One bite at a time: Creating sustainable change in your pantry

I’ve spoken about some of the changes we made in relation to our evolving mind sets of eating and meal times, but in this post in I unpack the specific changes we made regarding the food in our pantry and fridge. Specifically, the food choices we make now in our family, which are different to how we ate and shopped a few years back. Nothing revolutionary for many, but for me it was a conscious choice, a line in the sand moment where I moved forward differently. So, pause, grab hold of that freshly brewed coffee and sip on it as I break it down. 

The specific changes we made came from me taking a keener interest in food, nutrition & health. I started watching food documentaries and although many were based in the US, which is quite different from the UK (phew), it was still a really helpful way to begin the process and made me aware of some key areas I could try to address and focus on in my life and home. At the same time as this I became aware of and avidly watched Jamie Olivers’ food documentaries as well as  Jimmy Doherty’s weekly show ‘Food Unwrapped’. They are so informative and interesting, explaining how some of the foods we eat are grown, made, manufactured, processed, packaged, transported, sourced, priced and mass produced all the way from the farm, science lab, factories and finally supermarket. They touch on topics like imports, GMO’s, preservatives, additives, labelling, sustainability etc but mainly focus on the food and the processes. Some of the ones off the top of my head were about asparagus, cream cheese, wasabi, stevia, and cod liver oil. The information I gathered from these shows, documentaries, further research I did myself & following a few bloggers on these topics, meant that some of my food choices were changing as a result of the knowledge I was acquiring. I ate certain things less, or opted for different versions of them, tried out new foods/ ingredients or cooked things in a different way. 

The overhaul approach didn’t work for us. 

Being an all or nothing kind of person, when I first tried making changes I completely overwhelmed myself, opting for the overhaul method. Now there is a place for this but it was not a wise choice for me. It was too much because I was changing everything at the same time and yet I didn’t quite know enough to make informed decisions on the alternatives. Shopping, meal planning and cooking was already stressful enough. At that time I had a baby on one hip and a 4 year old running around. Now with all these changes to try to navigate when I walked into a supermarket, well, I was like a rabbit in headlights: completely frozen, staring at impending doom. Looking back it’s quite obvious that it was terrible methodology for me. What was I thinking?

Niggling in the recesses of my mind, I had this nagging awareness that I needed to be careful! All the information I was gathering could cause fear in me. If there is one thing I was clear on, it was that I didn’t want to make any changes with fear as the motivation. I urge anyone making change in their life for it to be because of a move to a more positive place as opposed to fear. Don’t get me wrong the reality of some things can be eye opening and that can be a useful tool for motivation, but let it stay that: a revelation and allow the motivation of that to move to you better choices, as opposed to allowing it become a fear of certain foods or demonising them, because I can guarantee that that is not healthy either. Instead I pledged to just make informed decisions as and when I was able to. 

After a lot of stress and frustration I chose instead to focus on only a few key things to change. One step at a time. One change at a time. Without overthinking it. When something ran out then I’d look into the alternative product I would buy to replace it. It simplified it and made it far more manageable. When I looked back a few months later I could barely believe how far I had come and how many choices were now different, while most importantly having STAYED different. This method of change was sustainable, effective and (counterintuitively) quicker than my initial overhaul approach (which completely fell on its head, knocking me out in the process). My pantry looked similar to the way it had done before the changes, but when you looked a little closer the changes were actually quite significant. Or maybe I just didn’t notice the changes because they were sensibly gradual. This was extremely encouraging and spurred me on to the next step of changes. It felt a lot like when you first ride a bike and when you realise ‘oh my word I’m actually doing it, I’m riding the bike, this is happening.’ 

For any one wishing to make changes to a more whole foods approach, I recommend that you also do it gradually. I have broken down what I did below; where I started and then how I developed and evolved from there as per my convictions and preferences. The path I chose was determined by my school of thought on certain topics and what suited me according to the goals which were important to me. You and your goals, priorities will likely lead you to make different choices to me, but I’m sure there will be little nuggets in the process that you can still take away with you. Disregard the ones you don’t need.  

Before I delve into the steps, it’s probably sensible to share what my goals and objectives were:

White to Brown: 

What? I started making the simple change from white pasta, rice, bread and sugar to brown. 

Why? They are less refined, contain more fibre, nutrients and minerals, better dealt with by the body (eg lower on glycemic index so less of a blood sugar spike). If I’m going to be eating something I was to have the option which is giving me not just the carbs for energy but nourishing my body to the max too with the many other things the body needs AND with the best impact on the body. 

TOP TIP:

I know some people particularly struggle with brown rice and I know what you mean, but I urge you to try a few different types as this can make a huge difference. You can also gradually swap over with a 3:1 ratio of white to brown rice. As brown takes longer to cook than white start with the brown rice in the pan first and then add the white at the right time so they are ready and cooked at the same time. You can then move to 1:1 ration of white to brown. Overtime ease into 1:3 white to brown and eventually all brown. Help your self. Set yourself up to succeed. Give yourself chance to adapt with realistic goals and a bit of creative thinking. Obviously you can do the same thing with the pasta, flour, bread etc. 

