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Well, this week didn’t start out the way I had hoped. On my way to my former home to list the furniture for sale (so I could then list the house for sale) I received a phone call from my former neighbor letting me know a flash flood hit our area last night. Their basement filled with 10ft of water, and the creek overflowed several dead fish into the backyard across the street.

I spent my Sunday afternoon with a shop vac as my best friend and I cleared out several sopping wet rugs. The water had receded out of the house by the time I got there, but the line was about 6 inches above the baseboards!

I am SO thankful my boys and I weren’t living there when this hit; we would have lost everything, instead of just some furniture and a few pairs of old shoes.

Grocery Shopping Results

This week my grocery shopping was a little wonky. We only spent $31 at the farmer’s market (not counting the $2 for the street musician), because we still have some produce left over from last week.

I stopped at the vegan deli before picking them up and grabbed a few things. On Sundays they have 50% off the deli case items, which makes it super affordable! I bought a few packages of mostaccioli and a pepperoni stick, because Tristan has requested we make pizza together this week. I also stopped at Fresh Thyme for a package of vegan mozzarella cheese shreds for the aforementioned pizza.

I usually do my grocery shopping while the boys are with their dad, but because I spent 2 hours cleaning the house, I didn’t get a chance. After I picked them up, we masked up and went to Aldi for the rest of our shopping.

In total, I spent $101 on our groceries this week, which is $1 over our budget.

If splurging on a house made, vegan pepperoni stick so I can finally enjoy a supreme pizza again is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Especially after spending two hours cleaning up sewage and flood water.

 

Menu Planning for Picky Eaters

One thing I have been focusing on this week is including the boys in our menu planning. Tristan (age 5.5) especially has been very excited about being involved, and has started coming up to me suggesting various dinner ideas.  This week, for example, he told me that he would like a vegan happy meal that we could make at home, made with chik’n tenders, french fries, apple slices, and chocolate (almond) milk. He also requested we make pizza together, which is one of our favorite meals to make as a family.

When I agree to a meal idea, he gets excited and asks what day we will have it. He loves to know :how many sleeps” until we have his idea for dinner. 

I have noticed a direct correlation between how included he is in the meal choices and how much he eats. He’s at that age where he wants to show how capable he is, and I’m all for it – especially since it influences how much good food he eats!

Our Meal Plans for the Week:

Breakfasts:

I usually make a big smoothie for myself and the kids almost every morning (and by big I mean, about 64 ounces, it fills our whole NutriBullet 64oz  carafe). I take advantage of the blending to load up my boys with tons of fresh nutrients and supplement powders for extra antioxidant boosts. Check out my post with everything I put in my smoothies. 

Lunches:

I usually bring dinner leftovers for my own lunches at work. I make sure the boys have a good variety of options to be fed while I’m at work, including vegan hotdogs from Aldi (they’re delicious, yo), peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and banana, avocado toast, and hummus and Aldi’s vegan “cheez-it” style crackers. And fruit. They eat tons and tons of fruit. 

Dinners:

Sunday: vegan pigs in a blanket, grapes, broccoli

Monday: Mostaccioli, baguette, broccoli

Tuesday: boys have dinner with their dad, pretzels with Cork and Rind cheese sauce (I can only find it from Imperfect Foods, and it is SO good!)and fruit for me

Wednesday: homemade pepperoni pizza for the boys, homemade supreme pizza for me (I make a “hidden veggie” sauce that we use as the pizza sauce with mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, peppers, onions, and garlic blended together – they get veggies and they don’t even realize it!)

Thursday: boys have dinner with their dad, avocado toast for me

Friday: vegan “happy meal” with vegan chik’n nuggets, homemade fries in the air fryer, apple slices, and chocolate almond milk

Saturday: cauliflower alfredo sauce over chickpea pasta, broccoli

We eat a lot of broccoli lately because it’s one of Tristan’s favorite foods. I will happily encourage this love!

For desserts, we will have either frozen fruit, chocolate zucchini donuts (sweetened with maple syrup instead of refined sugar), or frozen fruit bars. I like to keep dessert refined sugar-free as much as possible to make bedtime easier on all of us. We are in a really good routine right now with them going to bed easily (and agreeably) as long as they don’t have a bunch of sugar. 

I feel like I’ve discovered the secret to motherhood. 

What other secrets do you experienced moms have for me for sneaking even more fruits and veggies into my kids? They already have a loaded smoothie in the mornings. I love being able to nourish their growing bodies with the best nutrients available at every opportunity! Let me know in the comments!

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