Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!

The quick answer:  Change is hard and life is distractive.  Take charge of your diet by writing weekly menus.

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The last post on healthy school lunches led to wondering what school kids ate around the world.  I dug through faded slides and found the picture above, taken many years ago in Central America.  I still remember the shot; though his clothing was humble, he exuded a native insouciance and boyish bliss that called for a photo.  The food carried in the clay pot is simple—frijoles eaten on corn tortillas, plus some banana or mango from a nearby tree.   Switching gears, I then though of a more elaborate lunch—a memory from a business trip to Paris some years ago. 

We were touring a large French company, looking at equipment, when lunch was announced.  I expected a quick sandwich but we were ushered into a formal dining room for a meal of many courses that took much of the afternoon.  It was my first introduction to how differently the French view food, and dining.  During the cheese course, the distinguished gentleman at my left tried to help me appreciate the cheese, explaining that France had more cheeses than the days of the year.  You could eat a different cheese each day.  My mind traveled to our refrigerator back home where we had only Tillamook cheese, not counting the stale Parmesan cheese in the shaker can.  “Why should you need so many?” I naively asked.

As the meal progressed, different wines were served with the courses.  My host now explained the wines, and how they complemented the food.  “What, you don’t drink wine?” he asked incredulously.  He was even more disappointed when I declined the final course, which included coffee from specially imported beans, and a treat you couldn’t get back home—Havana cigars from Cuba.  The meal was exquisite but I would rather have eaten with the boy in the picture above, all things considered.

Nevertheless, we can learn from the French.  You’ve heard of the French paradox—how despite the pastries and buttery sauces, they have much less heart disease and half the obesity as the U.S.  The French take time to dine; they spend twice as much time at meals as we do and social interaction is expected.  They may enjoy their rich sauces, but there is a well-entrenched food discipline.  The French eat more vegetables, are less likely to snack between meals, and avoid the sugary drinks Americans love.  They’re also willing to spend more on food, and take time to cook more of their meals. 

A Backward Glance

It’s been a great summer but Labor Day signals the end.  Fall is just two weeks away and then the holiday season will bring 2011 to an end.  As the year becomes history, we’ll ask all you readers how healthier living has changed you, and your lives.  Change isn’t easy but it has its rewards.

The 52 Healthy Changes are designed to transform the standard American diet (SAD) to a healthy diet based on each person’s needs.  Some changes were easy, like eating more fruit.  Giving up deep fried goods is a snap, once you read about the harm trans fats do.  From reader comments, I conclude that the hardest changes are

1. Cutting back on sugar (real and artificial),
2. Eating more vegetables, and
3. Planning menus.

Menu Discipline

Menus save time, though you must take time to compose them.  Menus save you from stressing out over what to have for dinner.  And menus save money, through better organization of time and resources.  Writing menus is taking control of your life.  Menu writing is proactive—rather than going with the flow (just what Food Inc. wants) you stand tall and take a firm grip on the helm. 

We promised to summarize reader comments about menu writing.  One reader told how living the healthy changes made many of her recipes obsolete and left her feeling lost.  There’s a post coming up on how to “health-up” existing recipes, but we also want to share more gateway recipes—recipes that lead to a new food life.

Reader menu ideas:

1. First thing, organize a menu binder for saving menus and collecting recipes.  The first year will be the hardest, but the binder will make the second year a breeze.  Include some blank shopping lists in the binder.
2. Make menu writing a ritual; do it the same time each week, just before you write the shopping list.  Don't forget to check the pantry and freezer for foods nearing expiration, before you begin.
3. Develop a menu format that works for you.  (We’re working on one that reminds of foods to eat each week and we’ll share it soon.)
4. Recognize that menu writing is a new skill.  You’ll get better with practice.
5. See the “flow” in food use.  Sunday’s roast can reappear in Monday’s soup and Tuesday’s sauce. 
6. Make life easier by getting two meals out of a large dish.   Dishes like chili, stew, scalloped potatoes or lasagna can reappear with new accompaniments. 
7. Share menu control to gain family support.  Post a blank menu so people can request what they’re craving for the next week.  Review the menu with your partner and involve the children.
8. Try a new recipe each week and then give the family an up or down vote if they want to see it again.  This is one way to find some casserole recipes the family won’t groan about they they’ve grown up and left the home.
9. Include an easy meal each week to give you flexibility if other demands arise.  Put a couple of meals away in the freezer for emergency use also.
10. Meals can be simple.  Start with a salad, move to a main dish with vegetables, and finish with some fruit for dessert.

Please comment and share ideas about better meals, and better menus.  Also, request or share recipes that can be posted.  If you live outside the U.S., please share what you do for school lunches.

Comments

[Rikki]

Making a menu saves my life! I don't know how someone can't make one. What would they buy at the store? I'd be back 10 times in a week if I didn't write out a menu and shopping list. It's EXPENSIVE to not plan!

