Now, my husband swears that things are probably never going to go wrong.  He says he’s been living here for decades and has never had much of a power outage, never had a bad blizzard, and that tornadoes and flooding aren’t going to come anywhere near here.

Me, well, I trust my hubby.  But I also like my own peace of mind.  Besides… my kids getting sick, me getting sick, him getting sick – and nobody being able to make it to the grocery store for a week… I can see that happening.

So whatever the “what-if” I like to have some supplies on hand.  I found an awesome website that has step-by-step “baby steps” that walk you through getting your supplies together.  It doesn’t matter what level of preparedness you’re looking for – a brief power outage, a week-long winter storm, or even a layoff where you need to draw on a few month’s reserves – these little “baby steps” will help you to accomplish those goals.

The 7 Day Challenge

The girls over at Food Storage Made Easy also just ran a “Seven Day Challenge” and I can proudly say my family survived it.  Ok.  With a long list of “to-do’s” at the end of 7 days, my family survived it.

The gals set up a different “situation” each day that we had to go along with and the kids and I had a blast.  It was challenging, to say the least.  But very fun.

Day 1 – Flood!

I was ready for this! I’d already gotten backpacks set up for the family with 72 hours worth of food in them.  I had a list of almost everything I needed to grab.  We had 1 hour to pack the van and “evacuate” and we got our stuff packed and ready to go in under that!  Yay us!

I did realize I needed to add several things to my “grab-list.”  And that I needed to figure out where we would evacuate to… I think my MIL’s house is most likely.  In which case I need to print some directions to her house because I never pay attention enough to remember it with my hubby driving

I think this was one of the best days.  You may not get caught in a flood situation, but there’s no way to tell when you’re going to lose electric service for awhile and need something to eat (or do… I had coloring books for the kiddos!)  It’s really very practical there’s something on the shelves (or in the bag) that can be grabbed and eaten quickly.

Day 2 – Pandemic!

Well, given the uncertain state of affairs in world health, we could be facing this issue very soon.  I felt pretty good about this one too – I’ve been working on our first aid kit quite a bit.  I changed out all the outdated things and restocked what needed to be restocked.  It’s a pretty comprehensive kit.  We made homemade chicken soup for our “sick” boys and Cassidy and I took good care of them.

If there were really a pandemic situation I’d set up an actual sick room and care for them a little differently.  There was also a link to an excellent “Home Care of the Flu” guide I found very helpful.  You can download it here.  Another gal doing the challenge posted that link – I’m very grateful for her!!

Day 3 – Dinner Guests!

This was an “every day” emergency and it was TONS of fun.  The situation was that my hubby called home to let me know that he and his boss would be there for dinner in an hour – his vegetarian boss!!  I had to have an appetizer, main course, two sides, and a dessert made… and I could not go to the store!

Well I managed to pull it off, though I lucked out because we had a box of fresh veggies from our CSA farm.

I made a platter of fresh veggie slices with a homemade veggie dip (fresh sour cream base) for our appetizer.  I made Jamaican Beans and Rice (from Nourishing Traditions) as our main dish, though I did use canned beans instead of dried, and canned chilies.  We had a big salad full of fresh veggies as one side and steamed broccoli as the other side.  Our dessert was an oatmeal/pumpkin bar thing I found online because I knew I had canned pumpkin!  I had to substitute canned coconut milk for milk (we were totally out of milk, even if the veggie boss would have been ok with it).  Anyways, the dessert came out very tasty, so I’ll actually make that again!

The kids helped me clean the house up while the food cooked, and we all got changed into fresh clothes and I had time to teach them a little bit about how to answer the door politely!  Needless to say when my hubby actually walked in the door the house looked pretty nice.  I was proud of myself and I’d like to think I could deal with real last-minute guests as gracefully.

Day 4 – Money is Tight!

I can say that this day wasn’t terribly challenging because I lived this for a long time – never being able to do anything and having to watch every penny because it was a choice between buying food or losing power.  (life is very different now, read my story for more on that!)

This day involved no cable (which we don’t have anyways), no internet (oh no!!), no cell phones…. and water service got cut off!!

Now the “no internet” is hard.  I’ll admit that, well, I do a lot online.  I do, after all, run a website.  Scott and I also play a game together online.

