Watch it here.
It got me thinking. We don't buy a ton of organic food. We buy what we can "afford." Lately, I've had a hard time justifying the costs of organic food. I find myself sitting in front of an aisle saying, "Hm, I could buy the organic canned tomatoes for $2.19 or the non-organic for $1.30. Okay, non-organic it is." The amount of organic food in our home is dwindling so that I can save us money. But did you know that Americans today spend a significantly smaller portion of our income on food than we did in the "good ole days*"? Professor Mark J. Perry outlined it for us in his blog.
We're all guilty of this behavior, because we support it with our wallets. We turn a blind eye to it - OR - worse yet (what I'm guilty of), we know what's going on but we try to forget about it because we "can't afford" better meat. But we can afford better meat, better food. It's about priorities. It's time for our family to find places to cut back (toys, clothes, etc.) and say enough is enough. The sad thing is that I've said this at least five times, but I've yet to follow through.
This time? This time I mean it. I will no longer feed my kids ammonia-laced beef, I will no longer support the treatment of animals in meat factories with my own money. I don't care if it means paying $7.99/lb for local beef that was raised by a farmer I know, whose farm I can visit any day I want, who treats his/her animals with respect, the way I just know God wants it to be.
Furthermore, I believe that my body is His temple, I want to be a good steward of the Earth (which, in my heart, tells me is living as naturally as I can), and I want to eat the healthiest way I can so that I can be the healthiest me for Him, so that I can serve Him in my best capacity.
Alright, off my soapbox. :)
*good ole days = 1929, when food was REAL
I just went in on a 1/2 of a grass fed cow with a friend and it has been great. In total, I probably spent about $75 more than I did last year for the same amount of a regular cow, so that over an entire year isn't so bad.
ReplyDeleteWe got it from www.missourigrassfedbeef.net, and we are very pleased. It's a big cost up front, but you definitely save in the long run.
We've been struggling a bit with our organic grocery bill, but I can't stomach not doing it. Climb back up on that soapbox; I'm up there with you! :-)
ReplyDeleteEver read 'skinny bitch'? I think it's something you could get into..
ReplyDeleteyou've got a great point, just thinking about the food we eat makes me never want to eat again.
I had an awful experience last year at a local Price Chopper with a 10 lb. plastic tube of meat. It wasn't expired or anything, but when I was dividing it out, it had an awful sickening sweet smell. I called the store, and someone there actually told me it was probably soaked in a "chemical" most likely ammonia. I think I watched Food, Inc. right after that, and was off hamburger for a long time. So now I'm all paranoid, and everytime I get meat, I smell it, to make sure it doesn't smell like that. That is the one and only time I ever had a problem with it. Someday I hope we can do what your friend Anna suggested and get 1/2 a grass fed cow. I've had friends that have done that before and loved it.
ReplyDeleteMegan A.
I'm by no means an expert, but there has to be some correlation between my kids and me being vegetarians/nearly all organic and us NEVER being sick for more than a day (or a few hours) and even that is rare. We seem to have immune systems made of steel!
ReplyDeleteI really loved to read this. My city has a lot of local farming and a strong local food movement. I sit on the board of directors for a local co-op and I love being able to volunteer my time to spreading the word about local food.
ReplyDeleteIt drives me crazy when I get questions like - I can buy corn at the grocery, why can't I get it at the market? (because it's January and we live in Northern Ontario?). A lot of people don't understand where food comes from.
The bottom line is - why wouldn't you spend good money on the very basis of nutrtion? Why would you spend good money on food that is almost garbage?
Also, I prefer to buy local over organic (but local organic is great). I like being able to visit the farm the food was grown on, and being able to ask the farmer questions about how they harvest their crops etc.
Anyway, I agree - get on that soap box!
I grew up in a very middle class family, not upper, not lower, right smack dab in the middle. And my parents made a conscious decision to spend their hard earned money on food and not extras like fancy clothes and vacations. They went out of their way to make sure we understood this when we wanted the fancy clothes or vacations. At the time I didn't understand it, of course what child would, but as an adult it is such a great example to follow.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to realize it's not always expensive to eat healthy. If you buy local, in-season, in bulk (if possible) and you plan out every meal, it's very possible to eat AS cheaply (or cheaper) than buying a ton of processed non-organic junk.
