I get a lot of email requests to post my family’s weekly menu. Truth is, I’m not much of a meal planner. My approach to healthy eating is to keep the junk out of the refrigerator and the pantry (I’m pretty vigilant about this) and keep us fairly loaded up with many healthy food options at all times. I learned this from my Mom whose side of the family has some pretty significant weight issues. She taught me that if it’s not in the house, you’re not gonna be eating it. It really works!
With the fridge and freezer full of healthy options, whipping up a nutritious meal is the only option and I can be flexible and open to whatever my family is hungry for at any given meal. I tend not to cook very gourmet most of the time as two of my kids are still at the age where they prefer simple foods.
This is not to say that I don’t plan out leftovers. I do this quite a bit and will have a post primarily dedicated to this coming out in the next few weeks.
I’ve also shied away from posting my personal food log as I don’t want people who read it to think this is how you have to eat if you’re eating traditionally. There are many ways to successfully implement a traditional diet as discovered and written about by Dr. Weston A. Price in his epic work Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
I actually did post 4 days of my menu when I was on the GAPS Diet. Those of you eating that way right now might find this helpful.
But what about meals for kids?
My Child’s Food Diary for One Week
My first grader had a school project assigned last week to log everything she ate for a solid week. This project will be turned in tomorrow, so I thought it might be helpful to post this food diary for others who are new to traditional eating and basically struggling to figure out how to feed their children.
I am a little tentative to post this for the same reason I’ve avoided posting my own food diary … I don’t want folks getting hung up on the details.
The basic premise is to feed your children whole, locally produced, unprocessed foods as much as possible with liberal amounts of nutrient dense animal fats which are loaded with the fat soluble activators A, D, and K2.
Remember that the Eskimos ate very differently from the South Sea Islanders as well as the other cultures identified in Dr. Price’s book, but the common denominator is that they ate what was available locally in unprocessed form and greatly revered the nutrient dense animal fats available to them. These fats were considered of particular importance to growing children.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Breakfast
Grassfed sausage, raw grassfed milk, homemade ginger ale
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch (at school)
Antibiotic free turkey slices, organic fruit roll, veggie stix, organic grapes
Dinner
Homemade chicken nuggets (cooked in expeller pressed coconut oil), organic green beans cooked in butter, raw grassfed milk
Friday, September 2, 2011
Breakfast
Sprouted toast with sunflower butter, raw grassfed milk
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch (at school)
Boiled egg, organic fruit roll, homemade macaroons, veggie stix
Dinner
Rice mac & cheese, grassfed beef with juices, organic cucumber and carrots, raw grassfed milk
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Breakfast
Sprouted toast with sunflower butter and raw honey, kombucha
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch
Homemade chicken soup (soup had rice and veggies in it), raw grassfed milk
Snack
Carob chips and organic lollipop at a movie
Dinner
Soaked waffles, bacon, peas cooked in butter, raw grassfed milk
Sunday, September 3, 2011
Breakfast
Soaked waffles, raw grassfed milk, kombucha
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Snack
Organic peanut butter and raw honey on a spoon
Lunch
Grassfed burger, carrot stix, fresh orange juice
Dinner
Homemade chicken soup (with veggies and rice in it), raw grassfed milk
Monday, September 5, 2011
Breakfast
Soaked waffles, raw grassfed milk, kombucha
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch
Grilled cheese with bacon, broccoli cooked in butter
Snack
Milkshake (made with raw homemade vanilla ice cream)
Dinner
Pastured chicken with chicken broth, asparagus cooked in butter, raw grassfed milk
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Breakfast
Sprouted toast with sunflower butter, raw grassfed milk, kombucha
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch (at school)
Roast beef, sprouted pretzels, organic fruit roll, organic raspberry pop tart
Snacks
Organic lollipop, milkshake (made with raw ice cream)
Dinner
Grassfed burger, broccoli cooked in butter, cucumbers, raw grassfed milk
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Breakfast
Organic peanut butter and raw honey on sprouted toast, raw grassfed milk, kombucha
1/4 tsp butter oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp high vitamin skate liver oil
Lunch (at school)
Boiled egg, organic fruit roll, sprouted pretzels, carob chips
Snack
Organic lollipop, sunflower butter toast
Dinner
Pastured chicken, broccoli cooked in butter, raw grassfed milk
I know one of the very first questions I will get about this food diary is where to get the high vitamin cod liver oil and butter oil. If you check out my Shopping Guide, vetted brands of quality fish liver oil companies are provided.
Was this food diary helpful to you? Did you get any ideas for your own kids’ meals and school lunches?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
I’m very curious as to her teacher’s response …
I give the CLO (flavor of their choice…. you might have to try a few till you find the right one) first, with a dosage syringe that Green Pastures sends along. Immediately afterwards ( I already have it waiting on a spoon), I give them the butter oil with a generous amount of maple syrup over it to hide any undesirable tastes. Then they take a drink of milk or water.
