Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Should I Eat Organic Food? (part one)

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simplesteps

Whenever I have mentioned that our family eats mostly organic foods, many of you have asked:  Is it worth it to pay extra money for organic food? Is eating organic food really that important? Is non-organic food really so bad for you? And really…isn’t this whole “organic eating thing” just kind of trendy and gimmicky?

After much research and thought, my answers to those questions are:  Sometimes, Sometimes, Sometimes and Sort Of But Not Necessarily.

Okay, so did that clear up any confusion? Good. Now what questions would you like me to answer?

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Just kidding. I’ll elaborate. I’m definitely not an organic food expert, but our family has been trying to eat a whole foods and mostly organic diet for about six years now, and I really wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t feel like it was important. We also don’t have unlimited funds in our budget, so don’t assume we eat organic, whole foods because we’re rolling in dough. (Unless you’re talking about bread dough, because then occasionally I’m rolling in it.)

The fact that eating organic food is “trendy” in some areas was big news to me. Where I live, eating organic food is not very popular and pretty much not the norm. Therefore, my very uneducated and inexperienced opinion on why many see organic eating as a trend is that not everyone who buys and eats organic food “gets it”. They might just see it as “the thing to do” and feel  like if the package says “natural” or “organic” is must be better for you.

I personally am not an advocate of eating organic, whole foods (or doing anything for that matter) simply because “everyone else is doing it”. What a silly reason for me to go out of my way to find healthy foods. I try to feed my family organic, whole foods because my extensive research tells me that this is best. For the record, there are many foods with an organic label that I do not recommend. (I’ll elaborate on that soon.)

When I mentioned in this post that I wasn’t sure I felt that eating a non-organic apple was better than eating no apples at all…I really am not convinced that it is as a general rule. Some suggested that they’d rather feed their kids a non-organic apple than a bag of chips. Well sure. But I wasn’t comparing apples to chips. I was suggesting that maybe I should skip the non-organic apple and just stick with in-season organic produce instead. I have my reasons. I’ll talk about them in the next few posts in this series.

And then there’s milk and meat and grains. Those subjects deserve to be talked about a little bit too.

Thus begins a little series inside a series. (Did this just get complicated?)  I’ve been working slowly but surely through this Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating series, and now within that series, I’ll be writing a few posts entitled, “Should I Eat Organic Food?”

See? It’s a series inside a series. While you wait for these posts, I’d appreciate it if you go back and read some of my other series, which means that this is a series inside of a series inside of a series.

By the way, did you know that the plural form of the word series is series? I find that funny. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but the kind of funny that makes a person shrug and say, “Huh, how ’bout that?”.

Yeah, okay, it’s really not that funny.

Anyway, you may want to read the following series:  Feeding the Family, particularly these posts:

You should also read this series:  Our Healthy Eating Journey so that you know where I’m coming from.

Also, you need to be reminded that with all of my talk about healthy eating, sometimes our family throws out all the great organic, whole foods ideas and buys frozen pizza rolls with all the no-no ingredients in them. It’s called a compromise and I don’t freak out about it. (Nor, ultimately, do I freak out about the occasional non-organic apple, but again, I’ll get back to that within this series.)

Stay tuned for the following topics within this series of series:

  • What  does organic even mean anyway?
  • Which foods should I focus on for eating organic?
  • What if I can’t afford organic food or have any resources close by?

I’ll be posting the next post in this “organic food series” next Sunday night. Until then, I’ll leave you with this question:  Do you eat mostly organic food, some organic food, no organic food?

Also, the particular word series that I printed in green above, is it singular or plural? Yeah, see? Very tricky. And a little bit funny. But not really.

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Buy High Quality Shampoo and Still Save Money

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I’ve been asked many a time… (Wait, “many a time“? who actually says that phrase?)

Anyway, I am oft asked… (Hahaha, I never say that either. “Oft asked“…eeehehehe)

What I’m trying to say is:

It is not altogether uncommon that I receive frequent inquiries and recurrent requests for me to impart my wisdom in the matter of hair cleansing.

Um, hello. It would appear that I have suddenly turned into a Shampoo Professor with a British accent. You did read all of the above in a British accent, didn’t you?

