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We’ve only completed three challenges so far but my kitchen is already starting to feel a bit cleaner and fresher. How about yours?
If you haven’t noticed, these daily tasks come with the underlying theme that they’re more than just challenges – they’re changes. Our refrigerators will get dirty again and they’ll need another scrub down, but we’ll all be thinking twice the next time we stick a cucumber or eggplant in there!
The same goes for leftovers and your grocery budget – by consciously being aware of the food we’ve prepared and the money we’ve set aside for groceries, we are much more likely to be good stewards of each. It’s an inevitable by-product that didn’t require any more work or effort. Good news, eh? And less work is A-okay by me!
Unfortunately though, today’s lesson leans a bit towards the “more work” than the “less work” side. I truly am kinda sorry about that, but at the same time, I’m kinda not.
Before ya’ll start to think these challenges are some sort of evil, diabolical plan that Evil Tiffany has concocted so that you can all suffer a little bit each day, I reassure you that they are not. Each and every one of these tasks were developed so that upon completion, we’d be one step closer to eating healthier and more nutritious food.
Today’s task is not a “one-step closer” type of challenge. It’s more of a five or six-stepper. It’s big. It’s HUGE. Monumental. GINORMOUS! (Is that even a word?!?)
The task set in front of you today is like the human cannonball at the World’s Fair, minus the human. It will completely blow your mind and change the way you view food – forever.
Are you ready for it?
Day 4 – Ditch Trans Fat
Today’s challenge is to eliminate trans fat from your kitchen. Never heard of trans fat? That’s perfectly ok because today I’m over at Kitchen Stewardship, talking about trans fat from the beginner’s point of view. Here’s a snippet:
What is a trans fat?
Easy Version: it’s a perfectly good liquid oil that a chemist has turned into a solid oil using their lab equipment.
More Scientific Version: brace yourself and read my write up here, then come back.
Everyone (including those government folks) agree that trans fats are bad. They do not come from the earth. They are created by fallible man, in a lab. Our bodies are unsure what this stuff is nor what to do with it, so it’s pushed aside and stored as fat.
This is the stuff that clogs our arteries and tissues. This is the stuff that makes it harder for our bodies to work. We must get it out of our kitchen…
Some of you are probably shaking your head (and fists) at me with these processed and boxed items, but as I mentioned – I am the average person walking on the street.
– Some of these were Nana’s snacks when she was in town.
– My husband cannot resist those girl scouts and their little pleading smiles (especially when they’re in your church), and how can you say no when the smile belongs to a friend at church?
– I never even thought to read the label of hot cocoa!
We cannot take anything for granted. We must read every single label and attack with discernment. Even if the stuff inside tastes good, the trans fat inside causes it to be more like plastic than food. And frankly, that’s just gross.
Part of your challenge is to head over and read the full post – then come back here and we’ll discuss in the comments. Aren’t you curious what all was in those pictures I referred to? And just because you have to click to read the full assignment doesn’t excuse you from completing it. 😉
Oh yeah, this challenge isn’t just for the beginners either. Well seasoned real foodies are encouraged to scour their kitchens as well. We can never be too diligent with these toxins and sometimes trans fat hides and surfaces later, even when we think we’ve tossed it all.
Day 3 Update
Long time readers already know the answer, but there are quite a few new readers joining us (Hello to you! And welcome!) so I’ll give my own update for day 3 of our fresh start series.
Yes, I do have a grocery budget. 🙂
For MANY months our budget was $300 for two adults and two children. This budget currently includes all food, toiletry and cleaning items. It used to include diapers – for TWO kids – when my then 2 year old and newborn baby didn’t know how to do their business in the bathroom. However, after committing to organic chicken, eggs and butter, and eating way more produce than we ever had before, we started over spending our budget by $30 or so each month.
Mr. Crumbs and I discussed this and decided together that the changes we had made were worth the $30 each month. So as of January 1, our grocery budget is officially $330 each month for two adults and two children.
Now this doesn’t mean that we can go all crazy because the number is higher. In fact, it means the exact opposite. We must continue to be purposeful about our spending and be diligent when we choose where and how to spend our grocery budget. The good news is that we’ve been able to create a little wiggle room over the past month or two and I plan to share some of our recent discoveries with you later this month.
On a similar note, my grandma emailed me this picture last week:
Turns out she’s joining us in the Fresh Start series too and a clean fridge is the fruits of her labor. Way to go Grandma!
(For those of you who may be eyeing the jelly, condiments and milk, go easy on her. She’s 74 years old and continuously making healthier food choices. I’m proud she’s come this far and excited to see her finish the challenge. She’s proof that it’s never too late to start eating real, nourishing food!)
I gave up all bad fats about a year ago, we only have a couple labels in our house that still include them, which are things only my husband eats, his creamer and cereal.
Creamer is tough to let go. I have some friends that just can’t drink their coffee without it!
It really is amazing how much stuff it’s in. Ugh.
Kudos to Grandma for cleaning out her kitchen !