What I like to do is first find the recipes I'm using. I like to "combine" recipes and "share" ingredients - like, roast turned into enchiladas. Or cilantro used in two different Mexican meals. Otherwise I'd have a fridge full of random ingredients! Second, I go through my cupboards and see what I already have. (Most times I do this first so I can look for recipes that require what I already have.) Then I list out every single thing I need at the store for those recipes. Then I add in the other things - fruit and veggies to snack on, yogurt, milk, eggs, etc. Then I list them out by type. Dairy, meat, produce, packaged, "other" (shampoo and dish soap for instance.) Then if that isn't enough listing, I make one final list that has it all in the order of how I go through the store. ha! It helps SO much! It makes shopping with a 10-month-old a breeze and I'm so stress-free in a very stressful place! At the beginning stages, I also grab coupons for things that I need coupons for, but that's mostly for the "other" category. I keep my weekly recipes on the fridge and then put them away at the end of the week. It works well for me! Also, I always have breakfast for dinner at least once a week. Or maybe twice. :) It's for those I-don't-feel-like-cooking days. Whip up an omelet with all those extra veggies and we're good to go!

[Alicia]

I have only been menu planning for about 6 months, but I have a few things I'd like to share.

First things first- get to know what your family eats. Write down meals that your family considers "normal." This will save you a lot of brain-wracking trauma and will keep you from getting overly ambitious with changes and burning yourself out.

When getting ready to go shopping the first thing I do is check my inventory, especially what I have left from the previous week in my fridge- the fresh stuff that needs to be eaten right away. I start getting some ideas for what I'd like to use my ingredients for and check the circulars.

I live in Southern California like Skip, so I shop at similar stores (Costco, Sprouts/Henry's, and Stater Brothers) and look for the best deals. I look for cheap cuts of meat that can be used in lots of ways. I know some people are more picky about their meat, but I try to serve it to my family conservatively and it's not an issue for us (at least not right now). I really like using whole chickens because you can get a lot out of them for .80-.99/lb. I like to cut them up myself and make stock from the back and gizzards though most grocery stores will cut them up for you free of charge (but not all). I use the stock whenever I make rice, gravy, soup, or sauces.

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Crockpot Chicken Stock

Chicken Parts (back, bones, gizzards, etc)
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 onion, cut in half

Place chicken parts, carrot, celery and onion in crock pot. Fill with water, leaving about 1-2" space at the top. Cover and set on low. Cook about 10-12 hours. Take out crock, take off lid and allow to cool. Pour through a sieve into a bowl, discarding parts and vegetables (or you can eat them), and place stock in your fridge (you don't want it too hot or it will have adverse affects on the temperature of your fridge). Loosely cover and allow to cool until fats solidify on the surface. Skim away fats and store. (We keep the chicken fat and use it to cook with. Beware- don't put it in an already hot pan or it will sputter like crazy.)
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Get to know prices for items. We use rolled oats a lot and, believe it or not, the best price was a bulk bag at the regular grocery store and not at Costco like I expected. I am working on a pocket-sized notebook to keep track, but for now, it's all memory (or little notes in my planner).

I made a template on my computer for my grocery planning and print it out each week. It keeps me focused on what I need to plan for and makes menu planning that much easier. I plan on Tuesday nights (So my weekly list is Thursday-Wednesday) because that's the day the circular arrives. You don't have to plan Monday-Sunday.

Lunches are hard in my house because my husband comes home for lunch and doesn't like sandwiches. I have a hard time coming up with something that's quick and healthy, and usually one of those criteria gets sacrificed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We recently switched from white rice to brown rice, a decision my husband still occasionally scoffs at (though I will admit, white rice is just so fluffy). I like to make kabobs and rice pilaf- we use peppers, onions, and pineapple. We use 1 cubed chicken breast to feed our family of 3, though it doesn't feel skimpy when served with our brown rice pilaf:

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Brown Rice Pilaf

2 T butter (or olive oil)
1/2 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 c brown rice
2 1/2 c chicken broth, vegetable broth or 2 1/2 c water + 1 t salt

In a medium size skillet (with a lid) melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds to 1 minute until rendered (you can smell it). Add rice and saute, making sure it gets coated, about 1-2 minutes. Add broth, season to taste with salt and pepper, turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer about 45-50 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Check occasionally and add more broth or water if needed.
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I went a little crazy with this post, but menu planning is a point I firmly believe in. We have saved SO MUCH money by planning, it is ridiculous. We cut our grocery bill nearly in half just by planning our meals.

[Ashley]

You have to remember when making a menu that you are not going to have a perfectly healthy meal every week if you have not already been doing so. If this is really a lifestyle change, it's going to take time. Give yourself some leeway, start out with 5 of your "normal" meals and then ease into 3 as you find healthy recipes you like.

