How to eat healthy on a budget

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | July 2, 2007 | Harry Jackson Jr.

[Combat_Liberalism]

An expression heard from farmers in northern Vermont to describe drought conditions: “It’s drier than a popcorn fart around here.” what that has to do with the subject of this thread is.....nothing.

[jmyrlefuller]

Wheat is the devil’s weed. : )

Especially since most wheat is heavily refined into starchy white flour, you have a good point.

I like rice, some veggies and perhaps just a little bit of soy sauce on top and it's a delicious dish.

[Gabz]

Minus the lentils and split peas — I can’t stand either — your bean soup sounds strangely like mine :)

[potlatch]

[Poor folks have poor ways...]

I am not trying to denigrate anyone who is poor, but truthfully many of them are the ones eating fast food all the time and end up overweight. It’s strange.

[potlatch]

I have no doubt that goes on all over the USA!

[ErnBatavia]

“It’s drier than a popcorn fart around here.” what that has to do with the subject of this thread is.....nothing.

Unless the popcorn's buttered with that cheap movie theater goo....then you gots yourself a whole 'nother ballgame.

Along this line, I run Free Republic's most exclusive, tight-knit ping list = "Flatulence Ping". Er, um...if you share such fascination, just FReepmail me.

[Gabz]

Cool. My daughter loves bananas.

The first week after school got out one of my daughter’s friends spent most days here. Those girls ate me out of house and home when it came to veggies. There is always junk food in my house, and especially when I know there will be other kids around.

In two days those 2 girls went through over 2 pounds of carrots and 2 bunches of celery. Of course they also did serious damage to the ranch and blue cheese dressing bottles :)

[TheSpottedOwl]

Thanks for the ping, HG :)

I am well versed in the cooking cheap and healthy chore from hell.

Here is a link someone posted here, and I have reposted at least once before. Great site for good tips and recipes:

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com

Maybe tonight I will make her version of chocolate shakes :)

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“I love a breakfast that includes eggs, a veggie like a few stalks of asparagus and fried RED tomatoes.”

Of course fried RED tomatoes are food - Good food! And asparagus too. You also mentioned beet greens - asparagus and red beets are at the top of the healthy list, and the green from the beet is also very good.

Organic is better, of course, for the beef. Or naturally raised, free range. Same for poultry.

And what you say about chewing the food - right on! Saliva has digestive enzymes, and we miss out when we do not chew our food. Lots of digestion problems and IBS type diseases result from not chewing, and from fast foods.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Rice noodles
Rice

Cheap & filling. Half the world lives on them. I eat lots of both because I like them. Being cheap doesn’t hurt, either.

Pasta is cheap and nutritious also.

Anyone ever noticed how poor people aways have cats or dogs and smoke?

[potlatch]

Yes, the Asians tended to be slender because of rice as their staple. They come here, become Americanized and gain weight.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Yeah, must be nice to get all those food stamps. We’re probably poorer than they are, but we’re as white as the sheets Byrd wore....

Therefore, we don’t qualify.

[Solitar]

I work at a small-town grocery store and you have no idea how many welfare mothers come into the store and load up those food stamp cards with purchases for candy, soda, junk food, and the like.

I wish Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats would find a way to flag all such foods as not eligible for food stamps; or a way to flag only cheaper basics as eligible for food stamps. In other words, disallow potato chips and frozen fries but allow raw potatoes, disallow bread but allow wheat flour (they can make their own bread, or at least biscuits or pan breads), disallow sodapop but allow raw sugar (I grew up with a lot of Kool-Aid). Allow beans and rice but disallow any meat since foodstamp users always have enough cash for cigarettes and alcohol and they could use some of that for hamburger or tuna.

I grew up as what most would consider “poor.” My parents, however, saw the value of good nutrition. Candy and pop were rare treats. Fruits were the norm, and most every spring (even to this day), we bought seeds and planted a small vegetable garden. Some hard work, yes, but we ate out of that garden in the late summer and it paid off.

Same here. We got one case of pop twice per year -- Christmas and Independence Day. Most of our candy was homemade fudge. We also raised chickens and had an extensive garden. The latter is not an option for apartment renters whose income precludes buying a house with enough yard for a garden.

[potlatch]

I’m sorry! Things just don’t seem to be fair anymore since the liberals have taken over. Take care.

[khnyny]

I think a lot depends on how these “welfare moms” were raised. The family history, etc. Oftentimes, broken families don't hand down even cursory knowledge. Also, if they and their parents are mostly from inner city areas, the “junk food diet” makes more sense. There aren’t that many good grocery stores in lots of urban areas. If these people were raised in rural areas, or are from immigrant families who had/have a tradition of planting, raising and canning their own food, the situation is quite different.

Some level of family stabilty coupled with a knowledge re growing your own fruits and vegetables and then actually being taught how to cook change the situation significantly.

[Lazamataz]

I prefer to dice the garlic so finely that my fingers bleed.

Makes the garlic have a wonderful copper-y taste.

[Solitar]

A lot of those welfare mothers are just trying to appease all the kids they’ve had and just feed them stuff they’ll “like.” That’s not a good long-term plan. Instead of buying the Froot Loops or Lucky Charms, buy some Cheerios instead. Little things like that will go a long way.

Foodstamps should only get them oatmeal, cream of wheat, corn meal, etc. and disallow the expensive boxed cereals. Even bulk puffed rice or corn flakes should be disallowed for foodstamps. Have them eat grits!

[TheSpottedOwl]

Don’t be sorry. Paying with food stamps is embarassing. I’ve done it years ago. Luckily, I found half price meat, day old baked goods, and dented cans. That and coupons made those gubmint bucks go a lot farther :)

I just get irritated when people game the system, but others don’t qualify, because they are honest and play by the rules.

[potlatch]

[I just get irritated when people game the system, but others don’t qualify, because they are honest and play by the rules.]

Hard to teach children nowdays, isn’t it. Being honest doesn’t seem to pay off anymore. How sad is that!

[khnyny]

Yeah, must be nice to get all those food stamps. We’re probably poorer than they are, but we’re as white as the sheets Byrd wore....

Therefore, we don’t qualify.

Not to point out the obvious, but I can't help myself (sly smile). You have enough money to have bought a computer, pay for internet access, plus pay the electrical bill that makes it all possible.

Here are some statistics:

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/tb1898/tb1898h.pdf