HI HI HI. I'm coming in hot with the details of Week 2 on the Whole30! SOOooOoOo exciting.
In Week 1 I told you EVERYTHING you could have ever wanted to know about what a Whole30 is, what the rules are, why I'm doing it, and what I did to prepare for the first week (physically and emotionally <- SO DRAMATIC). I also listed out EVERY meal Frankie & I ate the first week, where we got the recipes from, and what adaptations we made. We talked about meal prepping, my experience so far, and all that good jazz.
So let's do it again! Except without the super long explanation intro. If you're new to the blog and are confused about what a whole30 is, click on over to Week 1 and it's all explained there. SUPER GLAD TO HAVE YOU! (and i'm also super happy to answer ANY of your questions, so don't be shy).
The Meal Prep.
Personally, prepping/planning for the week has been CRUCIAL to my/our success on the Whole30. I typically spend a good two hours drafting up a list of dishes I'll be making (based on store sales, pinterest, my own ideas, and the Whole30 cookbook), a meal plan, and a resulting shopping list. I go out and buy all the groceries we need for the week and then organize them in the fridge (which has never been so packed btw).
On Sunday, I pretty much devote my entire day to planning out what we'll be eating and what i can make/do to make my own life easier later in the week. I look over my meal plan and make a list of things I'd NEED to have made for the first day for breakfast and lunch and what i WANT to accomplish on Sunday. For this week, my Sunday meal prep included making and doing the following things: chimichurri sauce, pesto, chicken pesto meatballs, shredded buffalo chicken, breakfast hash, nut bites, sausage patties, spiralizing zucchini + carrots + potatoes, cutting broccoli + cauliflower off their stems and spiralizing the stems, cutting watermelon, and cutting peppers into strips.
Now, just like last week, I'm going to give you a day-by-day look of what we were eating. If frankie and I ate different things (mainly on leftover days) i've noted it –> generally he eats what I eat but will add stuff (we rarely eat completely different things – if that happens it's noted with a | ). If frankie ate most of what I ate but not one or two ingredients it'll be marked with a subtraction sign ( – ). B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner. pretty simple, but if you have questions just ask!
Day 8
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers + watermelon
L – buffalo chicken + roasted cauliflower + zucchini noodles {ash} + week 1 cabbage slaw – zoodles {frankie}
D – week 1 steak + week 1 potato salad {ash} + buffalo chicken – steak {frankie}
Day 9
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers {ash} + banana {frankie}
L – chicken pesto meatballs + week 1 potato salad
D – Walnut crusted pork + applesauce & cinnamon + steamed broccoli
Day 10
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers {ash} + banana {frankie}
L – walnut crusted pork tenderloin + applesauce & cinnamon + steamed broccoli
D – turkey/zucchini burgers + roasted cauliflower & onions + two nut bites
Day 11
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash + sliced bell peppers
L – walnut crusted pork tenderloin + chicken pesto meatballs + roasted cauliflower & onions + carrots
D – turkey/zucchini burgers + fajita onions and peppers
Day 12
B – 2 sausage patties + breakfast hash {ash} | applesauce + 4 sausage patties {frankie}
L – buffalo chicken + carrots + fajita veggies
D – 2 hot dogs + roasted cauliflower {ash} + 3 chicken pesto meatballs {frankie}
Day 13
B – 2 sausage patties + bacon + hashbrowns + pineapple {ash} + 3 eggs {frankie}
L – brussels sprouts + bacon + shallots + pineapple
D – beef burger {seasoned with yellow mustard + spices + hot sauce} + bacon + grilled pineapple + a lettuce leaf
Day 14
B – leftover burger from Day 13 + breakfast hash {ash} | 2 sausage patties + 3 scrambled eggs + breakfast hash {frankie}
L – breakfast sausage + roasted chicken {ash} + bell peppers {frankie}
D – chicken tandoori lettuce wraps + bean sprouts + cucumbers + bacon
The cost.
SO. Like last week, I've still been trying to keep track of the overall cost of the program. I'm doing it on a weekly basis, but it won't be totally accurate because each week I've bought things that I'll use throughout the process (and likely even after) AND i started with a stocked pantry/freezer so there are things that I won't need to buy. Week 1 cost us $135 total, $67.50 per person, and $3.21 per meal. This week we spent a LOT more. I tried to figure out what it was that set us over the edge here and I think it had a lot to do with an $80 trip to Whole foods – we bought a lot of stuff that was more expensive, but necessary for some of the recipes in the Whole30 recipe book that I've been wanting to try out (I'm looking at you $9 bottle of coconut aminos). OVERALL – We spent about $255 this week – that includes coffee that I bought at dunkin donuts this week! (EEK because I learned how to make my own almond milk!)
$255 weekly cost / 2 people = $127.5 per person
$127.5 weekly cost per person / 21 meals per person = $6.07 per meal
Sooo we almost doubled our cost this week. I really think that this will be disbursed over the program though – we bought more nuts (which we've both been eating less of anyway) which are always expensive – ugh, we also bought a couple spice things (mustard powder and onion powder) which were five bucks each, we also bought ghee which was a little more expensive than I anticipated and a couple things of bacon. OH and did you know that FREAKING almond flour costs like… $12? um that's insane. INSANE. but I bought that this week too. So I'm guessing that at the very least $115 of what I spent will be transferring over to other weeks (i did a quick and dirty calculation based on receipts). I was surprised at the cost of this week but not shocked when I think about the justification – and realistically, $6 per meal still isn't awful.
The week overall.