The one big surprise for me on this day, though, was just how hard “no water” was.  I have quite a few gallons of water stored, but it takes an amazingly large amount of water to wash dishes when you have no running water!!  Scott said if we ever actually didn’t have water due to disaster that he would go to the bay and bring back water in buckets for us to boil and use for cleaning dishes.  We had plenty to drink, but washing wasn’t easy.

Day 5 – Earthquake!

Uh oh.  No water again today.  And no power…  I decided I should add some paper plates to my “pantry essentials” list!!  We raided the 72 hour kits again.

The foods in our freezer were supposed to be good still (they hadn’t spoiled yet since power went off).  So we were able to have a cooked meal on the grill outside.  I’m glad the weather was nice, and I’m glad we had the grill.  Especially since my hubby did the cooking

Another thing about the earthquake day – a beam fell onto the computer.  This could be a huge issue for many families because it could virtually destroy all their data (think about all your pictures!!)  Luckily there are quite a few solutions to data storage.  I personally back my computer up to a remote server as well as an external hard drive that stays here at the house.  The peace of mind I get from this is incredible.  I was all set for this aspect of the earthquake

Day 6 – Healthy Lifestyle

Well this emergency wasn’t an emergency at all for us!  A family member gets very ill from having a bad diet.  We already eat very healthy food because of many food sensitivities and intolerance in our family.  I did differ a bit from the challenge because I don’t believe that eating “low fat” is really very healthy for us.  I was able to share some links and thoughts so maybe someone else in the challenge benefited from some new information.  (Read my nutrition info for more about good eating)

The one “healthy lifestyle” thing I do think I at least need to do more of is getting outside.  The kids tend to spend a lot more time outside than I do.  I need to join them more.

Day 7 – You Need What?!

By Day 7 everyone, including the gals at Food Storage Made Easy, were very tired.  It really was a big challenge!!  So this day was “easier” in that we just had to make a dessert with what we had at home – and no milk, eggs, or butter.

This worked out perfectly for me.  I just picked our oatmeal/pumpkin bar recipe again

Summing it Up

Perhaps what made me the most proud about the Challenge was the part of it that went all 7 days – we couldn’t spend any money for 7 days!  Since the first day of the challenge landed squarely on the day I was supposed to go to the co-op for milk, cheese, and butter it truly was a challenge.

But we made it.  I spent no money at all for 7 days.  It’s amazing to think about just how many small opportunities to spend money come up, or how much I take for granted a run to the market on a given day.  Lots of food for thought.

I came away from the challenge with a long to-do list and a great appreciation for what we have.  I feel good because I’m sure that we could handle it if anything does knock our power out for a few days.  I really like that peace of mind   And I’m so grateful for blessings we have now.

The issue is not, however, that Galen refuses food.  In fact, Galen seems to greatly enjoy some things.  My milk is the primary highlight to his diet, of course.  But Galen also really likes chicken stock and water.  If you’re giving Galen chicken stock or water from a spoon he looks like the baby in the photograph.

But the reason you haven’t seen many updates on “feeding Galen” since my first post is that feeding him has really not gone anywhere.  When we try and feed him anything with any sort of texture, Galen cannot swallow it.  There have been a few meals here and there where we’ve gotten tiny amounts into him.  When I say tiny I’m talking around 1/16th of a teaspoon.  TINY.  But mostly Galen just gags when solid foods get to his tongue.  And that means that anything that was in his belly comes back up.  Even his mama milk.

Initially I didn’t worry too much about his disinterest in solid foods.  And at this point I’m still trying not to worry.  Cassidy was also late starting solid foods.  The difference is that when Cassidy started she was already ready to go with finger foods.  She was happy feeding herself and she could get almost anything down.

Galen doesn’t put much in his mouth.  If we give him bits of finger foods he just moves them around on his tray.  He doesn’t put them in his mouth.  He chews on his fingers (and my hair, eww).  And that’s about it.

