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Eating Organic on a Frugal Budget Print
Wednesday, 10th June 2009 (by J.D.)This article is about Budgeting, Food, Frugality
Is it possible to eat local organic food on a food-stamp budget? That’s the question Salon’s Siobhan Phillips set out to answer recently. For one month, Phillips and her husband gave themselves a budget of $248 to “eat ethically” in New Haven, Connecticut. She writes:
I had wondered about the elitism of ethical eating ever since I started reading about the movement in books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation, and Food Politics.
When Alice Waters told Americans that they could dine better by forgoing “the cellphone or the third pair of Nike shoes,” my monthly cellphone bill totaled zero and I owned just one pair of sneakers. When Michael Pollan urged citizens to plant a garden, I was living on the 10th floor of an urban apartment building. When Barbara Kingsolver wrote in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that sustainable cooking could be thrifty, her recommendations included a plot of land and a second freezer that I didn’t own.
My kitchen had the dimensions of a medium-size walk-in closet. And I was better off than many in my neighborhood.
I like this article because it doesn’t delve so much into the politics of food choice as it does the practicalities. If, as meat eaters, you limit yourself to a single chicken and a pound of beef for the month, how do you make meals interesting? How easy is it to go from store-bought bread to home-made bread? What about coffee? Milk?
When you opt out of the convenience of the local supermarket for whatever reason, food choices become more challenging. Ultimately, however, Phillips and her husband deemed their project a success. With inspiration from sources like M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf, they were able to eat organic food for a month on a frugal budget. But she cautions:
Our test methods wouldn’t work for everyone, I know: I relied on the sort of reasonably flexible schedule that is a luxury in far too many households, and I started with some basic cooking knowledge…Yet our four-week hypothetical did provide a feasible way for my husband and me to eat sustainably long-term: When the month finished — with a magisterial $1.20 left in the cache — we decided to stick with most of our experimental changes.
Here are three other sources of inspiration for Phillips’ experiment:
- Rebecca’s Pocket: The (Organic) Thrifty Food Plan Challenge
- USDA: “Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals” [PDF]
- More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre
This story reminds me of an anecdote from our trip to the grocery store last weekend. As we were carrying our food out to the car, Kris scanned the receipt. “52%!” she said. “That’s a record for me!” She had orchestrated our trip so that we purchased $80 of groceries for just under $40. My wife’s got mad skillz.
[Salon: Can we afford to eat ethically?]
June 10th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I read the Ominvore’s Dilemma. Excellent book. I highly recommend it. It’ll change the way you think about food.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Does Kris blog about her shopping tactics? I would love to read more about reducing my grocery bill. Currently I shop at Aldi’s and buy what I can in bulk to help bring down costs. The food saving vacuum system is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. I would love to slash my grocery bill by 50%!
June 10th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
It made me laugh that you wrote, “skillz.”
Truly, though: good job on the groceries. I’m exploring options on eating better while saving money as well. We’re part of an organic CSA that ends up averaging about $32 per month (we get a box June-December).
Thanks for posting this article. Very helpful!
June 10th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
It’s definitely possible to “eat ethically” for $248 a month, but you still have to make huge concessions to your lifestyle–like you mentioned, a single chicken and a pound of meat per month.
In reality, things are pretty much like how Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore’s dilemma) has been saying: While there are an ever increasing number of options to consumers allowing them to “eat ethically,” it is still hard eat a comparable diet to what you’re eating now without spending a lot more money.
It’s getting better, though, and that’s encouraging.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
From a frugality perspective though one has to wonder:
If it takes 2 hours and 3 different trips to save $40 on groceries is it worth it?
Unless one really makes close to poverty level income it’s probably not.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and more recently his In Defense of Food. They were both excellent books. But eating better does cost more. But I am convinced that eating healthier can save in other was, such as health care costs and even with eating out less (since it’s less healthy, don’t do it as much).
But it can be discouraging leaving Publix and the bottom of your receipt says “You saved $.48 today.”
June 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I’ve made the same complaint about most GRS tips for years. They are, far and wide, oriented toward the suburban landed class, a class that doesn’t really have the money-saving needs that, say, poverty-level families do, all the way up to an including middle-class apartment dwellers, or even home renters (who don’t have freedom over the property to, say, start a victory garden or compost pile).
