Mommy Wars- How Crunchy are You?

I’ve briefly touched on this note before but I wanted to revisit. Does your level of crunchy determine your greatness as a parent? Does the old adage “You are what you eat” hold true? If so, I’m currently ice cream, and its summer. Uh oh. Also, where were green and organic foods when we were growing up and why can’t I stomach a Lunchable anymore?These are (not so) important questions.I like to think of our family eating habits as crunchy lite. I feel that, much like parenting styles, there are levels of crunchy.They are as follows:1: Processed and Proud of it.2: Frozen veggie zone.3: I don’t care as long as it tastes good.4: We hug trees and eat McD’s (Crunchy Lite)5: So much crunch you can call me Captain.We have moved from I don’t care as long as it tastes good to crunchy lite as we’ve started a family. Funny how priorities change when you’re responsible for someone else. I have to make a quick change to our version of level four. We may eat well with some organic but we prefer Chick-Fil-A for our fast-food needs. We tried Wendy’s the other day- no thanks… funny how what we once thought was tasty becomes unsatisfying once you’re used to something different. I actually looked at Hubs and said “Has this always tasted this way? I don’t really like it.” I guess that’s good for my gut. The other thing that’s good for us, Hubs likes to cook- in fact, he’s got a YouTube channel and Facebook page where he shares what delicious meals he’s been cooking up in our kitchen. You should check them out.Anyway, our tree-hugging includes eating mostly green or organic when possible. Do we forgo all worldly processed foods? Umm no. Remember? Gummies? We also frequent the cheerio aisle and our granola bars are chewy. I will say we tried organic granola bars- you’ve never seen such a sticky toddler. Maybe when he’s able to eat like a human and not a small Tasmanian devil, we’ll try again.I do want to share how we get our milk. Our neighbor was telling us about a creamery, oooh ice cream, that delivers. As in, delivers milk to your door. In glass bottles. Hello nostalgia, I’ve missed you.  We actually did our research and priced out the difference between the green/organic milk and the green-milk from the creamery. (Green being the way it’s collected etc, not the color) The difference was too small for us not to try! Now, South Mountain Creamery went green in 2015. In a usual weekly delivery, they bring us our milk, coffee creamer, ice cream, eggs, yogurt and cheese sticks. But they have so much more! They have partnerships with farms that do meat, veggies, fruits and the list continues. I look forward to our order each week, but if ever we have extra and don’t need a delivery, we simply skip. No penalty, no hard time, simple and easy. Oh, and did I mention it all tastes great? I personally recommend the chocolate peanut butter ice cream. It’s my favorite!Now, whether you consider yourself Processed & Proud or Captain Crunchy, if your kids are happy and healthy- I salute you. What works for us may not work for you, and it doesn’t have to. But in what seems to be a continuing theme of this blog, we are all doing our best for what we can afford and what we hold important. No need to pass judgment because a family or friend chooses a different path. Eventually, we’ll all cross and share our experiences. Do what’s best for you, and I hope it all tastes amazing. Food for Thought: are you happy with how you feel after a meal? If not, maybe seek out and experiment with different options.Be Great,M