Discouraged by the Cost of a TF Diet

[Metasequoia]

We've been eating TF for a while now & lately we've been running out of food - w/o any money to buy more. I joined a CSA thinking that it would save me money in the long run, but no such luck. The kids won't even eat half of the stuff we get from the farm.

We eat eggs each morning, either in a sprouted tortilla with raw sour cream or with potatoes with sour cream - or sweet potatoes.
Sometimes I make baked oatmeal which lasts us 4-5 days but we still also eat eggs beforehand.

Lunch is more like snacks, only because I can't afford to serve chicken/beef/salmon. Lunch might be a large handful of mixed crispy nuts, a bowl of plain yogurt with blueberries, a salad with sunflower seeds (soaked) or carrots. Sometimes a hardboiled egg as well.

Dinner is either ground beef/chicken/salmon & our usual sides are brown rice cooked in chicken stock, mashed potatoes with raw milk, butter & sour cream or we'll make beef tacos & have corn tortillas & sweet corn cooked in butter & CO.
We also almost always have salad with dinner with sunflower & pumpkin seeds.

We're happy with our dinners & breakfast (though Dd2 sometimes groans about the eggs) but lunch needs to be more high protein & maybe higher fat - something more filling. Dd1 definitely has my meatbolism, which is as fast as it gets. We're both pretty thin & I have struggled with keeping my weight up ever since I had Dd2 4.5 years ago.

Anyway, I need some ideas for eating TF on a budget - I have about $375 a month & 4 people to feed - myself (& I eat like 2 people, seriously), Dd1 - age 7 (& apparently in the midst of a massive growth spurt), Dd2 - age 4 & Ds, who survives on 90% breastmilk. I'm stressing over how I'm going to afford groceries when Ds starts eating - like when Dd1 is 15 & Dd2 is 12 & Ds is 9, we're going to be going through food like crazy!

I think more soups would be useful, also more beans - I don't know why I'm not making them.

We've been wheat free (no allergies just thinking wheat is bad news) for a while except for the occasional sprouted tortilla. I was actually thinking tonight that if I added pasta back into our diets 2-3 times a week that we'd save a lot of money & fill up better - someone talk me out of this. I'm of the camp that we're not meant to eat grains, all we really eat is oats & brown rice. I go back & forth on my feelings about dairy but the benefits seem too great with raw dairy & I feel like we need the fat & protein right now.

[tamagotchi]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

We've been wheat free (no allergies just thinking wheat is bad news) for a while except for the occasional sprouted tortilla. I was actually thinking tonight that if I added pasta back into our diets 2-3 times a week that we'd save a lot of money & fill up better

You can have pasta without eating wheat. We eat rice pasta (Tinkyada brand is good) and it definitely helps to satisfy hungry eaters.

[NoTiGG]

The whole foods near me offered to give me free fish heads to make soup with. You could also check a butcher, preferably one that butchers grass fed animals... or find one that processes deer during the winter. Get all the meat and scraps that you can and start making hearty soups.

You can also if you have the option.. to make your own garden to supplement your vegetables

[caedmyn]

I've been eating a lot of beans lately...both to cut costs, and because I feel good when I eat beans. I eat beans and a little bit of hamburger for breakfast, and have zero blood sugar issues with this breakfast (I have to be very careful about eating carbs with breakfast), and I'm not hungry again for hours. I make beans or lentils with dinner most nights, too. And I just figured out how to make crunchy beans (supposed to be with chickpeas but DD is intolerant to those)...take whatever cooked beans you want, mix with soy sauce or butter/EVOO/CO and spices, and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until they're crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They make a really good, high protein, filling snack or side dish.

If you're happy with your breakfasts, then maybe you could try adding beans in some form to your lunch. Also, at least around here nuts are pretty pricey, so cutting them out for the most part would probably save you some money.

Pasta is about the worst thing there is for my blood sugar levels--I can eat something made with white rice flour and be full longer and feel better than I do when I eat pasta.

