Hey guys!
I am trying to figure out how to do a meal plan for two weeks I need good whole family LC ideas. I would love to see a example of what you do yourself, any tips and ideas are much needed. I have a 3,2, and 6mo old. Me and my husband. Iam breastfeeding but find if I keep my calories high (2000 or more) I do fine.
Also we are trying to eat as organicly as possible. *sigh availabitlity has been an issue. Maybe I just don't know where to look. It is very expensive too.

Thanks in advance!

I was using that book "Saving Dinner" for a while. It's a great meal planning guide - even gives you the shopping list. (original is not LC though) I know you can sign up for a small fee online and they have a LC menu they email you.

I generally sit down with a pen and paper and go through the recipes in the book and modify them to fit the LC lifestyle. This is the easiest for me.

You could also write down different main dishes for dinners on specific days, then add to it. You could make it whatever your family will like then too! The just add the veggies and sides to meet your needs.

I generally make the main meat dish and have sides that are LC friendly (my kids love brocolli, celery & cukes so I'm lucky there!), my hubby likes white rice, so I can make him Minute Rice in a few minutes (gag). Chopping up some lettuce to make my sides a salad work well for me.

It definitely takes some time and planning, but when you get the hang of it, you get used to it.

HTH!

I too have small ones and a husband who does not LC. And I also nursed while low carb with no problems at all, in fact, my OB and our ped were quite supportive, so keep it up

For a lot of our meals, I serve *basically* the same foods, but prepared in different ways for me.

Examples:

Chili - Williams makes a chili spice mix that has no fillers, so very low-carb. I start to make the chili, then divide it in half, and add the beans to one portion only. I eat mine in a bowl with cheese, sour cream, and some green onion. The others can have cornbread with theirs or sometimes I will make it into frito pie for hubby (served over Fritos - yuck).

Tacos - I make my own seasoned meat (either ground beef with a seasoning that I make myself (LindaSue has a great recipe) or I do pork (using recipe for crockpot carnitas on this site). I eat mine on a plate with condiments (cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocado) or make it into a taco salad. The others get tortillas or tostada shells

Sandwich night - I roll up my meat (usually turkey or roast beef) with avocado or lettuce, in a slice of cheese (I use round slices of provolone) and it looks like a taco. I dip into a mayo/mustard mixture. The others get regular sandwiches and side dish. I like to make lc coleslaw or faux potato salad (made with cauliflower) for sides.

Spaghetti with meatballs - I use shirataki noodles, very little sauce, plenty of meat, and smother it with mozzarella. Accompanied by a ceasar salad. The non-lcers get regular spaghetti noodles, and more sauce.

Hope this helps!!

ok, thanks for the ideas. Any cold lunch and quick lc lunch ideas?

What are shirataki noodles? And where can I buy them?

Shirataki noodles are made with yam flour and sometimes tofu. They are super high fiber, very low carb (3g for a bowl - prob 1cup). They don't taste like pasta though - they're kind of gelatin-like, but I like them. Some grocery stores have them, and most health food stores.

Cold, quick lunches...
tuna - I eat mine in a bowl
chopped chicken salad
chicken caesar salad, cobb salad, chef salad (lots of different green salads, actually)
chopped bacon and egg salad

Mostly, I will eat leftovers or salads for lunch if I don't cook.

Just a general question.
Is it ok for young kids (less than 3) to have more carbs than adults.
I think so because as babies breast milk has a lot of carbs, but as adults, carbs become harmful. So maybe for kids less than 5, carbs are not as bad ??

My kids eat a lot of in season veggies and berry type fruits.
We keep hard boiled eggs on hand, string cheese.

Because my husband is not LC I do make sweet potato and wild rice. I make my own bread, which we go through maybe a loaf every two weeks.

Same here with the lettuce sandwiches.

My 3.5 year old naturally eats low carb. She picks the bread off and eats the inerds.

We don't do pasta here. And we also cut out as much as we can when it comes to food preservatives, food coloring and things that don't remember where they came from.

Thanks.

I was actually interested in any evidence/studies there are to indicate that children can tolerate more carbs, esp those less than 5.