What’s next? After I had this as a foundation I then started exploring alternative flours so I wasn’t always having gluten. I experimented with other grains and pulses like couscous (you can get wholewheat couscous too), quinoa (I found red and black quinoa varieties), bulgar wheat and just widened by experience. I even went further still and turned my hand at sprouting! Sprouting is an amazing tool for a mineral and vitamin explosion! 

Less meat:

What? Being raised in South Africa I grew up eating and loving meat. I still do but now it’s in moderation. I don’t think there is any need or sense in eating the quantity of meat that we were, so I changed it. Now when I do eat meat I opt for predominantly white meat but of course I still enjoy red meat too!

Why? The amount of meat our body benefits from having is much smaller than the large portions and frequency that we were having it, never mind the larger scale impacts too. If I am going to be eating an animal then I was to do that in a measured, responsible way. 

How? I started off by ensuring that at least one dish a week had no meat in it.

Meat free dishes can be as easy as just leaving the meat out of a recipe (easily done with dishes like chilli con carne or bolognese- I literally make it exactly the same way but without the minced beef). The meat can be substituted for more veg or chickpeas/ other beans or lentils. 

I personally would not use quorn (which is derived from the fermenting a soil fungus) or a meat substitute, but many people do and this may be an initial step you want to take to ease yourself in if reducing the amount of meat you have is a goal.

Keep the peel: 

What? I’d just always copied what I saw of people peeling potatoes, carrots etc… I stopped doing this. 

Why? There are many valuable benefits of eating the peels of may of these veggies.

How? I stopped peeling veg like carrots, potatoes, aubergines, beetroot, courgettes etc. I don’t even peel butternut squash. I find that when I use butternut squash in a curry in my slow cooker the skin gets cooked perfectly, nice and soft. This has not only sped up my cooking (especially on the butternut squash- those are a real pain to peel) and reduced my food waste, but increased the nutrient level of our meals. Score!

Breakfast Cereals: 

What? My ultimate goal on this one was to eliminate cereals altogether, but that just ended up not practical for us! So we do have cereals, but I choose ones which have no more than 5% of RDA of sugar (6% at a push) per serving and ones which use ingredients I’m happy with. Weetabix (or the own brand wheat biscuits) are the best to meet these goals, but be sure to check each new brand you try as the sugar and ingredients DO vary from one shop to the other. Other good options are oats (or finely milled oats to make the porridge oats) but my kids will not eat the latter two, if I were to wean them again this is something I would definitely have introduced early, but I missed the boat on this one, so to save a struggle, we use wheat biscuits, bran flakes (be careful on this one too as a lot of sugar is used to compensate the fibre), I don’t see the point in corn flakes or rice crispies, but these are not bad ones for the what we are looking for in our mission, so we do often opt for these nonetheless. I enjoy granola which has high sugar BUT I still go for this as I know that on the ones I’m choosing, the sugar is natural sugar usually from honey and the dried fruits it contains. Even granola without dried fruits has high sugar (not as much) due to the honey, but I would rather have honey than refined sugar or syrups. Always check the labels as some do contain added sugar (sometimes in the form of a syrup).

I didn’t want the kids to change from cereal to toast as that would likely mean that they would be eating double the amount of bread on days we have sarnies for lunch etc. But I tried to mix it up so they don’t just have cereal everyday.

Less processing: 

What? Twofold: not only trying to opt for foods which have undergone as few processes as possible, but to also reduce the amount of processed foods we consume. 

Why? I wanted to move away from food-like products and eat proper food, food as close to it’s natural origin as possible. 

How? A great starting point is with processed meats. I already reduced the amount of meat we were eating, which directly impacts this, but I further then went on to reduce the number of times we had specifically processed meats. Sometimes I swapped it out completely- so instead of pre-packed sandwich meat I started gradually buying proper cuts of meat for cold meat sandwich fillings. Now, overall, we very rarely have meat in our sarnies. Vegan products have really increased in variety and availability, but many of these are highly processed, so for me not eating meat and opting for vegan wouldn’t quite meet this objective. Another good way to do this is to make stuff at home. This is easier said than done and I do this in fits and starts because… life! Who has the time and energy to make everything from scratch all the time and frankly I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. If things made at home significantly reduce the level of processing, additives etc then I prioritise that.

Reduce animal products: 

What? Simply to do just that: the reduce the quantity of products we were eating which are derived from animals. When I thought about it, it really was rather a lot! Cheese, milk, meat, eggs… It’s surprising how easily it can creep into every meal. 

Why? I didn’t like just how many animal products we were consuming. I became aware that expecting my body to deal with that amount wasn’t the ideal way of it working. Simultaneously, I did also feel that I was helping alleviate some of the issues and pressures with regard to animal farming and some of the realities of that which I inevitably became aware of during my learning curve. That felt good too and like I was being a bit more responsible.

