I am Canadian so I don't know if it applies to those in the USA or abroad. But I know that organic food is more expensive here even from local farmers markets. And that having grown up in the country with a huge garden and eating both really organic home produce and store produce my health is the same. Organic although it is a really catchy idea is still unproven as to whether or not it is all that much better. Of course if you have health conditions that require a healthier diet organic would be better due to less pesticides/herbicides. So my family buys what is in season. That generally means we eat a lot of oranges in the winter and frozen veggies. Frozen veggies are cheap and generally have a lot of the nutrient content intact. We eat more variety the rest of the year. Aside from buying what is in season we buy whatever meats are on sale and generally stick to the no more then a small packet of cards rule for serving size. In order to get more protein we try to add beans. Dried beans can be purchased in your local bulk store for less and through them in a slow cooker they cook up nice in a day. You can freeze whatever you have left. Add them to whatever you are cooking. I laughed when I read this "The school of "Don't spend ANY money - there's only $30 left in the bank account until payday - I'm sorry you don't like that, but there's nothing else to eat." Because that's basically what I say to my kids when they are balking at eating anything. I tell them we are tight money and that what is on their plates is all they are getting and I have made sure it is balanced and has everything they require to maintain good health. The complaining goes away if you stick to your guns Further to the nutrition. Multivitamins added to your child's day can improve the balance if you are really concerned that diet alone isn't sufficient. And for those of you who like reading lol..I was given this book when I got married and I pull it out every time things are tight for nutritious, relatively inexpensive meal options. It's called 'More-with-less-cookbook. Suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's food resources.' I can't recommend this book enough. Finally yes it is frustrating when other people tell you ie, the government tells you to feed your kids better but the cost is unattainable. And yes it can be downright sad when we have to ask our kids to finish the cheap processed food they were given because it's all we can afford. But they will be o.k. they are wrapped in God's love.
I love this. My previous post included ideas about buying for pennies what the grocery store is throwing away. There was a time when I had such a food spoilage phobia that I would not have been able to eat anything less than a week before it expired. However, I'm convinced that food covered in prayer blesses our bodies! A note on hunting and fishing...my family has hunted my entire life. We hunt on our family farm for deer, rabbit, turkey and squirrel. We also live a mile away from the Mississippi, so we fish as well. I realize there was an initial investment in guns, bows and poles, but ours have been used for multiple generations. I would venture to guess, though, that even starting out you would more than pay for your investment in the first year. My husband started out with one multipurpose 20 guage his mom purchased at a pawn shop for well under $100. Add a hunting license, deer tags, ammo, freezer paper and tape and he provided our family's meat for an entire year for about $150. When hunting is your way of life, you learn to do it efficiently without the use of all the extra "stuff" the sport hunters use. I have an uncle who would just walk out with a homemade longbow and hunt rabbits. I am fully convinced that, when putting food on your table is important, you find a way to do it.
AMEN! The problem is that I think too many Americans have spent so much time with big-agra's wool over their eyes that they are in a situation of learned helplessness.
My first husband's family lived on a wooded hill. Pawpaw and my brothers-in-law hunted deer every fall and split the meat. Pawpaw also hunted squirrels. Grandmaw loved to fish, so they went fairly regularly, maybe every third Saturday or so when the weather was good. They raised chickens so they had meat and eggs. They had a milk cow, and raised a calf every year for the freezer. They made butter and kept it in the freezer. They gardened, mostly snap beans, butterbeans, and field peas, and a few tomatoes which they ate fresh or cooked with for immediate use, and they canned lots of produce. Sometimes they raised a little corn, which they took off the cobs and froze. Mostly what they bought at the store was bulk flour, bulk cornmeal, coffee, tea, sugar, shortening, and syrup. Rarely, some slab bacon. And of course things like salt and pepper, and the baking powder and vanilla for baking or pancakes. Meat or chicken was usually a Sunday dinner, unless they'd been fishing or squirrel hunting. Most of the time, a meal meant either biscuits or cornbread, with butter, and peas or beans. Dessert was a biscuit with butter and syrup. And either a glass of milk or tea, maybe a cup of coffee with fresh cow cream. Believe it or not, I actually lost weight eating like this.
There is basically no difference in wheat bread vs white bread. Unless you are buying WHOLE grain. Most all of the cheaper wheat breads on the shelf, will have nothing (or very little) difference in them compared to the white breads. I try to buy bread that has a notable higher fiber content, no preservatives or flavorings or colors. Otherwise you are buying fancy white bread.
