Poor mamas: How well do you guys really eat??

[Krystal323]

so i'm skimming posts and noticing that a lot of ppl here supposedly buy mostly organic food, worry about additives and processed foods, etc....and i'm thinking, well, these mamas must be better off than us.

i mean seriously, i don't have the money to care that there's beef broth and msg in the ramen packs. if i'm buying fresh fruit, i have to buy what's on special, not whatever catches my fancy and certainly not only what's organic. i mean, distilled purified water costs like $1.12 a gallon, while i can get an off-brand 2Liter of soda for 50 cents. sadly, we opt for the soda.

now, admittedly we are in a very tight situation, and it won't be this way forever--but i just feel like these other mamas who are "allowed" to care about the quality of their food/diet are in a separate reality from ours. anyone else feel similar??

[Daisie125]

Whole foods are much cheaper than processed junk. We cannot afford organic, but we eat pretty well on a VERY small grocery budget (around $30/week).

For instance, I can make homemade noodles with herbs just as cheap as Ramen packs are, and they taste SO much better.

[KariM]

We can rarely buy organic - it's just not in the budget.

We do buy local meat that is raised humanely and without extra chemicals, etc.

We grow a large garden and are slowly adding berry bushes (added in blueberries and raspberries this year). All of our production is organic.

I cook from scratch most of the time and buy minimally processed food for the most part. It's cheaper and less likely to be filled with preservatives and additives.

I'm a label reader and have been avoiding artificial colors, additives, and preservatives. I prefer not to have to read the labels and a simple solution to that is to buy the food as close to whole as I can get it.

I think we eat very well - nutritionally it's superior to most of our peers - but it does look very different from most of our neighbors (not MDC folk, just regular folk).

ETA: I don't know if it's an option for your family, but we were searching for a better alternative to bottled purified water and bought a Big Berkey water purifier system. It was a large up-front cost, but now we aren't buying little plastic bottles full of water. We just have to replace filters every 15,000 gallons.

[boysrus]

good topic!
We are low income and have three school aged boys. We have some food issues and so we avoid corn syrup and food coloring. I avoid partially hydrogenated stuff as much as possible. I can't have msg because it gives me migraines.
We are fortunate in that we have good outlet stores that carry a lot of natural or organic brands for really cheap/ For instance, I stoked up on the big sized cans of organic and diced tomatoes for 79 cents each this week. We also have a bread outlet where we can get good bread for a pretty good price. We cannot stick to organic at all though.

[Snowdrift]

*

[snv1492]

Originally Posted by Krystal323

so i'm skimming posts and noticing that a lot of ppl here supposedly buy mostly organic food, worry about additives and processed foods, etc....and i'm thinking, well, these mamas must be better off than us.

People tend to speak more about what they would like to do for themselves than what they actually do.

I think people should make an effort to eat the best food possible, of course. But human bodies are fairly remarkable in their ability to survive for 7 or 8 decades off of less than ideal food. A few preservatives and FDC yellow dye number 5 aren't going to kill you if you eat them on occasion. The effort and expense I see a lot of people go through to be completely "natural" almost defeats the benefit of living at all. It is not a sin to partake of the occasional modern convenience and you're not a bad parent if you let your kid eat a Twinkee once in a month.

There is almost an "I'm more natural than thou" attitude among some people, but you get used to it. :

By the way, you can usually refill gallon jugs with water for $0.50. Most grocery stores have a machine out front for that. It's better than soda.

There is no mystery why Americans are fatter than the rest of the world. It is because healthy food is expensive. But as long as you keep an active lifestyle, you do not need to be in poor health just because your food comes from a factory instead of a farm. You shouldn't feel guilty about not buying organic.

[msjd123]

I wouldn't say we're poor, but I do try hard to keep our grocery bill as low as possible, and that works best when we stick to the basics. Our 3 most common cheap dinners are scrambled eggs (or French toast if I have the time and inclination), pasta with tomato sauce (sometimes jarred, sometimes homemade, but rarely do we have meat in the sauce), and bean and cheese burritos. We eat at least 2 of those 3 every week, and when it's tight, we have all 3. During the winters, I'll also make a big pot of bean soup with a smoked hamhock; I think the whole pot costs me less than $4 to make, and it usually is enough for 3-4 dinners. This week, I'm making chili with a mere 1/2 pound of ground beef but tons of beans to round things out, and that's cheap, too. We'll have Jiffy cornbread ($0.33/box) on the side.

I think that being able to cook or bake from scratch is the biggest key to it all. We stick to our budget way better when I have the time and foresight to plan what I'll cook and when for the week.

[wonderwahine]

We try to buy organic, but mostly just try to buy cheap. we do make one sacrifice and that is the only milk we will use is the most expensive, its not organic, but its hormone and antibiotic free and comes in glass returnable bottles.

