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
Are you ok with your daughter eating the following items:
This is right on time! I am having a hard time at my daughter’s new school. Before we moved I was able to make her a lot of things from scratch and her teachers were on board with trying to keep her on a healthy diet. Now that we live abroad, the things I send (boiled eggs, leftovers, etc.) are not well received. Her teacher wants to meet with me to discuss her diet among other things… Here is an excerpt from an email she sent me:
Are you ok with your daughter eating some of the following:
1) Skyflake crackers
2) Fita crackers (round)
3) Plain bread
4) Healthy Option cereal — look like cheerios (small round bites)
5) Pasta
6) Cheese
7) Cold cut meats
She seems to be craving carbohydrates…as well as eating the fruits…and she does do a lot of exploring throughout the day so I think she is seeking energy foods. What do you think?”
Um, no, not most of that list. I can’t even find meats without nitrates yet but I am trying. Any suggestions on how to handle this conference? We are hardly totally traditional with our eating but I am trying to get that way and was much closer in the US. I am going to suggest some of things left in the comments but I am frustrated that they also give her crackers and things without my consent. Oh, and my daughter is in the 90%ile for weight and 50th for height. She is a big girl. And being adopted at almost age two I feel we are already making up lost time on possible nutritional deficits.
Thanks Sarah and everyone
That’s a toughie. If it were me, I would say at the conference that you are well researched on the subject of nutrition and are basing your daughter’s food choices on Traditional diets which did not include refined carbs of any kind. And, whether or not the school agrees, you hope that your choices will be respected and your wishes followed and leave it at that. No use arguing or even discussing with those who cannot be moved.
I think it’s Applewood or Applewood Farms or something similar who carry a nitrate free cold cut/lunch meat option. You’d have to do a web search to see what you can locate.
Why on earth would a school object to hard boiled eggs I wonder? That seems odd and I would get a second opinion from the school on that one. They should be more in the business of objecting to the junk served by the school, not the nutritious foods you’re sending from home. Is the whole world backwards nowadays about food?
Someone recently had a recipe for sourdough whole wheat crackers which sounded good. I’m going to try them as soon as the weather cools and I can use my oven. 😉 It might have been Kelly the Kitchen Kop of Jenny from Nourished Kitchen, but I can’t remember. Again, maybe a web search would yield something. Sourdough can be a pain, but I wouldn’t be without it in my kitchen.
I must be a meal planner. I am too fickle otherwise! Sarah, thank you for all of your work and information. Is there a good enzyme book can point me towards that I can educate myself about them?
Thank you! Know I understand. I have been giving my three year old toddler every morning a boiled egg ande know I was feeling that’s not making him so good. Really thank you.
Hi Sarah
I am just wondering what else you use your stock in besides your chicken soup as I have a freezer of stock and not sure what to use it on.
Thank you
Make lots of soup! There are many recipes on this blog if you click on the recipes section in the header.
Lara, use your stock to cook rice! You can also drink it when you feel like you’re starting to get sick. Thaw it on the stove and season it with garlic, salt, whatever herbs you like, and drink up! Use it to make sauces and gravies for meats and veggies. I like to cook greens, like kale, chard, and bok choy in bacon fat or lard with sea salt, garlic and chipotle chili powder, then add a little chicken stock to steam them until they’re tender. Delicious!
Thanks for sharing this, Sarah!
We follow a similar approach at our home. We keep meals simple and make sure to have a healthy well-stocked kitchen that makes day to day meal prep easy. I love to see my kids appreciating a simple artichoke (dipped in a super quick butter sauce). The challenge comes when they start eating meals outside the home (playdates, school birthday parties, etc…). Keeping a really clean diet at home helps to balance out those times.
Sarah, thanks for sharing the details but most importantly, the mind-set on how to create a basis for a healthy and nourishing diet for a family. I appreciate it.
I just want to know is there any difference between fermented cod liver oil and fermented skate liver oil
Here’s some info on the skate liver oil:
Similar in Vitamin A, D, & K and fatty acids as the fermented cod liver oil, but is 4 times richer in vitamin E and 3 times the DHA plus contains many of the hard to find nutrients found in shark liver oil such as Squalene, Chondrotin, and Alkoxyglycerols.
Rami Nagel’s book, “Cure Tooth Decay”, recommends skate liver oil in addition to FCLO and HVBO. It seems to work particularly well for children in building and remineralizing bones and teeth.
Blog post from Dave Wetzel of GreenPasture.org on skate liver oil:
“Skates are members of the same family of fish as Ratfish and Sharks. They are bottom feeders and found in all oceans of the world. There is limited fishing of this fish as the market for their meat is limited to just a few cultures.
“Skate livers are very large and produce a very deep orange pigmented oil. I knew little of this fish species but was told by an old Russian fisherman that i needed to make this oil. He spoke broken English so the conversation on the subject was short and to the point.
“Since the Skate Liver oil introduction I have found many historical writings on the use of Skate liver oil during the 18th and 19th centuries. I am particularly intrigued by the comparison between Dr. Prices notes on the color of oils that he identified as rich in activator X and the skate liver oil’s deep rich orange color.
“People who use the skate liver oil will defend the product as the one they need and will not give it up.”
This is my dream school:)Makes me wanna move there:)Here in oregon I have to travel an hour to get raw milk but it is no problem I am just happy to have that sorce:) and I am very concerned how the school will be when my son will see all this weird processed foods..He is a picky eater but we got there that he prefers fressly prepared meet instad salami…I think it is a good sign and the gaps diet working…
Sarah I’ve recently bought a couple of boxes of fruit rolls as my 4-year old is going to school for the first time and wanted to give him a treat every now and then.
But, OMG, these fruit rolls gave him a huge sugar craving, almost like a drug-addict!
He wanted more and more…
I have to note that my son does not have a sweet tooth at all, he’d not even taste my home-made arrowroot cookies.
He eats a lot of fruit and raw veggies (a ton more compared to your child), healthy fats and protein therefore I wonder why he got this over-reaction to the fruit rolls. Maybe he’s just too sensitive to added fructose, so no more fruit rolls for him!
I have a question about the soaked waffles. There is no leavening in it. Doesn’t it need baking soda or something?
Hi Terri, yes I use 1 tsp baking soda. I forgot to put that in the recipe! LOL