My apologies for dragging you through that marvelous waste of time. I do have a point and I really am going to share it:

Shampoo. People always want to know what I use in our hair, how healthy it is and how I afford it. So there you go.

I wrote a lengthy post a while ago describing the different soaps and cleaners we usually use around here. When it comes to shampoo, many people prefer to buy the cheapest stuff possible and/or use coupons to get it for free and I completely understand that. I used to do that too. If I found it hard to stop using coupons to buy cheap and unhealthy food…I found it doubly hard to stop using coupons to get free hair care products. Sigh…

But, just like I’ve begun to understand that it’s good and wise to spend money on whole and nourishing food for my family…I’ve also decided that I want to spend money on healthy, non-chemical-filled products for our skin and hair. I do not relish the thought of harmful chemicals seeping into our bodies through our skin, particularly our heads wherein lie our brains. (Eek, Professor Shampoo made a little appearance again. “Wherein lie our brains”, wow.)

We use only the bar soaps from Tropical Traditions for bathing and are LOVING the MadeOn Lotion Bar for our dry skin. For our hair? We love Giovanni 50/50 Balance Shampoo. We checked it out on the EWG website to see if it was safe. Not only is it safe, it works great!

Is Giovanni 50/50 Balance Shampoo cheap? Nope. Not when you’re used to tossing out coupons to get 26 free bottles of Suave. But I’ve found a way to make our shampoo purchase more affordable AND I have peace of mind, knowing that I’m getting one of the healthiest shampoos on the market. There are no icky chemicals seeping into our heads with Giovanni 50/50 Balance Shampoo!

I used to buy Giovanni 50/50 Balance Shampoo 8-ounce bottles by the case from one of my health food co-ops. It was pricey, but much cheaper than buying a single bottle at a health food store (which would usually be something like $9/bottle!!). But THEN I discovered the beauty of buying a gallon jug of the shampoo from Amazon!! I invested a few dollars in a pump thingy…so that I can use the gallon jug to refill our smaller bottles for use in the shower. 

Now granted, I am the only one with long hair in our family of six (unless you count my 13 year old son who prefers his hair to be down over his ears and into his eyes), so this may not last as long for families who have lots of girls with long hair. BUT, we’ve trained our boys to just use a tiny amount of shampoo because they really don’t need more than a little bit. I’m happy to report that our first gallon jug lasted us well over 18 months!!! 

$3/month isn’t the same as free…but it also isn’t nearly as expensive as a good quality shampoo can appear at first glance. I’m VERY pleased that we’ve been able to get away with spending so little on such quality shampoo!

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, concludes today’s informational session on what I consider to be a superior product and how I heretofore am able to execute such a purchase in a way that is financially feasible.

In other words…that’s how I buy good shampoo and save money. 

Feel like telling us about the shampoo you use?  You can even use big words if you want to. :)

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Where to Buy Organic Nuts in Bulk

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Several have asked me recently where I would recommend buying organic nuts in bulk. I’ve been excited to answer that question as earlier in the year while our family was in California, we made a special trip to visit Braga Organic Farms, one of California’s few organic nut growers. Our family has done business with Braga Organic Farms in the past and Heavenly Homemakers is an affiliate of theirs. We LOVE their organic nuts!! It was so exciting to tour their farm and learn how their operation works and to actually see the pistachio trees and organic practices!

Braga Organic Farms has been organic for over 11 years. Every question we asked, they knew the answer (and we asked a LOT of questions). These folks know their organic farming and care a lot about their work! Did I mention that theirs is a family run business? We love that part too!

One of the biggest questions we had, and the subject we covered most while we were there was:  Why Organic?  Is it important to buy organic nuts instead of conventionally grown nuts? What’s the difference?

Instead of answering with words only, Mr. Braga took us outside to show us his fields compared to a neighboring farmer who does not grow nuts organically. Here is a lovely picture of the nut tree rows at Braga Organic Farms:

And another:

What’s impressive about the above pictures is that California had been experiencing an unusually large amount of rain during that time. The soil is so healthy, you can’t even tell that rainfall was far above average.

We then turned around and walked just a few feet to take a picture of the non-organic neighboring farm’s nut tree rows:

 

It was AMAZING to see such a difference in the soil quality at the different farms. As Mr. Braga put it, “Other farmers use pesticides and herbicides to help take care of their trees.  We work hard to care for our soil…then the SOIL takes care of our trees.”

