Preparations Part 2: Shopping List

Today I am going to share the rough draft of my shopping list. These are the things I am planning to need for the Real Food Challenge. The challenge is perfectly timed to be a few days after I begin living full-time at my new apartment. This means that the shopping list is basically going to be all the food I will have in the house (which will hopefully keep some temptations at bay).

This is also food for a single person who happens to be a vegetarian so if you’re cooking for more people or eat meat your list would probably look a lot different. I also didn’t break it down into completely logical shopping categories but went more with types of food since that’s what makes the most sense to me. Also, some of the things seem very specific but it’s because they are ingredients for particular recipes.

 

Fruits, Veggies, and Herbs

–       Bag of frozen berries

–       Grapefruit (3)

–       Apples (3)

–       No sugar added organic applesauce (if I can find it and it’s not insanely over-priced)

–       Strawberries

–       Grapes

–       Maybe a mango or some clementines

–       Lettuce

–       Spinach

–       Cucumber

–       Pepper

–       Carrots

–       Maybe some celery

–       2 minced scallions (Do they sell them minced? If not, just 2 scallions)

–       Minced garlic

–       Dill

–       Chives

–       1 or 2 russet potatoes

–       1 onion

–       28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

–       ½ lb of Yukon Gold potatoes (may or may not do this recipe)

–       Vegetable broth

 

Dairy and Eggs

–       Large container of plain Stonyfield Yogurt

–       Dozen eggs

–       Organic milk

–       Organic cream cheese

–       Mozzarella cheese

–       Other organic cheeses for sandwiches and snacks

–       Ricotta cheese

–       Cream

–       Sour cream

–       Butter

–        Buttermilk

 

Grains and Nuts

–       Whole wheat pasta

–       Special bread my mom found that they sell at market

–       Pita bread (have to be careful, not sure I will find any that will actually follow the rules)

–       Popcorn kernels

–       Triscuits

–       Other safe crackers to look for: Wasa Rye Crispbread, Ryvita Rye, and Finn Crisp

–       Rice cakes that are safe: Lundberg, Koyo, Real Foods Corn Thins

–       Organic peanut butter

–       Steel cut rolled oats

–       Raw sliced almonds

–       Raw cashew pieces

–       Raw sunflower seeds

–       Raw sesame seeds (can you tell I’m making granola bars?)

 

Baking and Toppings

–       Honey

–       Canola oil

–       Whole wheat flour

–       Baking powder

–       Rasberry vinegar

–       Walnut oil

–       Almond extract

–       Balsamic vinegar

–       Oil

–       Hummus

–       Sea salt

Preparations Part 1: Meal Ideas

So following the 10 Days of Real Food challenge is going to require some preparation (big surprise, huh?)

First off, I needed to figure out what the heck I was going to eat. The website offers a lot of ideas with full instructions on making things that need to be made like crackers or granola bars or even full meals. I also found some ideas on other blogs and am also planning to just tweak some of the things I already eat. I would imagine that is a key to succeeding in this challenge, you don’t need to completely change your diet, just start by adjusting some of the things you already eat (like switching to whole-wheat flour and whole-grain pasta).

Anyway, after planning out food options I made a list of all of the things I would need in order to make these things as well as what will need to be made before the challenge starts.

Today I’m just going to share my meal ideas list but if you’re interested in the shopping list or schedule, be sure to check back.

Breakfast:

–       Homemade whole-wheat waffles with strawberries (I plan on making a batch and then freezing them so I don’t       have to make them in the morning before my 8am class)

–       Organic yogurt with homemade fruit syrup (for flavor) frozen (because I love it frozen)

–       Grapefruit

Packed Lunch Ideas (I’m sure there will be many more variations):

–       Hummus, pita (or crackers), veggie pieces (cucumber, pepper, carrots), and grapes

–       Soup with a piece of toast or crackers and fruit

–       Cheese, crackers, apple slices and celery with peanut butter

–       Peanut butter sandwich, homemade potato sticks, salad (with homemade dressing), and fruit

–       Pasta salad, nuts and fruit

–       Salad, fruit, and cheese

–       Salad, fruit, and a hard boiled egg

At Home Meal Ideas:

*add a veggie and a fruit as sides to the ones that need it

–       Homemade soup with grilled cheese

–       Toasted bread with hummus and cheese

–       Veggie cream cheese (may have to make this) on bread or crackers

–       Pesto grilled cheese

–       Pasta salad (some yummy ones: cucumber dill and caprese)

–       Pasta with pesto

–       Pasta with homemade alfredo sauce

–       Pasta with butter and garlic

–       Homemade quiche

–       My mom’s mac and cheese

–       Tortellini (Buitoni has one that fits the criteria) with pesto or alfredo (Ooo or maybe even pesto alfredo?)

