Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

saynotoquacks — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:17:42 GMT

What's green is green and healthy too. Cool equation.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

nutriposa — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:46:37 GMT

Thanks for these tips. I tell my clients some of these same tips, but most them are convinced that buying organic and healthier foods is more expensive. Fortunately, I live in Santa Cruz, CA where we are in abundance of great local organic produce that is sold at farmer's markets throughout the week. You can pretty much hit a farmer's market 5 days a week. We have a many organic markets in town which I admit tend to be expensive and we have a trader joe's which I think for some staple items is great and inexpensive.

I agree that if you stick to whole foods you can keep your costs down and then when you start adding processed stuff organic or not that is when your cost of groceries escalates. Bulk items are great because you can control the amount that you buy.

But, whether or not it is more expensive. I tell all my clients this: We are talking about your health and the one thing that you will always have no matter what and that is your self and your body. This should be of number one importance. All the stuff you put in your body and do to your body is indicative of your health. By buying all those fresh organic veggies, fruits, meats, etc you are doing that for your well being and preventing any illness from taking place, so why wouldn't you spend the extra money for that. Buying whole foods is your health insurance for the future. It baffles me when I have a client come in with a Versace purse, but then proceeds to tell me that they can not afford to buy organic food. It is all about where your priorities lie and if you haven't got your health then how can you truly enjoy life.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

cafeneko — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:06:30 GMT

Great ideas for planning meals: www.veggiemealplans.com/index.html

Gives a weekly shopping list and full week of vegetarian/vegan recipes (recipes include fermented soy, and lots of beans, etc., not 'fake meats').

Rachel Ray posts each month a shopping list for a week + recipes. Hers feature meat/dairy.

www.rachaelraymag.com/.../42237

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

FUDA — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 23:36:34 GMT

IS AN APPLE STILL CONSIDERED FAST FOOD ?

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Ber — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:12:37 GMT

One of the best budgeting tools that seems quite hidden and hasn't been mentioned on the site, I don't believe, is the backyard garden. Not only do you get your exercise and health instilling sunshine, you have the freshest possible produce, aid the environment, and obtain absolutely organic produce. With all these benefits you also have food that is tax free, even in states that normally tax food stuff. In our state all veggie seeds are tax free also.

This gives it the added bonus of very little cost, after the initial investment for putting in a good plot of soil and raised beds. What is more there is the quite and meditative state that only working with a garden can give and the satisfaction of having fresh produce, grown from your work and toil, and being able to eat in season for your area.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

rodsherwin — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:00:47 GMT

Here is a great article on using EFT to reduce your cravings for the unhealthy foods such as chocolate and chips that can really blow out the budget.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

FRUMPO — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:47:58 GMT

Even if no health food store is available, one can always buy staples such as dried beans, soak them ,and make whatever bean product, such as baked beans or refried beans with lard. You must make do with what is available. My family gave up bread and we are all better for it. The only product like it I buy is sprouted (no phytic acid to keep one from absorbing minerals) grain tortillas for my young son.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Russ Bianchi — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:41:25 GMT

There remains an aspect of dietary intake not being discussed here, and literally the Bull Elephant in the Parlor, everyone is pretending does not exist (pink and winged perhaps also)...

2/3rds of all meals are eaten outside the home in America.

What does this mean?

Well, for one, it means the vast majority of dietary and caloric intake is not even disclosed to most consumers, and in many cases, to create products that satiate, the amounts/quantities are over portioned because of their lack of nutrient content, as well as reduced offactory smell/fragrance, from real natural or organic and unprocessed sources.

SUPER SIZE ME, out on DVD, is but one example of many thousands.

Couple this with the capitalist profit motive, and the net result is the most over fed, under nourished, obese, and disease ridden population in the history of human dietary consumption.

In Australia, McDonald's is require by law to post the dietary breakdowns of every single menu item and combinations of menu items in a pamphlet, which is HIGHLY DECEPTIVELY, covered in dark green leafy vegetables, fruits and nuts on the out side ( AS IF ANY OF THESE THING HAVE THE REMOTE POSSIBILITY OF BEING IN THE MENU OFFERS), that opens up to a chart the size of a large road map.

That chart, spells out in boring 8 point, hard to read, black and white font, that an simple Big Mac, shake and fries is 3,682 calories!!!