He can’t eat even pureed food.  So for right now his nutrition is coming 100% from nursing.  I’m working hard to make sure I’m eating well for him so he’s getting good, rich milk.  And we try with solids every few days to see if what seems to be a texture aversion is lessening.  I’ve gotten a lot of suggestions for things, and I’m researching around.  I’ve also talked it over with his doctor.  For a couple of weeks at least we’re in a “wait and see” mode.  But this is very different from what I experienced with the other kids.  There’s always so much to learn, and children always have such different needs.  Parenting is definitely the most challenging job out there

I’ve written one post where I described how I planned out my meals and how I went about the actual day of cooking.  Since then I’ve been asked about the recipes I used and how everything turned out.  In other words, was the food good?

There is no doubt that having the meals in the freezer was helpful.  Scott thought it was an awful lot of work for me to go through (spending an entire day cooking) – but it was very, very worth it.

And, on the whole, the food turned out well.  I think this was greatly helped by the fact that I picked proven freezer recipes. I knew they had “passed the test” in other kitchens.

The biggest issue I came across was the portions not being quite enough for our family.  Related to this was when my mom was here; I hadn’t counted on an additional person for some of the meals (and I hadn’t considered her preferences… Mom isn’t as much into things like pate as our family is :p)  That got a little stressful for me.

Next time around I will increase the amount of meat/beans in some of the recipes.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about the guest situation – I may plan to reserve “crowd-pleasers” that come in larger quantities (like soup or spaghetti) for the days I know we’ll have guests.

I decided the easiest way for me to share my recipes and meal plans with you was via a complete menu plan for you to download.  I’ve tried to credit where the recipes came from in the recipe file, though many of these recipes have been gathered together over time and I’ve forgotten exactly where they came from!

A Freezer Meal Plan for Postpartum (or any time!)

“Right click, save as” to save your own copy!

None of my little ones have seemed too enthused over solid foods at first (you would never guess this from the way my big kids pack food away now.) Galen seems no different.

As I’ve talked about before, our family follows traditional food recommendations from groups like the Weston A. Price Foundation and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. There are talks in those groups about how no traditional culture delayed solids past 6 months. But I think even if they introduced solids starting around six months, not all babies took to the with great gusto straight away.

I am, however, trying to offer to Galen pretty consistently, and I’m being very choosy about what he gets. Galen’s first official food was a spoon of baked sweet potato covered in butter. He seemed to like that.

Most of his meals thus far have been egg yolk, however. Egg yolk and then egg yolk with a little bit of liver grated in to them. (In case you are wondering, it’s the egg white that is usually allergenic and should be delayed until baby is a year. I feel comfortable giving my baby egg yolk – I did wait several days after his first taste before giving anything else to watch for reaction.)

Some evenings he has attacked his egg yolk and liver with gusto. Other nights, not so much. He’s also had a taste of homemade chicken broth – he was unsure of exactly how to proceed with getting that off the spoon. And he greatly enjoys banging a chicken drumstick bone (all attached small bones/slivers picked off) around, but hasn’t really yet managed to the bone to his mouth.

The best starting foods for babies are not, as we’re told most of the time now, grain cereals. Cereals are really hard for babies to digest. Because Scott has a hard time digesting grains we’re planning to delay giving Galen any grains until he is 2 years old. But for all babies grains are hard to digest – the digestive enzymes for grains begin to develop in the second and third years of life. Even rice cereal is not easy to break down – and it’s also pretty worthless nutritionally.

Nutrient rich foods are the best thing to start your baby on. I always wait until six months to introduce solids though some people still like to introduce at four months. But after six months you can give your baby egg yolk (I soft boil Galen’s), tiny amounts of grated liver, butter, and broths. Babies need a lot of fat I also feel pretty comfortable with giving sweet potato, avocado, and squashes to babies around the 7-8 month mark.

I am excited about starting Galen on solids and I’ll continue to share our adventures. Enjoy the above picture from one of Galen’s first solid meals… it’s also a rare shot of him without a hat Sorry it’s grainy – it was taken with our video camera!

For more information on feeding babies check on my review on the book Healing Our Children.

