To see the meal plan and skip the Menu Musings, scroll to the bottom and read the bold.
In yesterday’s Everett Herald (5/3/13), our local newspaper, they had a little blurb in the business section with the headlines Kellogg plans to add more nutrients. Why in the world would Kellogg need to add more nutrients? Well, they want adults to eat more cereal since their sales are sagging in North America, and they are lacking in nutrients. Kellogg is aiming to attract people with high incomes and the baby boomer generation. Kellogg will be introducing a multigrain Special K, and they will be adding omega-3 to Raisin Bran.
Anyone who knew me at the beginning of the twentieth century knows, I was faithful to cereals at least 6 days a week, and my pantry was stocked up with rows of cereal boxes (if I had 7 boxes of cereal left, I was almost out). My interest in cereals has waned since they aren’t, often times, cost effective or nutrient dense. The cereals that you could double up on coupons, getting the cereals for nearly free, wasn’t worth the big picture cost of our health. We started opting for foods closer to their original form like granola, and steel cut oats. We still have boxed cereal, but it might be once or twice a week and it’s natural and mostly organic.
I was in a big box store the other day with my kids buying tights, and as we were walking down the center aisle my 3 1/2 year old son was asking if all of these different General Mills cereals that we were passing were healthy. I had to be proud of him that this question would even cross his mind. I did have to keep telling him, “no,” as he kept pointing to different cereals. “No, this isn’t healthy, either.” These companies have to add vitamins and enrich their products because the vitamins don’t naturally come in them.
On a different note, last fall I was inspired while perusing Pinterest and seeing different crock-pot freezer meals. Since Slow Cooker is almost my middle name (Sonja Slow-Cookin’ Sarr-you’ve gotta love the alliteration), I thought I should challenge myself to make 10 crock-pot freezer meals and see how frugal and efficient it would be. So I plan to tally the receipts, see how much it costs me and how much time it takes. I am including those 5 recipes I intend to try in the DINNER section below.
Also, if you are looking for a little culinary Cinco de Mayo inspiration, I updated my Celebrating El Cinco de Mayo with the Crock-pot or Not: 17 Slow Cooker Ideas for Celebrating from last year.
Meal Ideas for the Next 2 Weeks:
BREAKFAST:
- Crock-pot Breakfast Cobbler to try
- Sourdough Waffles
- Granola Cereal
- Steel Cut Oats
- Smoothies or Sorbets
LUNCH:
- Quesadillas with Sautéed Kale, Garlic, and Raw Milk Cheese (my new second go-to lunch)-I am adding sautéed kale and garlic to a lot of food these days
- Nacho Salad, No-cheese Cheese, Homemade Salsa (still my first go-to lunch if we don’t have leftovers)
- Leftovers from dinner like Soups
- Fruit
- Crock-pot Yogurt
- Scrambled Eggs with lots of Sauteed Veggies
- Tuna Lettuce Wraps
DINNER:
My 5 Crock-pot dinners in my self-challenge:
- Crock-pot Chicken w/Thai Peanut Sauce
- Crock-pot Barbecue Chicken
- Crock-pot Orange Ginger Chicken
- Crock-pot Sweet & Sour Chicken
- Crock-Pot Chicken Taco Salad
We’ll see how well the peanut sauce freezes. Do you have any experience with freezing peanut sauce? I’d love to know.
Other Dinner Ideas:
- Skinny Alfredo Sauce (using hidden veggie) w/Pasta
- More Lentil Chili! We gobbled it up two weeks ago!
- Lime Avocado Black Bean Quinoa for a potluck
- Cilantro Lime Pesto Recipe & Black Bean Burrito Recipe also for a potluck
- Homemade $0.61 Sourdough Bread with herbs and garlic!
- Salad
SNACKS & DESSERT:
- Apples with Nut Butter
- 4 ingredients peanut butter granola bars and 4 ingredient almond butter granola bars
- Blueberry Muffins
- Fruit and Veggies
Do you menu plan? What are you planning to make in the next couple of weeks? I’d love to hear!! See other menu plans here.
Do you need some other culinary inspiration? Go here for the complete list of recipes.
So long as Kellogg’s and other cereal manufacturers continue to use GMO’s in their deficient products, it doesn’t matter how much they try to disguise it with “more nutrients”. I will still walk by and leave them on the shelf.
Yep! We aren’t buying it anymore, either. So sad that this is the kind of food that dominates our society. If only people would get educated about whole foods. We have lots of work to do! Thank you for visiting!