When something has to give...what gives?

[Guest guest]

Over the last year or so I've been transitioning my family to whole, traditional

foods (from a relatively healthy place as it was), and I finally feel like I am

at a good place as far as the food I serve to my family. I do occasional

ferments, I make kombucha, 90% of our food is organic, whole, unprocessed; we

drink raw milk etc. It feels great to have come this far!

However, this transition has come with a price (literally and figuratively). My

husband and I work opposite schedules and we have 2 small children, so the bulk

of our cooking and meal prep is done on the weekends. I used to be able to fit

in a workout as well as some family/partner time on weekends, but now it seems

that all I do in the time unoccupied by other commitments is cook and food prep.

I feel like I multi-task pretty well--some examples: if I'm making apple

cinnamon coconut flour muffins for breakfasts, I will also make coconut flour

chocolate snacks; if I make pancakes I will make a double batch and freeze; the

crockpot is our best friend; many of our meals are doubled and we eat leftovers

or freeze for later, etc. Yet it still seems like I spend such a huge amount of

time in the kitchen.

Another piece we are concerned about is the price: we belong to a food-buying

club; I purchase meat directly from the farmer, etc. We will have some added

expenses in the next few months and I wonder if we're going to be able to afford

the cost of food.

So I guess my question is: from a time and financial standpoint, what are your

ways of " cheating " ? Any subsitutions that you make that, while not perfect,

you've found to work? Financially, what are some ways to cut costs OR what are

some price-saving switches you've made?

Thanks so much! I love how far we've come, to revert to some of our old habits

feels so discouraging…I would love to hear your ideas and get some inspiration!