"In most cases your health goes down the drain when you have wealth problems.
You don't go to a doctor because you don't have the money.
You don't eat the right food because you don't have money.
You worry all the time because you don't have money.
Your blood pressure is high because you don't have money, and on and on.
This is why your health must be your priority.
You can have all the money in the world. You can be a multi-billionaire, but if you do not have your health it means nothing.
Your health is the No. 1 important thing in your life." Suze Orman.
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GMO = genetically modified organism, processed foods are full of them.
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Is There More to Your Meat? How to Be a Budget Organic
"What’s worth the extra cost, what’s not, and how to save in other ways:
"When it comes to meat and poultry, it’s better to choose organic".A study in the journal Meat Science compared the nutritional content of organic and nonorganic chicken meat. The researchers found that the organic samples contained 28% more omega-3s, essential fatty acids that are linked to reduced rates of heart disease, depression, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, inflammation, and Alzheimer's disease.
Animals raised organically can't be given antibiotics, growth hormones, or feed made from animal by-products (which can transmit mad cow disease)." From: http://online.prevention.com/budgetorganic/list/7.shtml
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For "Foodie Friday": You can eat organic for less, feel better and save your health:
Health Nut Stalks Supermarket Aisles With Notebook in Hand
"Jotting down in my notebook many processed foods as well as their weights and prices, with all the store savings, I prepared a long list of foods from which I could construct a hypothetical week's worth of processed food for a family of three.
Below you will find a menu of all processed food items for a week, and a list of prices for all the groceries that I hypothetically bought. Then I assembled my hypothetical purchases into a meal plan for a family of three, which you will see below, along with the price list.
Following that, you will find a week's menu and price list for mostly organic, all whole-food meals for the same family of three.
The Processed Food Menu (per person, for one week)
Sunday
Breakfast:
3 pancakes with syrup
7.5-oz. cold bottled coffee
Lunch: 
13-oz. canned ravioli
6-oz soda
Snack:
ice cream sandwich
Dinner:
3.5-oz. frozen breaded fish
4-oz salad with dressing
6-oz soda
ice cream bar
Monday
Breakfast:
4-oz. bagel with 5 oz. jelly
Lunch:
9-oz frozen lunch
6-oz soda
Dinner:
8-oz ground beef patties w/ ketchup, relish
6-oz french fries
ice cream bar
Tuesday
Breakfast:
3-oz sugared cereal
7.5-oz cold bottled coffee instead of milk
Lunch:
3.5-oz frozen breaded fish
6-oz soda
Dinner:
7-oz frozen corn dogs
2-oz frozen potato pancakes
ketchup, relish
ice cream bar
Wednesday
Breakfast:
2 toaster pastries
7.5-oz cold bottled coffee
Lunch:
9-oz frozen lunch
6-oz soda
Dinner:
frozen TV dinner, individual
1 serving flavored rice
ice cream bar
Thursday
Breakfast:
2 toaster pastries
7.5-oz cold bottled coffee
Lunch:
9-oz frozen lunch
6-oz soda
Dinner:
8-oz ground beef patties w/ ketchup, relish
6-oz frozen french fries
ice cream sandwich
Friday
Breakfast:
3-oz. sugared cereal
7.5-oz cold bottled coffee
Lunch:
9-oz frozen lunch
6-oz soda
Dinner:
7-oz corn dogs 
2-oz potato pancakes
ketchup
relish
ice cream sandwich
Saturday
Breakfast:
3 pancakes with syrup
Lunch:
9-oz frozen pizza
6-oz soda
Dinner:
6 oz frozen pork chops with gravy
1 serving macaroni and cheese
6-oz soda
ice cream sandwich
Price List for the Processed Food Menu
17 oz pork chops with gravy
$6.99
3 lbs ground beef patties
$8.99
13 oz potato pancakes
$4.19
2 lbs frozen french fries
$2.79
2.67 lbs corn dogs
$5.99
27 oz frozen pizza
$4.99
12 ice cream bars
$2.99
12 ice cream sandwiches
$2.99
6 toaster pastries
$2.00
6 frozen pastries
$2.00
16 oz small jar of jelly
$1.99
12 oz Bagels
$0.99
1 lb TV dinner
$3.89
1 lb TV dinner
$3.89
14.5 oz TV dinner
$2.50
21 oz. fillets frozen breaded fish
$5.79
68 oz Soda
$0.99
6 pk 16.9 oz Soda
$2.99
40 oz canned ravioli 
$2.99
1 bottle Ketchup
$0.99
1 bottle Relish
$0.99
1 sm bottle salad dressing
$1.99
17 oz sugared cereal
$3.89
12 bottles of cold coffee with cream
$13.47
1 sm bottle Syrup
$1.50
20 pancakes pancake mix (add only water)
$2.39
3 svgs flavored rice
$1.49
12 oz packaged salad
$2.99
12 oz frozen lunches
$24.00
Total:
$123.64
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How do Whole Foods Compare?