 

Yep, healthy soil makes for healthy trees which makes for healthy nuts. In fact, Mr. Braga told us that because their organic nuts are not typically as large as “regular nuts”, they are more nutrient rich because the nutrients are more consensed. Pound for pound, organic nuts are more nutritious.

So, we asked, why do organic nuts cost more than conventionally grown nuts?

The answers make sense:

  1. Braga Organic Farms uses a high quality compost instead of cheap fertilizers to enrich their soil. The high quality compost costs a significant amount more than cheap fertilizers.
  2. There is more labor involved in their weed control. They mechanically remove weeds instead of using herbicides.

Our family will be ordering our nuts in bulk from Braga Organic Farms from now on. You can buy a smaller quantity if you don’t want a great big box of nuts, but if you have freezer space, bulk is a great way to go to save money, since shipping costs are the same no matter how much you buy. (You can read my thoughts about paying shipping costs here.)

Nuts stay fresh and keep from going rancid in the freezer for up to three years!  I recommend buying in bulk if possible because while the up-front cost may seem like a lot…when you break down the cost, you’ll find a price comparable to regular ol’ nuts at the store…only these are organic and super high quality!

Have you found a great source for organic nuts? Do you buy in bulk? Don’t you just love snacking on nuts? (Unless of course, you are allergic to nuts, in which case you had a hard time reading this post in the first place.)  :)

Braga Organic Farms has agreed to give all of us a 10% discount on any purchase now through April 7!! Be sure to take advantage of these great savings! Use the code home to receive the discount.

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How I Grocery Shop

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Remember how I told you about how I grocery shop when I shared our 2011 Grocery Budget? I don’t usually buy much at grocery stores; I buy in bulk from co-ops; I purchase from local farmers. Some months I hardly buy anything, some months I buy a lot. This month, February, would be an example of me buying a LOT…and you get to witness it here today! Everything just sort of hit all at once this month, but that’s okay. There is money in our grocery budget. I just wait to spend it until I need it!

Here are a few pictures and some details about my grocery purchases this month. Some of this will last us one month. Some of this will last six months. Some of this will last for a year. Some of this will be gone before you read this post. ;)

Here is our Azure Standard food co-op order for this month:

This month’s order was a pricey one because I ordered a case of butter. See that box up there with two pounds of butter on top? There are 28 more pounds in that box. It’s a hefty investment all at once, but we go through a lot of butter and it’s nice just to have it in the freezer for when we need it. I can avoid going to the store as often this way, plus, this butter is much higher quality!

What else did I buy from Azure Standard? Well…10 pounds of oranges, three packages of frozen broccoli, 2 big bags of frozen peas, five pounds of peanuts (to make peanut butter!), a case of raw white cheddar cheese, a bottle of red wine vinegar, 10 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, 20 pounds of Fuji apples, a little bag of avocados, 25 pounds of whole corn (to grind into cornmeal), 6 half-gallon jars for milk and other food storage…and three jars of Hain Safflower Mayo. Yep, that would tell you that I haven’t attempted the Homemade Mayonnaise part of the Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Challenge yet. Hey, a girl can’t do everything at once. :)

My co-op order total (with delivery fee included) was $254.00…quite a bit more than I normally spend on an Azure Standard order.  It was the butter.  The cost of butter is rising I’ve noticed. My case of 30 pounds was $108. Ouch.  And yet, I’m paying for high quality butter, and this will last us a while. By “a while”, I mean that I really have no idea how long it will last us. Three months maybe? Maybe not that long. Depends on how much baking I’ll need to do.