Maybe you’ll need an added reward in the beginning.
It takes a while for them to get used to it, but it gets easier all the time. I think we could already do it without the maple syrup. 🙂 Hope this helps and Good Luck!
Thank you everyone.
Hi Sarah,
I am in process of switching my daughter (5 year old) and my son (2 year old) to “almost no carbs” diet, but its so hard to give them cod liver oil in a spoon. They don’t like the taste at all. I have ordered the capsules now, would that work? have you tried giving capsules to your kids? which is easier to give them? capsules or straight from the spoon? this is the most hard “food” to give them. If anyone else have any ideas, please advise.
How about in a smoothie for breakfast?
I have a 22 month old and a 4 month old. For the 4 month old I mix it with a little bit of my expressed milk. For the 22 month old I will mix it in his yogurt or a smoothie. My husband and I have a hard time taking it right from the spoon too, so I mix it in a little homemade tea and drink it fast.
Capsules are fine. Whatever you have to do and tricks you may have to pull out of your hat to make it happen, just do it! Kids desperately need this stuff and too many folks who otherwise eat pretty healthy do not give it to them which I don’t really understand. Yes, all kids will turn up their nose to it, but if you gently insist and don’t take no for an answer they will take it and eventually learn to deal with it and then one day thank you because they won’t be suffering from all kinds of chronic illness in their 20’s like most of their peers are.
We make our own homemade nut butters (been doing this since waaaay before it was “fashionable”) and we usually tried to hide the CLO in the nut butter on a tablespoon. It wasn’t 100% effective but it was a better option than trying to get kids to take CLO right off the spoon. I don’t like it myself so I use almost anything to trick myself into taking it. The kids usually followed their mouthful of oil and p. butter with a cracker or a small hunk of sourdough bread. Then a big glass of raw milk. They are all grown and married now and still do it this way for themselves and their kids. Kids teach what they learn!
I HAVE to tell this to everyone. My daughter who hated CLO, now takes it from spoon chased after with orange juice twice a day : ) but the first day, it took me more than an hour to convince her, second day it was about 10 minutes and then no problem at all.
Thank you Sarah and everyone else about the tips.
I use a glass eye dropper to give my daughter her cod liver oil. I squirt it in her mouth. She takes it just fine this way and you can aim for the back of the throat and follow with water so they don’t taste it as much. Offer stickers or quarters for taking their cod liver oil.
Loved it! I got some ideas for my 4 year old son – like ginger ale at breakfast – he’ll love that…
Thank you SO much for posting this! It was very helpful. I am wanting to start giving my children CLO as well but have just have one question. What “flavor” of CLO do you give your children? I think its great that they have different flavor options but am turned away by the fact that they contain Stevia. I have heard to stevia causes infertility in girls. Is there any truth to this? And what does “plain” CLO taste like? Thank you again. You’re AWESOME!
you made my curious about the stevia, here is what I found out about it & it makes sense http://natural-fertility-info.com/does-stevia-cause-infertility.html (read the 2nd comment after the article too!)
The plain CLO is very fishy but you do get used to it after a few weeks. Try the peppermint emulsified. Very nice. My personal preference is the licorice. Love it! I take it with no water sometimes it is so smooth.
I guess I wasn’t clear enough with my question… I was wondering how the food gets heated up at school or is it just eaten cold? I have a hard time coming up with lunches that are appetizing without the ability to heat them up before eating. I never use a microwave either… which makes it more difficult.
The kids eat their food cold at school. It is very hot in FL right now, so this is not a problem. In the winter, I tend to send thermos’ of soup or hot food of some sort.
Rosann, i have a thermos to use for my son in which i heat soup, etc. on the stove and it stays in the thermos warm until lunch. Not meaning to speak for her but i believe she does the same. Hope that helps. 🙂 Oh, i just looked and that burger she fixed was on a Sunday.
I`m still learning alot so sorry for not knowing… but have you posted a post on the benefits of these…? 1/4 tsp high vitamin butter oil, 1/2 tsp fermented cod liver oil, 1/2 tsp fermented skate liver oil I would love to read up on them.
Interesting! When you include the grass-fed burger for lunch or even the soup, does it get eaten cold or heated up? If heated, how do you do it?
The burger was grilled over the stovetop. The soup was warmed up in a pan on the stove. We never use the microwave.
I think she’s thinking these were school day lunches, when in fact it was the weekend. 🙂
I enjoyed this post! My daughter (4) is a carb-lover, too. She would live on french fries and potato chips if I let her.
I think she is doing great! I would be proud!!!