The Irony of Expensive Bargain Grocery Shopping

Anyone who has read this blog or flipped through IOU NO MORE, knows that I really believe in bargains. Saving money, spending less than you earn, are mantras I've chanted for years. But I've modified one of my long held tenets, bargain groceries.

The more I study, the more disturbed I become regarding what we're putting into our grocery carts, and ultimately into our bodies. Have you read the ingredients label on a can of tomato sauce or a box of cereal lately? If you were to take a few items in your cart, sit down and google the list of ingredients, you would be horrified at what you are ingesting yourself and feeding your loved ones.

I can't help connecting the dots and finding a link between our desire for cheap food and our ever increasing health care costs. Common sense tells us that we can't fill our bodies with all these chemicals and avoid the consequences. Ever wonder at the growing numbers of colon cancer victims, ADHD in children, obesity? We're killing ourselves with food. And not just at the dollar menu (Why is fast food cheaper than fresh food? That's another story).

I don't really want to throw blame, we all, the grocery chains, manufacturers, big agra, big government, big pharma, consumers,  carry some of the responsibility. And we all can play a role in changing our diets, our health and our future. But it will have an associated financial cost at a time when many, most, families are living on budgets so tight the cash can hardly breathe.

Our cheap groceries are making us unhealthy, yet we can't afford to pay the prices for healthier choices. What are we to do? This is what you might call, a conundrum.

I am a proponent (and participant) in what's known as the 'slow food' movement. I believe in eating fresh, eating local and 'eating with the seasons'. B and I drink only raw milk, eat pastured eggs, grass fed meat and even make our own cheese and butter. We grow nearly all our own fruits and vegetables. We are on a plan to remove ourselves from the current retail food system. I hope millions will join us.

If you are on a budget, you probably can't do it all at once. I get that. Eating right, is expensive. It is a tragic reality. I recommend small changes. Every bite of something good for you means that many fewer bad things are entering your body.

Try buying a pound or two of grass fed hamburger. Maybe a dozen pastured eggs from a local farm. Support your local farmers' market. Grow a single tomato plant, or bell pepper plant. Make a window box for herbs or plant some in your flower bed. Many herbs are as pretty as they are healthy. Get creative.  One or two small changes are a GREAT start

Read. Research what you eat. Investigate. Start slowly if your budget requires, but by all means start. Drop us a note for more information if you have questions. Alternatively, check out our other blog, "Our Edible Suburb". I truly want to help you save money, but spending a little more up front on groceries, might just save you a ton of money in medical bills. Chew on it.

The Grocery Store: Is Bargain Hunting Killing Us?

Most of us scour flyers and the internet looking for bargains at the grocery store.  We know that Food is a basic necessity, and we want to feed ourselves and our families in as healthy and as inexpensive ways as possible.  We clip coupons, we rush from store to store in search of the best deals.  Grocery shopping becomes a road trip where we visit multiple shops to complete our lists with the least possible damage to our bank accounts.  I've done as much of that as anybody.  But is there a hidden cost to our bargain hunting?  Why is 'organic' and 'local' so much more expensive than 'non organic'?  Are eggs just eggs?  Why is one chicken $.79 a pound while another is more like $2 or more a pound?  C'mon, it's a chicken, right?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Last year, I read "The Omnivore's Dilemma", "Fast Food Nation", and "The Vegetarian Myth", which all opened my eyes to different problems and issues related to our food chain and food consumption.  Some issues are nutritional, some are political, some are moral.  I recommend them to you, with the warning that they are not easy to read or digest (pun intended).  I did not agree with some of the world views or conclusions I read, but I do agree with the well researched facts and issues.

Over the weekend, Brittan and I watched "Food, Inc."  which is kind of a synopsis of the issues identified in the above mentioned books.  A kind of 'fast food' version, if you prefer.  There is a more detailed look at the movie at Our Edible Suburb.  Click on the link and have a look. 

Food is so important.  Wise stewardship of our finances, our health and our world is also important.  Balance is not easy.  You and I will have to draw our individual conclusions.  But it's a critical matter, so handle with prayer.

"The Vegetarian Myth" - a Book Review

"The Vegetarian Myth", by Lierre Keith, PM Press/Flashpoint, June 2009 is a disturbing, enlightening, frustrating read.  I stumbled on it via a referral on the Nature's Harmony Farm Blog.  I decided to read it as a part of my sustainable farming research.  What I read challenged me on many levels.

First, Ms Keith and I have totally conflicting world views.  I am  male, Christian, heterosesual, right of center and capitalist leaning.  Her positions are always contrasting and often antagonistic towards mine.  Some pages dripped with bitterness.  I found the tone frustrating at times.

"The Vegetarian Myth" describes Ms Keith's journey from Veganism to Omnivorism.  She chronicles and documents her reasoning with great detail and passion.  She rebuts the Political, Moral and Nutritional arguments of vegetarianism (primarily its 'extreme' expression, veganism)  using case studies and scholarly research not often found on the front pages or top shelves of most media outlets.