I use coupons, and shop sales, drink tap water, we try and eat more fresh foods rather than processed or canned. But when its tight, its tight, and the food we get from the food banks is definatly not organic, but we still use it.

[reducereuserecycle]

today at Whole Foods I got appx. $75 of groceriecs for $.97 ! Yeah-that wasn't a mistype- $.97.

The way I did this was use $3.00 off coupons on cat and dog food that were less than $3.00 (these coupons are in the FREE mambo sprouts coupon books in the front of the store) So, for each coupon I used, I earned $. (BTW, i don't even own any cats or dogs. i am just giving it away)

We definately don't have much money after we pay the bills, but I am determined to eat Organic and most of the time I can find stuff on sale and add coupons to that and voila.

This past week a bag of organic potatoes was $1.25 at Kroger. I bought about 5 bags since I knew that was a good price.

For chicken and beef that is from naturally raised animals, I look for the meat that is about to expire and if there are several packs, I stock up and freeze them. Last week I got about 4 packs of chicker that were originally over $8 and onsale for about $4 because the date was about to run out.

It is harder to find good deals sometimes, especially depending on where you live. Just start looking really hard for good deals and try to combine them w/ coupons. (you can get a lot of coupons online)

[nantahala]

I focus on organic dairy, meats and fats, and then using sparingly. I look for local fresh produce and it's not nearly as pricey as buying organic produce in the stores. We are spending quite a bit right now due to trying to figure out a few food intolerances, but we range about $60 a week.

[Sharlla]

We don't buy organic but I think we do well.

[MamaChel]

I eat a meal every couple of days. The rest of the time I try to snack a bit here and there. However, we can rarely afford to actually grocery shop and I have to justify the $3.00 that goes to a gallon of milk.

The kids eat whatever we have access to. Usually it's something resembling hotdogs and Kraft Dinner.

When we got food stamps we ate *well*. I was able to choose healthy fresh foods and purchase local and/or organic when it mattered to me. Now we eat what we get from the food pantry.

I know that this is a temp situation, come Sept when the student loans come in, we'll have a bit more breathing room.

I am in awe of those to seem to manage to eat well despite being poor. In my area, it's not feasable. The nearest co-op type place is an hour away one way. The nearest farmer's market (non-organic but mostly local) is 20 minutes one way. The nearest affordable grocery is 10-15 minutes one way. The closest grocery is expensive for everything but meat. When we can afford fresh meat, we go there. Otherwise, we do without.

[Krystal323]

yeah, i think having the forethought and talent for scratch-cooking helps a lot. i am a pretty lousy cook, and i totally don't have enough kitchen stuff right now sometimes i wash the same pot 4 times in one day :

i disagree on this: i think it takes more money to eat healthier, not less. then again, i am not willing nor able to go making my own noodles, or growing a veggie garden (i would but i live in a 2nd story apartment!)...

my dp grew up with not a lot of $$ and he's very skilled at "making something out of nothing", but i can't expect him to make dinner everynight on top of working 50+ hours a week, yk? one thing he makes for us that is cheap is homemade pizza. it tastes awesome, but jeez it's a lot of effort IMO: making the sauce, mixing the dough, then cleaning the flour-ey countertop and washing the dough-bowl :

we've been waiting for weeks and weeks to get our foodstamps approved (they keep giving me the run-around, if you keep up with the poor families support thread, you'll know ), and in the meantime every dollar we make goes to buy the bare-minimum of food. i am thoroughly sick of it

[CarrieMF]

You need to do what is within your budget. We don't buy alot of organic because there isn't alot available here. I have my own garden. We don't buy any beef as my parents give us some of theirs that they butcher for free, so we buy chicken & some pork. We're not big fish people. We don't do alot of processed food, but we do some.

i mean, distilled purified water costs like $1.12 a gallon, while i can get an off-brand 2Liter of soda for 50 cents. sadly, we opt for the soda.

this really stood out to me though. You are paying 1.00 for 1 gallon of pop vs $1.12 for 1 gallon of water. Since soda doesn't actually quench thirst or hydrate I"d guess you are going through more soda then you would water. I'd find a way to spend the extra $.12 & opt for the water. We buy culligan water, 5 gallons is $5.49. We do not get it delivered & we do know that if we went to the actual Culligan place we'd get it for about $3 or $4/5 gallons.

[Marcee]

We rarely buy organic. If it is a good price then I will but it is not the norm. I do buy most of my food from local growers and farmers markets. But I live in farm country so for us it is cheaper to buy this way. We eat VERY WELL. I do not stress over the lack of organics in our diet. I am putting balanced meals on the table and that makes me happy.

Honestly for me, "I" feel guilty eating "high on the hog" (as my sweet grandma would say) while others are going without. I am not saying that others should feel that way but I do. So while I am teaching my children about good nutrition, I want them to think about others as well.