I have been doing this and it is a lot more successful than trying to change every recipe you have to make it "healthy" all at once. When creating a menu, think ahead of time about how many of your meals include a lot of sodium (prepackaged) or stuff you couldn't make at home (like what is "cream of chicken"?), and try and have those as infrequently as possible. If that's all you ever make, then at least start out by adding a salad to every meal; you really don't realize what you are missing out on until you see all those bright green colors on your plate.

One recipe I found recently that my husband and I love: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/08/sesame-encrusted-baked-chicken-tenders.html#more
Served with brown fried rice with fresh vegetables
(lots of good recipes on that site)

[skip hellewell]

Ricki, Alicia and Ashley--thank you for the exceptional response on menu writing and favorite recipes. You're so great--transformation to healthy living is well underway in your homes. Best to you.

[Kjirsti]

I'm new to menu writing, but I'm converted. The weeks I don't take time to write one, I end up stressed every night as I try to conjure up something to feed the family. Writing a menu helps me be more creative with my cooking, which often introduces us to new foods and therefore greater variety- I'm more likely to use eggplant, cabbage, jalapenos for example instead of our typical- red peppers, zucchini, green beans, carrots. For me, however, I actually find menu writing to be more expensive. I shop at a grocery store called Aldi. It's like costco in it's warehouse approach- no shelves, but the selection is small. They carry they're own brands, so there is only one choice for every food item. The produce is mostly seasonal and the selection is much smaller than a larger store. If I shop exclusively at Aldi I feed my family of three for around $60.00 a week. (A necessity on a student, and stay at home mom's salary.) When I make a menu I often add recipes that are new, and that often require ingredients that they don't sell at Aldi (like eggplant, cilantro) which just means more expense. However, it has diversified our diet and hopefully made it more healthy.

I've recently realized that I need to include a checklist when I'm making my menus. I never think to cook fish for example, but I'd like to aim to eat it at least once a week- even if its just tuna for lunch. (The french often do tuna on their salads.) I look forward to your menu template.

A comment on the french. I recently read that french children don't snack the way American children do. From the source I read, their children have a snack around 4:00- a croissant, or pan aux chocolat- and then nothing until dinner. It seems like my friends kids are constantly snacking. One told me, "It's so much harder when your child is older because you have to have so many snack foods." Typically these foods are low nutrient carbs. I do have a few friends who pull out things like blueberries and carrots, but those are much harder to keep in the diaper bag for when the child gets desperate at church. My questions are: First, is so much snacking necessary; Second, does feeding your child just to keep him quiet create bad habits; and third do you and your readers have any suggestions for more healthy snacks?

As far as recipe recommendations, we love roasted vegetables on/in anything. We eat a lot more veggies this way too. Zucchini, squash, colored peppers, with a bunch of onions slice up big drizzled with a bit of olive oil and salt a pepper cooked at 400 or broiled make a delicious sandwich, wrap, or filling for pasta.

[Robyn]

I love menu planning, it makes family dinner possible at our house. Every Sunday I look at the week's schedule to figure out which days need a quick meal or something prepared ahead and which days I have time to make something more elaborate. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to create a menu. I take stock of what we have on hand (we get our CSA on Saturdays) and take into account sales while planning the menu. As we have been doing this for years I have made lists of main dishes, sides and salads organized by ingredients that I can refer to when I want to take advantage of a sale. Over the summers our older children help plan and cook one night a week, which has been a great way to get them involved in their own health and learn about the creativity that can be found in the kitchen.
I have also complied specific menus for incredibly busy weeks, double batch weeks (where I cook extra for the freezer), seasonal menus, and days when I need to bring dinner to another family. These specific menus come in handy when I don't have time to plan or am overwhelmed by time constraints.

[missy]

i was going to leave a comment saying i didnt know how people DIDN'T make a menu, but rikki beat me to it. i do basically the same thing as rikki, only maybe not so organized. i use a shopping list i make and it has a place along the side for the menu. the sections are laid out in the order in which i go through the store. when i write something in the menu side i put all the items i need to buy into the shopping side. and in between the two is a space for me to add up as i go along so that i'm not going over budget.

here is how i make my shopping list (and a peak and how it's laid out):
homemade shopping list
this was posted in 2009, and has been altered since then. the 'soda pop/snacks' section is now just 'snack' and is usually mostly empty. the 'boxed/canned' section is a LOT smaller, but the space for the 'fruits/veg' has grown considerably so that i have enough room to write.

[Laura]

Ashley, thanks for the idea of adding a few healthy meals per week and then upping them over time. That is a good idea. My only problem is that all of my meals had meat, and we hardly eat meat now. There are some recipes that I can just leave out the meat, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I have found a few ideas this week, though, such as meatball-less subs. They use zucchini and yellow squash chunks instead of meatballs, with a marinara type sauce to make a sub. I am scouring the internet for recipes to try.