It’s just nice to see someone else calling it out.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Check out http://www.cookforgood.com/ which does exactly that for about two bucks a meal. I wound up grabbing the PDF which was worth it IMO just for some of the recipes, and after trying it for a week, it’s certainly doable. I’m not sure if I’m willing to cut the meat out of my diet just yet, but I don’t mind it being an ingredient rather than a main dish, either.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Ya, unfortunately planting a garden and those types of ideas are out for me too.
Instead we do what you wife does and find good deals. My wife typically will get between 50% and sometimes upwards of 75% off. However we eat good fruits and vegetables simply by going to the farmers market. Great fruit and vegetables at often lower prices than the supermarket. And it’s fresher too.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I live in Brooklyn, NYC and am fortunate to be a member of the amazing Food Coop here that has been around since the 70’s. Great, local organic veggies, groceries and meat for low prices. You do have to work one 2 hour shift every four weeks, and the lines are usually ridiculous, but more urban environments should have such a thing. Besides using food grown within 500 miles wherever possible, they charge 21% markup on food to cover operating expenses opposed to the typical 60% in a regular for-profit market.
Besides the coop, I allow myself to go to Pathmark, but if it isn’t a sale item, I’m not buying it! There are always hundreds of store sales to lure people in. So gratifying! Sometimes it is annoying using the multiple market method, but as long as i’m easy on myself and don’t drive myself nuts, it’s fun and i save a ton.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Thanks for the post. I find the local and/or organic food movement is still often too pricey for a lot of folks out there (including me). And it looks like it’s also proving hard to financially sustain for even a high-profile chef. Check out this article about one of Canada’s top chefs and his struggling business: http://tinyurl.com/lrsh7u
June 10th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
This is something my wife and I are wrestling with now. Living in the cold climate of Buffalo, NY, Local produce isn’t available all year long. Organic food we get is not always from the States and is often very pricey. We’ve never really had a food budget before but now that we had the triplets two weeks ago and my wife’s income is now gone since she will be staying home with them when they get out of the hospital, a food budget that is ethical and healthy for my family is more important than ever. Thanks for the great article and multiple, informative links.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Charley, the last sentence of your post made me smile since it was coming from a new dad of triplets!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
I loved the Salon article, and have definitely struggled against my grocery budget. And in the end, it is our primary lifestyle luxury. We belong to a veggie CSA 8mos/year, and a year-round local, pasture-raised meat CSA. Both of them definitely save us money in the long-run, though the initial outlays of cash are hard. We don’t eat out much because I have to eat gluten-free, and cooking is my hobby. But with mint.com as my budgeting leash, we’ve been able to live within a smaller grocery budget for the last year, though still not down to $248 levels of the Salon article.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Very interesting article, and it sounds like they really did it. However, I’m curious about their method … one wouldn’t have to start 100% from scratch every month, as they did. (The spices would be there the next month, for instance.) And most people switch gradually, at least not throwing out staples that are already in the cupboard. But if they could do it from scratch, I guess it shows it is possible.
I especially appreciated her point that cooking skills would be as important as shopping skills to make the transition.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
I find it shocking how anyone who eats animal products can call themselves ethical.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Thanks for pointing us to the Salon article. Phillips’ point about having skills in the kitchen seems particularly pertinent to GRS readers. One of the primary ways any of us can save money is by doing things ourselves, whether it’s cooking, car or home repair, gardening or other activities. Every time the subject comes up on GRS there are many people who argue that ignorance is cheaper because of the income they’ll forego if they spend time honing basic skills. They’re entitled to their opinions and choices, but for most of us learning how to do things ourselves can save us money and this article is a case in point.