I do most of my cooking from scratch – we avoid MSG heavily for my own health (debilitating migraines), as well as HFCS and artificial sweeteners. I’d rather give the kids white sugar than any HFCS or GMOs.
That being said, I’m not giving up Velveeta occasionally. Or shortening. I can’t make a pie crust without it, yo!
However….I KNOW there are transfat free shortenings out there. I will continue to buy that. And Velveeta, well…there are worse things in the world. 😉
That being said, my husband is starting to get seriously irritated with me and my own “real food” journey – he can’t just go to the cupboard or the fridge for whatever dressing he wants; he has to eat what *gasp* I’ve made!!! 😉 hehehe. The kids won’t even touch bottled dressing right now – I’ll have to rectify that because it’s made for some embarrassing moments (“Why don’t you make your own *name the food in question here* – don’t you love us!?”) with family members.
Okay, I’m not THAT embarrassed…but they need to be gracious. This real food dilemma is such a First World dilemma, isn’t it?
Andrea,
I wanted to make mention of “Better Than a Box” with your Velveeta comment. And you can use lard instead of shortening in pie crusts – all the pros do it and theirs are so flaky!
Your comments crack me up, literally! Thanks for being a loyal reader!!
Tiffany
I think the biggest hurdle for me is finding the time to make everything myself. Still haven’t tried the dressing yet,but I will soon as we are down to our last bottle and is almost gone. I am homeschool and teach SBS and some days I barely have time to clean the kitchen and make dinner let alone my own bread,dressing,bbq sauce,etc. I know it is worth the effort,but I can’t figure out how to incorporate it in yet. Well I do make bread and when I don’t have time we have to eat something else. And tonight I made my own homemade graham crackers(my son loves them and I have determined not to buy then anymore),but I was busy upstairs tending to my sick husband and reading to my son and didn’t realize the timer went off so they are a bit overcooked-oh well. The main thing with transfat I probably have is cake mix because I just recently bought 3 boxes of it sale-oops! The biggest thing I have eliminated from my diet with transfats in it is cereal which I did a couple months back and I haven’t been able to lose weight no matter what I do and once I did that I lost a few pounds. Will be checking my pantry to see what else I can find. Ok enough rambling-I am done.
I think finding the time to incorporate it all is a baby step in itself too. There’s no way everything can possibly get done. Meal planning definitely helps because you can see the whole week (or longer) and then write down what needs to get done on specific days, in smaller portions. Congrats on the weight loss just from tossing trans fat!
Hi! Great challenges, working on the trans fat one right now. found a few,but found many “modified oil” which I read that are basically unsaturated oil made into saturated oil (Companies use those instead of the hydrogenated now). Should I also get ride of those? thanks!
Hi Marie-Elise,
That’s a very good question and one that I believes deserves quite a bit more research than I just gave it (meaning there’s a good chance I’ll do a write up on it soon!), but it appears that in order to achieve “modified” oil, manufacturers have to heat the oil so that it separates into saturated and unsaturated parts. Then they only use the saturated portion. Saturated fat itself isn’t bad for you, like when it comes directly from an animal source (think bacon fat, lard, etc.). However, if the oil has to be processed in order to achieve a solid consistency (which is the point of modification), then I would do my best to stay away. It’s not hydrogenated per se (at least not that I know of yet), but it would be an item that I viewed as this:
1. How close to a “natural” state is this item?
2. Do I have to have this item, or is it better for my family to do without?
3. If I keep it, make it a point to not re-buy again.
I hope that helps!!
~Tiffany
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the featured posts! 🙂
I thought I had been doing a good job on eating real foods, but after reading your articles this week, I am wondering about the corn and flour tortillas that are a STAPLE in our household. My tortillas say no trans fat, but all the other ingredients have me wondering. I would love to make my own, but really don’t have the time with working full time and running the household. Do you recommend a certain brand that is ok to eat? Thanks for your very helpful site!
Unfortunately Christa I don’t really trust a certain brand of tortillas. At this point I’m reading every package before making a decision. I believe that some of the artisan line from Mission are ok, but please double check before buying. Another reader suggested the ready-to-cook tortillas from Costco, but my store just recently started carrying them so I haven’t had the opportunity to read labels. My suggestion is to do some re-con work while shopping and make note of brands and types of tortillas that are safe, so that next time the leg work is done. I’m sorry I don’t have an easy answer for you!
Wow for your grandma! I am super impressed that a grandma would make these kinds of changes. Anyone who naysays your gran will have ME to deal with!! 🙂
LOL – thanks for being her brawn Carol Anne!
How on earth do you feed your family on $330 when buying organic???
Krista,
It really boils down to a few key points: meal plan, eat less meat and more produce, eat soup once a week, buy organic when it counts and make our own bread. I’d say that our success really boils down to those five things. I post all of my shopping trips, so feel free to read how those pan out every two weeks!
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/category/saving-money/counting-crumbs/
Thanks for the reply! I can do the food on around $300-$350 (including many organic items) but no way could that include diapers, wipes, toiletries, etc.! I will have to start watching your shopping trips.