Man has it been a long time since I have committed to posting on here. Mostly because I felt if the debt wasn't going very far then it wasn't important. We have sold most things there are to sell in the house, and are at a little standstill. However we will have big changes this year and big choices to make.
I will be brutally honest! Last night after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution , I realized that not only are kids not getting healthier foods, but that I was also feeding my kids terrible foods. I was appalled at the head cook for one of the schools he was at when she complained that it takes "too long" and would mean hiring more people to prepare foods from scratch, then to give them nasty processed foods. The head lady at the school even said that she wasn't sure on continuing this project, or mission, Jamie is one because it was double the cost. I was ticked thinking, "How dare someone put a price on my child's health. Most people pay for their child to have hot lunch, they should be fighting for their kids to have better quality. It is their money. And how dare she complain about the time and effort, and even the man power it will take to serve a child better foods." Then I felt so disgusted at myself thinking of the many time A WEEK, (I know embarrassing, humiliating, and shameful) I feed my children this same way. Because I am tired. Because I don't want to spend two hours in the kitchen. Because I don't want to clean up the mess after. Because I don't want the hassle. Man that is selfish. And wrong. I have been blessed with four wonderful children to serve. Part of that servant hood is giving them healthy foods to put into their God given bodies. This IS a very important task that I have been failing miserably at.
I then started doing some research and saw things like McDonald's fries never molding. I vowed to go buy a cheeseburger and small fries to document how long it takes to mold vs raw, hand prepped burger and fries. The only reason why is because I don't want to just believe what I saw but to see it for myself. I will keep you posted on this as well. Apparently the more raw a food the faster it will, should spoil.
You may be wondering what the heck this has to do with saving money, budgeting, or becoming debt free. Here's is the answer: In order to eat fast food, it costs money. I looked at our spending and I was even more embarrassed. I will save you the details of our stupidity but know that we BLOW so much on eating out, going through the drive thru, pizza, coffees, etc.... We even ate take out pizza right before watching the show. (Today I couldn't even eat the leftovers. I made my own healthy lunch). Not only fast food but things like buying frozen foods like chicken nuggets instead of being creative and making your own.
So, Within 30 minutes of watching the show I had two weeks of meals planned out and a shopping list written up. Ron and I agreed on this change. No more eating out unless it is fully planned and not without purpose. This is however, how it was when we were growing up.
So here we go. I will start again posting recipes and meals plans this next week. I will be checking out all of your blogs again too. I will keep you posted on our journey to being det free. I have been absent and could use the revamp!
I have a picky eater so I have included her in the meal plan. She gets to choose a healthy meal once a week. I am hoping this will save her from going to bed hungry.
Here's to saving money on gross foods to buying and preparing healthy foods. NO matter the cost. While not blowing it I can spend it on better things. Yay!!!!!