I’d also like to chime in on Phillips’ mention of the More With Less cookbook. I came accross this book when I was living on $850/month net (rent alone was $500). It’s published by the Mennonite church and speaks to the need for those of us in wealthy countries to consume less of the world’s resources. I loved the essays and analysis in the book and the recipes opened my eyes to a new way of cooking. The recipes aren’t really great and that is sort of the point; they focus on preparing food from what you’ve got rather than buying food for a particular recipe. Once you’ve got some basic cooking skills, though, it’s easy to adapt those recipes into some pretty terrific meals. As you might expect from a Christian book there are many references to Christ and to living in accordance with Christ’s teachings. Even so, I never felt that the book preached and as I am an athiest that was somewhat important to me. I highly recommend the book. Cheers, and happy cooking.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
janet……lol.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
thanks for the links! this article is perfectly timed… i’ve been wanting to switch to a more organic diet for a while now, but haven’t felt like i could afford it. however, recent health issues are making me realize that i can’t afford NOT to. articles such as this give me hope that maybe i can make it work, without too much pain to my pocket book
June 11th, 2009 at 4:44 am
52%?!?!?!?! That’s pretty amazing…
June 11th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Actually you can eat healthy for less than you think. The key it to think international.
Much of the rest of the world has been doing it for your decades which may explain why in many countries the life expectancy is greater than here in the US.
The key is to take basic wholesome ingredients (grains, rice, corn) and cook interesting and flavorful meals. The problem is that here in American we have traded wholesome cooking for the convenience and quickness of highly processed food.
People in other countries frequently take the very basics and create great tasting meals.
Indian food for example places less emphasis on meat and more emphasis on beans, rice, and bread. Eating less meat is healthy and may allow you to purchase organic (free range) meat without breaking the budget.
Beans, rice, and bread are also less expensive and healthier.
This is what is great about the Make More with Less cookbook mentioned above. The Mennonites who compiled the cookbook have undertaken extensive missionary work around the world where they experienced how other cultures prepared meals. Much of this knowledge and recipes are passed along in the cookbook.
You can easily create great inexpensive but tasty and healthy food by emulating the menus of other cultures.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I liked the article, but once again I’m a middle class work at home mother with a graduate degree. One thing the article did not really address is that most people around the poverty level do not have the luxury of caring so much about the environment or even their own nutrition because they are too busy meeting basic survival needs. I found the article highly impractical for people who work regular 8-5 jobs, much less service industry jobs. You’d have to do nothing but obsess about food choices and prep when you got home from work, and very few people want to do that, especially if they have children and other responsibilities.
The natural foods movement has a lot more work to do before it’s practical enough to go mainstream.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:39 am
I agree with Charley. As a European now living in the US, preparing simple meals from scratch (and often with leftovers) is what I was taught from the cradle. I also disagree with Pistolettes comment that the article is impractical for people who work regular 8-5 jobs. European women work full days and still come home to cook for their families. Eating out is a luxury in many places in the world, but cooking at home just takes a little advance planning.
I also wonder how much of food ‘expense’ is down to the portion size that Americans have got used to eating? e.g. I was astounded at the size of chicken breasts and the thickness of pork chops that are sold in the grocery stores here. They are way bigger than you get in Europe.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Onions and garlic! just as important as spices and olive oil when you’re trying to eat good (tasty!) food on a budget or with thought for the environment. It’s amazing how just a little of high-taste items (olives, capers and green peppercorns are other add-ins we keep in the refrigerator, they only seem expensive if you don’t realize you can use them sparingly) can improve basic rice, bean, pasta, potato-based dishes.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:17 am
I agree with Charlie (#21) - it is not expensive to eat healthy. One of my basic rules of thumb is to avoid food in boxes or cans as well as frozen foods - all that packaging = processing which means not only increased cost but also preservatives.
I bet most Americans could cut over 50% of their food budget out if they didn’t eat out so much and gave up soda and snacks (chips, cookies, etc.).
@JD - I don’t understand your last comment of $80 worth of groceries for $40? Is that just using coupons?
June 11th, 2009 at 8:34 am
@Charlie (#21):
“You can easily create great inexpensive but tasty and healthy food by emulating the menus of other cultures.”
“Indian food for example places less emphasis on meat and more emphasis on beans, rice, and bread.”
I’m not sure India is a good example of a healthy diet.
I’ll give you beans, but rice and bread are just empty carbs with little nutritional value. But they’re cheap and fill you up, which is why they’re a staple in a poor nation like India.
As for healthy, well, they’ve got over a billion people, but only won 3 medals at the 2008 Olympics (1 gold and 2 bronzes). China, with a comparable population, won 100 medals. The USA, with only 30% as many people as India, won 110 medals. Does that sound like a nation of fit, healthy people to you?