"Now consider a menu prepared entirely from whole, organic and free-range foods. One might consider such a diet to be extravagantly expensive. Yet the cost for a week's worth of organic whole food groceries for a family of three is about the same as for the "cheap" processed food.
The same rules apply as with the processed food. No leftovers from the beginning of the week or saved at the end (empty refrigerator beginning and end, with no waste). No restaurant eating or take-out. No beverages other than water. No snacks except for what one person may save for later from his/her apportioned meal. No deliberate calorie restriction, and everyone eats until full.
All meals are listed for one person only of a three-person family, assuming that those with larger appetites may have more, and those of smaller appetites may have an equal amount less, in order to balance out to the average portions listed below.
A significant difference is that the processed food eating family gets a dessert of an ice cream bar, while the whole food eating family gets no dessert. The whole food eating family, however, generally gets much bigger meal portions. The reason behind this is partly demographic realism: those who eat denatured food are missing nutrients that they seek in desserts and other denatured foods, whereas whole food eaters feel completely full when eating in proper proportions for their metabolic types.
The Whole Organic Food Menu (per person, for one week)
"A typical week's menu at our house would look like the following:
Only the sliced bacon, sliced cheeses, cream cheese and goat milk are pre-packaged. Every dish is prepared at home from scratch.
Sunday
Breakfast:
2 eggs cooked in butter
2 slices bacon
Lunch:
salad: spinach, romaine, bell pepper, 2 oz. muenster cheese, cilantro, sea salt, olive oil
Snack:
8-oz apple
Dinner:
16 oz chicken stew: part of whole chicken with potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, water, sea salt and curry powder
Monday
Breakfast:
12 oz apple slices with 2 oz. almond butter
Lunch:
16 oz left over chicken stew
5-oz orange
1 oz pumpkin seeds
Dinner:
8 oz curry: eggplant, potato, onion, bell pepper, butter, curry powder, salt
4 oz cooked brown rice
Tuesday
Breakfast:
smoothie: 10 oz goat milk and one banana and 3 oz raspberries
Lunch:
16 oz leftover chicken stew
2 oz cashews
2 oz carrots
Dinner:
3 oz salmon with ground dill
Salad:
spinach, romaine, 1 oz muenster cheese, cilantro, salt, olive oil
Wednesday
Breakfast:
12 oz apple slices with 1 oz cream cheese
Lunch:
8 oz left over eggplant curry
2 oz cheddar cheese
1 oz pumpkin seeds
Dinner:
4 oz acorn squash
5 oz broccoli raab sauteed in olive oil
Thursday
Breakfast:
smoothie: 10 oz goat milk, 3 oz raspberries and one banana
Lunch: 
2 oz leftover salmon, 4 oz acorn squash and 5 oz broccoli raab
3 oz cashews
Dinner:
16 oz crockpot roast: beef, potatoes, celery, onions, carrots, sea salt
4 oz cooked brown rice
Friday
Breakfast:
12 oz apple slices with 2 oz almond butter
Lunch:
8 oz leftover eggplant curry
2 oz cheddar cheese
2 oz carrots
Dinner: 
16 oz leftover roast beef stew
Saturday
Breakfast:
2 eggs with 1 oz cream cheese and spinach, cooked in butter
2 slices bacon
Lunch:
16 oz leftover roast beef stew
5 oz orange
Dinner:
salad: sardines, romaine, 1 oz muenster cheese, cilantro, salt, olive oil
Price List for the Whole Organic Food Menu:
1.88 lbs organic oranges 
$1.86
8.27 lbs organic Fuji apples
$12.32
3.23 lbs organic bananas
$2.87
2.47 lbs organic potatoes
$1.95
2.65 lbs * organic onions
$3.42
1 lb organic baby carrots
$1.39
1.91 lbs * organic acorn squash
$2.46
1 organic bell pepper
$1.05
1.4 lbs * organic eggplant 
$2.79
1 bunch * organic cilantro
$0.99
2 bunches * organic broccoli raab
$4.08
1 bunch organic spinach
$1.99
1 head organic romaine
$1.39
1 lb organic brown rice, dry
$1.29
1 lb raw cashews
$4.29
6 oz * pumpkin seeds
$1.54
12 oz almond butter, fresh ground
$5.25
1 whole organic free-range chicken
$9.79
1 lb copper river salmon 
$12.99
2.25 lbs organic free-range chuck roast beef
$11.23
One package hormone-free bacon
$3.49
1/2 gal goat milk
$4.78
1/2 lb organic butter
$1.79
1 dozen organic free-range eggs
$3.49
8 oz hormone-free cream cheese
$2.29
12 oz sliced muenster cheese
$3.99
12 oz sliced cheddar cheese 
$3.99
20 oz. frozen raspberries
$3.18
1 can sardines
$1.79
1/2 pint organic olive oil
$4.99
2 oz sea salt
$0.20
1 oz curry powder
$0.34
1 oz dill powder
$0.17
small bottle balsamic vinegar
$2.99
Total:
$122.42
"We made no attempt to quantify the salad ingredients. Fresh plants and salads are such anarchy of ingredients, they defy standardization. Cooking large meals with whole foods is a little trickier to quantify than packages of pre-weighed processed foods.