ReplyDeleteShop farmer's markets, find a farm near you, shop places like Trader Joes or Sprouts. If you REALLY want to be dedicated to healthy food and find good prices, shop Azure Standard. Check their website for their routes... they go to KS, TX, CA, OR, UT, CO and several other states. Basically, it's like the Costco of Whole Foods. They have delivery stops along their routes, you order once a month and pick up your order once a month. They are BY FAR the cheapest prices you will find anywhere. They have things like raw milk cheese, pastured eggs, organic chicken, organic grains/flours, pastured butter, coconut oil, etc etc etc. A TON of stuff. There isn't something that I've wanted and couldn't find with Azure. I buy a lot of products in bulk because I cook so often and I have saved sooooo much money by shopping with them.
Here's a condensed version of my "system"-- Our budget is about $450/month for a family of 3. We do ALL organic produce and my 2 year old drinks coconut milk or raw milk. As far as diet goes, we closely follow Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions. These are the items I buy regularly...*every* month: organic plain yogurt, pastured chicken/eggs, raw milk cheese, organic produce, coconut milk/raw milk, kefir, salmon (or some kind of fish). I base all of our meals off of those core ingredients. Every week I budget $40 for misc items depending on what's on the menu (i.e. sprouted tortillas, canned tomatoes, beans, etc). I buy ALL of my oils and baking goods from Azure (sugar, flour, spices, raw honey, butter, etc) in bulk... so they last a LONG time.
I cook everything from scratch... and when I say everything, I mean everything! We make our own ketchup, mayo, jam, bread, etc. I devote (every) Sunday afternoon/evening to cooking... and I cook most of the main stuff for the week (i.e. a whole chicken, snack foods, cut up veggies, side dishes, etc) , so that I can devote my evenings to family time during the week.
It works really well for us, saves us money and saves a ton of time. Best of all, it's healthy! We *rarely* ever get sick... and I find that since we eat healthy, we spend a LOT less on healthcare (co-pays, OTC meds, etc). If anyone wants more details just let me know. It's fun once you get started ;)
Thanks for all the support, gals! It's good to know other people feel the same way!
ReplyDeleteAnon - I use Azure, get all my baking bulk items from them every month as well as frozen breads. Some stuff seems more expensive through them, though. We only have WF, which is pretty expensive, but we're getting Trader Joe's here in the next few months. I'm SO excited for that! I would LOVE to chat via e-mail if you'd be interested in helping me out a little. If so, it's chelseasaidso at gmail dot com. No pressure, though! Even when I was making every last thing from scratch (including all food, cleaning products, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., I still found myself spending every bit of $600/mo, and some months up to $1000. YIKES! I am doing something wrong, I know.
Megan - YUCK! I've never had that happen, but it's crazy that they so openly admitted to you that it's probably chemicals.
ReplyDeleteJenna - For sure! I think I'm going back on the vegetarian train. We pretty much only eat meat once or twice a week these days anyway. Even Tim! Can you believe it?!
It's tough to get all your protein on the Spreadsheet diet though! You'll have to power through some major greek yogurt and egg whites. Seriously EVERY day I have egg whites & salsa. Getting a little old :/
ReplyDeleteBLECH. Egg whites. Gag. Shelly & another girl convinced me to switch my ratios up to 40% carbs/30% fat/30% protein. Maybe you'd like that more? It's basically what the Zone diet is. I've only done it a few days, but it's harder for me because I am a carb junkie I guess. I might go back to the original ratios here soon if I don't notice much of a weight loss difference. Only because I LOVE mah bread.
ReplyDeleteok. I haven't eaten beef or pork since 2002, but if I had I would have stopped after watching that. So completely disgusting. Of course... is my ground turkey any better? I think I will just go eat some oatmeal and not think about meat.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with ya, girl! I did my graduate research project on this very topic (http://www.wix.com/acushing/sustainablefood). Soapbox away...it needs to be said!
ReplyDeleteUm, raising the price of food means more people go hungry. Also, the chart looks the opposite for housing as a proportion of income so it's not like you can just raise the food prices and have it back to the way it was then. I'm not saying local and organic food isn't a worthy cause I just don't think that it's a switch that can so easily be flipped by everyone choosing to spend more on local. For some it isn't a choice.
ReplyDelete