If you’re looking for a cheap diet, then you’re right, India is a good choice. But if “healthy” is on your list of criteria, I’d keep looking. As a culture, I’m not sure their diet is a good example for promoting healthy living.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Since when are the Olympics a metric on how healthy a country is? Not to mention, America is probably the most obese country.
I’d say lack of Olympic medals is more a result of poor funding of sport than nutrition.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:24 am
I stand by my comment. You cannot say you have an ethical diet if you eat animal products. Factory farming in America is a shameful industry. You need to educate yourself on this issue. I suggest the PETA website or check out the new movie Farm Inc. It will open your eyes and make you think twice about what you put in your mouth.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Janet:
What if I don’t WANT to think twice about what I put in my mouth? What if I LIKE the taste of meat, and don’t really want to change my outlook? There’s a reason I don’t ask what’s in hot dogs: I don’t want to know. I know they taste good, and I don’t want to be grossed out.
Humans are designed to eat meat. Ethics doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s a simple matter of survival.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I’m guessing that the 52% is counting the discounts for using a store loyalty card, which is basically just getting things on sale.
I think that the percentage saved at the bottom of your receipt is fairly immaterial…what matters is how much you spent. When I shop at Aldi, I save 0% according to my receipt. Aldi doesn’t have sales and doesn’t take coupons. But I know that I’m paying way less for that food than I would at the other store that offers loyalty card “savings” and takes coupons.
Janet, if your main complain against meat is the factory farms, then why not just suggest eating locally farmed meats that are raised in humane ways?
June 11th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Very timely post for me since I’m starting to look into what’s worth getting organic and having a low-impact diet. I’m not cutting out meat, but I am interested in locally raised (non factory farm). Looking forward to watching Food Inc when it’s in a theatre near me as well!
June 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
@Janet
I think it is possible to eat meat and still eat ethically with respect to the environment and the animals. We buy our meat direct from the farmer. The beef are grass-fed and pastured, the chickens are free range (truly not the quasi free-range that’s required to be called as such) and the pigs forage as well.
We eat meat 2-3x per week and all the animals have been treated ethically. I trust the farmer who’s looking me in the eye and telling me that.
He is also leant a lot of credibility by the fact that he has beef, pork, chicken, eggs, flour, vegetables, and fruit. His farm is a sustainable polyculture. Not the large factory monocultures that exist in the US thanks to the governments’ subsidy of corn.
I agree that we as a population would be healthier if we ate less meat and just less in general. However, that being said, humans are omnivores and best served nutritionally by a diet including large amounts of plant matter supplemented with meat.
With respect to the cost of how we eat, I do feel it is more expensive for us. However, as a previous poster mentioned, food is the area where we choose to spend our money. We don’t buy a lot of other stuff but we will spend money for quality food that is ethically raised and local.
I do think there is too much meat eaten in North America and that the vast majority of it is produced under apalling conditions but I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to make the sweeping statement that eating meat can never be ethical.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:43 am
We can eat more frugally than we do in the States. We are living overseas right now, and it is possible to eat fresh and delicious foods at a fraction of the cost if you can get creative. Food co-ops are great insurance for fresh and healthy produce, if they are available in your area, and they can also save money over the supermarket. All in all, making conscious decisions about food leads to saving money and can make you healthier at the same time. Oh, and more props for “Omnivore’s Dilemma” as well as “Fast Food Nation.” Good books.
Jerry
June 12th, 2009 at 6:47 am
I find it really ironic that people equate free-range meat and organic produce with “ethical” eating practices. Sure, they might be more ethical to the animals, but it’s blatantly UNethical to other PEOPLE. Such snooty diet preferences drastically reduce crop yields, driving up food prices beyond the reach of third-world populations. A GM, factory crop of rice might produce double the yield of an organic crop, thus feeding twice as many people for less cost.
But hey, who cares whether or not inhabitants of a shanty town in Bangladesh can afford meat, as long as you can be confident the chicken on your own plate had a nice life, right?
