Azure Standard
As I mentioned a few days ago, an amazing buying club (co-op) called Azure Standard is going to have drop off points in this area. This is a BIG deal because they are one of the least expensive places I have found for organic, grass fed, free range, natural products. Many things that we have avoided because of price, we will be able to afford now (including grass fed butter and raw milk cheese)! They pretty much sell everything. So, even though I will have to drive far to the drop off point, I should be able to get the majority of my groceries at one time, and for a good price. Some of the prices are the same as the farmer’s market… such as meat and eggs, but it’s nice to just have it all in one place. I can make a meal plan for the month very easily!
We have chosen to use the San Marcos drop point for several reasons: 1) I know the person coordinating and many of the “buying club” members (San Marcos is a second home for me since we lived there for so long), 2) It’s a great, easy location, 3) My grandmother lives right next to the location :), 4) Austin is just stressful :). And right now they are most likely going to be making the Austin drop site in Georgetown… which is about as far if not a little further. They are talking about adding a second drop point, possibly, but for now I’ll just stick with San Marcos.
Their website is great because they have a spot where you can put items in your “favorites” and when you need something, you don’t have to search for it again, you just click on it and add it to your cart. Easy and efficient.
The only downside to using Azure is that they aren’t “local” foods. But, this is the best we can do right now :). They are at least in the United States!
Our Eating Habits
We have been eating in the dining hall a lot lately, and this morning we made the decision as a family to start eating at home more. Yes, it’s nice because it’s free and easy, but it’s not super healthy, and it will just be less stressful to stay home. Robert is able to come home for lunch during the week, and dinner is rarely served during the week. So our plan for now is to eat at home except when he works on weekends. This way we can also start developing more routine. The summer will probably be a bit different, but because of the fact that he has a new position this year, we’re not sure what to expect yet, so we’ll see how that goes. We will probably eat lunches in the dining hall and dinners at home. We’ll see. Right now we’re trying to take everything one day at a time :).
I think it will help me because, as I said, I’ve been gaining weight. It will be MUCH easier to avoid temptations such as dessert and sweet tea because we rarely have those here, and dessert is served at every meal in the dining hall. It will also help with my dilemma on how to stop giving the kids french fries and other very unhealthy foods. They are so used to being able to eat anything that the dining hall serves. If we’re not in there as much, it’s not as difficult to avoid.
It’s also a great way to spend time as a family. Robert came home today; we ate lunch, then read several books together before nap time. It was perfect :).
Home
One of my biggest goals in all of this is to be home more. Going anywhere with all of the kids is very stressful and exhausting. It always messes up our routine and makes it difficult for them to get a nap, which is not a good thing :). It’s tough that we live so far away from everything, so going to the store turns into a whole day trip. So, hopefully with using the buying club and eating most meals at home, this will make life a little less stressful for us (and save us money). Instead of driving to a bunch of places, I hope to be able to take the kids for walks and things so that we are still getting out (and I’m getting much needed exercise). And eventually I will start some lessons with them again. I’m still giving myself some grace since Levi is only 2 months old. In about a month or two I would like to start planning some things with them. We’ll see :). We have set up a “school area” in Ethan’s room (the biggest bedroom besides ours), so hopefully we’ll start utilizing it soon.
These are all just goals and I’m sure we’ll have moments in which we don’t meet them :). Again, I’m just taking everything one day at a time right now. I don’t want to overload myself with too much, but I also don’t want to just give up on things that I think are important.
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