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Oh, and the evil food conglomerates...forcing us all to eat corn ( a natural vegetable) or the evil high fructose corn syrup ( a natural sugar) and soy ( a very healthy protein source). How did corn become an evil plant? Ridiculous. If you don't want to eat corn, or high fructose corn syrup - don't buy it. Duh. There are no corn or soy terrorists forcing it down your throat.
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Oh yes they are! In most prepared foods you buy, there is soy or corn fillers. that is common knowledge. You might better check on the "natural vegetable" corn as it is now Top 10 Genetically Modified Food Products : Discovery Channel
High frutose corn syrup is in almost every food you buy now. Check it out. Soy is in almost every product we buy as a filler and to pump up protein.
And, I do commend you on buying the talapia or salmon in bulk. But, the talapia is farm raised and usually the salmon, too. It is advised by the medical community to not eat too much of it in a week because of the contaminates(heavy metals, etc) and most definitely if it was raised in China as the bulk of it is. They use human waste in their fish farms. But, good luck in finding the country of origin listed, as the grocers are supposed to do. Same with farm raised catfish, which I love but try to only eat once a week. Same with shrimp. I can through a few shrimp in a dish and really take it up a notch. Again, I try and buy the wild caught when it goes on sale and only as a special treat.
You almost have to have a phd anymore to negotiate the food process anymore.
Like someone else said, I eat sardines or kippered snacks sometime during the week to get the protein and the Omega3 benefits. Are they my favorites ? No, but I can get by with it and some crackers and hot sauce on occasion. <s>
There are some good tips in these posts but it seems like a lot of them are extreme examples. JMO
LOL, I was about to say the same thing. Bisquick sums up the junkiness of the average American diet. Why on earth should there be sugar in Nomoresnow's "savoury" muffins? And what's so hard about adding (non hydrogenated) butter or oil yourself? Or for a crustless quiche just using a couple of tablespoons of plain flour like normal people.
The price of bread is ridiculous and it's so much less expensive to make your own - and it's a lot healthier than the store-bought bread with all those preservative and additives. And, no, you don't need a bread machine - the old fashioned way by hand is very satisfying and the kneading is good exercise! I regularly make whole wheat and bran breads for next to nothing.
Pre-packaged "heat and eat" foods are a total waste of money. An inexpensive cut of meat can be wonderfully tender with long cooking and I can make 1lb of meat segue into four or five hearty healthy meals by the time I've finished with it. Herbs and greens grown in containers; dried beans for soups; bulk eggs on sale lightly beaten and portioned out in small freezer containers; milk on sale and put into smaller containers to freeze; the possibilities are endless!
As for sweets, making a cake from scratch is so simple even a caveman can do it!
I live in a city on the East Coast and prices are MUCH higher than people are quoting in here, but still I am doing just fine this summer on 50-70 dollars a month for groceries. I eat mostly a Japanese style diet, with helpings of Korean, Italian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. I don't eat many sweets whatsoever and all I drink is tea and water. People blow a lot of money on sweets, sodas, etc. I don't buy and eat copious amounts of meat. A pound of meat should last at least 4 meals. The average American eats something like .85 pounds of meat a day. This is an expensive habit, especially depending on what you're buying. I can definitely imagine it is more expensive for a family because you'd have to multiple everything by the number of your family, but still it isn't absurd. I know people who spent 200 dollars on groceries a week and I can't quite figure out why.
Everyone has stories of how they have made healthy eating work, it took lots of time, energy and effort. Not everyone has the resources (mental or otherwise) to do all of those things. In each example of "making it work" you had to have every duck in a row, there was no room for error.*
Our philosophy on this is very American. We think that everyone has free will and choice to make rings happen, as long as you "pick yourself up by your bootstraps." This makes it really easy to scapegoat the individual instead of looking at the bigger picture on how our society is setup to make things much harder.
If we really wanted people to eat healthier, we cold easily subsidize farmers growing spinach, broccoli and berries instead of corn and soy. But those people aren't running big corporations, so we don't particularly care.
If we really wanted to elimate food insecurity, we'd stop letting WIC fall under the umbrella of agriculture, and put it in the health department. Our society makes choices for us, and then tells us we have choice, but we are actually bound by circumstance.
We really need to use some common sense here and stop treating this victimizers like victims while they kill others in the process.
