T
The_Hidden_Life
Guest
Hmm, I hope this isn’t too esoteric of a topic line but let me give it a shot…
I have been struggling lately with my desire to eat more healthfully versus our family’s need to save money. What I mean by healthful is more natural, organic, less-processed, higher-quality and unfortunately more expensive foods.
The specific diet that I am interested in comes from Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions” cookbook, which emphasizes animal proteins, raw dairy products, fermented foods, etc. That isn’t really the part I am struggling with. I like the book. I think it offers sound advice, which I take with a grain of salt (Celtic Sea Salt–$4.19 for 6 oz–ba dum bum!) and remind myself not to fall into the trap of making my diet my religion.
I don’t intend to debate the merits of this particular diet, but I am curious about those who have chosen to follow “special diets” out of conviction rather than immediate health needs balance the higher costs of most “natural” foods with our duty to be good stewards of our family resources. My husband doesn’t share my dietary interests and mainly wishes for me to get tasty food on the table in a timely manner and spend as little as possible doing it.
Let me give an example of how much more things can cost. A gallon of any kind of regular grocery store milk in our area is usually about $3.99. A really good sale prices is $2.50 a gallon. Organic milk sells for about $6 a gallon. Raw milk (not homogenized, not pasteurized) when you can get it (trucked in from another county via ferry and purchased via a co-op) can range from $8 to $12 per gallon!!!
My family of 5 consumes about 2 gallons of milk per week. Five dollars versus $24 is a big difference!
Some thoughts have occurred to me while enamored of this diet. What exactly is our good health for? To spend excessive time or money in pursuit of “health” in merely a preventative manner when no immediate health threats are known seems wrong.
I recently read a novel that featured a community of monks living in the big city running a food bank (based on the FFR). These monks first sorted the donated food into sacks for the poor and then kept whatever was left over for themselves on a daily basis. If it was a can of lima beans and a couple carrots, that’s what they shared among themselves. In other words, they were not worrying about whether the foods they ate were sprayed with pesticides, farmed in fair trade farms or raised on organic feed. They just ate whatever was provided to them.
Obviously, religious brothers live by a stricter set of rules than my family does. I’m not suggesting my little kiddos should go begging like St. Francis. I do want to provide for them very healthy foods, not junk. Often the cheapest foods are the most unhealthy. My husband and I (pre-children) often lived on less than $40 in groceries a week, eating nothing but ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, etc. I don’t think anyone would argue that highly-processed foods are better for you than homemade dishes.
Where is the balance?
If I buy cheaper foods and give my money to the mega-grocery chain store I feel guilty. If I buy more expensive foods at the locally-owned farmer-friendly natural foods store I feel guilty.
I suppose there is no one good answer to this question. But I would like to hear others’ thoughts on this regardless.
Thanks,
LeeAnn
The Hidden Life
I have been struggling lately with my desire to eat more healthfully versus our family’s need to save money. What I mean by healthful is more natural, organic, less-processed, higher-quality and unfortunately more expensive foods.
The specific diet that I am interested in comes from Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions” cookbook, which emphasizes animal proteins, raw dairy products, fermented foods, etc. That isn’t really the part I am struggling with. I like the book. I think it offers sound advice, which I take with a grain of salt (Celtic Sea Salt–$4.19 for 6 oz–ba dum bum!) and remind myself not to fall into the trap of making my diet my religion.
I don’t intend to debate the merits of this particular diet, but I am curious about those who have chosen to follow “special diets” out of conviction rather than immediate health needs balance the higher costs of most “natural” foods with our duty to be good stewards of our family resources. My husband doesn’t share my dietary interests and mainly wishes for me to get tasty food on the table in a timely manner and spend as little as possible doing it.
Let me give an example of how much more things can cost. A gallon of any kind of regular grocery store milk in our area is usually about $3.99. A really good sale prices is $2.50 a gallon. Organic milk sells for about $6 a gallon. Raw milk (not homogenized, not pasteurized) when you can get it (trucked in from another county via ferry and purchased via a co-op) can range from $8 to $12 per gallon!!!
My family of 5 consumes about 2 gallons of milk per week. Five dollars versus $24 is a big difference!
Some thoughts have occurred to me while enamored of this diet. What exactly is our good health for? To spend excessive time or money in pursuit of “health” in merely a preventative manner when no immediate health threats are known seems wrong.
I recently read a novel that featured a community of monks living in the big city running a food bank (based on the FFR). These monks first sorted the donated food into sacks for the poor and then kept whatever was left over for themselves on a daily basis. If it was a can of lima beans and a couple carrots, that’s what they shared among themselves. In other words, they were not worrying about whether the foods they ate were sprayed with pesticides, farmed in fair trade farms or raised on organic feed. They just ate whatever was provided to them.
Obviously, religious brothers live by a stricter set of rules than my family does. I’m not suggesting my little kiddos should go begging like St. Francis. I do want to provide for them very healthy foods, not junk. Often the cheapest foods are the most unhealthy. My husband and I (pre-children) often lived on less than $40 in groceries a week, eating nothing but ramen noodles, macaroni and cheese, etc. I don’t think anyone would argue that highly-processed foods are better for you than homemade dishes.
Where is the balance?
If I buy cheaper foods and give my money to the mega-grocery chain store I feel guilty. If I buy more expensive foods at the locally-owned farmer-friendly natural foods store I feel guilty.
I suppose there is no one good answer to this question. But I would like to hear others’ thoughts on this regardless.
Thanks,
LeeAnn
The Hidden Life
. I have decided that the hormone free is most important for my daughter (from my reading) so I buy the hormone free for her and regular for the rest of us.
For some “Catholic content”, here are some of my favorite healthy cookbooks and authors (can you tell that I collect cookbooks?):
It’s centered around the types of foods that all families used to eat, from Biblical times until very recently. As such, I don’t think it’s extravagant at all.