[thomlynn]

I hear you, it adds up fast. I second the beans idea but honestly I think stock can be pricey with the cost of running the stove for three days and buying the beef bones. I'm switching to making mine in the crock pot but I've only done it once so I'm not sure how much a difference it'll make.

We also do more of a large snack for lunch and lots and lots of hamburgers for dinner.

[Metasequoia]

I cook my stock in HUGE batches in an electric roaster oven - the last batch of chicken stock I made yielded 27 cups. And I simmer it for 24 hours.

Yea, I suppose the nuts are pricey - I buy them from TJs & Costco, so they're not even organic, but still a bit pricey. A 3 lb bag of raw walnuts at Costco is about $11, I actually think that's rather inexpensive considering how long they'll last & the health benefits - also comparing other snack foods in price. Almonds are about the same but I won't buy them anymore since they're never realy raw. : At TJs I buy brazil nuts for the selenium & they last forever, we each eat 2 nuts a day. The splurge is cashews, they're pricey - $6/lb at TJs. I caved & bought a 2 lb bag of pecans at Costco for $12 the other day - I lurve crispy pecans.

Good idea about asking for meat scraps - we're picking up our share of a steer next week, I can ask while I'm at the butcher.

I buy our chicken legs at WF but I'm not sure how I feel about the quality - I know they're not pastured, are they even organic? I often wonder if they're any better than what the Acme sells. I guess they're probably rbst free, huh?

I wish I could find a cheaper egg source - $3.29-$3.49/dozen is a lot when we go through 2-3 dozen a week.

If I cut back on the raw milk I'd save a bundle too. We go through 2-3 gallons a week at $5.50/$6 a gallon depending on where we get it. I think it's reasonable to use 1 gallon a week - I'll aim for that.

Beans, I have to get on the bean wagon. All of the 140 degree stuff kind of turned me off. I think that rather than tackle the phytate issue, I've actually just cut out more of the phytate containing foods. Call me lazy.

[NoTiGG]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

I cook my stock in HUGE batches in an electric roaster oven - the last batch of chicken stock I made yielded 27 cups. And I simmer it for 24 hours.

Yea, I suppose the nuts are pricey - I buy them from TJs & Costco, so they're not even organic, but still a bit pricey. A 3 lb bag of raw walnuts at Costco is about $11, I actually think that's rather inexpensive considering how long they'll last & the health benefits - also comparing other snack foods in price. Almonds are about the same but I won't buy them anymore since they're never realy raw. : At TJs I buy brazil nuts for the selenium & they last forever, we each eat 2 nuts a day. The splurge is cashews, they're pricey - $6/lb at TJs. I caved & bought a 2 lb bag of pecans at Costco for $12 the other day - I lurve crispy pecans.

Good idea about asking for meat scraps - we're picking up our share of a steer next week, I can ask while I'm at the butcher.

I buy our chicken legs at WF but I'm not sure how I feel about the quality - I know they're not pastured, are they even organic? I often wonder if they're any better than what the Acme sells. I guess they're probably rbst free, huh?

I wish I could find a cheaper egg source - $3.29-$3.49/dozen is a lot when we go through 2-3 dozen a week.

If I cut back on the raw milk I'd save a bundle too. We go through 2-3 gallons a week at $5.50/$6 a gallon depending on where we get it. I think it's reasonable to use 1 gallon a week - I'll aim for that.

Beans, I have to get on the bean wagon. All of the 140 degree stuff kind of turned me off. I think that rather than tackle the phytate issue, I've actually just cut out more of the phytate containing foods. Call me lazy.

THat may seem like alot for the milk but remember that it is high in fat and calorie dense. I think one of the advantages to eating traditionally is you can eat much higher... but good fats. And the price per calorie of the fats... isn't so bad when you calculate it out

[thomlynn]

Originally Posted by NoTiGG

THat may seem like alot for the milk but remember that it is high in fat and calorie dense. I think one of the advantages to eating traditionally is you can eat much higher... but good fats. And the price per calorie of the fats... isn't so bad when you calculate it out

I agree with this!!!! and we're paying $10 a gallon!!! IMO it's totally worth it.