Beyond our large Azure Standard order, we also got our year’s supply of wheat last week. Remember how last year I ordered 500 pounds of wheat? It has lasted 12 months and I still have some left over, so this time I held back and only ordered 300 pounds. :)  Total cost for my year’s supply of wheat which will make all of our bread, tortillas, muffins, quick breads, cookies, brownies, cakes, pie crusts, pancakes, waffles, and everything else that needs flour: $144.00. That’s only $12/month for ALL of our high quality, organic, whole grain flour!! Have I proven to you yet that investing in a grain mill WILL save you money? :)

In addition to all of this, I was almost out of chickens and hamburger meat, so I ordered 60 pounds of ground beef and 6 whole chickens from the local farmers we love and trust. That was a hefty (yet reasonable) price tag too:  $362.00. This meat will last us for a few months, depending on the amount of company we feed and how many times I’m in the mood for sloppy joes. :)

 

If you did the math on that, you would have found that I have spent $760 on bulk groceries (so far) this month. This isn’t including what we’ve spent on milk and eggs, or what we will spend on bananas and a few other little things that we do get at the grocery store.

Sound like a lot?! :)  Maybe. But this is how grocery shopping and spending works for us. We buy food when we need it, we don’t buy food when we don’t. We are blessed to have three freezers and plenty of pantry storage for bulk purchases. I am amazed at how much money we save by buying our food this way.

And can I tell you my little secret? I love having a wide variety of all of our staples on hand at all times. Rarely am I out of any basic ingredient, which means that at just about any time, I can cook up any recipe I have a hankering to cook up. This makes meal planning so much easier for me and helps me run my kitchen so much more efficiently.

So, how do YOU buy groceries? Share what works well for you!

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How To Cook Brown Rice

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How to Cook Brown Rice

Yum

Transitioning your family from white to brown food (rice, grain, sugar) can be a little bit difficult on the taste buds. When we’re used to the white stuff, the brown stuff may seem a little heavy at first. I know I’ve heard the opposite from some of you, but transitioning my family from white rice to brown was actually one of our easier transitions when we were on our healthy eating journey.

But first I had to learn how to cook the stuff.  Brown rice cooks a little differently than white rice. And it takes 45 minutes? Really?

One of the things I’ve learned throughout our healthy eating journey is that whole foods may take a little longer to prepare, but that doesn’t mean that they are more difficult to prepare. I just have to plan ahead just a little bit better. Yes, brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook. But do I actually have to watch the pot and babysit my rice? Absolutely not. Start the rice a cookin’, set a timer, walk away and come back 45 minutes later.

Long story short:  Cooking Brown Rice is SO Easy.

Here are the basics of Brown Rice Cooking:

  • Use exactly twice as much liquid as rice. (For instance, use 2 cups of water with 1 cup of rice.)
  • The rice will absorb all the liquid, so if you cook one cup of rice in two cups of water, once the rice is cooked, you will have two cups of cooked rice.
  • Don’t bother your rice while it’s cooking. It will get grumpy. (Actually it will get sticky, and you may get grumpy.)
  • Sea Salt is your friend. Rice is a little bland without it.
  • We LOVE our rice cooked in Chicken Broth. The broth gives the rice excellent flavor and has really helped us transition to the taste of brown rice!

Here’s how to cook brown rice:

  1. Begin by boiling your water or broth. Remember, use two cups of liquid for every one cup of rice.
  2. Once the liquid has come to a full boil, pour in the dry brown rice.
  3. Give the rice a stir. Turn down the burner to a simmering heat level.
  4. Cover the pot with a lid.
  5. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
  6. Do not stir the rice or even bother with looking at the rice until the timer goes off.
  7. Remove the rice from the heat.
  8. Salt liberally, or mix your cooked rice into your desired recipe.

I took several pictures to create a tutorial for you, but in just about every picture, the steam from the pot fogged up my camera lense. It would have been a lovely tutorial.

See? Look at the wonderful boiling broth. With steam. This was the least foggy of all the pictures.
Don’t you just feel like you learned an awful lot by looking at it?

Sorry for the lack of tutorial photos. Really though, even without pictures to look at, I do believe you can easily cook brown rice. Then use it to make Rice and Veggie Stir Fry or Spanish Rice…or even add butter and salt and eat it plain!


