Plan

Practical tips and strategies for planning real food meals.

make real food affordable

Four Weekly Habits to Make Real Food Affordable

by Kristin Marr

Five Tips for Packing Healthy Lunches

5 Tips for Packing Healthy Lunches (kids won’t throw away)

by Kristin Marr

17 Practical Meal Planning Tips. These tips will change and simplify meal planning for good!

17 Practical Meal Planning Tips

by Kristin Marr

simple-secrets-to-saving-money-on-real-food

Saving on Real Food: 3 Simple Secrets

by Kristin Marr

simple steps real food

Five Simple Steps to Real Food

by Kristin Marr

Healthy Real Food Lunches for Kids

Healthy Real Food Lunches for Real Kids: Over 50 Recipe Ideas

by Kristin Marr

15 Real Food Budget Tips

15 Real Food Budget Tips

by Kristin Marr

Meal Planning 101: How to plan for healthy, real food!

Meal Planning 101

by Kristin Marr

10 Practical Ways to Introduce Kids to Real Food

10 Practical Ways to Introduce Kids to Real Food

by Kristin Marr

livesimplymom

Saturday 🥬🥒🍅🍓🍋🥕🥖🍳🥩🧇🥰 #livesimplyblog #shopfarmersmarkets #localfood #saturdaymorningmarketstpete #organicfoods #fermentedfoods #grassfedbeef #pasturedpoultry #simplemamahood #wapfkids #wapfkitchen #wapf #eatwholefoods #pasturedeggs #farmersmarket #stpetersburgflorida #stpetersburg

Routines are life: planning, food prep, cleaning o

Routines are life: planning, food prep, cleaning out the fridge. All of these habits (purposeful routines) allow us to eat real food in the modern day age. It took effort to develop these routines, but the reward of simplifying is so worth it. They free up our time and bring consistency and flow to the necessary task of feeding ourselves. Friday night, while the pizza cooks (because Friday is pizza and popcorn and movie night), I clean out the fridge: consolidate leftover food in containers and check what I have (so I can make informed decisions about planning for next week and what to get from the market and store). This one step makes it easier to begin restocking the fridge for what we will need for the week to come and ensures I’m using (planning to use) whatever has been leftover. #livesimplyblog #foodstoragetips #sustainableliving #sustainablefood #foodstorage #veggietips #fruittips #realfood #wapf #wapfkids #realfoodheals #mealprep #foodprep #mealplanner #simplifiedlife #naturalmotherhood #fridgegoals #fridgeorganization #fridgetour #fridgesituation

You guys know the drill: Saturday morning happy pl

You guys know the drill: Saturday morning happy place stocking our bags and then fridge for the week to come. #livesimplyblog #shopfarmersmarkets #localfood #saturdaymorningmarketstpete #organicfoods #fermentedfoods #grassfedbeef #pasturedpoultry #simplemamahood

Yesterday, I shared how I store all the veggies an

Yesterday, I shared how I store all the veggies and fruits from the market (via Instagram Stories). Knowing how to store produce is the key to making sure it doesn’t go bad prematurely. I saved the stories to a highlight on my IG story wall called “food storage.” Check it out at @livesimplymom. Next to storage, the second most important thing you can do is plan out your meals! I use weekly themes that are repeated: soup night, pasta night, taco night, popcorn and pizza night (every Friday which is also movie night), etc. With these themes, I have specific recipes and ideas I can easily plan for based on what I have, bought at the market, or need to buy from the store. Without a plan, most of the food you see here wouldn’t make it to a plate. It would go bad. I would most likely forget about ingredients or just give up on making meals halfway through the week due to decision overload (burn out). Prep work (storing produce, taking a few minutes to think about what meals you’ll make) goes a long way— saving you money and time! #livesimplyblog #foodstoragetips #sustainableliving #sustainablefood #foodstorage #veggietips #fruittips #realfood #wapf #wapfkids #realfoodheals #mealprep #foodprep #mealplanner #simplifiedlife #naturalmotherhood #fridgegoals #fridgeorganization #fridgetour #fridgesituation

(Swipe to see all 📸) This week, I decided to wr

(Swipe to see all 📸) This week, I decided to write out the lunch options so the kids can reference the prepped choices each night when they pack their lunches. As the week goes on, leftovers will be a main option too.
This has been super helpful for the kids.
At night, after dinner, they pack their lunches with the prepped foods. It’s their choice as to what goes in their lunch. Last night, they both chose honey sweetened yogurt (the yogurt dip recipe in the snack guide in the Simplified School Lunch course!), chips, cucumbers, and different fruits. The previous night, Londyn went with chicken noodle soup (warmed up in the a.m.), apples, and carrots and ranch. Piper went with quesadillas, apples, celery with sunflower butter, and chips.
This has brought a whole new level of simplicity to our mornings.
In the morning, after breakfast, the kids fill up their water bottles and add an ice pack to their lunchbox.
Lots of practice and modeling! But all that practice and modeling is beginning to pay off—both in teaching the kids responsibility and simplifying our routine. Simplify your routine with the recipes, meal plans, and food prep guidance found in Simplified School Lunch: https://livesimply.me/simplified-school-lunch-kit/ #schoollunch #planetbox #bentoboxlunch #bentobox #lunchbox #lunchboxideasforkids #montessoriathome

One of my goals for 2020 is to SLOW DOWN and ENJOY

One of my goals for 2020 is to SLOW DOWN and ENJOY food... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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One of the health wisdom nuggets I've been learning over the past year is the role slowing down has on our digestion and ability to process and use the nutrients in our food. (Thank you @backtothebooknutrition)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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There are ways to simplify real food and nourishing meals (meal planning, food prep, themes, repeating meals), but I think sometimes in our quest to "simplify" we try to rush through the process and enjoyment of our food. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We eat on the run, grab-n-go style, in front of our screens, or in a constant "fight" mode (because stress, etc.) We make the switch to healthier food but stick with the same processed food mentality of FAST, FAST, FAST!! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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But as I'm learning, part of the health benefits of real food really goes beyond the nutrients...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Of course, a goal is just a goal without action. So, here is the action I've been putting behind this goal: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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🥬🥬Use repeated themes to simplify meals: take away the planning portion (or automate it as much as possible) so I can focus more on the act of actually preparing and slowing down to enjoy that food. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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🥬🥬Set aside a block of time each day for preparing meals: shutting down my phone and computer and work at 5:30pm so I can focus on being in the kitchen. This also means saying NO to extra activities at night for the kids. This also means getting to bed by 9:30pm each night (and being strict about it) so I can wake up a bit earlier to **sit down** and enjoy breakfast. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Not only is this good for my body from a digestion point of view, but the more I think about it, the more I want to model for my kids just how important it is to intentionally set aside time to SLOW down and ENJOY food (making, eating). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What am I teaching my kids by always GOING, GOING, GOING and eating on the go, in front of my computer, or complaining about the need to make and be still to enjoy food? That's not what I want for them or me. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Tell me about a goal you have this year...

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