Fast Food

We have never been a family that eats out a lot, but this year we have really tried to cut it out completely. At first, it was hard! Although small, the bulk of our eating out money was from me swinging by a fast food restaurant to grab something for the kids when I just hadn't planned well. Now that we are down to a one car family, I am rarely out and about without a specific purpose... and therefore it has really helped us accomplish our goal of not eating out at all.

But then the other day when I was out with the kids, the all-too-familiar-scenario came up again. I really did have enough time to run home and feed them before going to our last commitment... but I was just feeling lazy. So I drove up to Chick fil A. We LOVE that place. It was calling my name. The kids cheered as we pulled up. So.... I looked at the menu, and quickly tallied that for about $18 I could order 3 kids meals and 1 adult meal. I would have been full, but the boys (all THREE of them, even the baby) would still have been really hungry. $18 and we are still hungry? OK, let's just order the chicken nuggets and water. For each of us to have 8 nuggets and water, it was going to be $15. Eight nuggets and water is not what I call a good dinner. And I'd have to be crazy to think this was going to fill us up any more than the kid's meal scenario. This just didn't make sense to me. I can get a whole grass fed organic roast that will last us three meals for $18!

Soooo... I decided to go home and grab some fruit, raw veggies, raw cheese, lacto-fermented pickles, raw milk... and carry on to our next destination. Sure it took more effort and more time... but I felt SO much better. (and I didn't have to feed them again later!) Plus, I got to teach them about what our family values, and why I made the decision I made.

BUT EVEN AFTER ALL OF THAT... here I am....driving home alone from church today with the three kids... it's 12:45... it's cold outside... I know everyone was starving and I had nothing in the crock pot. I was tempted to pick up some chicken fingers on the way home. I resisted the urge, and am so glad... cause here's what I made...




Yummy! I picked up these pastured, organic, smoked sausages from the Farmer's Market. ($4)
I sauteed a bag of organic frozen onion, red and green peppers in some Palm oil (peppers -whole foods $2, palm oil - MRH - see previous post), added a tiny bit of leftover potatoes (I always keep on hand - see previous post), and salt and pepper. The last minute of cooking I added an entire head of garlic that I minced (.40 cents). Besides all of the antioxidant and cardiovascular benefits, garlic has wonderful anti-viral properties too, so I try to incorporate at least 1 whole head of garlic into our meals each day. I also try to only cook it as long as I need to to take the bite off, so the kids won't say "it's too spicy". The more raw it is, the more anti-viral properties. Keeps the vampires away too ;). Finally, I topped the dish with some lacto-fermented relish (whole foods $5, but we only used a few spoonfuls), to get in some good probiotics and help us digest our meal. This took me about 10 minutes and cost us about $7 for the whole family to eat.

So again, I must end with a disclaimer. Sometimes we do have to stop and grab fast food. And sometimes, we don't have to... we just want to. IT'S OKAY. We can still be friends, and I STILL think you are a good mommy and wife. { I still think I'm a good mommy and wife when I do it too :) } This is just an encouragement to try to make those stops fewer and further between. It's just better for our wallets and for our bodies.