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Those who don’t know us often assume that we get to travel full-time because we hit the jackpot or retired early. Yeah, I wish!
The truth is, I still have to work and make a living from the road so we can afford to do this. Thankfully, I already owned my own design and web development company so transitioning to working remotely was easy.
My clients were located around the country - and some even out of the country. They didn’t care if I was in Tennessee or Brazil. But supporting a family of 6 with your own company is hard - and we knew when we renovated our 1972 vintage Airstream that I was going to need a workspace to call my own.
Cramming 2 adults and 4 kids into 220 square feet was a major feat of design and planning in itself. How would we make space for me to get my work done, too?
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It’s. A. Struggle!!
Honestly I thought it would be easier to eat healthy on the road. Little did I know that we would fall in love with camping off-grid in remote areas which usually results in a lack of decent grocery stores. I mean, finding out that the local grocery store is also a the hardware store is not something that even phases me now. At first it was shocking, but now I’m like… "Okay, that’s normal."
We’ve relied on granola bars for hiking and way too may processed foods to make it easier for us to spend less time in the kitchen and more time exploring. But that’s about to get flipped upside down. As of April first things are going to drastically change here in this Tiny Shiny Home.
My goal for April is to eat all real food. You heard me right! A long time ago, back in 2014 we did Whole30. I still remember how amazing I felt, but I also remember how incredibly hard it was for me. However, since we’ve been really good at intermittent fasting over the last year, I’m hoping that it won’t be as bad this time around.
Committing to something like this is huge for us. Especially when we’re in a different location each week or two. Finding a good grocery store is hard, food prep in a tiny space is maddening, but I’m determined.
I will make a meal plan each week and do my best to stick with it (something I'm not very good at). I’m hoping to share our journey both here on our blog as well as on our Instagram stories. I’ll be linking to recipes and sharing photos as well as what we thought of each meal. We have one kid who may struggle a bit so finding things that he’ll eat will be a challenge but I’m committed to making sure we have meals that all of us will like. Fingers crossed!
So, if you’d like to join us for the month of April in eating real food, we’d love to have you follow along! Comment below if you'll be joining us, and check out our stories on Instagram for meal ideas and how we'll be prepping food in such a tiny space! Use the hashtag #tinyshinyrealfood when you share your meals and we'll feature your post on our stories!
Since I already have a good idea of what I’ll make the first week, below you’ll find my grocery list and links to some recipes I’ll be trying the first week of April. Let's do this!
Meals
Grocery List
Somethings I need for these recipes I already have on hand. But here's what I'll be buying for the first week.
Meats
- Chicken thighs - lots
- Beef Strips
- Ground Chicken
- Ground Pork
- Ground Beef
- Flank Steak
- Bacon (without sugar and bad stuff)
- Applegate Turkey Lunchmeat
Produce
- Avocados
- Onions
- Sweet Potatoes
- Small Red Potatoes
- Cauliflower - 4
- Bell Peppers
- Limes
- Fresh Ginger
- Pineapple
- Garlic
- Jalapenos
- Cilantro
- Green Onions
- Cucumber
- Zucchini
- Tomatoes
- Basil Plant
- Dill
- Spaghetti Squash
- Broccoli
- Red Cabbage
- Romaine Lettuce
- Sprouts?
- Pears
- Bananas
- Strawberries
Frozen
- blueberries
- strawberries
- mango
Cold Stuff
- Butter - to make ghee
- Eggs
Bottles/Canned Goods
- Coconut Milk
- New Primal Buffalo Sauce
- Avocado Oil Mayo
- Can of Green Chilies
- 8oz Tomato Sauce
- 6oz Tomato Paste
- Pickles
Spices
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Parsley
- Pink Sea Salt
- Dried Dill
- Chipotle Chili Powder
- Liquid Smoke
And there you have it! That looks like a lot of stuff! I'm sure our grocery budget will increase a bit, but we'll just dip into our 'eat out budget' since there won't be a whole lot of that going on!
This won't be easy. I'll likely want to punch strangers in the throat the first week, but I won't do it. I'll smile, I'll make delicious, real food and make each meal a celebration of health and happiness. So, who's with me?
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Hello dear friends. If you’re reading this, chances are you know who we are and you know why we travel full-time. You probably know all our kids’ names and that we have a weird obsession with boba. And if you’re still reading this, you probably even know that we love to boondock. And if you’re new around here, that just means camping off-grid (usually on public lands designated for us nomads).
But I don’t think we’ve ever discussed WHY. Why do we prefer to live in the middle of nowhere without electric hookups, unlimited water, flushing toilets, and regular showers? The simple answer is FREEDOM!
From our very first boondocking adventure we knew that this was how we wanted to live. Incredible scenery right out our front door.
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Oh, San Diego. It's was so nice to meet you!
After leaving Hollywood, CA we headed south and scored the best site at a little site at a place called Lake Jennings Campground. The campground itself was pretty run down which is a shame because it has so much potential, but the views were incredible!
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If you camp off-grid often, you know the water struggle. Where can I get it in this town? What kind of connection do they have? We’ve already covered the basics in this article (like bladders, hoses, jugs, etc…), but here are a few more indispensable tools to help you level up your water quest.
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Jonathan Longnecker / March 27, 2019
Ashley Longnecker / March 26, 2019
We’re Jonathan & Ashley Longnecker. We love weird ideas, great food, travel, drawing, music, homeschool, tattoos, dreads, woodworking, design and our 4 amazing kids.