Does your family like brown rice? How do you like to eat your rice?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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In case you haven’t checked out Heavenly Homemakers Healthy Discounts Page…I’d really like to encourage you to click on over! There are some great deals posted (and I plan to add more this week)! Eating a healthy diet REALLY is possible for you and the Healthy Discounts Page is here to make your healthy food purchases more affordable. Check out what Serina just wrote on her blog:

I just scored a great deal on US-grown organic almonds. If you have the freezer space and room in your budget to do this, you’ll save a bundle, too. I ordered 25 lbs. of organic almonds from Braga Organic Farms. The cost was $140, plus $10 shipping. Using the coupon code (“home”) for 10% off (found at the Heavenly Homemaker’s Healthy Discounts page), I paid $126 for the 25 lbs. Add the shipping back in and divide by 25, and I only paid $5.44/lb.! If you’ve ever bought (or thought about buying but were scared off by the price) organic almonds before, you know this is a fantastic deal. This is roughly the same as I currently pay for conventional almonds. (Read more of what Serina has to say…)

Almonds, pistachios…and most forms of nuts are a little on the pricey side even if they aren’t organic. But nuts are SO good for you and make a great snack. Buying organic nuts instead of conventionally grown nuts is pretty important in my opinion. I love that Braga Organic Farms has such great prices…and they’ve even provided a Heavenly Homemaker Discount!!

Okay…enough about nuts. Now let’s talk about bamboo. Just kidding. :)  Here’s our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, September 26
Oatmeal, apples
Beef stew with carrots and potatoes, honey wheat muffins
Nachos, peaches

Monday, September 27
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Corn dog muffins, kefir-fruit smoothies, green beans
Taco potatoes, pears

Tuesday, September 28
Honey wheat bagels, applesauce
Pizza Pockets, creamy orange cooler, broccoli and carrots with ranch dip
Three Cheese Garlic Chicken Pasta, tossed salad, asparagus

Wednesday, September 29
Scrambled eggs, peach milkshakes
Sloppy Joes on homemade buns, ranch potato wedges, peas
Lamb chops, butternut squash, tossed salad

Thursday, September 30
Giant breakfast cookies, bananas
Salmon Patties, fruit salad, green beans
Shepherds Pie, tossed salad

Friday, October 1
French toast, peaches
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, carrots
Homemade pizza, apples

Saturday, October 2
Fried eggs, cinnamon apple toast
Leftovers
Chicken tostadas, fruit salad

Be sure to download your free fall menu planners here! And…if you’re looking for some great, easy lunchtime menu ideas, you’ll find a free downloadable “cheat sheet” here.

I FINALLY have another post coming in the Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating series…stay tuned!
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration!

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Homemade Pistachio Pudding

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Well, I’m not sure when I last ate a bowl of pistachio pudding (before today). It’s been a decade probably since I last had some, but I guarantee you that the only pistachio pudding I’ve ever had (before today) came out of a little box, was instant and sported the brand name that starts with a “j” and rhymes with wello.

A few weeks ago I got a great box from Braga Organic Farms full of organic nuts, nut butter and trail mix. I’ve been saving their pistachios JUST to make this pudding! I’ve never made pistachio pudding before and while it wasn’t hard to make…it also wasn’t a “throw it in the pan, mix it up and you’re done” kind of recipe.

Oh. My. But it was so worth the little extra effort it took to make. The taste of Homemade Pistachio Pudding is NOT even comparable to the powdery mix of um….bello pudding.

I found a recipe on Cooks.com, but then adapted it to make it a little easier and a little healthier. I’m having this for breakfast tomorrow, oh yes I am.

Homemade Pistachio PuddingYum

1/3 cup pistachios
2 Tablespoons real grade b maple syrup
2 cups milk
1/3 cup real grade b maple syrup
2 Tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot powder
dash of sea salt
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup pistachios (crushed)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Get the family busy shelling pistachios… :)

Objects in picture are smaller than they appear.
WOW do those look like giant pistachios, or is it just me?

Just to make life easier, get your two egg yolks beat up in a bowl. Set the bowl by the stove ready and waiting for later. This is going to come in very handy in a few minutes.

Make a “pistachio paste” by running the 1/3 cup of pistachios through a food processor for a minute or two until they are like crumbs. No wait, not until they are like crumbs. Until they are crumbs.

 

Mix the pistachio crumbs with 2 Tablespoons of real grade b maple syrup to make a paste.

 You will want to dip your finger in the bowl of pistachio paste – but don’t! Hold yourself back. This yummy concoction is for the pudding. Be strong.

Use a whisk to stir your “pistachio paste” into the milk (in a saucepan). Heat the milk mixture on medium heat, stirring with a whisk for about a minute.