Keith takes great pains to acknowledge the noble intent and sincerity of the average vegetarian, while attempting to pursuade them that they have been duped by 'Big Agriculture'.  Her arguments are eye opening. Her modus operandi is 'follow the money'.  Sometimes that trail takes the author (and reader) to some pretty frightening places.

I found the section on how commercial farming destroys the soil and environment to be particularly compelling.  But my commitment to sustainable farming and gardening methods may cloud my objectivity.

I was profoundly disturbed by the discussion of soy.  Ms Keith's documentation is there, she's done her homework.  I will continue to research the subject.  If what he says about the risks of soy is even half true, then we have a problem.  Stephen King has never written anything as frightening to me.

"The Vegetarian Myth" is well written and, as mentioned earlier, passionate.  I do not agree with some of her conclusions about the nutritional non value of grains.  But her related arguments about the destructive nature of monocrop agriculture is compelling.

If you read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" you really must read "The Vegetarian Myth".  You don't have to agree with either view, but the open mind demands point, counterpoint.  I am an omnivore.  My world view makes it a non issue for me.  But that same world view drives me to respect the choice to abstain from meat.  But we all must make good choices in what we feed ourselves.  "The Vegetarian Myth" does for Big Agra what the animal rights people have done for factory farming.  Ms Keith has pointed out the abuse, the lies and the all consuming drive for profit.

PETA and their ilk have not caused me stop eating chicken or beef.  They have, however, opened my eyes to abuse and to devise a plan to provide my own meat via humane farming and hunting.  Lierre Keith has not convinced me to stop eating wheat or oats.  But I will learn to grow my own, organically and sustainably.  I will make my choices differently.

After reading "The Vegetarian Myth", I have the strong impression that the author would not like me much.  We are a galaxies apart in the way we see the universe.  But I came away impressed and how many places our different philosophies converged.

Read "The Vegetarian Myth" at your own risk.  But read it.

Budgeting 101 - Part 4

Establishing a perimeter, continued....

Millions of Americans (and millions more around the world) will tell you that money is not just tight, right now, it's scarce!  With unemployment growing and the dollar shrinking, it's more than difficult to make ends meet, it's difficult to get them to see each other.  That's why creating a household budget is more important than it's ever been.  This is war.

The first thing an invasion (or defense) force needs to do is, establish a perimeter.  A perimeter represents the boundaries of their operation.  Everything behind the line will be defended at all costs.  The forces' very lives and future depend on it.

In our last post, we established God as our North boundary.  The first thing we budget is our tithe to Him.  Now it's time to take a look at the South boundary, which is food.

Many people are nearly as incredulous about prioritizing the South boundry as they are the North.  For some odd reason, we think that food should be the last thing we budget.  To the contrary, food is second only to God in a wise budget.

You have to eat.  Your children, if you have them, have to eat.  That is a fundamental fact of life.  It is non negotiable.  Master Card can wait.  They might scream, but who cares?  If they do, just chew louder.

In order to have the strength to work and earn the money to pay your bills and debts, you need nourishment.  That comes from a little something I like to call.....food.  It is not noble to put debts ahead of nutrition.  It's foolish.  God wants us to be wise.

Frankly, women find that last paragraph harder to fathom than men.  I have known many women, including my own mother, who would go without food, but never be a day late on a VISA payment.  Rarely, though, do I meet men with such a sense of honor.  With us, it's "Feed me, Seymour, Feed me."  I assure you, if you take care of your basic nutritional needs, you will be in much better shape to master your finances.

When I talk about food being our number 2 priority, I'm not saying it has to be luxurious or expensive.  It has to be filling and nutritious.  Mac and Cheese may replace Wine and Cheese, and Beanie Weenies may replace Steak and Lobster.  You may very well have to give up eating out for a while.  And cooking may become a brand new hobby.  You might try checking out sites like Cheap Cooking for ideas to help you get started (in a fit of gratuitous self advertising, Brittan is currently compiling a "Recession Proof Cookbook" which we hope to have available early in 2010.  Keep your eyes out for that.)

One of the ways we found that helps save a ton of money at the grocery store, is planning our menu out before we go to the store.  By doing so, we know exactly what we need, how much of it and when we will need it.  Then, we make a shopping list to help minimize impulse buying.

Some other things that will help reduce the cost of food:

• use coupons
• buy store brands
• watch for 'day old' items on sale
• buy in bulk 
• shop in the 'club stores'
• use the internet to watch the grocery store sites
• study the circulars that come in the mail
• shop in the 'off peak' stores like Aldi and Sav - a - lot
• grow some of your own fruits and vegetables (more on that in a few weeks)
• buy fresh vegetables only when they are in season
• incorporate pasta, rice or potatoes into your dishes (in my day, we called foods with those things 'casseroles')

There are many other things you can do.  Hopefully, this list will get your creative juices flowing.

I also recommend going shopping at pretty much the same time each week, and don't go when you're hungry.  Make grocery shopping a game.  For Brittan and me, it's a fun time together.  It's just the two of us and acres of food stuffs to choose from.  It's great.

Remember, God comes first.  After Him, as the old T.V. commercial says, "You gotta eat!"