It’s over. Or is it?
At the start of October Unprocessed, I felt my family was already eating quite unprocessed, but throughout the challenge, I learned that there were some easy changes I could make to complete our unprocessed transition. Last week, I vowed to finish strong with this challenge but I did it without even being conscious of it!
–Awesome homemade pizza instead of delivery made for a fun picnic-style dinner on Friday.
-I roasted a whole chicken in the oven for our Sunday meal.
-I pulled a loaf of slice-and-bake crackers from the freezer for snacking this week.
-This morning, I unwrapped a frozen loaf of whole wheat bread I made last week to have with breakfast.
Basically, I learned the lesson that, with a little planning and effort, eating unprocessed is perfectly do-able. I was chopping veggies for tonight’s crockpot dinner and reflected on what people must have done before microwaves, before processed freezer meals, before fast food… They must have known how to prepare a meal. If 5:00 rolled around and nothing was prepared, there weren’t drive-thru’s and rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. There was nothing but what was in the house. And so, I try to keep the unprocessed mindset at all times. Because, honestly, if I’m not serving something unprocessed, what’s the point of eating it at all? Do I want my family “fed,” or do I want my family “nourished?” Think about it.
What Saved Me
Even before October Unprocessed, I relied on pre-made grains kept in my freezer. Today is the first of the month; why not cook up a couple pots of rice and quinoa and make unprocessed a little easier to achieve?
Shout Outs
I certainly never would have re-evaluated my eating, nor thought to ask others to do so, for a month, without Andrew Wilder and his Eating Rules. What a movement! I only hope to see October Unprocessed turn into a huge initiative. I’d love to see more people reinventing their eating habits. Can’t wait for next year!
Through Eating Rules, I found a few new favorite blogs that will surely help me keep my family well-nourished in a delicious fashion:
And a few sites that I’ve always loved that deserve note:
Will you continue the unprocessed movement?
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I love some of those sites as well, particularly Simple Bites and Fed Up with Lunch! I also find that the actions that seem more challenging (like homemade bread), can also be frozen, making them (sort of) a convenience food!
PS. I would love your recipe for whole chicken b/c I just found a coupon for organic chicken at my store!
🙂
Great job on finishing strong!!! I agree that the freezer is your friend. Eating unprocessed does not mean you have to cook or bake from scratch everyday to eat the foods you like. Instead of baking one loaf of bread, bake 2-4 and freeze the others and pull out later. Thanks for the idea to put carmelized onions on top of pizza. I’ll have to try that!! 😀
Caramelized onions are soooo worth the effort 🙂
Funny you should mention frozen grains because I have never thought of doing that. However, I do freeze cooked legumes to help make baby’s meals easier and faster….
That’s a great idea! Try freezing beans on a cookie sheet before putting them in a container; they won’t stick together that way.