October Unprocessed

How is it the end of another month?  Term's only just started, surely.  But no, payday has rolled around, and it will be October next week.  Fans of the blog will know that that means only one thing:

Hurrah.  This year, I have decided to write down my own simple rules for the challenge.

No Diet Coke.

Less sugar.

Baking my own bread for a month.

If I can buy it as an ingredient (baking powder, caster sugar, flour*), it's OK.

Cook more and menu plan like mad.

Chinese style noodle soup for lunch are OK as they are meant to be horrible.

I will buy bread for the children, as they are super fussy about their sandwiches.  

I feel that this is within the spirit of the challenge, if not the letter.  The letter of the law is far, far too difficult to achieve if you work, have young children, and basically can't be bothered.  I've done it before, and all that happened was that I craved Diet Coke for a whole month, and then didn't want it afterwards.  I didn't feel amazing for doing it, as it's not a million miles away from my normal diet.  We don't really eat processed food as a family - processed meat such as bacon (rarely), chorizo, ham, of course, cheese, milk, sugar, but I read ingredients, and if there are more than five things that I can't pronounce, I don't buy it.  The most processed food in the house at the moment are Jordan's Chewy Bars, that Lucy loves, and I've found a way to make my own which we can do together, so hopefully I can replace those.  Jordan's Chewy Bars, for the record, contain no artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives, but do have "natural flavourings" which are refined from natural ingredients, and while are OK, can't be made in the home kitchen. 

If you want to know more about this, have a look at this website.  It really is quite interesting, and the most eye-opening thing is just how shit the average American diet must be.

*I looked this up: all UK flour is unbleached (no chlorine allowed), so it is fine to use in the challenge.