coconut butter last week which is fine because it's just coconut, it's bad because it is so darn good! Trying not to make it my quick 'sweet' fix like I did with almond butter.
oooh... is that Soyaki as in that glass jar of stir-fry sauce from Trader Joe's? I think that's my single biggest regret about going paleo - that stuff made it so easy for me to whip up delicious stir-fries with the minimal effort I prefer. I miss it. Wish there were a good paleo replacement (yeah, I'm sure I could find a recipe using various oils/spices but y'know, that was EASIER and tasted great)
Yes, that is the Soyaki I'm talking about. Before the challenge I would grill a chicken breast on the George Foreman grill and make a sauce for it using some soyaki and a little almond butter. Microwave that for a few seconds - delicious!
I've been making a paleo pad thai using zucchini that is delicious and plan on making it for the pot luck next week. The sauce for that 'might' be a good replacement for stir-fries. The recipe is:
http://www.health-bent.com/proteins/pad-thai
I am thinking of trying this one after the challenge since it calls for honey:
http://scrawnywod.blogspot.com/2010/12/paleo-general-tsos-chicken.html
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