June 12th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Growing organic is a serious challenge. As much as I’d like to say we avoid chemicals by gardening, I see everything being devoured by bugs and slugs and wonder how I can actually get a yield without covering everything in poisons.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:57 am
@Kevin - Check out the writing and speeches of Vendana Shiva about the reality of sustainable v. conventional farming in India. GM crops planted in a monoculture cause many problems and the crop yields with sustainble techniques are surprisingly good. Ms. Shiva is very concerned about the quality of life of the farmers and their communities, she is not at all about producing “snooty” crops for spoiled Westerners, and her goals for sustainability are rooted in her traditional culture.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:06 am
While your readers are quite savvy when it comes to finance, they need an education on compassionate living. I personally think the two go together very simply. I guess not everyone agrees.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:19 am
@Janet (#37)
You are making quite a leap. You are ascribing your personal values to everyone. If you do that, you’re just going to be disappointed.
Just because I choose not to be a vegetarian doesn’t make me unethical or uncompassionate. We each make our own decisions based on what we know and experience of the world. I’m a strong advocate of animal welfare and believe in that animals are much more intelligent than most people credit. Yet, I’m also a carnivore, and it doesn’t bother me.
Your best bet for evangelizing vegetarianism is to lead through example — not to condemn other people for their own choices. Condemning others makes them more resistant to change, not less.
June 14th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
You say you are a strong advocate of animal welfare and in the next sentence call yourself a carnivore. I just don’t get it. I’m obviously on the wrong blog. I’m sorry if my comments offended anyone. I just believe very deeply in them.
June 14th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Janet, this is not a blog about vegetarianism. It’s a blog about money management.
I think it’s great that you’ve arrived at a moral decision that makes vegetarianism important. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s an excellent decision on many levels. However, there are many other decisions that are equally valid and equally moral. I believe you get into dangerous territory when you begin to believe that your choice is the only valid choice and then condemn those who have arrived at different conclusions.
I’m not offended by your comments. I just think your passion for your position makes it hard for you to see that others might have examined the same evidence and elected to make different decisions.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I found the easiest way to save money at the grocery store is just to eat healthy food. Adding chips, cookies, ice cream, junk cereals, etc just run up your bill and your waistline. You can still eat meat, buy the cheaper cuts and make creative recipes with it. You dont need a rib eye every night, buy some chuck and cut it up for a stew. Buy cheaper bone in chicken breasts and oven roast it. For my wife and I, I budget $400 and we rarely exceed $250-300 a month on food. The rest I spend on going out to eat (at cheap restaurants) and spare myself a night of cooking.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
For ideas on how to eat cheaply, I highly suggest 30 Bucks a Week. $120/month is extreme frugal eating, in my opinion; while they’re both vegetarian, it seems to me that meat could be incorporated without going too much over $200.
Also @Kevin (#26), the long grain white rice that we encounter most often in the US isn’t the same as the rice that many other countries eat regularly. Sticky rices, brown rice, black rice, and others contain protein, fiber, and vitamins, and are indeed nutritious.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:48 am
@ Janet:
For you and others who think with a closed mind that they are right then pay attention.
You say its unethical to eat meat because most of the animals are treated badly. This may indeed be the case, but, and this is a big but. Those (relatively in the following grand scheme of things) few animals that are mistreated mean almost nothing. Now lets look at the “average” vegan diet that consists of NOTHING but plant material.
Do you have ANY idea how many people and animals are harmed and killed every year by the chemicals used to grow what you BLINDLY call “ethical” food choices? The chemicals used pollute our air, lakes, streams rivers, and oceans. Causing defects in the wildlife(see the frogs with extra legs?) and MASSIVE fish kills. The list of harmful side effects and deaths goes on and on and would need an entire encyclopedia SET to list and explain. My eating of an animal that wasn’t treated like royalty and suffers a bit is no different than the pain and suffering people like YOU cause animals that you don’t even eat.(yes I realize i cause these same problems as well. Difference is I don’t remove something that we are designed to eat and try to convince myself that I don’t harm animals like people like you do).
And it’s not just food either. If you use electricity, have a car, use public transportation or live in a man-made dwelling you are also guilty of causing pain, suffering AND death to humans AND animals.
