This morning I clung to my bed after a cumulative nine or so hours of sleep. My entire being clung just as tightly to the vain hope that my toddler would stop crying for me to get her out of her crib and feed her already.
Reality won out. I got up. I fed the baby. And the reality of my situation hit me, too: I’m too sluggish, too tired. And too often I use being tired as an excuse for my moodiness. But what’s my excuse for feeling so tired? I cannot wait one more day to start the Whole30 to cleanse and heal my body!
For the last week or so, I’ve been committed to starting the Whole30 at some point in the future to be determined. I made a delicious Whole30-approved dinner one night (substituting the vegetable recipe linked to “dinner” with a bag of pre-chopped frozen veggies at the last minute — Lazeo Paleo). I’ve been only buying Whole30-approved groceries. I appraised everything I ate to determine if it was probably Whole30-friendly or not.
Mostly… not.
Breakfast: organic whole-wheat-with-flaxseed bread with natural peanut butter and a tall glass of skim milk.
No bread. No peanut butter. No milk.
Oatmeal? Nope.
Raisin bran? Nope.
String cheese? Nope.
Smoothies? No milk allowed. I made a smoothie with green tea to try it out and it was not this taster’s best choice.
But this morning I scooped up the kiddo, the sales flyers, and the official Whole30 shopping list and went on a grocery store crawl!
No careful planning ahead with recipes. No careful comparing of the ads. I quickly glanced at them in the driveway (before my little girl could get mad at me for buckling her up without actually going anywhere), and in the stores I hastily circled Whole30-friendly items on sale, scooting the cart a few inches forward now and then to keep Little Miss content.
First I went to Fresh and Easy, my absolute favorite grocery store. It’s small (so it’s quick), they don’t use bizarre ingredients (so I don’t get into a moody rage when I try to shop healthy with a squirmy kid in tow), their prices are good, they give me tons of great coupons, their staff is helpful and friendly, and — my favorite part — they have lots of fresh, ready-to-cook, freakin’ delicious gourmet meals ready to go, so I can act like a wifey who has this mostly-stay-at-home thing down even when I am a disorganized Lazy-o. (Their website’s tagline is “The Joy of Not Cooking.”)
Sadly the store may also be going out of business.
Focusing on sale items and using my $5 off $25 coupon, I spent about $21 on this cartful of colorful goodies:
The waffles are not Whole30-approved. They are for my kiddo. They feel good to eat right out of the freezer when she is teething.
The grape popsicles do not have added sugar, so I think they are Whole30-OK. They will be a mess for Little Miss, but maybe a nice little workaround “cheater” item for me? Paleo-approved treats are a no-no, according to the two or three pages of It Starts With Food that I actually read so far, but come on people. This is Lazy-o Paleo.
While I was shopping, I double-checked my Whole30 Shopping List and Googled to confirm something very important:
Green peas are a legume. Legumes are not allowed.
I’m still pretty hazy on what legumes actually are, but green peas are legumes. I’ll share other tidbits as I learn them.
Then I went to Albertson’s. I don’t usually go to Albie’s because I’m a cheap-o as well as a lazy-o, but they did have some good sales.
I was delighted to find this ready-made Whole30-approved delicacy:
Look at all the chopping they did on my behalf! Chopping not only takes time, but it’s darn near impossible when you are the mommy (read: “MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY YOU MUST HOLD ME ALL THE TIME MOMMY!”) to a 14-month-old.
Indeed, they have a whole section of these goodies!:
Oooooooooh… 🙂 I see more visits to Albertson’s in my near future.
At Albie’s I spent about $22 on these goodies, including another Whole30 no-no that Little Miss is nomming up front:
The can you see is actually a stack of five cans of tuna. I wasn’t entire sure at the time that tuna was Whole30-approved (it is, mostly), but it was 88 cents.
I also got organic strawberries on sale — yum! 🙂 And, of course, Ms. Lazeo Paleo got a lot of chopped frozen veggies — no green peas included. 🙂
For breakfast I had a banana, some blackberries, and a couple organic eggs with garam marsala seasoning sprinkled in — and cooked in the microwave. Just put it in an ordinary microwave-safe bowl, whisk it together with a fork, and cook it on high for two minutes or so. Enjoy!
“Real” recipes coming soon!
Lazeo Paleo 