[BeagleMommy]

As for the eggs, have you driven around the rural area outside the town or city you live in? That's how I found my egg lady. She just had a hand painted sign at the end of her driveway. Her chickens eat bugs, grass, grass clippings from the non-chemical yard, and grains. And they are $1/ dozen. Most beautiful orange yolks you can imagine. Another way I have found local eggs in the past is to go into a feed store and ask the employees or look on the bulletin board. That's how I found my similarly produced 75 cent/dozen eggs. The $1 eggs are a lot closer.

Sometimes we have a hunk of raw milk cheddar cheese with lunch.

But, otherwise, I do understand the budget complaints. Just remember, you could cut your food budget in half and get no real food at all. Not poisoning your body is worth the money and being poor in other areas of the budget IMO.

[Metasequoia]

Good idea about the eggs - that would save me bundles! We're evry close to Amish farmers, but their prices aren't cheap, they're all into TF/WAP & they know how much their food is worth! We have so many back country roads & small farms, I betcha I could find a source if I looked around....

[snowbunny]

I think that there's things you can do to mitigate the cost of high quality food: eating beans, growing your own, searching for a cheap source, using smaller quantities of the expensive stuff and larger quantities of the inexpensive foods etc. We've also learned to be very resourceful in the kitchen. For example, vegetable scraps get thrown into the stock pot and then composted instead of just thrown away.

Also, I've noticed that our doctors visits have been reduced considerably which saves money.

[tempestjewel]

I recently watched "The Future of Food" (excellent documentary, btw) and on the bonus DVD was one guys commentary on the cost of food. He basically said that the question shouldn't be why is healthy food so expensive, but rather, why is un-healthy food so cheap? Personally, I hate that my tax dollars go to subsidizing GE crops that they turn into high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil:

I try to think of my shopping as a political statement- giving money to farmers who actually practice sustainable farming, pasture raised chickens/eggs and animals that are mostly unsubsidized.

Fortunately there are a plethora of natural food stores around here, but going directly to the source saves the most $ for us because you aren't paying a middle-man. I do hope to put in a garden next year to raise as much food ourselves as possible.

I do look at spending money on quality food as ensuring health for my family and my children, not only in our own bodies, but also in the earth. Now we live on a VERY tight budget, but I try to cut everything else before cutting what we spend on food, because I think it is of the highest importance.

[Metasequoia]

I think that way too Naomi, about where we shop being a political statement, but as a single SAHM with a fairly small monthly check from exdp, I really only have so much to spend, yk? (Not that we all don't have our budgets.)

Great ideas though - I made a big, fat dish of baked oatmeal this morning, that should last us 4 days, I have beef stock simmering with cheap marrow bones & I stocked up on lentils & legumes. I made butternut/acorn squash a couple of days ago with the last of the winter squash, we've already gotten 3 lunches out of it & it's only half gone. Soup rocks.

[tempestjewel]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

I think that way too Naomi, about where we shop being a political statement, but as a single SAHM with a fairly small monthly check from exdp, I really only have so much to spend, yk? (Not that we all don't have our budgets.)

Yeah, its rough with a tight budget. I've been lurking on this thread as well for any new ideas on how to stretch the dollar. My biggest challenge has been eating TF with multiple food allergies (dairy, soy, wheat, egg, corn, peanut, coconut). Our biggest portion of the budget by far is on produce because for now its all safe (but that may change next week when DD has further allergy testing done : ).

If I could live being a political statement I would buy 100% organic everything down to clothing, etc., but I just figure making as much of a statement with whatever money I can means I'm maximizing my impact to the best of my ability. I just hope for our children un-healthy food will no longer be cheap, and eating TF and sustainably will be the norm!

[saratc]

Beans, I have to get on the bean wagon. All of the 140 degree stuff kind of turned me off. I think that rather than tackle the phytate issue, I've actually just cut out more of the phytate containing foods. Call me lazy.

