HOW DO YOU???

[Jessesbride]

Ok ya'll... after dh duration in the hospital last week (he got out this past Sunday but still not 100%) & hearing Dr. Jordan Ruban speak at our church Sunday night, we are turning a new leaf! We are working on eating/buying no more processed foods (just after I stockpiled GOOD... *sigh*) but my question is how do you frugally buy food when MOST grocery stores (xcept for Akins?) use wax & pesticides & preservatives in/on their foods. How do you keep from going WAAAAY over budget (like I did... see my Jan food bill )?

ANY HELP/INFO would be very greatly appreciated! We're tired of being sick & such & are ready to eat what God intended us to do, but it just kills me that to eat REAL food it costs CRAZY whereas the fake food/filth is readily available. Thanks!

Kim

[mommy4ever]

Kim,

That's an interesting topic. When man came to be, he had to hunt and forage on a daily basis. One could argue this is is how man was "meant" to be. HOwever, man was also gifted with the power to think for himself and learn. He used that knowledge to invent and innovate. And he invented agriculture so that he didn't need to work so hard all the time to have food.

Did you know that fast food isn't when obeisity started? It started with the invention of agriculture. Once man was able to build food stores and not have to forage and hunt on a daily basis. Obeisity is more prevalent today as everything is always at your fingertips, you can even order take out online!!??!!

You have to start slowly. You can just go ok, nothing but the best wholesome foods from now on.

you need to allow for your palette to adapt, of you'll be going hungry alot.

Start simple. Increase your grains, oats, barley and quinoa are good starts. These are whole grains. Quinoa makes an awesome breakfast with a sprinkly of cinnamon and some fruit. It also makes a nice side dish instead of rice. This is an inexpensive change to your diet. It leaves your belly satisfied for longer than strictly vegetables.

Increase your veggie intake. Use less canned. Learn to grow your own. I think an earthbox or a home made version of will help you grow all the tomatoes you can handle to make your own tomato sauces, tomatoes, canned tomatoes, etc.

I don't know how realistic it is on a limited budget to eliminate all non organic items.

For fruit, think skinned fruit should be organic, so berries, peaches, but bananas and oranges have a thicker skin so don't need to be.

Any leafy veggies should be organic. Grab a pack of seeds and see if you can get them to grow in your home. Some do better than others, but they make neat edible houseplants if your house climate is right.

Try resetting your metabolism. There are books on that. OH! When cutting out the junk, you're going to go through some MAJOR cravings. Tough it out.

The reason people have a tendancy to over eat is some of the ingredients in our food our brain doesn't know, and it has a hard time triggering our "satisfaction" chemicals. So you'll over eat. once you wean off these foods, you will find a greater satisfaction in it.

[cheles2kids]

In all honesty, I think plain, unprocessed foods are easier.
Most are in plain packaging, if any packaging, and of course as you already have found out, better for you and always taste better, imho.

Look at a bag of beans, little packaging, you can adjust the seasoning to *your* taste (the canned varieties are chock full of salt) and one bag makes multiple cans of store bought beans.

As for how to go about limiting/eliminating processed foods?
If you already have a stock pile of it, I say use it up. But as you go to replace those foods, just shop a bit differently.
I always look at the packaging. That's the first dead giveaway if it's a processed food.

I won't say always, but to me most processed foods come in either a box or can. So before you go to pick up another box or can, read the ingredients.
If it's a can of tomatoes and there's anything other than tomatoes, water & salt. Then put it back for another brand.
I also thought I'd add that you will be amazed at how many brands of canned beans also contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, now you tell me what in the world we need sugar added to beans for? I still haven't figured that one out yet.

I have noticed though that I do alot more "scratch" cooking when we started to eliminate our processed foods.

Hope these helped you some!

[monkeywrangler71]

Cupboards full of processed food? This is actually the PERFECT time to change your eating habits. Doesn't sound like it makes sense, but the worst thing you can do is start with an empty cupboard, fill it with stuff you're not used to, and expect to start eating healthy. All that does is set you up for failure.

Right now you have a cupboard full of stuff you are used to eating. Pull out something for supper, look at it, and start asking yourself some questions. What can I add to or subtract from this to make it a better choice? Can I make something similar from scratch. Can I replace some ingredients with something else? Just start making small changes to the food you are already eating and within a few months you will find that your pantry is starting to look dramatically different, and your tastes will have adjusted to a new way of eating.

There is a lot of talk about how much healthy food costs compared to processed food, but I really don't see it. Yes, some things cost more, but at the same time some things cost considerably less, and the more you make from scratch, the healthier and cheaper it will get. If you take out convenience foods, your grocery bill drops.

I'm curious what people are comparing when they talk about junk food being cheaper. Add up the nutrients that your body needs in order to function in a reasonable manner, then start reading labels and adding up how much junk you would actually need to eat in order to get those nutrients. I guarantee if you look at the cost per nutrient, the healthier choices are a better bargain.

[quiltergirl]

We "converted" to a whole foods diet about two years ago. I had to go "cold turkey" and get rid of all the bad stuff. But our diet never really was bad and I have never been into stockpiling so I really didn't have that much processed food on hand. It's just that I have a "do it now" kind of personality -- doesn't work for me to try to ease into things.

My dilemma was what to do with the food I cleaned out of my cupboard. I really had problems giving food that I wouldn't eat because it wasn't "healthy enough" to anyone else. I ended up giving it to my neighbor because I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away. As I said there really wasn't much.

At first we started eating a lot of salad greens (not iceberg lettuce) and lightly steamed veggies. Then I found my way to soup and stir fry. The hardest things for me to give up were believe it or not Miracle Whip, bottled salad dressing and cream of mushroom soup.

We haven't been able to afford to go entirely organic -- but if I find organic on sale I always buy it. I didn't know how we were going to afford it when we started but the money has always been there. We firmly believe that if you don't spend money on good wholesome food you will spend it on medical bills later. And I can guarantee the medical bills will be much larger than your grocery bill.

It does take time and lots of study to figure all this stuff out -- it has definitely been a learn as you go process for me. However, I think you will find you feel so much better that you will be determined to make it work. That is what has happened with us. Who wants to go back to being sick?