{ash} – Honestly, week two was met with just about as much surprise at the ease as week 1. I was pretty sure that i would have all the terrible symptoms this week and I didn't. I had a few pretty bad headaches late in the day – but honestly i think that had more to do with my job/stress level than my food intake. I will say that this week I didn't really snack between meals – besides the apple and some nuts on the train. also, the desire to snack while watching tv is pretty much gone! woohoo for nonscale victories right?
I relied a lot more heavily on other resources when meal planning this week and I'm really glad I did. It gave me a little more variety and um the inspiralized burgers? WHAT. i had one and was amazed. they're SO GOOD. for a hot second there I thought “i think this might be better than any beef burger i've ever had” … then sunday rolled around so keep on scrolling through my recap.
This week I taught myself to make almond milk!! which meant that coffee was back on the table. except i make my cold brew with flavored coffee and at the last second I tried to check out if the ingredients were compliant and I got no where so I gave up and bought plain coffee. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW MARY LOU'S FLAVORS THEIR GORMET BEANS? please tell me.
um. i had another food dream! On friday I dreamt that I ate pizza (at least this one made some sort of sense) and I was trying to convince people that it was whole30 compliant, but it was a weird whole30 program mixed with the 21 day fix… okay most of the dream doesn't make sense… but i think the 21 day fix came in because i have a co-worker who is doing it right now.
Saturday overall started out really good. We went to “pregame” a NYCFC game at a friends house. I brought an apple and a hint water. There were tons of questions and we had to really explain what we were doing and why. We made it through everything okay and were fine at the game. On our way home, frankie suggested getting Bare Burger for dinner instead of me making stuff. I had heard that Bare Burger is a frequent spot visited by Whole30ers and could even see what they ordered from blogs or insta! But by the time we got home I was so hungry and I started stressing out about it. Fast forward thirty minutes and I've read Bare Burgers menu/FAQ/About sections on their website and I'm practically in tears.
I honestly DONT get how people eat out while doing this program, i really don't. I was reading meal recaps from blogs where people were eating the french fries, or the bacon, or had dressings from Bare Burger and I'm like HOW DO YOU KNOW. how can you tell there's no sugar in your bacon. i don't get it. ultimately frankie saw me starting to get stressed and he says “you look… sad.” and holding back tears I yell “I AM SAD. i want to be able to do this but i don't think i can. i just don't get it. i don't understand how they know. i want to be able to but i can't.”
Frankie was super good about it and we ended up picking up stuff at the store to make burgers at home… which probably ended up being the actual best burger i've ever had. frankie took one bite and goes “this is going to be a non-whole30 recipe, just so you know.” he INHALED IT. and was so sad when i said we didn't have anymore. He was also sad for you guys that I didn't photograph it. I've been informed it's probably the best thing i've made in a long time and it “needs” to be on the blog.
{frankie} – during week 2, frankie had a few cravings here and there but nothing too intense. he said that he's still surprised that he hasn't really felt hungry between meals, which he thinks is helping him not “need” to snack. since we've started the whole30, he feels like he has a better sense of when he's hungry and how frequently he has to eat. after last week when he felt nauseous after soccer, he started bringing fruit and almonds/cashews with him to have as a small snack before playing and then finishes the rest afterwards, and that's been working. P.S. I feel like I mentioned this on the blog somewhere else, but he informed me that when he eats he feels like fruits or vegetables are “tastier” when I asked for examples he said “for instance this pineapple tastes like candy!” … he had no vegetable examples….
he is almost finished reading It Starts with Food and finds it really interesting. FYI this is a boy who LOATHES reading. literally scoffs at me when i read for fun, so that's saying something. when we went to “pregame” the NYCFC game, he said it was weird not drinking when everyone else was. he said it really wasn't that bad but he definitely would have liked to have been able to drink with everyone. (sidebar: I'm SUPER proud of him for not drinking through this! initially he was going to do a “only red wine version” but he's stayed true to the spirit of the program completely!) after the game, he was pretty hungry because we had an early lunch and he was craving a burger…hence him asking to get Bare Burger…he said he LOVED the burgers that I made for us at home and was shocked that he liked it with the pineapple on top! (his sister said she wouldn't be into having pineapple on a burger and he practically accosted her and informed her that she WOULD love it.) he said that he could eat that at every meal and be perfectly fine with that! so naturally, the recipe will come your way soon! that's about it from his perspective. I can't stress enough how impressed I am that he hasn't cheated or even complained about this! I don't know what it is that's making it easy for him (the fact that I do all the work or I'm an awesome cook {AND HUMBLE} or that he's actually enjoying the “experiment”) but he's actually mad that he'll have to cut his time short (he leaves for Disney on day 26 I believe) – so I can definitely say he's not hating it!
Weekly Resources
prior week recipes: any recipes that are labeled as week 1 would be detailed here.
recipes from the whole30 cookbook: sausage patties {adapted} + walnut crusted pork tenderloin
my recipes: buffalo chicken {adapted: left out the buffalo sauce and only used frank's red hot (1/2 cup) + subbed ghee for butter + left out ranch seasoning} + roasted chicken {adapted: everyday method, subbed olive oil for the grapeseed oil} + roasted cauliflower {adapted: subbed olive oil for the grapeseed oil} + nut bites & almond milk for coffee {recipes coming your way soon} + cold brew coffee {adapted: omitted cocoa powder and vanilla extract}
other places: turkey zucchini noodle burgers {no adaptations! these suckers are whole30 compliant all on their own!} + tandoori sauce {I used the sauce over some of my roasted chicken ^ recipe link above – I didn't shred it, left it cubed and put it in lettuce wraps with a drizzle of extra sauce}
You guys, your support and comments have been SO reassuring. it feels like i have a whole community behind me. I can't say thank you enough. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you. Does anyone who's done the Whole30 have suggestions on eating out? HOW DO YOU DO IT??
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