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No Time To Shop

No Time to Shop? No Problem!
By Laura Cipullo and the Mom Dishes It Out Team

Sometimes it’s not even the cooking that takes the longest, it’s the grocery shopping! It takes time to plan meals before you shop and sometimes just going into the store and buying random items that catch your eye leaves you with nothing to make full meals with! There are some great services that will deliver groceries to your door, with recipes and pre-portioned ingredients, to make feeding your family easier than ever:

Plated, plated.com, delivers ingredients for recipes you can select from each week in perfectly portioned sizes so there is nothing leftover! You can become a member or pay per plate, so you can pick and choose how often you get deliveries. All the biodegradable boxes are filled with as many local ingredients as possible and are always fresh. The step-by-step instructions ensure that even a novice cook can create a delicious meal!

Blue Apron, blueparon.com, features weekly recipes on its website that you can request ingredients for or go out and buy yourself. Some of their recipes feature hard-to-get or uncommon ingredients, so the convenient ordering feature saves you the trouble of searching for these items in the aisles of your grocery store. You can easily skip weeks or cancel the plan anytime, and you can even get recipes sent right to your inbox without signing up for the service!

HelloFresh, hellofresh.com, allows you to select a vegetarian box or a classic box for either two or four people each week. Each box contains all the ingredients you will need to make the provided recipes for three meals weekly. Recipes are easy to follow and usually take under 30 minutes! They deliver throughout the country and use local providers when possible.

 

If you need more ideas for dinner, we also have great recipes here for you and your family to try!

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100 Thoughts While Shopping at Whole Foods

Photo Credit: ceiling via Compfight cc

We saw the Buzzfeed 99 thoughts everyone has at Whole Foods last month and thought it would be fun to try our own version! So here’s the 100 thoughts an RD and Mom has when shopping at Whole Foods:

1. Where is the largest grocery cart? I need the biggest one!

2. Fresh cider when it’s not even apple season.

3. But 100% juice is fortified.

4. Let me see the berries.

5. Price per pound, grown where and are they organic?

6. Organic, grown in Florida or Ca, yes will get.

7. Local, $3.99, not organic is okay as likely sustainable; get them.

8. Organic, grown in Mexico – nope.

9. Apples – organic and grown in USA.

10. Ugh they are so expensive.

11. Better to spend money in health promotion.

12. What veggies do I need?

13. What happened to making grocery lists?

14. I need to make a list before coming here.

15. I need to choose three dinners for the week.

16. Oh, I am not in the mood for planning dinner.

17. I will get dinner for tonight and send the husband back later in the week.

18. Will my kids stop climbing in and out of the cart.

19. I look like such an awful mom.

20. Why can’t they just walk next to me?

21. No, we can’t get muffins yet.

22. I know it is freezing in this section.

23. Where is my favorite kale?

24. What is this? No Swiss Chard, not Kale and not collard greens?

25. I will buy it and try it.

26. I wish I had someone to cook me delicious fresh diners every night.

27. Oh I do, that’s me.

28. I just don’t have the desire, time or energy.

29. Smells fishy today.

30. Let me see how fresh the fish look.

31. Yes, we can get flowers but only for 10 dollars.

32. Yes, those are pretty, but 20.00

33. My son is so cute picking out flowers.

34. Hold the flowers you just picked out.

35. Yes, we can get your favorite cheese.

36. Yes, get 3 of them.

37. I wonder how much this bill will be?

38. $400.00, $300., $200.?

