I'm somewhere in the middle with being a cook. I hate to cook but obviously someone has to do it. I cook as simply as I can. I used to do a lot of box mixes when the kids were younger, but haven't in about 2-3 years, since they didn't like them. My younger son has become increasingly a picky eater over the last 2-3 years, so I tend to cook mostly foods he likes. He'll eat broccoli, carrots, corn, or beans. So I'll steam the broccoli or carrots with most of our meals. Throw in corn or beans now and then. He likes long spaghetti with sauce and meatballs. The main meat he'll eat is chicken. Mostly a certain brand of frozen breaded chicken that I bake in the oven, but we can get him to eat grilled skinless chicken though he complains with almost every bite (covered in ketchup). Mondays and Tuesdays we have appointments from 5-6pm so I usually will get them Subway sandwiches on one of those days. He'll eat ham, but complain about it. He used to eat white basmati rice but won't anymore. He'll eat fried rice but eat it one grain at a time. Any breads we eat are whole wheat or whole grains. I'm trying to reduce white flour and white sugar in our diets, and get more fiber into our diets.

I'm fairly flexible with the grocery budget. Plus I tend to stock up since we don't have any grocery stores in our town (nearest is 20 minutes away). Hubby jokes about the grocery store in our basement! With our chest freezer and pantry shelves.

My younger son has been having stomach issues since the end of August. I've brought him to the doctor twice. He goes to the school nurse's office almost every day because of the stomach pain. The doctor said the next step is a blood test. One of the things is to test for Celiac disease (gluten reaction). I was just looking it up and was shocked at how many of the things fit--at least for myself and my 2 boys. I am definitely going to try it now. Though it still feels overwhelming to have to go through my pantry to see which foods are no longer allowed.