Since I moved into the city over 2 years ago I have actually parked my car and truck(canceled insurance and turned in the tags) since I now live withing walking distance of all the stores I need and my work. So I’m willing to bet with the few animals I’m actually able to eat in a year and you driving that YOU do more harm to the worlds animals overall than I do. But I don’t go around trying to convince myself that I’m all ethical about things.(Even though I’ve worked my butt off to drop my electric bill by about 70 bucks a month average. In the “good temperature” months my bill is under 80 and it never goes over 140 even in the coldest and hottest months. Could be much lower but i have a bad back and must take long hot showers to relax the muscles)
So you remember this. The next time you see a massive fish kill on the news. YOU helped cause that.
If you want to be “ethical” about things then move into a cave or build your own house from natural materials and go to the woods and forage for your food….Oh yeah, your gonna have to run around naked as well. You have any idea how many poisons are used to grow and process cotton or make synthetic fibers? Oh and if you buy ANYTHING from ANYWHERE you are VERY GUILTY of causing pain, suffering and death to animals just from the poisons released into the air and water from building the buildings you bought from and the building, using and maintenance of the vehicles used to move what you bought.
NO ONE is truly ethical when it comes to living. So please DON’T fix one thing and try to condemn others because they didn’t fix the same thing as you. Because it is quite possible they fixed something else that might just have a bigger impact that what you fixed. (such as me working so hard to lower my electricity usage and parking my cars permanently and walking or biking EVERYWHERE)
And stop listening to Peta. They slant things so much I’m amazed they can stand up.
August 5th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
But now it doesn’t even matter if you eat organic or not. There was this new release that came out from London, that says there are no specific benefits for eating organic, so why should we? I haven’t really formed an ironclad opinion on it, and I know this blog was set up a while ago, but I have been trying to find more information on organic food and buying it. And it brought me here. Oh well. You should check out this video that I DID find that talks about organic, and maybe it will change your mind, or just reaffirm what you already know. It’s found at newsy.com and it under the Food Ethics title. It is pretty interesting.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Don’t believe everything you read. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are, with very few exceptions, made from crude oil(same as they make gas from). Common sense alone tells you that eating these poisons that are designed to kill living organisms are not healthy for you. In fact consuming any thing that the body is not designed to have is bad for us. This includes all those medicines we have to take because we eat so many things our bodies aren’t supposed to have in it. Yes they do, in many cases help. In many other cases they cause rapid harm to the person. And even in those in which it has the desired effect they always cause some level of harm, especially stress to the liver or other organs.
We also should not eat any food that we cook that is not safe to eat raw. This includes potatoes and many types of beans. They are poisonous in their raw state and while it is true that the vast majority of the poisons are neutralized in the cooking process a tiny amount still remains. Look at it this way, If you found out that it took a pound of a poison to kill you would you willingly eat 1/10th of an ounce per day. Of course not.
If you want to truly eat healthy without spending a fortune then Google something like “eating a paleolithic diet” and keep the cooking to a minimum. And eat as many raw foods as possible. Cooking not only destroys nutrients(making you need to eat more, causing you to spend more, or consume expensive natural supplements or cheap synthetic ones which are made from oil). But the cooking process also chemically changes many types of food creating substances which are quite harmful to our bodies.
After all what good is eating cheap if you end up harming your body and spending thousands or even tens of thousands more in medical bills over your lifetime the way we do eating all these processed and poisoned foods most people eat?
Also an interesting read is Congressman Jim McGovern who took a 1 week “food stamp challenge” Which consisted of him living on 21 dollars for the week. Which is 1 dollar per meal. Not only did he do it well but actually had a bit of change left over. He also caught h*ll for actually being able to do it. It seems the people who came up with the idea to have the challenge were hoping for massive failure so they could have an excuse to get more money for food stamps. Jim McGovern was the only one who managed to do it.
Can you live on 1 dollar a meal. Yes, and Jim McGovern lists how he did it in great detail. Can you live on 1 dollar a meal while consuming junk food and soda five times a day. Of course not.
Go to http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/my_weblog/congressman_jim_mcgovern/ to read about Jim McGoverns challenge in his own words. Also search Google for it to read some of the backlash this man has had to endure because he was able to prove people don’t need massive amounts of our money for food stamps to eat well when they are down on their luck. But they can’t be lazy either.