couple quesions, - butter, minerals, sea salt!

[bobandjess99]

Dh used to sell vitamins and stuff for a company. He is firmly entrenched in the idea that we need to supplement for trace minerals. Which is great, I agree. BUT..the ones he used to sell are really expensive, and I'm wondering if we can ge these nutrients another way that is cheaper.
So, from what i understand, sea salt is supposed to have trace minerals in it, right? So we are getting some from using sea salt, right?
What about infusions? Like nettles? That is supposed to provide minerals and stuff, right?
What else?
Are those things enough, or is a mineral supplement necesary? If so, are there are that are more economical than $40/month per person? Cuz I can't swing that unless that person gives up food for half the month, lol.

I'v heard of "concentrace" is that something i should get? Other options?

OK - is there a difference in sea salts? I noticed they sell some at the $ store...that made me suspicious, lol. Right now I am using a brand i got at the farmers market, it;'s a biggish bottle for $4...is there a concensus on "good" brands? What should i look for?

Butter. I'm wondernig about the financial trade off for butter. We have a source for raw milk that also sells butter. The cows are raised organic, and mostly pastured, with a small amount of feed supplement (best i can do locally)
The milk isn't too expensive, but the butter is. And I'm having a hard time justifying it.
So..help me decide..is it worth the extra expense, or not? I can get regular butter for $2 lb at the grocery store. We use about a lb per week. So..that's $8/month on butter at the store. The stuff the farmer sells is $11/lb, which is $44/month, or $36 more than store butter. That a significant percentage of my food budget, lol. If it's truly necesary, I'll try to swing some, but I'm just not sure if it is worth it. So, help educate me? Is it worth it?

[Magelet]

Dh used to sell vitamins and stuff for a company. He is firmly entrenched in the idea that we need to supplement for trace minerals. Which is great, I agree. BUT..the ones he used to sell are really expensive, and I'm wondering if we can ge these nutrients another way that is cheaper.
So, from what i understand, sea salt is supposed to have trace minerals in it, right? So we are getting some from using sea salt, right?
What about infusions? Like nettles? That is supposed to provide minerals and stuff, right?
What else?
Are those things enough, or is a mineral supplement necesary? If so, are there are that are more economical than $40/month per person? Cuz I can't swing that unless that person gives up food for half the month, lol.

gosh no. for the most part, those supplements aren't food based, which means you aren't even likely to absorb much from them! unrefined sea salt is a good source of minerals. nuts, veggies, seaweed, wild seafish particularly shellfish, pastured meats, good sources of minerals. herbs have lots of minerals. nettles are great. what minerals are you worried about? seriously, you really can get what you need from food, unless you have crazy deficiencies imo.

OK - is there a difference in sea salts? I noticed they sell some at the $ store...that made me suspicious, lol. Right now I am using a brand i got at the farmers market, it;'s a biggish bottle for $4...is there a concensus on "good" brands? What should i look for?

you want unrefined sea salt. refined sea salt is useless, essentially. they take the minerals out, and sell them to industry, because they make more money that way. celtic grey sea salt, sel du mer, pink sea salt, there are lots of good sea salts. I like celtic grey, but it's only one brand among many.

Butter. I'm wondernig about the financial trade off for butter. We have a source for raw milk that also sells butter. The cows are raised organic, and mostly pastured, with a small amount of feed supplement (best i can do locally)
The milk isn't too expensive, but the butter is. And I'm having a hard time justifying it.
So..help me decide..is it worth the extra expense, or not? I can get regular butter for $2 lb at the grocery store. We use about a lb per week. So..that's $8/month on butter at the store. The stuff the farmer sells is $11/lb, which is $44/month, or $36 more than store butter. That a significant percentage of my food budget, lol. If it's truly necesary, I'll try to swing some, but I'm just not sure if it is worth it. So, help educate me? Is it worth it?

yes. it is. If you cannot afford it, try to find grass-fed butter that is pasturized. kerrygold is carried many places, organic valley has some grass-fed butter, you may have a local brand that is grass fed. some other mamas may have some other ideas of brands for where you are. I pay about 6 bucks a pound for pasturized, grass-fed butter. I can't afford raw. but since I cook a lot of my butter anyways, I figure who cares. I do try to buy cultured butter most of the time to make up for those beneficial bacteria somewhat. But yes. if you can possibly possibly possibly afford it, grass-fed butter is worth it. Most of the nutrients in dairy that are hard to get in many food sources are concentrated in the fat. so butter is a really good source of them. I wouldn't stress too much if you can't afford raw, but find a source for grass-fed butter.

[mbravebird]

Look into Concentrace if you want to have something on hand for trace minerals to back up your food. You can add a few drops to every glass of water, or put some in your nettle infusion -- whatever you're drinking. Are you making bone broth?(no pressure here -- just wondering, as that is a good source of many minerals.) Concentrace is a liquid ionized form of trace minerals, taken from sea salt.

I have never been able to afford good butter, and to remedy that I've done different things at different times. I used to buy the expensive butter oil and just stretch it out over a long time, figuring that something was better than nothing. But recently, I've started rendering my own lard and cooking with it. Because that is so affordable (about a dollar a pound), I can now afford some good butter for eating on bread, veggies, etc. The butter I get now lasts a lot longer, because I don't cook with it. And lard is really great for you -- it is one of the few food sources of vitamin D, as long as it comes from grass-fed animals that spend lots of time outside. It's a great fat to add to your diet.

For the lard, you'll want to ask your farmer for the "leaf lard" -- it's the most pure tasting, and therefore the most versatile. It makes the best pie crust in the world! Rendering is very simple -- you simply dice the unrendered fat, put it in a dutch oven with a layer of water on the bottom, and put it in the oven at 200. It will take about four or five hours. There are a few more details to think about, but that's basically it. If you're interested I'll post more.

[jplain]

mbravebird, do you get leaf lard locally, or do you mail-order it?

[velcromom]

I think bone broth is a good daily source of minerals & for me it's first priority of all my TF preparations. But herbs are a great source of minerals. I recently ran across a description of the minerals in mint and I was impressed. It's easy to grow in containers, toss into smoothies with yogurt, mince over fruit, etc. Also leaf celery is an easy one to grow - a really useful herb for the kitchen garden. If you are talking fresh organic herbs, I think the only cost effective way to go is to grow your own, fortunately most herbs are pretty hardy & will thrive without much fuss.

I too have come to the conclusion that it's worth getting grassfed fats - I pay about $7 lb for pasture butter, and recently decided to get some grassfed tallow for cooking to spare the butter for table use. The tallow is less expensive so that helps a lot. There's a good TF blog that did a comparison of the cost of home rendering tallow from purchased beef fat vs. buying it already rendered, and buying it pre rendered came out less expensive.

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by jplain

mbravebird, do you get leaf lard locally, or do you mail-order it?

I get it locally. I think it can be mail-ordered, too, pre-rendered. Not sure if the online source is grassfed, though.