I believe it! Not a bit of processed foods = a very healthy diet. If you haven't read it yet, read The Maker's Diet. It's a great book that discusses how returning to a natural lifestyle will improve health and weight more so than eliminating any one thing (ie fat or carbs).
That's very true. I realized this when I was doing Weight Watchers. There is a big difference in point count when it comes to bread and most wheat breads are the same points as white. It's only, like peanutsweet said, the high fiber whole grain breads that are lower in points.
Oh, I see. I have a hard time with the quote things. Like I don't see how you quote more than one person and such!
I know that praying over our food does protect us from things that food may be harboring. I found this link awhile back http://www.wellnessgoods.com/messages.asp and thought it was interesting. It talks about how when we pray over water, the crystals in the water become beautiful. I have no doubt that our food does the same thing.
I do have to agree that it can be more expensive to eat healthy, depending on where you live. We do try to limit the processed food but still use it especially for quick meals. I love fresh veggies and fruits and do sacrifice other things to buy some of them. I used to belong to a CSA but they raised their prices so I could no longer afford to be a member. I just recently started going to our city's public market and have been getting great deals on my fruits and veggies. It is really starting to help cut down our weekly food bill. I know cooking from scratch can be cheaper. I personally need to find more recipes and get myself into a routine where I can bake my own bread on a regular basis and do more freezer cooking. That being said I still find it is sometimes cheaper to buy processed foods instead of all the ingredients to make a comprable healthy one and that is sad. It can take alot of time to cook from scratch and sometimes it is not cheaper than buying processed food. Why should the ingredients to make even something as simple as spagehtti sauce cost more than buying the store brand on sale?
No tomatoes from me. (I don't have the money to buy them. LOL, just kidding, really, no tomato throwing...) I can understand what you are coming from, I really do. I used to pay $500 every month for my brand new show room floor Xterra (loved that baby)...(it was bright yellow...love at first sight) while I was living in a tent by the reservoir next to a bunch of pot heads, showering in a public shower at the lake so I could go to my job, and pay for my truck. DH and I had no kids at the time, and we ate maybe 2 hotdogs per day for a meal and thats it. Those were times I'm definately not proud of, but health food wasn't an importance at that time. Now that I have children and DH and I are more responsible individuals we pay rent ($700/month) natural gas, truck payment (which is a 1998 explorer we are buying for $200 from my half brother), electricity, and so on. We own a tracfone so we only buy minutes when we need. We have basic cable package, basic phone, and basic internet (internet is a must...I go to school online.) I am very thankful when I get to have alot of fresh fruit for my fridge. My husband actually just 2 weeks ago shelled out $7.00 for a pound of cherries for me as a present for being a great mom, wife, and just to cheer me up! (I love that man!) And it got me thinking... Is that what the world is coming to? Christmas time rolls around, whats your present under the tree? FRESH FRUIT! Your favorite fruit, or candy that you can't afford anymore, that you only get twice a year for your birthday and christmas. (I know this b/c every year since I can remember I have gotten fruit in my stocking. We're not a rich family. lol) IMO, that is the economy at it's best! Things are getting so bad that my family is actually planning on remodeling their house so that we can come live with them one day in the near future. I think things are really going to get that bad. I thank god everyday we have what we do and that DH has two jobs so that we can afford what we can, or put off paying until we have the cash to pay it. I think I got off topic, but...I think I made my point in there somewhere, didn't I??? lol
I got it... completely. Kind of like what I was saying not too long ago about wants vs. needs. Many people, myself included, pay for things we truly do not need then freeze up when an unexpected expense comes along. But things that should be needs, like fresh fruit, have become luxuries. The thought hit me earlier today: Once upon a time, obesity was seen as a sign of prosperity. Now, most people who are 'willingly' obese (meaning not obese because of health issues) are low income. Healthy is the new "rich indicator."
Actually for most of history fresh fruit at least in northern climates was very much a luxury. It is only in modern times that we care so much about WHAT we eat rather than THAT we eat. We have high expectations of what we should get compared to many cultures and certainly compared to the past we live richer then kings. Mom24boys, I would be glad to give more details but I'm doing major cooking for a wedding tomorrow. I did post some stuff but it got lost in the chat so I will start a new thread but not until after the wedding.
That's true about fruit. But that's not what I was saying. I was talking about healthy vs. obese. I'm a historical reenactor, so medieval culture (not just medieval Europe, btw) is my forte.