The recipe came out really good – I was very pleased with it!  I do think next time I may try to use two full cans of coconut milk (rather than 1 and 1/2) to see if they’re a little more “jiggly.”  They were pretty firm but still had a “jello” type texture.  I did like that the coconut milk cream rose a little bit over the liquid which made two distinct layers in the jigglers.  I thought the top cream layer was very tasty ;p

Here’s the recipe:

Jigglers

1 1/2 cans Coconut Milk
4 Tbs plain gelatin
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup raw honey, or to taste

Place coconut milk into a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over top. Allow to sit undisturbed for 15 minutes to soften, then bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Turn off the heat, cool for 15 minutes and stir in vanilla and raw honey. Pour into a greased 9×13 inch (23×33 cm) pan and chill until set. Once set, you can cut into squares or shapes with cookie (biscuit) cutters.

I believe this recipe credit goes to KerryAnn from CookingTF but I can’t find it on her website; I’ve had the recipe saved in a text file for ages.  I am fairly sure I got it from her, however!

This recipe is part of Real Food Wednesday – see more kid-friendly recipes at Cheeseslave.

Now that we’re done I can say that we’ll stick with the traditional foods style of eating.  Not 100% because that’s just hard in “modern” life.  But I learned some valuable lessons to help make healthy eating more do-able.  The biggest thing was to make sure that I have good meals in the freezer ready to go when I need them.

We ended our challenge and went ahead and ordered a pizza right after.  The end result of that was strange.  First, the pizza did not taste nearly as good as I remembered pizza tasting.  It just tasted sweet which really wasn’t pleasant.  I wanted a cheesy, saucy taste and it was just sweet.  We decided that next time we want pizza we’re just going to make it ourselves with homemade crust.  By getting pizza we’re already getting something with gluten anyways, and it may as well be healthier than ordering from a pizza place.

The pizza also gave me an upset stomach and tore my digestive track up from start to finish, so I certainly wasn’t endeared to it at all…  It got at least one of the kids too (evidenced by the fact that our kids sometimes forget to flush after going potty).  However, nobody wanted to confess forgetting to flush

Speaking of gluten – we’re a gluten-free home because Scott is gluten-intolerant – we did try properly prepared sourdough bread on the trial.  And happily it tastes not only delicious, but Scott is able to eat it with no ill effects.  I think that’s one of the biggest bonuses of eating well, and of eating so much soup, broth, and ferment food.  Those things have helped our digestion enough that Scott can tolerate sourdough (this is real sourdough though, fermented starter and allowed a slow rise – he still can’t eat the “fake” sourdough that’s sold in most stores).  We’ve been getting a loaf every couple of weeks or so and enjoying slices buttered.  I’m happy because this summer we may actually be able to have some picnic lunches with sandwiches.  My one lament about being a “GF” house is that the ease of sandwiches isn’t available.

The kids all did well and ate voraciously (as per usual) during the challenge.  Cassidy does seem to have gained some weight, which makes me very happy.  Her face looks a bit fuller and she’s getting some padding.  I think she could stand to gain a bit more so I’m still focusing on a good fat-rich diet for her.

So where are we going from here?  I’m going to keep working on a nutrient-dense traditional diet.  I’d like to keep up with about 90% or so of our eating being traditional foods.  I’ve gotten into the habit of soaking things and I think I’ll be able to keep that up.  Using dried beans instead of canned is quickly becoming a habit

We’re also going to try and focus on more local foods straight from the farmer.  We’re planning to sign up for a CSA for our summer and fall vegetables, supplemented with our own first gardening effort.  I’m looking forward to both of those things.  We try and buy our red meat locally too, from a local beef herd and also from a bison herd.  Once we get a freezer (if we can manage it in this house…which isn’t likely) we’ll probably buy beef by the half cow which will be really nice!

I’m also taking advantage of our local buying co-op to get good food in bulk (like our dried beans, rice, and oatmeal) because bulk buying allows for a good discount and gives us the whole foods to prepare.

I’m really pleased with how un-complicated our grocery lists are now.  Vegetables, grains, and meat and dairy and we’re pretty much set.  Canned tomato products and coconut milk are about the only thing we buy in a “processed” state.  It’s nice.

And of course the food has been delicious!  I feel like we’ve really enjoyed good foods, and I’ve learned to streamline some so I can enjoy them even more   I’ll continue to work on tweaking our diet and decided some further health goals for our family – the 30-day trial system is working well for us!

