Since 2012 is nearly upon us, I’ve been thinking  about what goals I’d like to strive for over the next year. I’ve made alot of changes around my household in 2011, and because of the results I am really motivated to continue to improve on them.
One area that I have really been altering the is  way my family does things is in the area of eating. Quite a few different factors encouraged this. While training for our marathon in July, my husband and I worked very hard to eat healthier and choose better options for our energy sources. Our favorite state to vacation in, Vermont, sparked interest in us around the areas of buying local and choosing small farm produced over mass produced, antibiotic saturated, predominantly soy and corn fed livestock products. Last year, Mike subscribed to Mother Earth News (one of my new favorite magazines), which outlines ways for people to begin making healthier changes in their lives. Finally, the amount of time I spent in the blogging world has really led me to some helpful sites and taught me so much.
So, what goals am I aiming for in the coming year?

1. Try to eliminate virtually all packaged or processed foods from my kitchen. During this current year, my family has done a great job of really paring down the processed food we purchase. Our breakfasts and dinners everyday are usually made from scratch, but there is a big breakdown when it comes to lunch time or snacks. This is where I resort to packaged products for their convenience sake. In 2012 I really want to plan ahead better and provide lunches and snacks that I have made with whole foods. Basically, I don’t want to come home from the grocery stores with very much cardboard packaging or metal cans.

2. I want to endeavor to make as many dairy products at home that I can. I’m learning how to make so many products just from milk, which I love, because that eliminates the introduction of so may preservatives, artificial colorings and flavors, and additives that are present in grocery store products. At the moment, we can’t buy raw milk, but I’m going to look into options when we move to New York next month.

3. For whatever reason, maybe because I’m forgetful, I don’t seem to have a very green thumb. However, I still think I should be able to maintain and indoor herb garden, and maybe do some pot vegetable growing to get organic veggies. Furthermore, I’m going to strive to buy as much produce as possible from farmers markets and as little as possible from the grocery store. While I haven’t figured out a reasonable way to buy all my produce organically yet, I think we really need to make the switch to organic apples, no matter how much the cost. A good friend of mine told me of a guy she knows who has cancer, and he was certain he got it from living on an apple farm, where the apples were sprayed with herbicides and insecticides no less than 17 times per season! That is a little unsettling, especially since apples are high up on the list for produce that retain the largest percentage of chemicals.

4. I’m just going to buckle down and start making my own bread each week. No, my loaves may not always come out that pretty, but they always taste better and I don’t have to root around the bread aisle trying to find bread that doesn’t have corn syrup in it.

5. Switching to healthy sweeteners.  I’ve already made some big changes this year regarding sweeteners. I use alot more Stevia, agave nectar, and honey in my cooking and baking than white granulated sugar or brown sugar, but my goal in the next year is to complete eliminate white sugar from my house, and only use brown sugar on the rarest occasions.

6. Downsize drink options. We drink alot of diet pop and energy drinks at my house. While I’m not sure I can wean my husband off these, I will strive to limit my drinks to tea, a couple of cups of coffee each day, and filtered water.

In light of these goals, here are a list of things I’m going to need to learn how to make or improve my current methods, items that my family tends to eat for snacks and lunches.

a. graham crackers
b. energy bars
c. hummus
d. salad dressings
e. cheese, primarily soft cheeses like cream cheese and mozzarella.
f. sandwich breads
g. muesli and granola
h. ice cream alternatives for the kids, like homemade yogurt pops and the sort.
i. get better at making desserts completely from scratch, instead of being lazy and getting them from the store despite the fact that they don’t taste as good as homemade.

Well, there you have it. It’s going to take me some time to learn how to plan all of this, but I think it will be totally worth it, especially for the health of my entire family.

How about you? Any big changes about to happen in your kitchen?

Seeking to fully live,