[jennlyn]

I like to use my crockpot for simple meals. Beans are much cheaper when you buy them dry, soak them and cook them in the crockpot. You can freeze them after cooking too. I make my bread and baked goods from scratch. Pizza too! To me, the mess is worth it. Baking is very easy if you keep the basic ingredients on hand. Flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder,vanilla, yeast, brown sugar, cornmeal. With these ingredients I can make almost anything. Cocoa if you need chocolate . Oats are great for baking and breakfast. I always see bread machines and crockpots at Goodwill for only a few dollars. I got a yogurt maker for 4.00. If you are going to truly save money on groceries, you are going to have to do some work. If you are not employed outside of your home, feeding your family is a main part of your job. If your partner/spouse/significant other is working, you should be working the same amount of hours at home and that involves food prep. Get some cookbooks from the library. If you can even buy one item in bulk, do it. Look for the loss leaders in supermarkets and only buy that. We have a very nice grocery store in our area that has good specials every week. However, if I buy anything other than the specials it is at a primo price. Much higher than Wal-Mart. My farmer's market was about 20 min. away, but I could get a bushel of tomatoes for 5.00 and can them. Or apples for applesauce. Or a box of cabbage for 7.00. If it is too much for your family to eat, think about who you could split with. Most other moms would be glad for inexpensive produce.

[Ruthla]

Tap water, even with the expense of Brita filters, is much, much cheaper than any kind of soda. A huge bag of rice is cheaper than ramen noodle packets. Making a roux from butter, flour, and milk is cheaper than buying "cream of cardboard" canned soups. Dried beans are an incredibly cheap source of protein- they just require a little more planning when you cook with them. I stock up on foods such as tomato paste, dry pasta, canned fish, frozen veggies, etc, when they go on sale.

I've been avoiding synthetic crap in my food for a very long time, and I've found that it's actually cheaper to go with simple whole foods, and cook from scratch, rather than buy packaged "non foods."

I can't afford to buy a lot of organic foods. I make avoiding GMO stuff a higher priority than organics. I only buy in-season produce- it's cheaper, usually from a more local source, and is fresher/tastier/higher in nutrients.

[Belleweather]

I think it depends on what you decide to care about. For instance, we can't possibly afford organic dairy -- we actually don't buy dairy at all without WIC -- but I care a great deal about rBST in my dairy products. There is one commerical dairy in our state whose milk is rBST free, so we chose to go out of our way to use our WIC checks where we can buy that brand of milk. There are a couple of other things I'm exceedingly picky about (like canned tomatoes and broth that actually has met a cow on some occasion) but otherwise we do as well as we can with what we know and don't worry about organics or additives.

On the other hand, I'm a full-blown nazi with regard to whole foods. We do not buy processed food, period. We don't drink soda or convienence drinks --we have water and milk and that's it, although we did have to have a brita filter in our old house because the water was terrible. We eat lots of beans, rice, pasta (I buy ramen and throw the 'flavor packet' out) and basic frozen veggies, and only use meat occasionally and in small amounts for flavor. We eat whatever fruit is in season and I try to can and preserve it when it's cheap so we can afford to eat it when it's not. We cook a lot of third world food -- mexican, indian, african, thai, etc. -- from scratch to stretch the food dollars. But when our food dollars are so very scarce, I flat out refuse to spend any of them on food that doesn't have any FOOD in it, you know?

[imnotsupernanny]

I tend to eat A LOT of pasta! It's pretty much all I eat and I know I need to eat better. I've started to make an effort.

I'm vegatarian so I save money by not buying meat,chicken or fish.I've been veg since I was 16 so it wasn't really a finacial decision. If you don't want to go veg you could cut down the amount of meat meals each week and save a little money.

I always make my own chili! It's way cheaper then canned stuff at the grocery store. It's even cheaper if you use dried beans and take the time to soak them,but I never do.

I drink tap water put through the Birtta. I also make my own iced-tea and lemondade.

I buy the no name brand stuff or store brands. I wish I could by organic sometimes though.

I sometimes work as a nanny and when I do I eat better! The families always have fruit for the kids and I.

I get frozen veggies when they are on sale. I know if I get the fresh ones they will go bad. If I know I won't eat something before it goes bad then I won't buy it anymore. I've wasted so many carottes b/c I was to lazy to wash and cut them and they went bad. Now I pay a little more for the ready washed and cut baby carrotes. It actually saves me money.

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by Belleweather

IOn the other hand, I'm a full-blown nazi with regard to whole foods.

Unless you mean that you're going to torture and murder 12 million people if you don't eat whole foods, then please don't use the term "nazi." It's very offensive.

You could say "I'm a full-blown zeolot about whole foods" or "I'm fanatical about whole foods" instead.