Today was our meal planning and grocery shopping day. It’ll take us a week or two to really get on track with meal planning on Paleo. Our meal plan for this week kept us mostly in the meat and produce sections of the store, which was just a little different from our normal routine. We only went into the aisles to get tomato juice and we grabbed sunflower seeds and raisins from the bulk barrels. With a cart full of meat (rump roast, pork chops, ham, halibut, free-range chicken pieces, and chicken breasts) and tons of fresh vegetables, we were expecting a hefty grocery bill. We were surprised when it all rang up well under $100. I’m confident I can get that back down to our usual (under) $80 a week with a little practice.
Loren Cordain’s The Paleo Diet recommends starting at Level I with the 85-15 rule. This means 15% of the meals we eat will be Open Meals, or cheat meals. If you’re following along, this is where some of the food you miss the most can be incorporated. A piece of toast with breakfast or potatoes with dinner is considered okay with your Open Meal.
As soon as we got home from the store this afternoon, I grabbed my crock pot and started the roast that we’ll use for a couple of tomorrow’s meals. Today’s dinner was Pollo Asado on the grill, fajita veggies, and a salad. I’m not sure if it’s normal, but we tend to eat 1/3 meat and 2/3 vegetables during our meals. We always make extra food at dinner to take for lunch the next day. Packing lunches and snacks ahead of time should make it an easier morning.
This evening I made Paleo muffins with chocolate chips that came out really tasty! I found a great recipe at Slim Palate for Banana Bread that I adapted a little. Instead of almond flour, I used sunflower seed flour. It’s easy to make and much cheaper than almond flour. You just get some sunflower seeds and grind them in a food processor (see The Kitchn for good tips). When the batter is ready, spoon into a muffin pan and bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from piercing the middle of a muffin. Since this recipe uses baking soda, the sunflowers will react and you’ll find that the muffins have turned a little green. This is normal and won’t change the taste.
I also made cashew Larabars to take for snacks this week. 100 Days of Real Food has a great recipe. I used the cashew cookie recipe and left out the peanut butter.
It’s too early to tell, but I have a feeling this week won’t be as rough as we’re anticipating. With lots of the prep work taken care of this weekend, making a few meals ahead of time plus snacks, I’m feeling prepared to take on this challenge!
Just joining and want to take a look back at my 4 Week Paleo Challenge? Look below for the links to all my Paleo posts:
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We've kept up with the 85-15 rule even though we've been paleo for about 6 months now. With all of my food allergies, it's tough to totally cut out one of my safe foods (rice).
Wow! 6 months seems like a long time to me. Congratulations on sticking with it for so long. My fiance is allergic to almonds, so it's been tough to find alternatives when baking. That's our only big problem so far. Thanks for stopping by!