Scott is absolutely addicted to chips and salsa so I really need to get around to figuring out how to make a fermented salsa for him.  I would love for us to try Zukay’s, which you can’t get anywhere close to use.  I’ve seriously considered having a case of it sent up here so we can try it… and I can study it :p

Fermented foods are full of probiotics (like yogurt!) and they help improve digestion and overall healthy.  Yummy!

I missed Real Food Wednesday last week So I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss it this week!  This week’s carnival topic is “Rookie tips from You” – dedicated to helping you get started with better nutrition.

All moms spend time thinking about how to improve nutrition.  And I think it’s safe to say the thought overwhelms you.  It overwhelms me and it’s one of the things I’m most passionate about (besides birth and babies!) I thought I’d share some simple tips for getting started, and some things that have helped me:

• Switch to real butter for flavoring cooked veggies and soups.
• Use olive oil and red wine vinegar on your salads if making your own dressing is intimidating.
• Switch to coconut oil for sauteing, or a coconut oil/butter mix.
• Buy fermented foods if making them scares you   Real lacto-fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles can frequently be found even at conventional grocers.   You can also buy yogurt and (unsweetened) kefir.
• Learn to love your crock pot.  You can make delicious real food in your crockpot easily!  You can also cook beans in your crock pot overnight.
• Roast a whole chicken in your crock pot and use the bones to make chicken stock.  This is very, very easy to do and a great basis for better nutrition.  You can even make the stock in your crock pot if you need to be away from home.
• Use your home made chicken stock in soups throughout the week.  Soups are really easy to make too.
• Soak beans and grains you’ll need for the week all at once, then store in the fridge.  This one tip has helped me a lot over the past few weeks as we’ve been eating a 100% traditional foods diet.

And a couple of tips related to children:

• Feed your children lots of fat.  At least 6 tablespoons a day is good for young children.  Give them whole milk, whole milk cheeses, whole yogurt, and butter.  If you give them salads dress them with plenty of olive oil.  Flavor their veggies generously with butter.
• Feed your children at regular times throughout the day.  Children like routine and they learn to understand that they eat at meal and snacktimes – not around the clock.  Do nurse your baby on demand!
• Do not be a short order cook!  Teach your children that what is served is what they have available to eat.  Encourage them to at least take one bite of a food they think they will not like.  Teach them to thank the cook and show appreciation for food even if they don’t care for it.
• Please see the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome if you have a very picky eater; it gives helpful advice on teaching children to eat good foods.

Get more information on how to get started with better nutrition by visiting Kelly the Kitchen Kop!

We did have a point this weekend where I had to give in and allow the use of corn tortillas from the store.  I had no other grains or beans ready to go, everyone was hungry, and my family is not satisfied with a meal that doesn’t include either grains or beans to give some sort of carb illusion.

The moral of the story – always have beans or rice or something that is properly prepared in the freezer.  Actually, I always need to have meals in the freezer that can be pulled out and cooked.

The real issue was I was exhausted.  As I’ve mentioned in my blog posts the past couple of days, last week was completely exhausting for me and by the weekend I could hardly function.  I felt like I was walking around in a fuzz and I’m just thankful I don’t have to “go to work” like Scott does.  I’m not sure how I’d manage that.

So last week highlighted again the need to have good, nutritious meals in the freezer, or the ingredients to put together quick meals with minimal preparation.  This week I’ve planned to double most of my main dishes so that I’ll have that freezer supply.

Now that Galen is here it’s going to be awhile before I can do a marathon freezer cooking session like I did to have us supplied with meals (and yep, we’ve eaten all 44 meals) – but I can double or triple recipes relatively easily.

I don’t feel burned out like I did after the first 7 days of our trial.  Last week’s issues were mostly unrelated to meal planning, and the strategies that worked to help streamline in the kitchen really have helped.  I still spend time in meal preparation – around 20 minutes for breakfast, 30  minutes for lunch, and an hour for supper – but on the whole I feel it’s going well.  I’d like to get the time spent on supper down further, and think I may try to start doing some of the prep at snacktimes.  I found that helped last year before Galen was born.

Overall we are feeling good.  The “big boys” Asher and Brennan came down with colds last week, but the rest of us didn’t.  Their colds went pretty quickly too so their bodies cleared whatever was needed to be cleared.

