Living Paleo: Be Prepared

My Paleo update: It's hard to believe that we are in our fourth month of living Paleo. I've lost 20 pounds total (hubs has lost more than that), but haven't lost anything for the last three weeks. My weight seems to be hovering around the same number, going up and down here and there by a pound, but not consistently down anymore. About 4 weeks ago I started going to Barre classes, and have noticed a crazy difference in my body (things are definitely tightening up) but the number on the scale remains the same. My nutritionist friend reminded me that metabolic and muscle memory are for real, and my body has probably gotten used to eating the same foods, of which I am totally guilty. This past weekend I pinned a whole bunch of new recipes that I am excited to try and review for you all on here, so hopefully with the new menu in combination with working out I will be shedding my last 15 pounds I want to lose in the next few months. Fingers crossed!!

In this post I wanted to talk about how to make living a Paleo lifestyle easier for yourself, as the main food preparer. My main complaint of eating this way will always be that it is time consuming. There is menu planning, multiple shopping trips to Whole Foods, lots of prep and lots of cleaning (this I leave to my husband most nights). Some days I just want to order a pizza and not have to dirty the stove but then I remember how great it feels to look in the mirror right now, and I heave my Lodge cast iron pan onto the stove and start cooking.

I try to keep my fridge and pantry stocked at all times, so that even if I don't feel like making a big to-do over dinner I can whip something up pretty quickly. There are certain things that I always have on hand:

- Grass-fed ground beef: Whenever Whole Foods has a sale on their grass-fed beef ground beef I buy enough to make one dinner that week plus enough to freeze for a future meal. I divide it up into portion sizes and freeze in ziploc bags.
- Organic chicken breasts from Costco: Good ole Costco sells a package of organic chicken breasts that contain 6 breasts, in 3 little packages. So easy to divide and freeze
- Bag of frozen wild-caught shrimp (from Costco)
- Bag of frozen Tilapia filets (Costco) - these aren't wild caught, but I don't care as they are so delicious fried up in some coconut oil
- Container of fresh crabmeat (Costco)
- Coconut Oil (unrefined) - Costco sells a giant container for $15
- Avocado & Macadamia Nut Oil (both I get on Amazon.com)
- Some sort of curry paste (read the ingredients and choose one that doesn't have sugar, and whose ingredients you are all familiar with)
- Coconut or Almond Flour - dip some chicken in a beaten egg, coat in flour and pan fry. Always a quick and easy dinner
- Canned Coconut Milk

My Boston Organics Delivery!

If you have all of those things in your freezer and your pantry, you can make dinner pretty easily. I always accompany my meat with a veg at dinner, and lately our veg has been courtesy of Boston Organics delivery service. Every Thursday morning a green crate arrives on our doorstep filled with locally grown organic produce. Thanks to Boston Organics I am now a lover of parsnips, celery root and bok choy - all things I had never had before signing up for the service. If you live in the Boston area I highly recommend signing up for Boston Organics delivery STAT!

My last bit of advice for being prepared is to always have the following kicking around:
- homemade trail mix (unsalted nuts and sugar free dried fruit - all found at Whole Foods)
- snack sticks (you can find these "slim jim" type snacks online on different paleo sites, but I cheat and get the turkey sticks they have at Whole Foods. They contain raw sugar but I don't eat them enough for it to matter - at least that is what I think :)
- Hard boiled eggs - Cover the eggs with water (about an inch above eggs), bring to boil, cover the pot, turn off the stove and put on a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes dump out the water and put them in an ice water bath. This way you don't have that ugly green ring around the yolk!
- Paleo Mayo - I found the best recipe for an immersion blender version on seriouseats.com. Click here and watch the video for 2 minute mayo further down the page.

If you have those you have instant breakfast (hard boiled eggs & snack stick), lunch (egg salad), or a quick snack you can grab and take with you - this is important if you are a busy mom like me and can barely find the time to make yourself something to eat between changing diapers and cleaning up after your kids.

I have some amazing new slow cooker recipes I tried that I want to share with you all but they will come in a separate post later this week!!