I always have a strange feeling about posting that I do occasionally go to these places online. So I will just post it. On Wed evening, between Cyan's soccer practice and Alex's Boy Scouts, we eat fast food. There, I said it. When we started this a few weeks back, my first thought was of the clutter of these little crazy toys all over my house. "Can't have that" I say... so I decided that I would talk to the kids about giving up their Kids Meal toys. I will always trade them in for another applesauce (yes they do this at Jack in the Box) or the cinnamon twist things (at Taco Bell) so the kids are not totally jipped, but you should see the looks on these poor attendents faces. LOL..... they really don't know what to do with kids who want to give the toys back for food.

It got me thinking... what else could I do to stop bringing garbage and clutter into the house? What do you do to cut back on the clutter coming in?

Val

That's a really good idea. The toys are getting pretty junky, not really even that entertaining for leaving in the car for future roadtrips.

I used to leave shoeboxes with the store, but I take home lightwght ones for shipping boxes. If the shoes we walked in with were outgrown and poor shape, we'd leave those with the salesperson too. lol. If they were just outgrown, we'd drop them in the goodwill box on the way home.

Come to think of it, I'm wishing I kept the keen box for dd's shoes because the fit wasn't quite right and she won't wear them. The box would help the resale. Small detail I suppose, just a reminder that I have a pair of shoes to get out of the house.

Geez I'm chatty today. lol.

Bring your own food. It will not only cut down on junk (fast food trash and junkie toys) but it will save you money and be better for your health (fast food is so high in salt and fat- your heart and waistline will be better off without it). At first it is hard to think ahead and pack your own food but after a few times it becomes a good habit!

I keep the Happy Meal type toys and do one of three things with them...

1. Donate them to our school to use in their "prize box"

2. Donate them to our local homeless shelter once I get a bag full, usually once a year or every two years. They told me they LOVE the still wrapped meal toys as you'd be amazed how long it can entertain a child in a bad situation...

3. We use them in shoeboxes for homeless or overseas

We also sometimes eat out due to schedules. The rule is - no happy meals (or whatever they are called, wherever we are). The kids are happier since they can order exactly what they want - i.e. one kid doesn't like french fries, one kid will only eat a plain cheeseburger, one kid will only eat salad, etc. Two of us usually gets combos and then we share the drinks that come with it. It would normally cost us $40 and now for our family of six, it costs us no more than $25 max. (still too much....but better....) and we actually have more food.

LOL I can't answer this gently. :hbeat:

Stop eating that junk! It's not even food!

Pack food. it's so easy once you are used to it. We are also on the road a lot with music lessons and hsing things.

I have non- perishables in the car (apples, water, crackers, pretzles etc), and I throw cheese, yogurt, and other things in the little mini -mate cooler as we run out the door. I've even grabbed WF deli turkey from the fridge & a full loaf of bread as we're running out. It's a simple thing to slap it all together in the car when we stop.

My kids don't ever argue about fast food. Fast food has always been my line in the sand. They have never developed a taste for it. I'd rather buy bubbles or gum, even, if they need a little pick-me-up 'bribe'. :drop:

Oh, they've had fast food, some of them, but not from me. They don't see it as forbidden fruit and they don't eat it even when they can. It's not food. Kids will get that.

I know an exhaused mother of 3, pregnant with her 4th, who has *never* taken any of her kids through the drive -though. None iof the kids (oldest is 7) has ever even had a happy meal. She is *no* saint, either. In many ways she's less crunchy than I am. But she draws the line at garbage. Think about what is in a chicken nugget...in a hamburger. It's the worst. Not to mention it's $$$$$$ for what you get.

For treats, think kiwis, playdough, drawing paper--consumables that are not harmful to a growing immune system.

I always have a strange feeling about posting that I do occasionally go to these places online. So I will just post it. On Wed evening, between Cyan's soccer practice and Alex's Boy Scouts, we eat fast food. There, I said it.

