Shopping List!!

So I have decided to start meal planning ahead of time to keep things organized and orderly in my household. Basically you have to start with what you have in the house (your fridge, freezer and pantry) and go from there. CHECK DATES ON ALL FOODS!!! I can not stress that enough. You don't want to be eating or drinking foods that are past their expiration date.

Start off with checking all food dates, toss anything that is expired. This also goes for leftovers as well. If you do not eat them within 5 days of putting them in the fridge, get rid of it. Every Sunday night I would recommend doing this. Keep things fresh. If you have opened boxes of items such as granola bars, crisps, snack foods, and items like that pull them out of the box (if there is only like one or two left) and put all of them in a small bin or container that you can easily grab the items from quickly. This will make space in your pantry and cabinets and get rid of all those half empty boxes that are just sitting there. 

Next try to plan out the week's meals with what you already have in your home. Try to focus your meal planning around your proteins. And always make sure that you keep a vegetable in mind when planning out your meals. Try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. Also, when meal planning think about proportion sizes as well, especially if you are dieting or trying to lose weight.

Now on to the shopping list. I have been looking up new recipes and I am trying to try at least one new recipe AND one new food each week. But you have to keep an open mind when trying new foods. It takes about 15 tries for a person to actually say if they like something or not (unless it makes them sick then they probably will never try it again). So try to pick a recipe out that you want to try during the week and check to see if you have the ingredients already. If not make a list of the ingredients that you would need to go get. And if you are wanting to make certain things at home but do not have the ingredients you need jot them down as well.

Next look at your produce, do you have any fruit? What about vegetables? Fresh not canned! Some canned fruits and veggies are okay but if you really think about it they add so much stuff to your canned foods it's crazy! Read the labels. trust me they will make you turn and run for the hills. Remember, you can always freeze fruits and veggies! Just when freezing veggies make sure to blanch them and let them cool first before freezing them.

Meal planning can take some time and if you have a large family it's best to sit down with them and discuss the meal planning. Try to stick to this! Try to avoid eating out or ordering in. It will save you money in the long run. If you don't believe me, write up a little notebook each time you go out and eat and order in. Keep track of how much you spend. Then, write out how much you spend on groceries a month. Then compare the two totals and I can almost guarentee you'll be happier that you bought in bulk the healthy items and did away with the eating out and dining in.

I tried spinach this week and I really liked it surprisingly. And next week I will be trying Veal as my one food a week to try. Let's just see how this all turns out! 

New Goal for Me

I have noticed a few things over the last few months about myself that have made me really unhappy and some things that I really need to change. I am doing this not only for myself but for my family as well. 

I have noticed that I have been a little more negative towards certain things that never used to phase me before I had my daughter and I really don't know what these things bother me now. But it is causing some real issues that I need to fix. 

So I am going to be working on a new "goal" but this "goal" isn't something that is going to change in a day, a week, or even a month. This is going to take time. I am working on a "New Outlook On Life". This consists of a list of items that I will be working on ONE at a time. Some may be easier to work on than others. And right now I need to slow down my mental abilities just a little and stop shutting things out that mean a lot to me. And not only shutting things out but doing too much at once. 

I take on so many tasks at once that I can never get fully finish one task without starting another task at the same time. So one thing I will be working on is "One Goal at a Time". I will be making a list of every goal I want to complete by the end of the year. But I will only be working on one goal at a time. Seems easy right? Well I hope it is lol. I multi-task way too much so this needs to work.

My final goal that I will be working towards is to "Be a Better Person". Every little task that I will be working on will help me towards this one BIG goal that I want to achieve by the end of the year. 

One task that is the biggest thing I need to work on is to stay positive and squash all the negativity in my life. And if something upsets me, I will be getting it off my chest and not holding anything in! You need to talk to people and never be afraid to ask for help when you find yourself taking on too much at one time. 

I will try to do my best to blog at least once a week to keep everyone updated on my progress. So be sure to keep an eye out for one post a week about what goal I am working on and how it is working so far. 

Feel free to leave a comment on anything you would like me to blog about or ask me any questions you feel like. Thank you so much. Have a happy day everyone!