Hello Dearest Friends,

I have been asked many questions through the years. It has been requested several times that I share my thoughts and post them.

I will do my best to begin listing them here on this page with some encouragements. I am in no way a professional…just an at home wife and Mom sharing tips and thoughts as we go through our journey.

I pray this blesses each of you!! And if you have any questions or suggestions, please email HealthyLiving4Him@gmail.com. I will do my best to get to all of them though I may be slow…I will pray and answer to the best of my ability!! 🙂

Have a wonderful day in the Lord,

k

Picture credit: Pictures.com

Question:

“How do I have healthy cost effective meals most every night for my family?”

Answer:

I totally understand. This is one of the most asked questions. My answer is a bit long but I am trying to quickly cover a list of solutions. So grab that nice cup of tea and let’s chat. 🙂 I pray one of these helps!! 😉

Find a fruit and vegetable co-op in your area. It is well worth the time. If you have a good local resource for organic fruits and vegetables then start one yourself!! If you would like more info on this, please email me and I will gladly share how to set this up. It is really easy once all is up and running!! (HealthyLiving4Him@gmail.com. When my children were young, I ran a fruit and veggie co-op. I LOVED all the fresh fruits and vegetables. With that I supplemented all the fresh and raw with healthy pre-planned meals.

I have also always tried to cook once and eat twice or at least leftovers for lunch. Though as my children grew older this became a difficult task. They saw leftovers as seconds. Even my sweet husband loves seconds and even thirds. 🙂  And it’s hard to argue with growing children and your man. So I am lowing down that type of double batch cooking.

I LOVE “Once a Month Cooking” and fruit/vegetable co-ops.  I have in the last few years stopped this type of cooking but recently was reminded of this. I always have a couple of casseroles in the freezer…but in the last two weeks in recuperating from surgery, I see we need to return to this again. We are desperately trying to be careful about our budget. We have some things that need to get cleared out and with two children in college and one going into high school we need to be very cost effective in all we do. I imagine allot of you can relate. 🙂 So once a month cooking is great!! highly recommend this. I ran to Wal-Mart this morning to stock up on all the disposable tins(they do not take up as much space as my pyrex casserole dishes) and plastic freezer bags. I have my Azure Co-0p coming Wednesday and I will also make a Sam’s run. I am doing the largest prep ever!! 3+ months and some breakfast/lunch meals. I sat last night and planned the next 3 months of Crock Pot meals 3 nights a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 1 casserole on Saturdays, dried beans in the Crock Pot meals, Tuesday Tacos/Spaghetti meals and Friday Pizza nights. I am praying for strength to get all put together this week. I will have help from the kiddos…at least we will have one day to clean out the deep freeze well, one day of chopping/prepping and one day of combining. I have all my recipes that will “freeze beautifully” and my grocery list made. I have also found several websites for once a month cooking recipes. One that seemed very user friendly is onceamonthcook.com. It is still building but it is a good place to start. Adjust all recipes to your families needs.

I LOVE couponing…though I am new to the higher level of couponing. But am loving using this tool more!! I have also always shopped Sam’s. The gas is the best price in the area…unless our local grocer runs their periodic special gift card discount. And because my son has limitations in his food choices, we have always eaten whole foods. We grow as much as possible in our gardens, orchards, etc. And then I look for every special under the sun. Organic non-gmo’d is the best. I have to be very careful with seasonings, sauces, etc. as well. So Sam’s non processed food (and our Sam’s has some organic as well!! 🙂 ) helps fill the gaps in a cost effective manner. And with such big appetites, this is a wonderful blessing!! 😉

Grow as much organic as you can. Go to some of my articles about patio gardens in the “Gardening” section. Easy peasy and inexpensive once up and running. Find friends who grow something in excess that you can trade with them too. I have a sweet friend who grows cilantro by the gross…literally!! She will bring me 2 gallon bags at a time. We find every possible way to use raw. Then when we have leftovers, I chop and freeze it or add it into recipes and then freeze for future dinners. Organic is best….please remember this…organic is best! 

Another resource I use is the Azure Standard C0-0p (AzureStandard.com) that delivers in a nearby town. I place an order online for some of their organic fruits and veggies. You have to plan as this is a once a month delivery. Be careful, sometimes the fruit and veggies are good and sometimes not so good. I learned to stick with root veggies, apples, oranges, etc. The hardier the fruit or veggie the better. I also buy all my organic shelf stable items. I LOVE their bulk coconut oil and I also buy my coconut milk by the flat!! It is a wonderful opportunity for those of us who do not live in a large city to have healthy alternatives at a good price.

So off the top of my head…:) I hope this helps!! If you have any questions, please email: HealthyLiving4Him@gmail.com or leave a comment. Also, if you have any tips…please send them to me!! I LOVE hearing from you all!!

Have a wonderful day in the Lord,

k

Hello Dear Friends,

Question:

I am asked many, many times…how do I have healthy meals ready to go ahead of time?

This was an answer I recently wrote to a sweet gal/s online. I decided I wanted to share this info and decided not to “reinvent the wheel”. I am just republishing what I already wrote. I hope this encourages you!! 🙂

Have a wonderful day in the Lord,

k