Val

let me tell you...i appreciate you being real. it's so tempting to want people on this board to perceive us in a certain way and to not talk about what we *really* do or think. and i mean even when we really don't care what other people think, we still all have our moments when we actually do care. sure you open yourself up to get some gentle rebuking or correction or whatever, but it's important to be real! thanks for that.

I just chuck them out as soon as they go to sleep that night. They've never cottoned onto this yet. As they are mostly plastic I just throw them in the recycle can.

You know, Laurie IS right. However it's not always that easy. Though I agree with all she said, and I admit that 90% of the time, we could have prepared better and grabbed food from home, there is the once in a while....:lol:

Seriously, we eat fast food too much. I am going to say on a good month we eat it every 2 weeks. On a bad one? 1-3 times a week. Blech, I know....

I DO sometimes get the cravings, and nothing beats a french fry and milkshake craving better than McD's fries and a milkshake from there...lol....but once in a while is key.

Not as a meal, I agree. I do it, but shouldn't....I know....

I have that Diet Coke and Pringles issue I don't like to discuss. Serious PMSing has me sneaking into the local corner store for that. :help:

I only throw my two cents on this when it comes up. I'd never start a 'do you eat fast food?" thread or do a fast food poll, or nothin', I swear! :monkeydan

I like food. And if you saw my thighs, you'd know for sure. heh.

I DO sometimes get the cravings, and nothing beats a french fry and milkshake craving better than McD's fries and a milkshake from there...lol....but once in a while is key.



I gotta COMPLETELY disagree on this one :shake: :lol: Since starting to WOH, the other ladies I work with grab a McD's meal occasionally when they are starving and in a rush. I hate McD's on principle, but when you are starving, you are willing to suspend things occasionally, lol. Anyway, so I TRIED to eat from there a few times. EEEEWWWWWWWW. Never again!! I point blank refuse to eat anything from there ever again. I go hungry, or take the extra time to find something better...yuck yuck yuck!!!

Not trying to be all holier than thou here!!! :D I have just been seriously puked out by McDonald's food, and canNOT understand the appeal AT ALL!!!!! :shake: What is up with it??

The only kids meals ds eats are the subway ones (he loves BK veggie burgers, fries and milkshakes though, but there is no "meal" for that) or Baja Fresh (which doesn't come with toys) so he doesn't have too many of the kids meal toys but he does love those machines that are at the exit of grocery stores. He has a tiny drawer in his nightstand which I consider his "junk drawer" and whatever he can fit in there he can keep. When I notice is it starting to get hard to close, I take some of the things out and get rid of them.

I agree with marjen about not liking kids meals though. They aren't a very good value for your money. There isn't a whole lot of food in most of them. I don't understand how kids can be filled up by them really. Even the subway ones (which are a little more substantial imo) aren't enough for my ds. He eats his and then eats some of my sub too.

That would be my addiction to Taco bell and Jack in the Box.... both of those places have A LOT of food in them. With the kids meal from Taco bell, Alex eats the whole thing and is full when he is done, Cyan gets hers and she and I split her potato thingys and then Don and I split her drink. She splits Alex's with him. We never get more than two drinks. At Jack in the Box, she trades her toy for an applesauce for Alex (her meal already comes with one so she gets one and he gets one this way) and they split the drink. Alex gets an adult burger and there you go. Meal for both with a very small overhead price.

I get what ya'll are saying about fast food. We don't eat at McD's, and we don't eat at Burger King. (Aside from about two trips per winter just to get out of the dam*ed house and play in a playland) But at the same time, it is once a week... the kids enjoy it, and I don't really care quite that much anymore. There are things I can worry about, like my caffine intake (which I don't have one... I don't drink the stuff... you wanna talk poision?) and then things I can't. lol... We all have our own issues.

We did however, make dinner tonight. It wasn't as hard as last week... But after nearly puking it up this morning (I woke at 3 with terrible morning sickness) I am not so convinced it is a better choice. LOL! (Just kidding... I just feel like dirt).