 

 

 

 

Stir in 1/3 cup real grade b maple syrup, 2 Tablespoons corn starch or arrowroot powder and a dash of sea salt. Continue to stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens.

Once the mixture is thick and bubbly, remove it from the heat. Spoon out 4 Tablespoons of the milk mixture into the waiting bowl of egg yolks (told ya it would be handy to have that done ahead of time).

Stir it around and mix it up well (this keeps the eggs from getting funky in the big pan of hot pudding).

 

Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the rest of the pudding mixture and stir over medium heat for one minute.

 

Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup crushed pistachios, 1 Tablespoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Pour into serving bowls (6 servings).

Eat the pudding while it’s warm if you just can’t wait (like somebody I know). Or put the pudding in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours.

 

Sure, it’s kind of a funky color, but what do you expect when you mix brown maple syrup with yellow egg yolks and green pistachios? The taste is fantastic…I will be needing to order more pistachios soon!

I’m very excited to share that we’ve recently teamed up with Braga Organic Farms to work out a nice discount for you, the (lovely, talented, delightful, sweet…) Heavenly Homemaker Readers. If you place an order and use the code home, you’ll receive 10% off. We’ve loved working with Braga Organic Farms and think it’s super cool that they are a family-owned farm/business located in Madera, California…right outside the town where Matt grew up! No wonder their nuts taste so good!

And no, I didn’t just mean to say that my husband is a nut. Although he did choose to marry me…

 

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Investing Money in Good Food

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simplesteps

As our family was making our way toward a more healthy lifestyle in the beginning stages of our healthy eating journey, one of the biggest obstacles I had to work through in my brain was that I had to actually spend money on groceries. I didn’t like spending money on food. I had figured out ways to use coupons to get almost all of our food practically for free so spending money on food seemed crazy to me. 

I’ve done a complete about-face on that issue now. Not that I don’t work hard to keep our grocery spending low…I do. I work VERY hard as a matter of fact so that our family of six can eat a healthy whole-foods diet on a limited budget. But I’ve changed my way of thinking now about spending money on food. And…I’d like to encourage you to do the same as you make some simple steps toward healthy eating.

I see money spent on food as an investment. I understand now that food is meant to nourish us…not just fill a hole and satisfy hunger. I feel like when I spend money to buy top knotch food, I’m actually investing in a healthy future for my family.

I’d like to challenge your thinking just a little bit if you fall into the category of one who thinks that “you can’t afford to eat healthier”. You may not have much extra in your grocery budget, but that doesn’t mean you have to feed your family unhealthy foods. 

It does mean you may have to work a little harder to find good, whole foods. You may have to change some of your habits. You may have to cut some other unnecessary spending out of your budget. But you don’t get to cop out with excuses about not being able to afford healthy foods. (I know this first hand as our family was barely scraping by a couple of years ago, yet we did not have to compromise the quality of food we ate. We just had to be creative!)

I’ve just about come to the conclusion that eating real food costs less than eating processed food if you go about it the right way. Now, does grass fed beef and free range chicken and raw milk and organic produce generally cost more than the “regular” beef and chicken and milk and produce from the store? Sure. (Although I’ve found many ways to save on those items too which I’ll address later on in this series.)  But just hear me out on this. My boys and I did a little research one day when we were out shopping. Then we came home and did the math. We were shocked at the results we found!

The reason, by the way, that we did this little experiment is because I’m tired of people telling me that fresh produce is too expensive. So instead of giving their kids fruits and vegetables, moms (the ones complaining to me about “expensive” fruits and vegetables) fill them up on “cheaper food” like crackers and fruit snacks. I wanted to see if indeed crackers and fruit snacks were cheaper than fresh produce.

My boys and I went down the snack aisle, writing down prices and ounces of some popular snack items. Then we wrote down prices of some of our favorite fresh fruits like apples, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, oranges, peaches…

The cost for the best in-season produce averages to be around $1.00 to $1.50 per pound (or even much less in many cases). 

