Grocery stores suck!

[Stephanie Brookover]

Up until now... Every day I have felt great. A little tired on day 5, but after a nice long sleep into day 6 I was doing great. I have had a decent variety of foods, but have noticed that crock pot meals make too many of the same meal and the chicken ends up too mushy by the last meal i'm eating.

I went to the grocery store to restock on my avocados and get some more fruit. Its' just the worst experience every time. The food that is good for me is so much more expensive. And I have past AISLES of food I can't eat. Like those cruchy pita chips, and carmel sauce for apples, I also have so much food at my house that I want to try new things, but i dont' want to waste whats already been made.

I have to pre cook everything and take it with me and just warm it up at work. It's all getting so blah. There are only so many ways I can add garlic or cummin to a meal to get my tastebuds excited. I just want something different, like ice cream. Ha ha... No really.

It doesn't help that this weekend with memorial day I had to watch everyone else eat cookie cake, and last night was my boyfriends birthday and his mother made cheese cake and vanilla cake and double chocolate cake..... ugh. I was proud i didn't eat it but I wanted it soooo bad.

I'm like man 20 more day. And It seemed like i felt so good last week, and then this week i've just kind of felt blah.

Any tips on excitement? ..... bored and cranky- Stephanie B

[KitchenWitchy]

I don't like crock pot meals day after day either... Usually I am good for one or two meals of leftovers and then I freeze the rest to eat later.

If you are feeling in a cooking rut, maybe some new recipes would help? There are websites with recipes, or some folks on the forum might have suggestions too. What's in your fridge now waiting to be cooked?

Hang in there! You are a third of the way through. You can do it!

[Zoodles]

When I see all those sorts of foods, I think of all the research that's been done to design "foods" or rather products that will push all my YUM buttons at once and drive my brain into an overstimulated nom nom frenzy. The psychological research as well that goes into the marketing of these things just makes me feel.... non-human. Like some sort of puppet/drone.

Thinking about all that every time I see the brightly coloured, happy happy packages and ads makes me feel rebellious and I don't want it anymore. I refuse to have my buttons pushed by the evil scientists gleefully rubbing their hands together as they find a new combination of msg/sugar/additive x.

I'm a visual person

Anyways, ginormous salads are great for lunch when you feel like something fresh. You can pre chop veggies and toss them all together before you go to work. Have you tried thai curry pastes? They're quick, and have a bit of a fresher flavour than the cumin/paprika combo. You don't need to use your crockpot, you can make a curry with coconut milk and curry paste pretty quickly and make enough for a couple of lunches. Burgers? Easy to make lots and reheat, same with fish cakes, meatballs etc. A big frittata won't go mushy, or pre make lots of coconut/almond "crumbed" chicken schnitzels... pack away your crockpot for a while and try some new things

[Jtandi]

the first week (for me) was the easiest - I was super excited, the adrenaline carried me through. and then it got harder...I actually joined a group at the beginning of the year that did 100 days...not recommended by whole30 (or myself!) but we had made a commitment and about 40 people joined, about 7 ended. I learned a LOT about how to get creative, etc.

I agree - I make things but I only will eat them a couple times and freeze the rest. that being said, I am much happier now with eating the same thing for 3 or 4 days than I was before. when you make everything you eat you get used to it!

what websites are you using for recipes? I would go through some sites, choose 3 recipes each week (so about 10 from here on out) and make one every 3 or 4 days. if you make 3 at the beginning of the week you can freeze some and have some variety.

choose some simple things for days you just don't want anything re-heated or new - I always had a package of Applegate's all natural hot dogs in my fridge. great for dinner when I just didn't want anything I'd made. dipped in some mayo and mustard they were great!

here are some of my personal favorite sites:

paleOMG (she is a riot and every one of the recipes I've made from her have been great! the chicken with shallots and dates freezes well and tastes better the second day)

everyday paleo has a fantastic Thai curry (she actually has two recipes) that I make and put in the freezer. easy to pull out, grab some frozen shrimp, sautee the shrimp and heat up the curry. if you cook it too much the veggies will be mushy when you re-heat

nomnompaleo - this is another popular one. she has a recipe for chicken and gravy...holy cow. another one you can make, put some chicken and gravy in a container, freeze and it comes out fantastic

theclothesmakethegirl - she has a recipe for "the best chicken ever". it is. but on her site it's a little different than the one in the book. you can google it and find some sites where people have posted the book version.

good luck! you can do it!

[Zoodles]

Yeah veggies don't freeze well, they always go mushy for me! I often make stews/slow cooker things with just meat and vegs that are fine when mushy (onions etc) and then just stir in some nice fresh veggies when I'm reheating or serve them on the side.

You don't have to make whole meals ahead of time, but having a couple of "bases" that you can quickly add stuff to really helps. Then you can kind of mix and match so you don't get bored.

[percypat]

the first week (for me) was the easiest - I was super excited, the adrenaline carried me through. and then it got harder...

This was totally me! "Wheeee, look at me, I'm healthy!". Then week 2 came along and I sat down to do my meal plan for the week (hubby and I try to one big shop a week so this works for us) and I was wracking my brains trying to think of tasty things I could make.

What has really worked for me has been stepping right out of my comfort zone and trying new things. Not just new things that are like my old things but with compliant ingredients, but really new things. I got lots of inspiration and a whole heap of encouragement from more experienced Whole-30ers on here, and started making my own mayo, cooking with liver, hunting out new veggies I'd never tried before. Doesn't mean you have to partake in intrepid food exploration everyday, but when you have a bit of time on the weekend or whenever, it does help keep things interesting.

I just bought purple heirloom carrots and I am so excited about eating them, purely because they are purple. They taste pretty much the same (maybe a bit more like a parsnip?) but ... they're purple! And they look so pretty dipped in the mayo that I made all by myself.