I'm also lazy, and don't always soak my beans. I think NT is great in terms of laying out the basics, but I don't believe soaking to be the only way to cook beans and grains. In traditional Chinese cooking, grains like rice, beans, barley, etc were soaked in plain water and slow cooked. I probably follow what's recommended by Sally Fallon over 80% of the time, but I do deviate. I sometimes will soak, but more often than not, I simply cook my beans in the slow cooker for about 12 to 24 hours. 24 hours is for the "creamy" dishes like lentils. 12 hours is more like chickpeas, which I end up freezing in small containers and then pureeing for hummus. I always add at least 1 cup of homemade broth to my beans, which I believe helps render them more digestible and also makes them taste so much better.

I'm blessed with a healthy grocery budget, around $300 to $350 per month for just DH and I, but we're in the DC metro area, and I still have to cut corners. I'm always buying up all the boney cuts from the local farmers. I just recently got beef shank meat for $2/lb -- good amount of meat clinging to lovely bones.

Milk can be expensive, but DH seems to eat less of everything else when I stock milk and butter regularly. Sometimes when he's not particularly satisfied after a meal, he'd have some sourdough bread with butter, or a glass of milk, and he's good. I also pay about $3.25 to $3.50 for my eggs, but even though we go through about 2 dozen every week, I feel like it's the best value in terms of high quality protein we can get. I start my day always with at least one egg, usually two. I have blood sugar issues and eat every 3 hours or so, and if I don't eat at least one egg for breakfast, I'm extra hungry all day.

I make most things from scratch. I make yogurt, kefir, water kefir sodas, kombucha, beet kvass, broth, and granola (for breakfast and snacks) regularly. I make sauerkraut about twice a year, which is enough for the whole year. At around $4/quart of kefir, I can't afford to buy it from the farmers or from the store. Making the fermented foods is such a bargain since they are free probiotics, helps with digestion, and I feel keep us healthy and counteract some of the foods I compromise on.

I do worry about the cost of simmering my broth for so long even though I make it in the slow-cooker, but it's so worth it. I add a bit of broth to all my slow cooker meals, and I know the gelatin and components of broth is supposed to help break down foods, and give all my food a rich flavor.

I don't buy everything organic. Usually nuts I buy non-organic. The nuts and seeds are usually encased in a fruit and fairly protected. Also I read somewhere that a plant will sacrifice everything else to create a perfect seed, so nuts and seeds have good quality nutrients even when getting conventional. Nuts are our favorite snack. Pricey on the surface, but not really since they are so dense and satisfying. I haven't been able to find a good local source of organic fruit, and I crave fruit in the summer, so I try to buy the organic fruit on sale. So far for berries, I've been only able to afford strawberries, although I'm looking forward to getting U-pick blackberries later this summer.

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by saratc

I don't buy everything organic. Usually nuts I buy non-organic. The nuts and seeds are usually encased in a fruit and fairly protected. Also I read somewhere that a plant will sacrifice everything else to create a perfect seed, so nuts and seeds have good quality nutrients even when getting conventional. Nuts are our favorite snack. Pricey on the surface, but not really since they are so dense and satisfying. I haven't been able to find a good local source of organic fruit, and I crave fruit in the summer, so I try to buy the organic fruit on sale. So far for berries, I've been only able to afford strawberries, although I'm looking forward to getting U-pick blackberries later this summer.

Thanks for that great post saratc! I'm the same way with blood sugar & I also eat 2 eggs every morning, along with baked oatmeal today.

ITA about the nuts, I don't buy organic because I don't believe them to be sprayed - my education is in horticulture & I feel confident that certain nuts & fruits aren't sprayed because they aren't susceptible to disease/pests. I just finished dehydrating some pecans - mmmmmm....
Strawberries I'll only buy organic because I know how heavily they're sprayed. I buy blueberries from out local produce store - right now they're $1.75/pint! I've been going every other day & buying 6 pints at a time. It's blueberry season & we're so close to NJ so I consider them fairly local & not a heavily sprayed fruit. Blueberries are just SO good for us, I have to splurge every July.