People need to find the time if they are raising children. That's part of being a parent, not killing your offspring. Don't bring children to this world if you don't have time to raise them. Yes the government subsides the wrong industries but that is no excuse for breeding like rabbits and feeding garbage to your children and trashing their health and eating habits.
You can still buy inexpensive vegetables and learn to eat less meat. It will be as cheap or even cheaper than buying processed food. These people on food stamps are usually overweight because they eat large quantities. I visit many supermarkets throughout the month in the state of Florida. I see them all the time, I can recognize them by the garbage they buy and I can confirm it because I see the screen where it says they paid with food stamps(EBT tender). All they buy is sodas, chips, juices, crappy cereals, unhealthy bakery items and processed food. All garbage, no one buys the sweet potatoes or other vegetables in season even though the cost less than the crap they are buying. The produce section is totally neglected by most of these people.
IMO they really need to fix the foods stamp program. Allow the elderly, physically disabled and homeless buy hot food and some processed food and make regular people cook their vegetables and grains.
Unless you live in NY where I pay 89 cent's to $1.19 per apple, lemons, tomatoes and green peppers. Red peppers are $1.99 each. Sweet potatoes are $1.09 each. $2.49 for a dozen of the store brand eggs. The cheapest meat is 80% lean chopped beef at $4.49 per pound and we all know how unhealthy that is, the good chopped beef is $6.50 per pound and whole chickens are $1.59 per pound. If you buy cut up chickens or chicken parts the prices can double per pound. A 42oz. box of store brand, unflavored rolled oats is $4.49. Milk is $4.20 a gallon.
1lb, 4 qtrs of store brand butter is $4.50. Olive oil is on average about 50 cents an ounce.
So, in some places, you can't eat very healthy foods cheaply.
We do eat healthy foods, but I could pay another mortgage with what I pay for in food.
That SUCKS. We regularly can get 3 bell peppers for a buck.
When we get avocados for 50 cents each, I like that
Oh yes they are! In most prepared foods you buy, there is soy or corn fillers. that is common knowledge. You might better check on the "natural vegetable" corn as it is now Top 10 Genetically Modified Food Products : Discovery Channel
High frutose corn syrup is in almost every food you buy now. Check it out. Soy is in almost every product we buy as a filler and to pump up protein.
And, I do commend you on buying the talapia or salmon in bulk. But, the talapia is farm raised and usually the salmon, too. It is advised by the medical community to not eat too much of it in a week because of the contaminates(heavy metals, etc) and most definitely if it was raised in China as the bulk of it is. They use human waste in their fish farms. But, good luck in finding the country of origin listed, as the grocers are supposed to do. Same with farm raised catfish, which I love but try to only eat once a week. Same with shrimp. I can through a few shrimp in a dish and really take it up a notch. Again, I try and buy the wild caught when it goes on sale and only as a special treat.
You almost have to have a phd anymore to negotiate the food process anymore.
Like someone else said, I eat sardines or kippered snacks sometime during the week to get the protein and the Omega3 benefits. Are they my favorites ? No, but I can get by with it and some crackers and hot sauce on occasion. <s>
There are some good tips in these posts but it seems like a lot of them are extreme examples. JMO
So don't eat processed foods. Read the label. And the rest is a commercial for Whole Foods, IMO.
I was raised on Wonder Bread and Kellogg's Corn Flakes - They're Greeeeeaaaaat! In a home filled with smoke. I lived to tell the tale.
So, I don't care if they were raised in China in human waste....supposedly. Somehow they pass through the FDA testing. Good enough for me.
The sickest person I even met was a woman who worried about all this food stuff. She was a total hypochondriac. Not exactly the poster child for what you're trying to sell here.
And why deplete the wild population of fish? I find it ironic that the same people who rant about the environment, then say we should deplete wild fish populations rather than farm them.
It's just not logical. But, if you want to continue to support these overpriced, organic, whatever companies, go for it. I can't afford to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WildColonialGirl
LOL, I was about to say the same thing. Bisquick sums up the junkiness of the average American diet. Why on earth should there be sugar in Nomoresnow's "savoury" muffins? And what's so hard about adding (non hydrogenated) butter or oil yourself? Or for a crustless quiche just using a couple of tablespoons of plain flour like normal people.
Aye aye aye. One thing at a time. Sheesh. My point was there are easy recipes out there. I hereby give myself and everyone else permission to eat a little Bisquick now and then, and not have to try and figure out how to get the oil/butter mixed into little tiny pieces in the flour - which honestly sounds like a pain in the butt.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 07-11-2014 at 10:17 AM..