I don’t think I would ever completely eliminate milk or dairy (or meat) from our diets personally but I do see benefits to reducing the huge amounts we previously had consumed.

How? Even just swapping out milk for an alternative once a week or halving it with cows milk, was a significant step forward. When I make my own oat or almond milk the taste is incredible and it’s so easy, cheap and natural. Try different milks and have a go making them at home too. 

TOP TIP: 

My kids did not take kindly to a direct swap from semi skimmed cows milk to an oat milk. It was too big a leap, so I eased them (and myself) in. I mix half oat or almond milk with 1/2 semi skimmed cow’s milk. That was the right ratio for them to be happy and enjoy the cereal without it being unpleasant. Now they happily have a glass of oat milk without it being mixed. Easing in and small steps really worked so well for us. I usually make the oat and almond milks myself- they are so easy, but I do buy it from time to time if I’m short of time/ energy. 

I also gradually eased myself out of having milk with my coffee so no need for milk at all. 

Organic: 

What? I have a magnet on my fridge which says ‘Buy Organic Food, or like our grandparents called it “Food”’. This is so true! How far farming has come since our grandparents. I do see the huge value and benefit in swapping to organic food and ingredients.

Why? More natural, fewer chemicals, more nutrients.

How? At the time I started this journey, I could’t afford to do a complete swap. So I started prioritising my focus on swapping out as many of the ‘dirty dozen’ as possible. I took advantage of organic veg delivery companies offering 1/2 price on your first two boxes and buying clearance organic veg, or organic options on when on offer. There was a long period of time where the organic options were so limited in the shops which were near me, that I didn’t really have the option to buy organic and when I did, it was almost double the price of my non-organic veg. Now though that price gap is reducing significantly, and the options are far more plentiful. In just 2 years the difference is tremendous. I still mix up my shop of fruit and veg with organic and not organic. If there are no organic Braeburn apples for example, then I just buy the non-organic ones.  But where I can swap and that be a sensible price option, then I do. 

Juicing/ Blending: 

What? If the only change you make is to introduce one green juice to your day or week, then this is the one main change I would prioritise. 

Why? The reason juicing and blending is a great idea is purely that it is a super easy way of getting a huge injection of vitamins and minerals into your body easily! Think about it. You make a juice and can sip it in the car, sip at your desk, or neck it if that’s your thing. Not quite so easy to do that with a big salad is it? It just makes getting all that goodness into your body super easy! Also, if you don’t particularly like the taste of some veg then drinking it is a much easier way of consuming it too! It’s just a great idea

How? Even with this – ease yourself in. The goal with this is to have juices which only have 1 fruit portion in it, max 2. You need to watch the amount of sugar you consume. To start off with a kale, celery and beetroot juice would probably mean you wouldn’t stick at this long term. So, if you need to, start off with all fruit. Then the next week swap out one fruit with a veg or leaf portion, then the next few juices half and half fruit to veg, and work up to only one fruit portion. 

TOP TIP: blending is quicker, with less mess and less “waste”. But if the texture is too much to swallow, juicing might be easier initially. Whatever you decide is better, the simple fact is doing either blending of juicing, even if only once a week, is better than not doing it at all. 

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak 

I have to say that as we have done more and more of these steps in ever increasing measures, that our health has improved dramatically. We very rarely get colds, flu, sick. Because of understanding why I make the choices I do, I very rarely want to eat the things I think are best to avoid. The other day I fancied a Coke. So I had one and enjoyed it, but half way through I had had enough and didn’t want to drink the rest of it, so I popped it in the fridge to finish off another time. My tastes and even cravings have changed. I love it and am so grateful to see these changes taking on a life of their own in me. I never imagined I would genuinely prefer to have a couscous, rocket, lime and chicken salad instead of a McDonalds, but that has happened. Speaking about McDonalds, I had one yesterday and enjoyed it very much, but nowadays I fancy it less and less, and when I do, I don’t quite get the same satisfaction from eating it as I used to either. The ultimate evidence is in my kids. A couple years ago I did a final summer holiday activity treat with them. We went to watch the latest Jurassic Park movie (at the time). Ahead of going in we had the afore mentioned McDonalds for lunch. In the cinema they had about 1/2 of their cup of pick n mix and I allowed them to share one of those fizzy slush puppies. When we came out of the move it was 6:30pm and dinner time. I suggested that we needed to do something quick from the freezer and perhaps just pop a pizza in the oven… both the kids chorused that they really would like something healthier, that they felt they’d had enough of the not-so-healthy stuff today. I was one proud mom! I asked them what they wanted and they both fancied a plate of cut up raw veg. So I did cucumber, carrots, peppers, grapes and a couple of wholewheat crackers. They demolished it and were as grateful for it! Result… evidence to keep me going and encourage me to keep doing what I was doing. Whatever your food, health, eating goals are I hope that there are some points in this blog to take away or to underpin and encourage you.