Get Real!

[KmH]

Get Real Food that is.
If you're an average American, over 1/2 of what you eat is ultra-processed. Is it actually food?

 

[tirediron]

Mehh... as long as it tastes good, so what?

 

[Dave442]

Bacon is real enough.

 

[480sparky]

I'm just trying to save money on an undertaker. He won't have to drain me.... just drop me in a pine box.

 

[runnah]

Not surprising. I often look at my fellow shoppers and while I am buying mostly ingredients to make meals, they are buying ready made meals.

What is funny about all this is the fact that people ***** and complain about the rising costs of healthcare but at the same time don't realize that most people cannot afford to eat healthily. Bad food is cheap and when you are a poor family of 5 sometimes that is why you have to do. Try feeding a family of 5 an exclusively organic non-processed food diet and they would be bankrupt in a month.

 

[pixmedic]

are you telling me my Dollar Store $1 cans of chef boyardee and mac-n-cheese isnt real food?

 

[runnah]

are you telling me my Dollar Store $1 cans of chef boyardee and mac-n-cheese isnt real food?

You jest but that is all some kids have to eat. Heck in my area there are kids that only get fed once a day at school.

 

[pixmedic]

are you telling me my Dollar Store $1 cans of chef boyardee and mac-n-cheese isnt real food?

You jest but that is all some kids have to eat. Heck in my area there are kids that only get fed once a day at school.

Jest?

I'm on am EMS budget with a special needs child. (Who gets zero government assistance BTW because we can't get a doctor to give him an actual legit diagnosis besides "developmental delay" which the state does not recognize)
Them specialist visits are expensive.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[runnah]

Yep, it's not only expensive it's also time consuming to feed people healthy meals. Both parents working 9+ hrs a day leaves little time for a home cooked meal.

 

[MSnowy]

Yup I save time and money crap in crap out

 

[rexbobcat]

Yep, it's not only expensive it's also time consuming to feed people healthy meals. Both parents working 9+ hrs a day leaves little time for a home cooked meal.

Then you get all those people who say "Just go to a farmer's market for fresh, cheap produce."

Where exactly do you live? In my area farmer's markets usually have a 200-300% markup over the local grocery chain.

The only reason I go is because there's always this amazing Indian food truck.

 

[runnah]

Yep, it's not only expensive it's also time consuming to feed people healthy meals. Both parents working 9+ hrs a day leaves little time for a home cooked meal.

Then you get all those people who say "Just go to a farmer's market for fresh, cheap produce."

Where exactly do you live? In my area farmer's markets usually have a 200-300% markup over the local grocery chain.

The only reason I go is because there's always this amazing Indian food truck.

Exactly. We don't have any farmers market here during the winter and in the summer the nearest one is 30 minutes away.

 

[limr]

I agree that it's hard to eat well on a budget, but having said that, the choices do not have to be between organic "artisanal" foods and totally processed canned foods. It's a false dichotomy. There are options that fall along that spectrum of extremes.

I am not feeding a family, but I am still feeding myself on a tight budget. I never buy canned beans, for example. A 1-lb bag of dried chick peas costs less than $2.00 and takes just a few hours to cook in a slow cooker (while I'm not even paying attention - just dump the beans, water, some salt and seasonings into the crock pot, press start, and leave it alone while it cooks). Minimal investment of both time and money, and it helps feed me for the entire week. Or I'll spend a few hours on a Sunday cooking, for example, a huge pot of pasta sauce or soup. I leave out what I plan to eat for the next week or so and freeze the rest. Yes, it takes some time on that day, but after that, the time it takes to reheat something for the next meal is the same amount of time it would take to reheat a can of pasta.

That's not the whole story, of course, because I'm certainly not eating only chick peas or reheated pasta for the whole week, but the point is that eating healthier can be done on a budget (both time and money) without having to shop at the fancy health food stores or spend hours cooking every day.

 

[zombiesniper]

Beans for a week!!!!
Someones gastrointestinal tract is in overdrive!

 

[limr]

Beans for a week!!!!
Someones gastrointestinal tract is in overdrive!

When cooked right and eating with the right combination of foods, it's fine. Using baking soda in the water when cooking the beans cuts down a lot on the sugars that cause gas, as does eating the beans with potatoes or a whole grain.

I haven't eaten meat in 20+ years; I know how to deal with legumes as a protein source