Val

I get what ya'll are saying about fast food. We don't eat at McD's, and we don't eat at Burger King. (Aside from about two trips per winter just to get out of the dam*ed house and play in a playland) But at the same time, it is once a week... the kids enjoy it, and I don't really care quite that much anymore. There are things I can worry about, like my caffine intake (which I don't have one... I don't drink the stuff... you wanna talk poision?) and then things I can't. lol... We all have our own issues.



Yeah. I am terrible about preparing food ahead to bring with us in the car. I seem to have some sort of mental block against it.:rolleyes: So many times I forget to bring anything and one of us gets hungry at some point and we end up stopping for something, sometimes it's fast food sometimes just a bag of pretzels from the store. But when we eat at home I cook great (usually!! lol) meals. It all balances out. Eating fast food once a week is not horrible and your kids probably think of it as a treat, so enjoy!:)

If were out and about and have forgotten to pack a snack, which is rare, we stop into a grocery store. Generally I don't leave the house without a few pieces of fruit, some baked goods or sandwiches. On the occasion that we're all hungry and there's nothing in the behicle, we'll stop into the grocery store and pick up some fruit or Veggie Booty or something.

It may not be as quick as the drive through, but I'd say it's probably cheaper and definately healthier.

The meat that ends up in fast food is some of the nastiest you will ever eat. It comes from animals who suffer their whole lives, basically, and has all of that suffering ingrained in every bite.

We have a small cooler that we bring if we have perishables, otherwise I just stuff a few things into a canvas bag right before we head out the door.

The meat that ends up in fast food is some of the nastiest you will ever eat. It comes from animals who suffer their whole lives, basically, and has all of that suffering ingrained in every bite.



Wow, Michelle, the way you put this really struck a chord with me. I've never thought about eating ff meat this way. :tear: We don't eat ff that often, but now I don't think I'll be able to take another bite...ever.

Ohhhh....you can disagree alllllllll you want Chantingmama, lol.....because honey, for me, there is no substitute for a craving but the real thing. :p You may not get those cravings, or may think about how nasty the food really is, so your craving goes away....but man, if I am craving a milkshake (our McD's uses real Tillamook ice cream, so fatty but not at all "all bad") and fries, it has to be McD's. Believe me, I try to think about how nasty and greasy and gross and fattening the fries are...it don't work. :drop:

Now the meat thing, blech, that I agree with. I agree with Meeshi totally. My Uncle owned and grew up around a Cal. slaughterhouse, and always told me the worst of the meat went to fast food places. They grind up, well, anything, for their "ground beef" for tacos, hamburgers, whatever...and yes, the animal suffering is horrid. I agree there. I also don't eat beef, period.

Someone mentioned caffeine.....poison?! Oh, no, never!!!! ;pot: Seriously, they say more and more now that the caffeine in natural sources, like tea and coffee, has more pros for you over cons. Soda, no, but coffee and tea? Yes. I am on that side of the bench....;)

(I actually craved McD fries for a few weeks while pregnant. Those things muct have crack in them because when you want them, nothing else is even close. Luckily that craving, and the one for Arby's Beef n Cheddar, went away without me caving. :eek: )

Ohhhh....you can disagree alllllllll you want Chantingmama, lol.....because honey, for me, there is no substitute for a craving but the real thing. :p You may not get those cravings, or may think about how nasty the food really is, so your craving goes away....but man, if I am craving a milkshake (our McD's uses real Tillamook ice cream, so fatty but not at all "all bad") and fries, it has to be McD's. Believe me, I try to think about how nasty and greasy and gross and fattening the fries are...it don't work. :drop:



Nope, noooo cravings.....I crave other junk food, like Taco Bell, and french fries from other places, but not McD's. Even the fruit shake thing I got was absolutely horrible!! Greasy, foamy, and made my stomach feel revolting!!! And I tried to get a salad roll...ewwww...they even managed to ruin that. Yuck! :shake: lol

