Evolution of Dinner: Part 1 - Raw Ingredients

Editorial stewardship: SupplementRelief.com | Originally published: 05/07/16 | Last updated: 05/28/26

Retired

We weren't always the "healthy eating family". We used to eat plenty of processed foods and fast food including frozen foods, sugar laden desserts, and plenty of processed junk. So, I'll be blogging for the next few days on our Evolution of Dinner...

Blog Post

This is the first post of a 5-part blog series that shares how a stay-at-home mom transitioned her family from processed foods into natural, whole foods nutrition that radically improved her family's health for the better.

My motivation to change our eating habits came from the meager budget our student loans provided, and my desire to be a stay-at-home mom. Things were tight financially with two kids and my husband in medical school, so I dusted off the 1960s copy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook I swiped from my Mom's stash. I discovered I could cook from raw ingredients and radically slash my food bills. This was not organic food- it was simply raw ingredients. No more pancake mix, frozen meals, or helpers. No! My cart at Aldi overflowed with flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, and small amounts of meat. I learned to freeze veggies and fruits in the growing season, and how to stretch each ingredient to the max. Nothing was wasted- I was on a mission to be with my babies. My mom and grandmothers had all cooked homemade, and after much practice, I was getting the hang of it.

We noticed our food tasted better, and we were enjoying my role as stay-at-home mommy. But as anyone who knows Jamie and me can attest, we just couldn't leave good enough alone. We began to wonder, "What else could we change?"

Evolution of Dinner: Part 2 - New Traditions

Please see the related Wellness Resources we have provided to support the Evolution of Dinner series. You will find recipes, grocery shopping list, shopping tips and other useful tools to move you down the path of better nutrition.