[Ashley]

Laura, Here's one you can try that is meatless:

http://www.perrysplate.com/2011/08/pesto-eggplant-rollatine.html

The flavors are delicious

[Skip Hellewell]

Kjirsti, I think you're doing really great. Regarding your third question, here is a recent post on healthy snacks with excellent reader comments:
http://wordofwisdomliving.squarespace.com/home/healthy-snacking.html

Regarding your other questions, the rise in frequent snacking, and the practice of giving little children snacks to help them stay quiet, seem to be part of a decline in organized meals. The "grazing" you see with snacks is often an indicator that real meals aren't happening. Or perhaps kids just prefer sugary snacks to regular meals. Either way, it's a health problem. Best to you.

[Angela]

I have been planning all my meals for the past couple of months, and I don't know how I got on without it. What you've listed above is actually my exact strategy. I've saved TONS of money, and TONS of calories by making a meal plan. I always start the week off with good intentions, and actually planning my meals turns those good intentions into ACTION. I was going to write a menu-writing post on my blog yesterday, but I linked to this post instead since it said everything I was going to say, but better.

[Rill]

I don't know what I would do without my menu plan each week. I started doing it because it made grocery shopping easier when my hubby and I first got married. When we didn't have the meal plan, we went out to eat a lot more. I always have a 'Plan B' meal in case one of my other meals doesn't work out. Something fast and easy like chicken salad. And I always do at least one meal that will give leftovers for another full meal on another day. I plan my meals on Thursday and usually grocery shop on Friday or Saturday.

I've been learning how to adapt recipes to be healthier. Take tonight's meal for example. Chicken Casserole! The way I was taught to make it was a whole chicken, shred the meat, add 3 cans of cream of whatever you have on hand, corn tortillas, a can of green chilies and loads of cheese. That was it. I've changed the meal to use only one can of cream of celery, a small handful of cheese, and only one chicken breast. Then I 'fill it up' with fresh veggies. Corn, Celery, Green Beans, Carrots, and then some Beans too, just whatever kind of beans I happen to have. Anyway, you can do this with just about any recipe. Identify the 'unhealthy' or 'too-much-of' ingredients and reduce them or replace them with healthier alternatives.

[Camille]

The holidays are coming and lots of my family's traditions are centered on food. I'd like to request more special occasion type recipes. It's so easy to find fun recipes, especially for kids, but with no regard to sugar content. Any suggestions?

Also, I LOVE the crock pot chicken stock idea. I've always thought that homemade stock had to be a big deal, but that is simple and sounds delicious.

Fantastic menu planning ideas. Thank you all for sharing. I'm upping my organization to get better results.

[BecStar]

We have a menu plan and I try to make sure that I cook extra of things to have for lunches / freeze for later meals.

As for lunch boxes - I'm not a parent but I am a teacher in Australia so have lots of chances to sneak a peek into kids lunchboxes! My kids eat lots of 'easy' fruits and vegetables at recess and lunch time 'carrot sticks, sugar snap peas, cut up fruit etc. Lunch often seems to be sandwiches or soup that they have in a thermos.

When I was at school our mum would put pita bread with a little tub of hummus and tabhouli in our lunchboxes - no soggy bread and lots of yummy goodness!

In my class at the moment we are talking about being wastewise and sustainable and I have found a big change in the kids lunchboxes due to these discussions. We conducted a waste audit of our lunchboxes and the kids made a lot of interesting observations about what was being thrown out - chip packets, muesli bar wrappers and the like. Because of the work i've been doing on sustainability and the kids interest in same I have found a huge change in the healthiness of our lunchboxes!

[Lindsey]

Great post. I don't do formal meal planning but my system works well for me and I always have something to make for dinner. I buy meat, fish, grains and legumes in bulk as part of my food storage so I always have those in stock. I buy the produce that is a good price that week at the store and make sure I'm stocked with garlic, ginger, onions and lemons and then I can make delicious meals on a day by day basis. This works for me because I don't use recipes a lot and those I do (curries, stir-fries, etc) I know by heart and can vary a bit depending on what I have on hand. I then think of what I'll make a few days in advance in case I need to soak beans or thaw meat. It's also nice to freeze cooked, seasoned beans for when I need a quick meal.

It's sad to me that Food Inc. has worked its way into home cooking. My in laws cooks and eat most meals at home but the food almost always includes processed foods as ingredients (cream-of soups, seasoning packets, rice mixes, salad dressings) that the end product isn't much healthier than fast food. These "ingredients" that fill the grocery store shelves contain harmful additives like trans fats, added sugar and they almost always contain MSG, a harmful neurotoxin (even if they try to disguise it in other names). I guess it's time to get back to the way our grandmothers cooked (or in my case, great grandmother :)