–       Ricotta mashed potatos (more of a side but they sound yummy!)

–       Potato skins

–       Peanut butter sandwich

Packed Snack Ideas (to bring to class since I generally can’t make it more than an hour or so without getting hungry):

–       homemade granola bars

–       crackers

–       cheese

–       popcorn

–       fruit

–       homemade potato sticks

–       nuts

Not-necessarily-packed Snack Ideas:

–       smoothies

–       crackers and cheese

–       fruits and veggies with hummus or peanut butter

–       popcorn

–       homemade breads

–       potato sticks

–       nuts and seeds

–       hummus and crackers

–       toast

–       hard boiled egg

So there you have it, what I will be eating for ten days. Doesn’t look so bad to me!

Think of something I missed? I would love to hear if you have any other “real food”, vegetarian meal or snack ideas!

No sugar, no white flour, and lots of time in the kitchen!

So as I stated in my introduction post, although I have been throwing around the idea of making a blog to document my crafting and travels and what-not, there is something in particular that has made me finally decide to start one.

That something is the real food challenge.

The “10 Days of Real Food Pledge” to be exact.

You can check out the website here: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/
This family did it for 100 days so I’m thinking I can manage ten (Maybe I should change “thinking” to hoping and praying? We shall see.)
Basically there are nine rules/tips to follow for what you CAN eat:

1. You must eat whole foods that are products of nature.
2. Eat lots of fruits and veggies (Yay for being a vegetarian!)
3. Eat dairy products like milk, cheese, eggs, and unsweetened yogurt (there will be more on how making homemade flavoring for the yogurt goes in the near future).
4. Eating only 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains. This means I basically can’t eat any of the bread sold in grocery stores, must use whole-wheat flour when cooking or baking, and must use whole-grain pasta (which I actually sometimes do anyway).
5. You can eat seafood. Doesn’t apply to me!
6. Only locally raised meats. Also doesn’t apply!
7. You can drink water, milk, all natural juices, and naturally sweetened tea and coffee. This means no sodas and some creativity when making my much-loved frappucinos (which is made even more interesting when you check out rule #9)!
8. Some suggested snacks are dried fruit (not a huge fan, may avoid this), seeds, nuts and popcorn.
9. Use honey, maple syrup, and fruit juices instead of sugar (because our sugar is highly refined and bleached and all that good stuff).

And what you CAN’T eat:
– No refined grains.
– No refined sweeteners.
– Nothing prepackaged with more than five ingredients.
– No deep-fried foods.
– No “fast foods”

Why am I doing this you ask? Well aside from the fact that I’ve been reading up on and interested in eating in a more natural way (I’ve never been a fan of all that stupid “low fat” stuff but french fries and chips are another story) I am doing this challenge because of my mother (who may or may not also be blogging about her experience). She found the website and is having the rest of the family try it out as well. They will be doing it at home while I’m doing it at my apartment. This may be a test of those “you do better when you have support” theories (although my roommate has said she may try it out a little, maybe). Each group, meaning my family and myself has their own pros and cons.

My pros are that I’m a vegetarian, I only have to cook for myself, and most of my meals (breakfast and lunch) will transition over to “real food” very smoothly. For example, for breakfast I eat waffles with strawberries (just make them with whole-wheat) and yogurt (remember how I said to stay tuned for homemade flavoring?) and for lunch I will frequently be packing so a whole-grain sandwich or some hummus and challenge-approved crackers with some fruits and veggies are basically what I already pack anyway.
The family’s pros are that they are cooking for a group (I realize I put the opposite as a plus for me, I feel it could easily be a plus and a minus), their budget is much higher, and again they are all doing it together.

In an attempt to be a more optimistic person, I have decided not to list my cons (cough, no money, lazy, cough). Anyway, I hope to blog my daily (or maybe weekly, we will see how it goes) meals in an attempt to keep myself on track as well as document the challenges and rewards of eating a natural, “real” food diet.
I may be setting my self up for failure with this but I may try to also set a goal to start doing yoga regularly again during this challenge since it has been something I’ve wanted to get back into or maybe that should be my next challenge. Hmm I’ll have to think about that one.

P.S.
Looking for some reasons (or maybe just one) to try the 10 Days of Real Food challenge yourself? Read this article from the 100 Days of Real Food website about why we should stop eating processed foods. Or you can just watch one of those eye-opening/inspiring/gross food documentaries like Food Inc. …
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/10-reasons-to-cut-out-processed-food/