But check this out: 

  • The cost for a box of cheese crackers…$3.20/pound (yes, we actually calculated how much the cost was per pound!)
  • The cost for chocolate sandwich cookies with the white filling inside that you lick out and dunk in milk (yeah, you know what I’m talking about)…$3.84/pound
  • The cost for an off brand of fruit snacks…$2.56/pound
  • The cost for a box of granola bars…$4.18/pound

Now, I know this price comparison isn’t apples to apples (literally!). I recognize that you can use coupons to cut the cost of the boxes of snacks. I realize that when you pay for a watermelon, you’re paying for the rind that you cut away, so that part shouldn’t really count when you’re figuring cost per pound. Yes, I realize all of the variables that make this experiment not exact.

But I hope you kind of get the idea that when you break down the cost of processed foods (that do practically nothing to nourish us) compared to the cost of fresh produce (which do quite a bit to actually nourish us)…you aren’t really right on track if you think that buying “cheap” boxes of snacks is saving you money. Produce, if bought in season, is really quite reasonably priced. 

Alrighty…this post is getting long!! I’ll stop there and we can talk more later about all kinds of other things you can do to save money as you switch to a healthier lifestyle. There’s so much to talk about as we break down Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating!

But do give some thought to your mind-set about spending money on food. Are you looking at it in the right way? Are you really saving money when you avoid some of the “more expensive” healthier foods and instead buy “cheaper” food?

And what about the long term effects of not eating healthy now? Will health care costs outweigh what we might be saving in groceries?

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The Garden

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Several of you have requested to see how our garden is growing this year. Therefore, I braved the millions of mosquitoes and took several shots of our glorious soil with green things growing out of it.

I can take absolutely NO credit this year for how the garden looks. Matt has worked VERY hard and keeping the weeds under control and everything looks so, so pretty.

I basically started on one end of the house and went all the way around the back to the other side taking pictures. Yes, we have more than one garden spot. If it has the capability to grow things (and it isn’t an area used regularly to kick soccer balls), it has been tilled and it shall bear fruit. Well, vegetables as the case may be.

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Here we have several tomato plants and some pepper plants. 
Looks like the beginnings of salsa, wouldn’t you think?

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Ah, more tomato plants. Yes, there will be many tomatoes. We are not afraid.

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Ooh, the first fruits. Vegetables. Wait. Tomatoes are a fruit. 

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We planted the corn in two stages so that it would be ready at two different times. 
The first round is just a bit taller than me. We’re so proud.

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Here are more pepper plants growing in the raised garden bed Matt made last year. 
Our yard is really not crooked. I just took a crooked picture.

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Here’s our little garden of potatoes. See all the blossoms? 
That means there are lots of french fries growing underground.

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Beside the potato plot grows our beloved peach tree. 
There are only a few peaches on it, so this year we will be mooching peaches off of others if possible. 
The tree sure looks pretty though.

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And last but not least, the green beans. Four long rows of green beans. And look:

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I picked a whole bowlful on Tuesday!! 
When I steamed some that night, I thought perhaps I was in  heaven. 

And then we may or may not have steamed more of them for breakfast this morning. Who could resist?

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Gratituesday: Ah, Lovely Dirt

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Before Saturday, I STILL had not had a chance to get my hands dirty. I hadn’t had a chance to get into my garden at ALL. (You’re shocked at me, aren’t you?!)  I had longed to get out there, but just not had even one moment to think about the garden yet.

Thankfully, Matt had found a few bits and pieces of time during the past few weeks to get our garden areas tilled up and to plant a few things. Ooh, and he even brought us home a big truck load of horse manure. Crazy how excited I was to see him that day. Saturday, we were finally able to both work in the garden together and get several more things planted.

The day was sunny and beautiful. Just ask Matt…I was completely giddy. I was running my  hands through the soil…just for fun. It felt so good.

Yes, in case you didn’t already know that I am a garden geek…now you know for sure. I can’t help it. The garden gives me so much joy.

Wanna take a look at a few parts of it with me? (There’s more to be planted…these are just a few shots.)

lettuceWe have lettuce ready to eat…it is so beautiful!

cornYou can’t see it…but there’s corn in these rows!!

 

peppersAw, cute little pepper plants.

potato_containerOh yes…I did plant potatoes in my trash can again!!

I’m just so thankful for our garden. I love how we can see God in the entire process of watching food grow from a seed. I can’t wait to share more with you during the coming months!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

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Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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