The big kids are all pretty cheerful and content, helpful, and strong.  Galen has been cranky the past few days and drooling a lot.  It’s early yet for teething but maybe there’s something going on down deep?  He has been going to bed easier most nights.

I’m feeling great (other than tired) and feel like I’ve been able to spend a lot of time being productive.  This is a good thing because I start to feel like I’m going crazy if I’m not “being productive.” :p

Scott says that he’s feeling good and that makes me happy.  I like providing good food that makes my family happy.

Anyways, last week’s experimentation with real wines (as opposed to cooking wines) in my recipes went well.  It was especially good with the white wine I picked for the Tuscan Chicken bake – the flavor of the wine was amazing and it came through nicely in the finished bake.  I was pleased.  This is my official good-bye to cooking wines!

This week I’m back to looking at side dishes.  My eternal challenge is actually filling my family of bottomless pits up (even Galen nurses endlessly!) Not that I resent this challenge at all – I’m pleased to be able to cook for my family (and enjoy it) and I’m pleased they’ll eat literally anything I prepare.  I’m not sure that says so much about my cooking skills as it does the depth of their stomachs.  But anyways.

Dr. Pottenger’s meal protocols included salads with both lunch and dinner and I think I’m going to try that.  I’ve already incorporated his salad plus two veggies at supper (and manage that most nights) which was well-received.  He usually prepared a simple soup at supper – just warm home made broth really.  The more complex soup was served at lunch.  I think I’m going to do that because it will make suppers easier for me.

Almost every meal this week is being doubled because I have got to get some meals into my freezer for nights when I’m exhausted, which is going to happen

Monday – B Eggs, oatmeal with cream (I’m going to experiment with breakfasts some this week but not yet sure how)

L Minestrone w/ cheese for garnish, enzyme salad, milk, kraut, steamed asparagus (hopefully with a sauce :p)

S Liver and onions, hot soup Caesar salad, steamed spinach, buttered carrots, rice, kraut, milk

To-do soak liver in lemon juice, thaw bison heart, cook lima beans + black-eyed peas overnight, make salads for the week, start sauerkraut

Tuesday – B Eggs, oatmeal with cream

L “Mom’s Vegetable Soup,” cheese garnish, salad, milk, kraut

S Easy and Delicious Chicken (didn’t get to this last week), hot soup, Caesar salad, steamed broccoli, baked squash, rice, kraut, milk

To-do start crockpot chicken early AM, thaw home made refried beans, cook white beans in crock pot overnight

Wednesday – B Eggs, oatmeal with cream

L White Bean Chili soup, cheese for garnish, salad, milk, kimchi

S Mexican Casserole, Mexican soup, enzyme salad, steamed spinach, baked squash, kimchi, milk

To-do cook pinto beans in crock pot overnight

Thursday – B Eggs, oatmeal with cream

L Beef stew, salad, milk, kraut

S Chili, hot soup, enzyme salad, baked squash, steamed broccoli, rice, kraut, milk

To-do cook kidney beans early AM, start chili in crock pot at lunchtime, crock pot cook black beans overnight

Friday – B Eggs, oatmeal with cream

L Black bean soup w/ sour cream garnish, salad, milk, kimchi

S Meatballs and Coconut sauce, hot soup, Caesar salad, steamed asparagus, baked squash, kraut, milk

To-do roll out meatballs at lunchtime, thaw liver, thaw chicken breasts, thaw whole chicken, brainstorm vegetable side dishes for lunches

Saturday – B Scott makes breakfast

L Pate, coconut chicken soup, sweet potatoes, salad, kimchi, milk

S Asian ginger chicken, hot soup, Caesar salad, baked beets, steamed cabbage, rice, kimchi, milk

To-do make grocery list and shop

Sunday – B Scott makes breakfast

L Beans and Rice, Jamaican style, salad, kimchi, milk

S Roast chicken with potatoes, Roman egg soup, enzyme salad, steamed beet greens, kraut, milk

To-do soak rice, soak oats, make whey, cook kidney beans (from fridge) overnight, start beans and rice early AM, soak kidney beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, white beans

Visit the Organzing Junkie for more menu plans!