Maybe the meat products taste better (even the fries are prefried in beef fat!), but somehow, I don't think so!!! lol

Ummm, what was your question, Val? :lol:

Hey, I threw up this morning too! This is the first time in four pregnancies that I have ever actually puked. Then, I ate fast food today, twice! I'm really having trouble eating, and in the weeks before I got pregnant or knew I was eating close to a pound of raw veggies a day, 2 cups of beans, lots of fruit and some steamed/cooked veggies. Today, on my way home from my "prenatal interview" appointment, both of my kids fell asleep on the way home, and I jumped on the opportunity to hit the drive thru of a locally owned and operated restaurant (not a chain) and got a chicken tender meal with baked potato and cole slaw, and *gasp* a cinnamon roll. This is especially outrageous because I have been dairy and gluten free. Then I ordered strawberry shortcake with ice cream and whipped cream. Then, without my asking, DH brought me seven-layer burritos from Taco Bell. It is really hard when one is feeling naseous and exhausted to even think about cooking something. And I know that is horrible. The thought of a salad right now is making me sick. Anyway, totally off topic. I say, you are doing a fantastic job, and, sadly, in this world fast food is just too easy to succumb to from time to time.

Back to your question: How do you keep crap from coming in??? I want more ideas too. DH is one of 8 kids, most of whom do not have children of their own. I am one of four. Every birthday (it is birthday time for both DS's), every Christmas, every holiday, pretty much any opportunity someone has to buy something for my kids, the crap pours into our house. I have been pretty good, but try to be polite, about letting people know what kinds of things we would like to have gifted to our children. That has helped. It has gotten worse, though, because of our food restrictions because where people would buy my kids junk food/candy (which really is worse, I think, because then they want to eat it), now they will buy some cheapo plastic piece of junk.

I guess, with that said, it is hard sometimes to keep stuff from coming in, but then I try to keep purging it, especially if it is something they never play with. My neighbor has offered sell anything I want to put in a garage sale in the coming weeks. My DS is into making money (so he can buy more junk, LOL), so I have been able to convince him that maybe a couple of things he got for Christmas but hasn't bothered to play with since could make him a few bucks.

Anyway, I guess I haven't answered your question, but I'm hoping someone has more ideas!
:)

Actually they *use to* cook the fries, pre-cook, in beef fat. They changed that to make them healthier in the early 90's, and went to "small amount of beef extract powder" to season the fries. It use to be 93% beef fat fried and 7% cottonseed oil fried. Now it's veg oil, no beef or animal oil, but they admit most of their chains still use the plants that season with the beef powder, this is true.

However they also said in other countries, the McD's fries may still be cooked in horse or duck fat.....:rolleyes:

hey, what's this thread about now?




Back to your question: How do you keep crap from coming in??? I want more ideas too. DH is one of 8 kids, most of whom do not have children of their own. I am one of four. Every birthday (it is birthday time for both DS's), every Christmas, every holiday, pretty much any opportunity someone has to buy something for my kids, the crap pours into our house. I have been pretty good, but try to be polite, about letting people know what kinds of things we would like to have gifted to our children. That has helped. It has gotten worse, though, because of our food restrictions because where people would buy my kids junk food/candy (which really is worse, I think, because then they want to eat it), now they will buy some cheapo plastic piece of junk.


:)

Well, now this one, you just may have to wait and "get even" in a few years. I bet they're all loud toys too. All those aunts and uncles that went overboard on MY kids are finally having children too. he he he. They've all gotten band-in-a-box from auntie Katie. ;pot:

We were never able to get them to curb their gift giving. So I always did a toy purge before the holidays in preparation for all of the new love coming in. And of course, garage sales every summer.

other things....

I once heard of some gals around here having "swaps" for children's clothes. They all meet up twice a year and trade. It's a neat concept but I've never been to the event and honestly don't know if it's still going on.