The price of bread is ridiculous and it's so much less expensive to make your own - and it's a lot healthier than the store-bought bread with all those preservative and additives. And, no, you don't need a bread machine - the old fashioned way by hand is very satisfying and the kneading is good exercise! I regularly make whole wheat and bran breads for next to nothing.
Pre-packaged "heat and eat" foods are a total waste of money. An inexpensive cut of meat can be wonderfully tender with long cooking and I can make 1lb of meat segue into four or five hearty healthy meals by the time I've finished with it. Herbs and greens grown in containers; dried beans for soups; bulk eggs on sale lightly beaten and portioned out in small freezer containers; milk on sale and put into smaller containers to freeze; the possibilities are endless!
As for sweets, making a cake from scratch is so simple even a caveman can do it!
and if you're too busy to make bread the old fashioned way by kneading, and letting it sit and rise, and kneading again...
Look up Artisan bread recipes online. The ingredients are flour, water, yeast and salt. Just mix them together. No kneading or waiting required. The dough keeps for at least 2 weeks in fridge. I use it for pizza and calzones too.
The most frightening part of store bought breads are the preservatives in them. Real home made bread, even some store bought Italian breads that don't use dough conditioners get hard the next day. Store bought bread lasts .. what? 2 weeks?
ugh, and all those preservatives are going into someones body.
I live in a city on the East Coast and prices are MUCH higher than people are quoting in here, but still I am doing just fine this summer on 50-70 dollars a month for groceries. I eat mostly a Japanese style diet, with helpings of Korean, Italian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. I don't eat many sweets whatsoever and all I drink is tea and water. People blow a lot of money on sweets, sodas, etc. I don't buy and eat copious amounts of meat. A pound of meat should last at least 4 meals. The average American eats something like .85 pounds of meat a day. This is an expensive habit, especially depending on what you're buying. I can definitely imagine it is more expensive for a family because you'd have to multiple everything by the number of your family, but still it isn't absurd. I know people who spent 200 dollars on groceries a week and I can't quite figure out why.
Please share your $2 a day menu. And remember, 50% fruit and veg, 2000 calories.
When you refer to someone mentally unable to figure out shopping/cooking - there are places where people can get free hot meals. In Redding there is a mission that will serve people 3 hot meals a day. The senior center offers free hot lunches to seniors. There are meals on wheels, brown bag lunches. You'll never convince me this isn't available in Oakland. They will bring the meals to someone's door, who qualifies, too.
We have way more homeless people than Redding does. A friend of mine lives not too far from a place that does special free meals on holidays. The lines are 3 blocks long and they often run out. We have lots of need and not so many resources. There are all sorts of programs out there, but you have to be "in the know" to get access to them.
I was chatting with a retired guy with AIDS yesterday, and we were talking about affordable housing. He has the deal of the century on his apartment, in a perfect location. How did he get it? He happened to know the right people.
Quote:
Oh, and the evil food conglomerates...forcing us all to eat corn ( a natural vegetable) or the evil high fructose corn syrup ( a natural sugar) and soy ( a very healthy protein source). How did corn become an evil plant? Ridiculous. If you don't want to eat corn, or high fructose corn syrup - don't buy it. Duh. There are no corn or soy terrorists forcing it down your throat.
What about soy lechitin, hydrolyzed soy protein, and all of the 12 dozen other names soy and corn additives and preservatives go by. If you read a typical loaf of let's say store bought bread, it has 2 dozen ingredients. It is really hard to find stuff without weird additives. Even half of the dozen veggies have weird stuff in them.
Quote:
How is society set up to make things hard? That's bull crap. That's such a victim, defeatist excuse for sitting on one's butt. It's also a very entitled attitude. What? The cheap groceries are supposed to find their way to your doorstep? Like employers are supposed to show up as well?
It is really hard to see the other side of things if you have some privilege. I don't know if you saw the mercedes food stamp article this week. I was chatting with some friends about this. The thing is, from her vantange point, she never thought it was possible to be poor enough to get food stamps. She also didn't see it as a permeant state of being for her as well, she entered into it knowing that her and her husband will have the skills, qualifications and connections to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Not everyone has the advantage of that perspective, and if you don't, your life choices will be very different. It is really easy for us to assume that everyone will approach decision making the same way we do. But people, particularly those who are stressed about money, don't.
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