I always made kefir & harvested it each morning but we were going through raw milk like crazy & it got to be too expensive, my poor kefir grains have been sitting in the fridge neglected for a couple of months..

Sauerkraut is at the top of my list of things to make. I made a slaw last week with purple cabbage & kohlrabi & it was too salty, blech.

[flutterbylvr]

Remember folks, I am still new to this~ I havent a clue what keifer is?? Can someone tell me??

Another ? In the wal-mart, they have started to carry organic canned veggies and they are only a few cents more than the regular. I belive this is the green giant brand? I am wondering if this would be something healthier than what I have been buying? Any opinions?

We spend sooo much money on food and I havent even started TF. So I will probably be asking lots of ?'s in reference to this. One of my gripes has always been that eating healthy just costs too much. I love the posts that claim this to be a political statement, and a good investment! I think the next time I go grocery shopping I will totally keep these statements in mind. TY all!

[rayo de sol]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

We have so many back country roads & small farms, I betcha I could find a source if I looked around....

Try looking around your local area for milk, too. I found a source for $3 per gallon of raw, grass-fed milk. If you see cows while you're driving around, just stop and ask the farmer if you can buy some of the milk raw.

Also, I try to get the free fish carcasses and heads from the fish counter at the grocery store.

And my local butcher gives away beef bones, suet, and organs for free. Perhaps there's an independent butcher in your area?

For produce, I try to eat it in season when it's cheaper, and I research U-pick farms. If you're willing to pick it yourself, produce can be really cheap--and the best quality.

Those are my practical ideas. Now for my perhaps not-so-practical ideas: Hunt for deer, turkey, rabbits, even squirrels? Keep your own chickens for eggs?

I understand if there's not much choice, but ideally, I would try to avoid depending on a starch source like pasta just to fill up because it's mostly empty calories. I realize filling up on fat is much more expensive, but in the long run, it's so much healthier. What's the cheapest, healthiest fat you can buy in bulk?

[Metasequoia]

Originally Posted by rayo de sol

Try looking around your local area for milk, too. I found a source for $3 per gallon of raw, grass-fed milk. If you see cows while you're driving around, just stop and ask the farmer if you can buy some of the milk raw.

My milk is local, we're close to Amish farmer's & their raw milk isn't much less than the raw milk at our local mom & pop WFS - especially when you consider the gas. The cheapest raw milk I've found is $4/gallon, but only on Fridays & it's about an hour away. I could just go anyday to the local HFS & pay $6, yk? Good idea though.

Originally Posted by rayo de sol

I understand if there's not much choice, but ideally, I would try to avoid depending on a starch source like pasta just to fill up because it's mostly empty calories. I realize filling up on fat is much more expensive, but in the long run, it's so much healthier. What's the cheapest, healthiest fat you can buy in bulk?

Yea, the pasta idea is out the window already, I'm back to my senses - I consider it a moment of hysteria & exhaustion.

Originally Posted by flutterbylvr

Another ? In the wal-mart, they have started to carry organic canned veggies and they are only a few cents more than the regular. I belive this is the green giant brand? I am wondering if this would be something healthier than what I have been buying? Any opinions?

I'd stay away from canned anything since the lining of the cans leaches bisphenol-A into the foods, it's an endocrine disrupter/hormone mimicker - really bad news. Frozen veggies are a better choice if you can't afford fresh - Trader Joes has fairly cheap organic frozen veggies. If you're concerned about where your money is going, I'd also stay away from Wal-Mart, JMHO.

The Green Guide on BPA

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by Metasequoia

Beans, I have to get on the bean wagon. All of the 140 degree stuff kind of turned me off. I think that rather than tackle the phytate issue, I've actually just cut out more of the phytate containing foods. Call me lazy.

Since this is my fault, I feel a duty to say that I have only measured the temperature of the bean water to see if I was getting anywhere close to 140 degrees so I could report to you guys. It's hard to start at 140 and I don't have the patience to keep it at 140 so I just put it in a warm spot and call it good enough. I soak for a long time (over 18 hours usually) to make up for it (or because I forget I am soaking them : )