What Our Family Eats

What Our Family Eats: The {almost} complete guide to what the Birmingham family eats everyday with links to recipes. 

(This post may contain affiliate links. See my Full Disclosure for further details.)

I have been asked three times in the last week “What does your family eat?” and “What do you feed your kids?” So, I decided that instead of individual emails, I would share my answer on the blog.

This post will focus on what we eat as a family. In the future, I will write more posts focusing on the “why” behind our food choices, as well as posts on environmental concerns (e.g., BPA, stainless steel, cast iron, silicone, aluminum foil, plasticware, microwaves, drinking water), cosmetic concerns, and baby-related concerns.

It costs us $33/day to eat in the manner I am about to describe. So that is $11/person (excluding the baby). I do NOT clip coupons, and—yes—I will share as much information about how I do this as the blog grows!

A few caveats to start with:

• I am aware of a lot of in-depth, rigorous, and painstakingly time consuming ways to nourish the human body. If I or one of my family members had say, cancer or an autoimmune disease, I would certainly adhere to rigorous standards. But we don’t and so my motto is: good things in moderation.
• There have been times (such as when our daughter had full body eczema at 9 months old and I did a restrictive elimination diet; her eczema was gone in 3 weeks) that have called for more drastic measures and it has always been well worth the effort and sacrifice.
• There is no “diet” that works for one person that is perfect for another. Around here we try todo a lot of listening to our bodies and adjust accordingly.
• Where we are now is the product of 2+ years of conscientious effort to change our eating habits. So, if the way we eat or how I cook seems overwhelming—don’t worry. I was where you are a couple years ago and I can assure you that small changes over long periods of time work really well (especially for busy parents!). We are a work in progress and constantly learning.
• Back in the day we were in to the high protein, low fat, gym-going crowd. We happily carted our oatmeal, protein powder, protein bars, and energy drinks with us everywhere we went in the name of “health.”  Today, my education and experience has left me somewhat skeptical of anything deemed “healthy”; I do my research accordingly.

Here is the framework of what we eat:

1. 99% organic
2. Non-GMO
3. High saturated fat (e.g., tallow, lard, coconut oil, palm shortening, butter)
4. Moderate monounsaturated fat (olive oil, avocado oil)
5. Lower carbohydrate
6. No refined sugars and we try hard to keep overall sugar intake low
7. Very little to no grains
8. Soaked & Sprouted grains (if we have them), seeds, and legumes
9. Grass-fed pastured meats
10. Pastured local eggs from insect eating chickens (free of corn and soy)
11. Fermented foods 3-6 times daily
12. We “eat the rainbow” daily (assorted colors of fruits and veggies)
13. Raw, unpasteurized, non-homogenized, milk from 100% grass-fed predominately A2 Jersey cows
14. Wild caught fish 2-3 times per week
15. Shellfish 1-2 times per month
16. Organ meats. Just kidding. I still can’t seem to get it down without gagging. So instead we take these.

And here are some of the top things we avoid:

1. Conventionally grown vegetables/produce
2. Conventionally grown, feed-lot, antibiotic ridden meat
3. Farmed fish and fish known to be high in mercury
4. Hydrogenated oils (e.g., Crisco, margarine)
5. Fake olive oils (yikes!)
6. Polyunsaturated fats (e.g., canola oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil)
7. Natural flavors (this is a hard one!)
8. Monosodium glutamate
9. Artificial sweeteners (including sucrolose)
10. Gluten (although I am not against glyphosate free wheat berries and the like)
11. Hard alcohol
12. Packaged food that has preservatives or any ingredients that we don’t recognize
13. Carrageenan & other thickeners (e.g., guar gum)
14. Refined sugars
15. Conventional dairy

I have been asked many times if we follow a “keto diet” (very low carb, usually defined as less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day). The answer is no, however, we try to limit carbohydrates and those we do consume are generally from fruit and vegetable sources with occasional grains, legumes, & seeds.

We started making the switch to organic and non-GMO in the spring of 2015, after learning about glyphosate (more about that later). We are now completely organic except for avocados which, so far, when tested have a <1% pesticide reside. We started our organic journey by avoiding the dirty dozen.

Our eating policy for the kids is pretty strict in order to respect my time in the kitchen, nourish their growing bodies, and preserve the budget. They only get snacks after they have eaten their meals which are the primary source of nourishment.

A typical day of eating for me & the kids

Breakfast:

Me:

• 2 over easy eggs cooked in avocado oil, coconut oil, or lard
• 3 small Grain Free Pancakes
• 2 organic sausage links (chicken or pork)
• I smother my eggs in sauerkraut or kimchi (something I learned todo recently; I didn’t grow up eating ferments on my eggs)

And for the kids:

• Avah will eat 1 1/2 grain-free, no sugar added pancakes topped with a small amount of organic pure maple syrup and/or applesauce plus either a sausage link or over easy egg. For a ferment she will (painfully) eat her sauerkraut or (joyfully) eat fermented pickles.
• Adalynn (10 months) eats sauerkraut plain, right off her tray, forgoes pancakes all together, and happily eats de-skinned sausage to her heart’s content. She is an excellent breast feeder and quite the little carnivore.