The difference is made up in the leftovers. For example, the large crockpot chicken stew at the beginning of the week, the eggplant curry in the middle of the week, and the roast beef at the end are massive enough not only for everyone's dinner, but also for two days' lunches as well, with generous one-pound portions. The one-pound portions of stew are about half added water by weight.
Both the salmon dinners and squash-and-broccoli raab dinners are small enough that the leftovers put together make just one lunch for the family. The advantage to cooking enormous crockpot or Dutch oven meals, with subsequent leftovers, is that although it is more time-consuming to prepare whole food from scratch, it is easier just to do it in fewer larger amounts during the week. If this still seems daunting, please see my article, Cook Whole Food from Scratch, and Keep Your Day Job."
More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/02/16/organic-food-part-four.aspx
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My thoughts:
To save time, I cook large portions on the days that I do have the time or inclination, and freeze some for later, or to use on RV trips.
It's great to get to a campsite, or boondocking location, just get something out of the freezer, warm it up, serve some salad, and dinner is done. At home, I keep cut up salad stuff separated in a matched set of stacking containers, so I just take them with me. "Sometimes you feel like a nut, and some times you don't!" So each salad can be different, choices like tomatoes, olives, raw squash or zucchini, spinach, lettuce, beets, cauliflower or whatever is in the salad containers. So dinner isn't a chore, and still healthy. Then you have more time to enjoy the ambiance around you.
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Yesterday:
I had spent a great deal of time trying to find out why my pages were loading so slowly. After trying out several suggestions, I realized that it seemed to start after I had installed the latest version of Firefox. When I went back to the older version, it seemed to repair itself.
At one o'clock in the morning, I took the kitten's food and water away. They were going to the vet to be fixed, so I rushed around and was dressed early. As he wanted to go too, I called Jay to make sure he was up and getting ready, fed the other cats, walked and fed the dogs. I loaded the three orphan kittens into the three carriers, seat belted the carriers in, picked up Jay, and off we went.
Little Pebbles was the only one who didn't like riding, I suppose it was because they had never been split up before. She is the one who wanted to be babied and refused to eat from anything but her bottle for a long time after the other two were weaned.
It was a long way there, down I-45, right on SH 242, winding through The Woodlands, TX to the edge of Tomball TX, and stopping at most traffic lights. The vet tech made charts and weighed each one. She took the charts for the vet to see, and came back to say that they could not spay/neuter them today, they are too young, possibly only 6-7 weeks old.
We drove east and then south all the way to Budde Road, off Sawdust Road, as we like to visit a big warehouse type thrift shop, Rags-To-Riches, there. It had closed down, so we drove north on the I-45 service road to another thrift shop we like to visit whenever we are that far south, that store was empty, too. Then we saw that it had moved into another area of that shopping center. They moved four years ago, so that is how long it is since we have been there. They were having a sale, and wouldn't you know it, I found a smaller fridge for the cargo trailer. This one will fit. I had just about given up on the other one, as it was just too big to fit anywhere conveniently, so I was just going to put the roll-around ice chest in the trailer.
Also at this thrift shop, I wanted to buy a little non-tip pet bowl so I could give the kittens some water, but the lady washed it for me, filled it with water, and gave it to me. I was going to buy them a can of food, but Jay needed to get home, he hadn't slept well the night before. She did tell me where Rags-To-Riches had moved to, but we didn't find it, so just drove on.
By the time I got home, Ray had clipped the hedge and blown all the pine worms into a heap, and put them on the burn pile. That is something I would normally do myself, but I had to take the kittens, so I had asked him to do this in case it rained, as we can't do it when they are wet.
After we got home, the forecast was right, and it RAINED today.
Live Writer is great, so I can save this draft, as Blogger is still down for maintenance.
There is no telling if this will get published today.
1 comment:
Glad it was published :-)
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