Excuses for Bad Food

Recently, when talking to one of my best friends about diet and food, she was expressing her reasoning as to why she doesn't eat healthy.  And I, like most, can agree with her.  Many people don't eat healthy because it seems to be such a "hassle"... well.. it's really not!  It just take a little bit of planning.  Now, I know I'm not an expert by any means, but slowly and surely the hubbs and I have learned to not only pick out healthier options, but also to force ourselves into taking my lunch and picking out healthier options at restaurants.  

Source: singlelifecook.com

Here are the excuses my friend had for not eating healthy, and as I said, I'm sure many people would agree:   

1 - Hate grocery shopping

2 - Spending money
3 - Never know what is needed

4 - Never enough time to thoroughly shop
5- End up buying quick/boxed foods that are horrible

6 - Anything fresh tends to go bad because it's not cooked in time

 As I said before, I've been working on eating healthier and trying to find better options for cooking and eating out.  Below are a few of the things that I've done to make that transition.

Source: Taste of Home

1-  We buy TONS of fresh fruits and veggies and each eat it along with our breakfast and lunch.  Some days fruit is over half of my food intake.

2-We try to buy in bulk to save money and freeze the additional food.  For example, we get a 5 lb package of Turkey from Sam's Club for like $10 and it lasts us approximately 4 weeks (we make a TON of Turkey Tacos!  Yummmm!! :)).  We also buy Coffee, Chicken and Fruits to freeze.  This will give us fresher coffee for longer, the ability to make homemade chicken, and fresh fruits without preservatives at a cheaper price for winter eating and making delicious smoothies.

3- We used to grocery shop on our paydays, which is every 2 weeks.  However, we learned that after the first week we were eating crap, rather than fresh stuff because we'd eaten it all the first week.  Now we shop weekly and just make a BIG trip every month for all the pantry items, since most of the stuff we get is fresh anyways.  This seems to work the best when we set aside a budget for groceries, too.  That way we wont end up buying crap, especially when it isn't in our budget.   

4- Just like my friend, I used to hate grocery shopping.  I think when I started to set time aside for it, and really think about what I was buying, I really started to enjoy it more.  When I would go just because my cabinets were bare and I had NOTHING to eat, I'd just go to grab a ton of expensive pre-made or boxed dinners.  (And...I'm not sure anyone truly LOVES grocery shopping, but it has to be done so your family can eat.)  We tend to shop on Sunday afternoons once we get the newspaper and check out the sales for the week.  Yes, it tends to be busier on Sundays, but it works for us.  Just pick a day that works for you and go weekly. 

5- Lastly, the hubbs and I tend to have a somewhat rotating schedule of meals.  Like I said earlier, we eat turkey tacos at least once a week, and I eat popcorn and an apple as a meal once in awhile as well.  So these are cheaper options and still healthy.  We do change it up once in awhile, but we have our set groceries that we buy each week/month since we consistently eat the same things.  Now, this may sound a bit boring, but we don't eat the same foods from week to week, we have probably 15+ meals that we change around with different sides and veggies.  Its simple and healthy...and we like it.  :)

6- Now if you wanted to take this one step further, you could create a calendar and a meal plan for each day.  That way you know what to purchase each week and nothing, especially fresh foods, will go to waste.  This will help you to always have food on hand, and to eat out less since you can prepare some ahead of time for lunches etc. 

7-Another thing I do is subscribe to food blogs and newsletters.  This constantly gives me new and fun ideas to try.  One of the favorite magazines/websites that I use is Taste of Home .  Their magazine comes out quarterly and gives ideas for holidays, in addition to everyday eating.  A recent blog I started following is called Dashing Dish.  She talks about all of the alternatives to creating healthy, low cal meals to some favorite dishes, desserts and drinks.  I'm totally in love with her site right now!  Yumm!!  No Bake Cookies are by far my FAVORITE thing ever thanks to Josh's Aunt Kim!  And Katie at Dashing Dish has a healthier recipe option listed.  Too bad I didn't find the recipe last night when we made No Bakes.  Bummer!  Guess we'll have to make them tonight! :)

What other things do you do to keep good food in your house, rather than bad food?  I'm always open to additional suggestions as well!