My husband, William:

• He makes a smoothy of sorts in our VitaMix. Last I checked he was throwing a banana, avocado, raw cacao, chia, flax, hemp, coconut milk, cinnamon, vegan organic protein powder, stevia, and sodium ascorbate into it.

Lunch & Dinner: 

• I make weekly menus (and at some point I will share them with you!) which means I am never scrambling last minute to figure out what to eat. However, I am ALWAYS scrambling to get dinner done and on the table (Mom life—it looks easy from the outside!).
• My menu each week includes: 1-2 nights of chicken (usually a whole chicken or wings/drums because eating meat off the bone has added health benefits), 3-4 nights of grass-fed beef (we buy a whole cow each year), and 1-2 nights of wild caught fish/shellfish.
• Bone broth soup is a staple in our household during the winter months; so easy to make a big pot and eat it for lunch several days. It’s harder for me to eat soup in the summer but we try to once a week.
• We are huge leftover fans and I ensure that on weeknights there are always leftovers for lunch the next day.
• We eat mixed salad with sprouted seeds and olive oil for our veggie at lunch each day because it’s easy and transports to work well for my husband.
• For dinner I make vegetables an important part of the meal. I aim to get as many different colors per meal as possible. Popular vegetables for our family include: root veggies (parsnips, rainbow carrots, rainbow beets, yams, sweet potatoes, onions, green onions, garlic, & turnips), squashes (spaghetti, pumpkin, acorn, zucchini, summer, & butternut), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, radishes, cauliflower, kale), & edible podded legumes (green beans), nightshades (peppers & occasionally tomatoes/potatoes). I always cook our cruciferous vegetables— including kale (more on this later).
• When we have run out of fresh veggies my go to for dinner is Costco’s organic frozen vegetable melody and organic green beans tossed in avocado oil and/or buttered, and salted.
• Occasionally I make brown soaked/sprouted rice, home made gluten-free tortillas (recipe soon), or home made gluten free bread to go with the meal but we eat mostly grain free. 

Snacks the kids eat: 

• Soaked and Home Roasted Nuts (recipe soon)
• Soaked Nut, Seed, & Coconut Trail Mix (recipe soon) 
• Pistachoios
• Fresh organic fruit (usually berries)
• Chocolate coconut candies
• Super fudge
• Kefir smoothies (recipe soon)
• Grass-fed, non-homogenized, organic yogurt with berries
• Frozen blueberries (great for teething, cut in half)
• Egg/Banana “Pancakes” (recipe soon)
• Strawberry Lime Popsicles 
• Blueberry Coconut Popsicles
• 100% grass-fed, organic beef hotdogs
• Guacamole or just plain avocado chunks sprinkled with salt
• Organic guacamole from Costco (by the fistful for the baby!)
• Sprouted pumpkin & sunflower seeds
• Home made custard (recipe soon)
• Home made vegan pudding (recipe soon) 
• Dried fruit (raisins, mangos, apricots, and medjool dates are our favorites)
• Soaked and Home-Roasted Honey Cashews (recipe soon) 
• Green smoothies (recipe soon) 
• Home made baby food purees (which oddly the baby and older kids eat in popsicle form)
• Various home made snacks which I will post recipes for as I am able 

Pre-made snacks that travel well: 

• Larabars
• Organic fruit/veggie squeeze pouches
• Shelled pistachios
• 100% grass-fed beef hotdogs (cut up beforehand)
• Dried fruit
• Popcorn (home made with grass-fed butter or avocado oil and Himalayan or Celtic salt)

Treats I make for our family 1-2 times per month: 

• Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (recipe soon) 
• Apple Raisin Crisp (recipe soon) 
• Tart Cherry Crisp (recipe soon) 
• Soaked Black Bean Brownies  
• Grain Free Berry Crisp (AIP)   
• Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe soon) 
• Nut Butter Chocolate Balls (recipe soon)
• Chocolate Quinoa Cake (recipe soon)
• Rarely—home made gluten-free muffins (pumpkin, chocolate, lemon poppy seed)
• Rarely—grain free pumpkin muffins from blanched almond flour (recipe soon) 

What we drink: 

• Reverse osmosis re-mineralized water
• Home made kombucha
• Home made kefir soda
• Infused water (e.g., berries, cucumber/mint, lemon/lime)
• My husband drinks organic coffee made “bullet-proof” style
• Raw, unpasteurized, non-homogenized milk from 100% grass-fed predominately A2 Jersey cows
• Occasional dry red wine (organic, no sulfites)

So there you have it. The {almost} complete guide to what our family eats every day. Writing this post has made me realize how many recipes and insights I have and want to share with all of you. Thanks in advance for your patience as we get this blog up and going!

Please don’t forget forget to pin this post on WHAT OUR FAMILY EATS to your favorite Pinterest board for later!

 

We would love to hear from you! What do you feed your kids? How do you nourish your family?

♥ Rashele