One of the most difficult decisions for every mother and wife is what to serve for meals.  Doesn't seem like a rocket science problem, does it?  Well, it isn't world shaking, but to every one of us who have to put a meal before our family each day it is important. The word "food" occurs 55 times in the KJV of the Holy Bible.  The word "eat" occurs 655 times. Sounds pretty important to me.

 

 Each region of the country is different as each family is different.  There are so many diets and eating programs out there I won't begin to try to cover them.  So for this article let me say that there is general, basic, balanced ways of planning and preparing food for your family and  I would like to share with you some that we have in our family.

 

When I was growing up I can remember my Momma always saying that we need a vegetable, a starch, a meat and bread.  Considering all the new ideas about what we should and should not eat we could argue all day about the wisdom of this.  But it has always been our rule of thumb and seems to have kept our family healthy all these years.

 

*I will say that this family LOVES to eat and it shows.  But where we may overdo on portion size the nutrition of our diet is excellent.

 

In following the idea of a vegetable, a starch, a meat and a bread;

obviously vegetables are easy. I will encourage you though to try new things.  Everyone seems to love corn and green beans, right?!  But have you tried some asparagus?  How about leeks? Or even better - some fresh greens!  You know, Collards, Turnip, Mustard Greens. 

 

Children absolutely follow their parents lead on trying new foods.  They seldom extend past where their parents will venture.  Some of the most healthy of all the vegetables are the most shunned due to cultural connotation.  Let me encourage you to take a bold step and try some new things.

 

Now - a starch.  A starch?  I know - this is not the politically correct way to classify these items - but this is what my mom called them and so this is what I call them.  Potatoes, Rice, Pasta, Dry Beans - I believe they are called "Complex Carbohydrates" now and they are important to keep you healthy.  They are the high fiber and low fat foods.  Unless you load them with a pound of butter and a quart of sour cream.  :-)))   

 

Next - a meat.  To be completely honest, there are many meals where we just forgo the meat.  Cost, selection and weather are all factors on this for our family.  Right now the meat prices in the grocery store are out of control.  This is partly due to the contamination problems and diseases that have been brought about through modern meat production.  Selection has dwindled and likewise our options.

 

On our farm, we raise chicken, turkey, rabbit, and pork.  Paul also goes fishing fairly regularly (not as much as he would like) and we freeze the fish.  One day we hope to add a dairy cow and raise a calf each year for beef.  It is incredible how simple it is to raise your own meat.  There will be more on this on our "The Farm" page.

 

And weather - I know that sounds funny, but let me explain. We have found that in the summer months, really anytime the air is hot and muggy, having a heavy meal with meat just doesn't sit well.  Our bodies are already battling the heat and digesting meat seems to make us feel more uncomfortable.  So, quite often, we will have an all veggie supper.

 

The bread!  Finally, to say just a word about the bread.  Bread is the staple of the diet.  I must have been told a hundred times as a child, "Don't fill up on meat - have a piece of bread."  Our family couldn't afford lots of meat as most families couldn't, but we always had bread.  Loaf bread as we call it.  Cornbread or biscuits is a given here in the south.  At this point, you won't find bread on the table at every meal but it is there more often than not.

 

A vegetable, a starch, a meat and bread.  I believe this will help you to plan healthy meals for your family.  Generally, if you will just use this to plan your evening meal each day I believe you will find it much easier to make the decision of "what am I going to fix?".