When I started a Pinterest board for Whole 30 recipes for this little experiment, I asked Dave for a clever-er name than "Whole 30 recipes." His witticism: "half-sixty." Winning.
We are THOSE PEOPLE, starting tomorrow. We are starting Whole 30 in January. *Straight line emoji face* But we've both been curious for a while. We used to do 80/20 Paleo, but then realized we both felt fine when we ate more typically (not much processed food, but definitely allowing some dairy and grains). Paleo was also expensive, as you're eating TONS of meat, and can't supplement with rice and bread, so toast worked its way back into our breakfasts and rice into our dinners. And once Talenti came on the market, we couldn't NOT eat it. Duh.
So tomorrow begins our experiment. Esther and I flew back from Oklahoma yesterday (another post! so wonderful!), and today I got all our groceries for the week, and a lot of our meat for the month. We haven't been to Costco since we moved from Seattle, and I was pumped to learn that our membership hasn't expired. I had a rush of nostalgia and homesickness for Seattle when I flashed my card at the entrance and was bathed in that horrible bulk grocery store smell (what is that smell!?). I think it may have been Esther's first time at Costco — welcome to America, my darling.
Anyhow, I wasn't going to broadcast that we are doing this, but I thought blogging could be a fun way to see how we do, and keep track of the resources we've used. It's definitely going to be a spendy month for groceries, but I doubt we will eat out much, since there are so many restrictions, and since you can't verify if a dish has sugar in it or not. Apparently there is sugar in everything. *another straight line emoji face* --> this is currently my favorite emoji.
Here are this week's dinners. Breakfasts are pretty much just variations on eggs (eggs with spinach, eggs with kale, frittata muffins, etc), and lunches are pretty much just salads with meat (tuna, salmon, chicken, etc) and/or leftovers from dinner.
TUESDAY: lamb + green beans
WEDNESDAY: Italian sausage with kale + onions (my own very simple recipe)
THURSDAY: Thai chicken curry + cauliflower rice (also my own recipe, except for "rice")
FRIDAY: roast chicken + veggies
SATURDAY: barbacoa + guacamole
I spent about 5 hours last week researching recipes and plotting all our meals for the month. Here are a couple of links I found helpful:
Visual Guide to W30
W30 Grocery List
Clean eating at Trader Joe's on a budget
Stupid Easy Paleo
Nom Nom Paleo
Things we will miss this month: cappuccinos, peanut butter (it's technically a legume, so it's a no-no), and Sunday snack night (fancy cheese and crackers, grapes, and salami — needs to be SIGNIFICANTLY modified to be W30 compliant). But it's only 30 days, so I think we can do anything for that long.
If anyone out there has done this, please leave me your thoughts and other recipes you like! My parents are doing this with us, so I already feel like we have good camaraderie, but the more the merrier. : )