Yes, you read that correctly, over 1,600 calories, in one meal, OVER the total daily consumption requirements as set by the FDA.

So if you really want to improve you health, stay away from ANY restaurants, fast food or junk food, you do not prepare yourself.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Sara B — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:31:03 GMT

Nice article! I think we really need to dispel the myth that healthy is expensive. It's the processed junk that is pricey! The second tip is especially good - it's worth it to spend an hour on Sunday chopping up veggies or baking a whole batch of chicken breasts for the week. If you make it easy on yourself, you'll eat right! Hat tip: here's a similar article with ten specific steps for eating healthy on a budget from a few months back.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

goldeneagle — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:58:31 GMT

Wonderful idea!!. Here is one step further. Cook everything in one day. and freeze your meals in portion sized containers. That way all you have to do is thaw your meal in water and cook it in your healthy cookware, no microwaves, less kitchen time during the busy week, and no waste.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

phooey — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:50:59 GMT

True, we do go for the bells and whistles. This is a big selling point for food companies and grocery stores. If it is in a can, pretty box or package with colorful pictures, do not buy it. Healthy items are not marketed like this. They are very plain in appearance.
Problems with the article:
1. Meat, preferably local pasture fed, should be more than an ingredient for many. The article was written by and R.D. for the USDA. R.D.'s are taught that meat, especially beef, clogs arteries and causes disease, and that grains should be the bulk of the diet. Not for most of us.
2. I would be careful about buying things in those bulk containers, especially grains and spices. They are not very high in fat, but most of the fat is polyunsaturated. This type of storing can cause the oils to go rancid. Not good.
3. "Put snacks with life spans of months and years in the crisper". WHAT!
DO NOT eat anything that can be stored in anyway for months and years.
4. This will probably cause some disagreement among carb types, but I would not eat any boxed cereal. I can understand something like steel cut oats for carby's.
5. Do not eat dried fruits. They are sugar pellets. Use fresh fruit.
The suggestions in this article would improve most Americans diets greatly, but it is not good enough. It is like going from horrible to fair. Am I being nit picky. Yes, but our health is the most important thing we have, by far. I believe that all of the things we love, our family, friends, etc., should be enjoyed FULLY. If you are just feeling fair you are cheating yourself. If you have kids, it is even more important to go the extra mile as they will learn best by your actions.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Islander — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:59:38 GMT

The biggest money-saver in that article was the advice about where to buy herbs and spices. I once picked up three of them for canning pickles or relishes, I forget, but the price tag for the three was over nine bucks at the supermarket. I had second thoughts and went up the road a few blocks to the natural foods store, where I purchased the same three items, bagged in plastic, in larger quantities, for a total of $1.86. Then I went back to the supermarket, produced my receipt and got refunded the price of the three items. No, I am NOT making this up! Petty? Maybe, but when you are on a tight budget, these things matter.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

annapavlova42 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:57:36 GMT

priororitizing is the main key to budgeting. The problem is, what is your priority?

When it comes to cloths, artifacts, high tech, and other materialistic items, where do you drew the line?

I drew the line on materialistic items, and because I did, I shop for food and high quality food, at the best places and do not have to worry about my health.

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Islander — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:51:21 GMT

Lots of good ideas here. The key is in planning ahead and making a list. It's possible to make a pound of ground beef feed six - I did it for 30 years. My hubby was happy to take a plastic container of last night's leftover dinner to nuke at work for lunch the next day. [I know, that was before we knew that nuked food was bad for ya, and besides, he's up in heaven now anyway]. I'd make a huge stir-fry over the weekend and pack it in 8-oz. deli containers to go with me to work all week. And you all will gasp, but I did not nuke this container; it sat in my desk all morning and by noon had reached room temperature, and I ate it.

Two statements in this article bothered me, though. The crisper in your refrigerator is expressly made to keep fresh vegetables fresh. It's absurd to forget what's in it. Use it for the purpose it was intended and your food will stay fresher longer.

And if your kids watch tv, I would suggest leaving them home when you shop, otherwise they will be crying for the sugary cereals and other treats they see touted on the tube. Mine watched Saturday morning cartoons but they knew better than to ask for junk food! One of my sons, it's true, could detect tofu in the shopping cart from three aisles away....

re: Budget Savvy Tips For Healthy Eating

Cacao — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:46:32 GMT

This was an excellent and helpful article!