

Below are some helpful resources and meal ideas that don’t break the rules. Also, it is important to know when serving yourself “real food” you don’t need to eat as much as you would of the processed stuff! Get ready to fill up fast.

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Our Free “Real Food” Meal Plans

Meal planning is KEY to cutting out processed food. Our plans below include breakfast, lunch, and dinner suggestions for a family of four plus corresponding grocery lists with pricing:

Low-Cost Meal Plan Subscriptions:

While the plans we developed above are great resources, we don’t crank them out on a regular basis! Here are a variety of good options from some of our affiliate partners that will keep your menu fresh week after week. Note some may require slight tweaks to follow our rules, but all of these meal plans provide a solid foundation.

PrePear – An app with both a free and paid plan where you can create customized meal plans. The gold option lets me make meal plans for YOU! Fresh 20 – Meal plans based on 20 fresh, local and (when possible) organic ingredients. Plan to Eat – Weekly meal planning, recipe sharing, and shopping list all in one; create and share your own recipes within and add them to your planner. MOMables – Healthy school lunch ideas and family plans including Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, and Nut-Free in addition to the Classic. Once a Month Meals – Fill your freezer by creating monthly menus using freezable seasonal recipes. Super Healthy Kids – Kid-friendly meal plans that include 4 meals for each day, recipes, and instructions at your fingertips. 3, 6 or 12 month membership options. Prep Dish – Looking for Paleo and gluten-free meals? Look no further! Prep Dish is a tried-and-true source. Free 2 week trial. SmoothieBox – Get pre-portioned smoothies delivered right to your door. No sugar added, and collagen boosters included, this is a great way to up your fruit & veggie intake easily! Save $25 on your first box.

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Lunch:

For portable school, picnic or work lunch ideas check out the posts in the “school lunches” category.

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Snacks and Appetizers:

Read more on snacks by clicking on the “snack for kids (and adults!)” category.

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Salads and Soups:

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Dinner:

For a cookout, backyard BBQ, outdoor party, picnic, or camping trip check out this post: A “Real Food” Cookout.

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Basic Recipes:

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Dessert:

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Stocking a Real Food Kitchen

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Restaurant Options:

Eating out tip: Most restaurants do not offer 100% whole-wheat (a lot of “wheat breads” are made with both whole-wheat and white flours) so it is best to just avoid things like bread, breading/breadcrumbs, crusts, flour tortillas, etc. It is also recommended to ask questions when it comes to sauces because a surprising amount contain sugar. It can be difficult to avoid refined grains and sweeteners when eating out so we usually try to focus on finding restaurants that serve locally grown/raised products. For more tips including specific meals you could order at some chain restaurants check out this post.

Fish or shellfish Potatoes, beans, or brown rice Vegetable side dishes or combination plates Egg dishes Sushi with brown rice

Read more on the specific restaurants where we like to eat in Charlotte.

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General Resources and Information

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Posts Detailing our Personal Changes in Health

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Notes

1. I found “approved” sandwich bread at a bakery chain called Great Harvest. Their honey whole-wheat loaf only has 5 ingredients. You could also make your own with our honey whole-wheat bread recipe.

2. For jelly use a whole “fruit spread” variety with no sugar.

3. Ak Mak crackers are 100% whole-grain.

4. There are some 100% whole-wheat sprouted grain pretzels called “Splits” by Unique brand.