Preparing for our "10 Days of Real Food" Pledge

We're less than a week away from our "10 Days of Real Food" Pledge that I mentioned a few blog posts ago (here).  This is definitely taking some preparation!  There are 3 key areas where planning ahead is definitely needed for our family in this challenge.  The 3 areas that will be the biggest challenges for our family are breakfast, breads and eating local meats.  I am realizing this is where planning ahead is key.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/

Breakfast:
Breakfast is only an issue because Drew and I eat boxed/packaged granola every morning for breakfast.  We always eat organic granola, and it really doesn't have very many ingredients (remember the pledge requires all packaged items to have 5 ingredients or less).  But, one of the ingredients is sugar, which is off limits for this challenge.  So, I will be making our family some homemade granola using this recipe provided by the 100 days of real food blog.

Bread:
Our entire family eats sandwiches practically every day.  We use store-bought, packaged whole wheat bread for our sandwiches, but the number of ingredients far exceeds the 5 limit.  So, to solve this problem, I am going to make a trip to Great Harvest Bread Company and buy some fresh baked bread that has 5 ingredients or less. Their most popular bread (Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich bread) is made with the following five ingredients:  OUR OWN FRESHLY STONE-MILLED WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, HONEY, YEAST, SALT.

In Lisa's blog, she shares a great post (here) about what should be in your sandwich bread.  Here is a typical list of ingredients from a healthy whole wheat bread that one may typically buy in the store:
WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, REDUCED IRON, NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID], WATER, SUGAR, CRACKED WHEAT, RYE, WHEAT GLUTEN, YEAST, SUNFLOWER SEEDS, GROUND CORN, NUTS (ALMONDS AND/OR WALNUTS), MOLASSES, SOYBEAN OIL, SALT, CULTURED DEXTROSE AND MALTODEXTRIN, WHOLE WHEAT, WHOLE WHITE WHEAT, BROWN RICE, OATS, SOYBEANS, TRITICALE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, BARLEY, FLAXSEED, MILLET, CALCIUM SULFATE, DATEM, CITRIC ACID, GRAIN VINEGAR, SOY LECITHIN, HAZELNUTS, WHEY, NONFAT MILK.

That is WAY more ingredients than is needed!  In fact, these added ingredients and the processing of the ingredients actually make the product pretty harmful.  You can read more about this in Lisa's very interesting post.

Meat and Poultry:
Lastly, an area I have been relaxed with is in purchasing local, organic meats and poultry.  It has been difficult for me to justify the extra cost in buying the local, organic meats.  But, it is also one of the most important areas for us to focus on as a family.  When you do not purchase organic or local, you risk consuming meat from an animal that was pumped full of hormones.  I know my hormone sensitive cancer doesn't need to be fed any more!  So, this will be a fun part of the challenge for us.  I will really get a sense of how easy (or difficult) it is to purchase only local meats.  We plan on going to farmers markets on Saturday and Sunday and whatever we don't find there, we can supplement with the purchase of local meats at whole foods.  Lisa has some great posts on her blog about purchasing local meats.  Click here for one of them.

Of course, in order to be fully prepared, I have to create a menu for each of the 10 days, followed by a grocery list.  In case anyone wants to try this with us, I will share our meal plans for the 10-day period. Since we are beginning the pledge on Monday, June 3, I will go shopping for days 1-5 during the weekend of June 1-2.  So, I broke the menus and grocery lists up into 2 periods: days 1-5 and days 6-10.  I will shop for days 6-10 over the weekend of June 8-9.

Here is our menu for days 1-5 (you will see the recipes hyperlinked in each of the days)

Day 1, Monday (June 3):
Breakfast:  Granola and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches (using one of Lisa's sandwich ideas, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Paninis) and fruit (along with salad)
Dinner: Farmer's Market Stir-fry

Day 2, Tuesday
Breakfast:  Granola and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches (using one of Lisa's sandwich ideas, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Paninis) (or leftovers from previous evening's dinner) and fruit (along with salad)
Dinner: Slow Cooker Flank Steak Fajitas with homemade whole wheat tortillas and tomato, corn and black bean salad


Day 3, Wednesday
Breakfast:  Granola and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches (using one of Lisa's sandwich ideas, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Paninis) (or leftovers from previous evening's dinner) and fruit (along with salad)
Dinner: Homemade Chicken Nuggets with a side of sweet potatoes and apples

Day 4, Thursday
Breakfast:  Granola and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches (using one of Lisa's sandwich ideas, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Paninis) (or leftovers from previous evening's dinner) and fruit (along with salad)
Dinner: Whole Wheat Pizza
 

Day 5, Friday
Breakfast:  Granola and fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches (using one of Lisa's sandwich ideas, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, or Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Paninis) (or leftovers from previous evening's dinner) and fruit (along with salad)
Dinner: Whole Wheat Macaroni and Cheese with a side salad.



Of course, we will snack all day on lots of fruit and periodically on this popcorn.  I will also add a salad to practically every evening meal.

You can also click here for a plethora of meal-planning resources from the 100 days of Real Food Blog.

Here is my grocery list (for Days 1-5): (meats are grouped together in red, and produce in green)
1 lb local boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 whole chicken (local)
1.5 lbs flank steak
local meat for stir fry
cheese to grate (cheddar and mozzarella)
organic whole milk (for Abbey)
1 medium sweet potatoes
2 onions
2 serrano peppers
4 bell peppers
arugula
corn on the cob (several)
ginger
jalapeno pepper
lime
lots of apples
lots of other fruits for snacks
mango
mushrooms (1 lb)
pineapple
spinach
tomatoes (2 big or 5-7 roma)
2.5 cups of black beans (or you can use cans of black beans, without added salt)
all natural 100% apple juice
brown paper bags for popping popcorn
brown rice
organic butter
Fruit spread w/ no sugar (for PB&J)
Great Harvest Bread Company Bread loaf
organic soy sauce
Pizza toppings
popcorn kernels
raw cashew pieces
raw pumpkin seeds (1/2 cup)
raw sunflow seeds (1/2 cup)
rolled oats (at least 3.5 cups)
tomato sauce
unsweetened shredded coconut
whole wheat flour