39. Would my boys eat this?

40. The cheeses smell wonderful.

41. Don’t forget Bobby’s favorite chicken.

42. Yes, I can hold your half eaten banana.

43. Which chicken is trimmed and thinly cut?

44. Where is the white turkey meat?

45. Organic chicken tastes so much better.

46. Chicken sausage, yum.

47. With kale and pasta.

48. That will be dinner tomorrow night.

49. Greek yogurts.

50. I miss Chobani.

51. I wish Whole Foods sold Chobani.

52. Skyr yogurts – 3.00.

53. My son is worth it.

54. I will buy the Skyr.

55. Love the spoon.

56. Can any green company sell a package of eco friendly spoons?

57. I have so many forks and knives – plastic, corn, bamboo..

58. I just need spoons.

59. How can cereal be 6.99 now?

60. I am not eating that anymore.

61. I will let my son eat it.

62. I can eat something cheaper.

63. Yes, we can get mac and cheese.

64. Look for the sale.

65. Is there anything my boys would try?

66. I need to try some new recipes.

67. I hope we don’t knock anything over.

68. I am getting used to this new layout.

69. Which mustard, ketchup…

70. How does one food shop for their family if they are not a RD?

71. I wonder if they think they are buying something healthy?

72. I should have opened a store like this.

73. I remember Alfalfas, Wild Oats and oh, their delicious muffins.

74. Now Whole Foods Reigns.

75. Omg, the stuff is spilling over my cart and we have only hit half of the aisles.

76. Thank goodness I don’t have the double stroller anymore.

77. I am no longer a train conductor rather a referee.

78. Yes, yes,. Lets get your muffins.

79. I need them to calm down and be quite.

80. Should I let them eat it now?

81. It will spoil their appetite for dinner.

82. I am so tired, I don’t care.

83. They will get hungry later.

84. Let them eat their muffins and bagels now.

85. I know I will end up eating that muffin.

86. Okay back to the aisles.

87. I need to come back and look at these new food products.

88. The organic baby food business is crazy.

89. Do people realize these gummies are just like any other gummy?

90. Which line is shortest?

91. Can I carry all of this home?

92. OMG, stop hitting each other.

93. OMG, stop bumping into other people.

94. Such good little helpers when they are not misbehaving.

95. I think we should get more than ten cents per bag.

96. I should get paid by Whole Foods.

97. I am a walking advertisement for them.

98. Where is my delivery card?

99. Oh, I forgot the sparkling water.

100. Definitely doing delivery.

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The Hamburger Bun (minus the hamburger)

They boys absolutely love to go food shopping with me. So when it’s time to restock the kitchen, Billy and Bobby hop into the double stroller, and the three of us take a nice long walk to the Whole Foods in Tribeca (my favorite of their Manhattan locations).

It’s not just the boys who benefit from our little shopping excursions either; I love sharing this experience too, since it gives them the opportunity to pick out all their favorite foods while getting a taste for all the beautiful fruits and veggies on display. Quirky fun fact: They also love checking out ostrich and emu eggs.

While perusing the supermarket aisles, the boys usually grab household staples off the shelves like Kashi Heart to Heart, Laughing Cow cheese and hummus. But on our last trip, Bobby decided to pull one out of left field and toss hamburgers buns into the cart. Hamburger buns?

Of course, my gut reaction was, “Ugh, why can’t my kids try a fruit or vegetable instead of another form of bread?” It wasn’t long before I came to my senses though, and thought, “Well, why not?”

I asked Bobby what he would use the rolls for (considering he doesn’t eat hamburgers), to which he innocently replied, “peanut butter.” Case closed. We bought them.

That night, I decided to take advantage of the rolls to whip up a “grilled chicken sandwich”—a hearty and wholesome meal I knew Bobby would enjoy. (I also knew getting him to try it would be a challenge. More on that to come.)

To create my masterful meal, I simply placed Bell & Evans breaded chicken tenders between the whole-wheat buns and slathered on some ketchup. As predicted, Bobby protested, screaming that he didn’t like it even though he hadn’t taken a bite yet.

Standing in the dining room, Bobby glared at the sandwich as if it were crawling with bugs. “You like all of these foods individually,” I told him. “Just try it.” It’s true; Bobby likes chicken and ketchup and bread. The idea that he could be so repulsed by the combination of all three ingredients was not beyond comprehension.

It wasn’t easy, but after a bit of gentle encouragement, I saw Bobby out of the corner of my eye as he walked over to the once disgusting sandwich and took a bite. And you know what? He did like it! In fact, Bobby liked the sandwich so much that he grabbed the remains and brought it with him into the living room, chomping away while watching TV.

Like I’ve said before, I’m by no means perfect. But on that fateful evening, Bobby and I actually accomplished something: he tried—and approved of—a new combination of food. It was a triumph in my mind.

Would I have preferred if he ate his chicken sandwich in the kitchen, at a table, near a napkin and while my husband and I, instead of staring at the TV? Yes. But sometimes, especially when dealing with a fussy eater, you have to pick your battles.

Do your kids claim to hate foods before trying them? How did you coax them into taking a bite?