In 2010, I challenged myself to make one new recipe per week. That went over really well for the whole family, so we're going to do it again this year. I slacked off a lot on my menu planning and cooking in 2011, and it bit me on the ass. Well, it showed up on my ass, in the form of a very large and embarrassing weight gain. I used to do monthly menus, and that worked well enough, but I think I'm going to do weekly menus this year, so I can keep my food costs down. Sam didn't get nearly as many deer this year as he did last year. We had six last year, and it lasted a good six months. This year, he got two, but he messed something up when he put them in our storage freezer and they rotted. They were two of the biggest deer he'd ever gotten, too. Major bummer.
When I was doing things monthly, I used a Google spreadsheet with links and fancy color coding for Sebastian and me, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am not getting so fancy here. I'll just list the dinners and sides, with recipe links. Lunches won't vary too much. He can buy lunch at school once a week. The rest of the time, he will probably take sandwiches, fruit or vegetable, and a snack. He is not big on variety. He likes peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches, or as some people call them, peanut butter cups on bread. I need to slowly transition him to peanut butter and jelly. Nutella isn't healthy and it's not cheap. It's damn delicious, though. As far as my lunches go, I'm going to try to take leftovers. Working in a school cafeteria really sucks. We get to a free meal and though we're not supposed to nibble and sample, we do, and we all know that I have no off button when it comes to food. We do have salads every day, but we can never count on there being any left over by the time we've served all the people who count. My hours are weird. I'm not hungry enough to eat breakfast before I go in. I usually don't get hungry until around 10 AM, and the cafeteria staff eats around 12:45 PM. There are some days when I have to stay at school late, either coaching Go Far (which I will know about in advance) or subbing in the after school program (which can sometimes be very last minute). Leftovers seem my best bet, and I'll have to start making myself eat breakfast before I leave.
So, breakfast options for Sebastian are going to be some sort of protein. I wish he would eat eggs. I don't want to give him toast for breakfast if he's going to be having sandwiches (or pizza) for lunch. I'm fine just giving him some turkey bacon or sausage for breakfast with a banana. He's not too keen on many fruits, just apples & bananas & melons. I love those, too, and I can definitely over-eat them :( I might make him some protein granola bars. He's so finicky though. He tries something and likes it, then the next day he doesn't like it. He pulls that shit with yogurt all the time. He asks for yogurt, I buy it, he loves it, then won't eat it again. It drives me insane.
For me, I can eat the same thing day after day. I had my best weight loss and stayed on plan easier when I ate an apple and a cup of cottage cheese every day for breakfast. I think I need to do that again. Most of my dinners were a lean protein and a vegetable. I need to get back to that. Oddly, it was when I started doing Weight Watchers that I started losing control. Mentally, Weight Watchers in the only thing that makes sense to me, but for my body, I think I would do better with a Primal or Paleo diet. I can give up pasta and bread and probably even potatoes (though I really like sweet potatoes) but I'm not ready to give up things like beans and quinoa and oats, none of which are really encouraged in the ancestral way of eating. I don't know that I could do dairy in moderation - I love my cheese and I "need" milk in my coffee.
I want to keep doing Meatless Mondays. I've been doing it for two years now. It's hard - I never feel satisfied on Mondays and I'm usually hungry as hell on Tuesdays. One might think that two years is "long enough" but I feel like it deserves more time than I've given it. It's hard to be Primal and meatless, but it's only one day a week. I could probably manage. If I follow the 80/20 rule (eat Primal 80% of the time) I could fit in my beans and quinoa and oats on my meatless days.
I don't know what I want to do but I have twenty-four hours to figure it out.
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