The Cost of a Nourishing Diet: What is Optimal vs. What is Reality
I never intended to write a series on food budgeting, but it seems as though I am headed in that direction. I thought that one post would cover it, but the conversation in the comments decided otherwise.
Ever since I wrote an article called The Cost of Nourishing Food: A Follow Up To Going Grain-Free I have had your comments on my mind. Most of you agreed with me, but a couple of you challenged my thoughts and expressed your frustrations with the debate. I welcome debate and challenge. One of the reasons I write here is in order to challenge the way people think, including myself.
Pampered Mom said:
To assume that there are these legions of folks out there who have all sorts of “extras” that can be cut from their budgets means that we’ve already made this an elitist issue. Lets face it, there are folks out there who have little left to cut and they’re the ones who most desperately need real, honest to goodness, nourishing food.
I hear the phrase “elitist” a lot when I read about the real food “movement”. To be honest, it really frustrates me. Why? Because eating real food is not just for the wealthy, it is not out of anyone’s reach and it is not a right, but rather a responsibility.
The truth is real food got pushed aside when convenience foods, which are truly elitist, came on the market. My grandparents were dairy farmers with six children. They didn’t have the latte factor to contend with, they didn’t even have insulation in the attic where my father and his five siblings slept. Their average temperature in January is 10 degrees. What they did have was real food and lots of it – a garden for preserving, fresh milk, lots of butter, and from what my Dad tells me “not another steak.” They are nearly ninety now and are probably in better health than most of the baby boom generation, and even much of my own generation.
I do believe that there are people out there who have nothing left to cut out of their budget. This is you if you have the most basic of food, water and shelter. This is you if you spend nothing on entertainment and do without much of the modern day conveniences that we are told we “need.” This is you if you live in the most humblest of homes in your area.
This is not us. We laugh when people ask us if we are “ok, financially”, because we still see places where we could cut back. We choose to live in a less expensive, older apartment and not purchase clothing or toys without much consideration, if at all. To some people that makes us look as though we are lacking. My grandparents lived much more humbly than we do. So does much of the rest of the world.
If you are not among the majority of Americans who have much more than they need and don’t even realize it, then do what you can with what you have.
I think the third item in your list – “do what you can with what you have” – needs to be a lot more than an after thought added in there.
Absolutely! Do what you can with what you have should be an overarching principle, not an afterthought. Clearly, I didn’t communicate that very well.
When I first posted Why Grains Are Not Necessary for a Nourishing Diet I was trying to bust conventional wisdom and share a diet that may be healing for many people. Optimal does not mean necessary. A compromise can always be reached.
For example: we have been discussing adding back in some sprouted legumes and grains in April for budgetary reasons. There is a priority in our lives right now that requires us saving up a bit of cash and the one place where we can pull it from, without taking away from paying off loans or our monthly savings, is to bring down the grocery budget a bit.
Optimal vs. Reality vs. Compromise
Here is a list of nourishing food ideas that can be broken down into three categories: what is optimal, what is reality in our home and how we would compromise if need be. If I had to cut my grocery budget it half we would not eat as cleanly as we do now, but I know we could still feed our family real food in some form.
optimal: 100% organic produce, grown in our own backyard
reality: organic produce from a CSA and a small garden, conventional produce that is not high in pesticides
compromise: conventional produce
optimal: 100% grass-fed meats in various forms, preferably from our own animals
reality: organic, grass-fed meats in the cheapest forms: ground beef and whole chickens from local farmers
compromise: conventional meats
optimal: organic, raw dairy from pastured cows or goats, preferably our own
reality: raw, pastured milk from a local farmer and raw cheeses from Trader Joe’s
compromise: conventional cheese and fermented conventional dairy
optimal: grain-free
reality: grain-free for now
compromise: plenty of sprouted/properly prepared grains
optimal: plenty of raw butter from pastured cows, preferably our own
reality: plenty of store-bought organic, pastured butter
compromise: plenty of conventional butter
The thing is we can all strive to achieve what is optimal for our health. And we should all be moving towards less dependence on a food system that is not sustainable. After all, growing your own food is never elitist.
In the meantime, when sacrifices must be made, we can still eat real foods that will nourish our families far more than anything from a box or drive-through.
The biggest investment you can make to nourish your family is not money, but time and perspective.
When my husband was lower enlisted and we had heaps of debt to pay off (and obviously were very broke), we were still able to eat a nourishing foods diet on our low budget. Beyond just growing your own food, which we did do in container gardens, there are other possibilities to come across food at low or no cost.
Bartering was one such example. A farmer we knew from the farmers market needed some repair work done around his farm and did not have the means to pay for said repairs. My husband is very handy and volunteered to help. From there, these two struck a deal: the farmer would pay for my husband’s work by giving us a CSA share that year. We’ve also traded this or that with fellow gardeners in community gardens we’ve grown food in.
Bartering was largely the way our economy used to work and is something we all ought to be looking into for necessities other than food. If I bake great bread that you love and you can knit a nice baby sweater I need, let’s strike a deal. If my garden had a bumper crop of zucchini and yours had pickling cucumbers, let’s trade a few so we both have what we need. Ah, the friendly neighborhood “socialist” in me is showing. ;o)
We have also come across farmers who offer either CSAs or x-bushels of produce for helping to harvest in their fields. This has been where many of my canning tomatoes have come from in summers past. I even picked fruit & veggies with Peapod in a Mei Tai when she was small. Also checking Craigslist during summer harvest time often leads to free fruits & veggies as people in your community who have more than they can use or trees they don’t even care to pick from, offer their excess bounty to those who might be able to use this food, rather than allowing it to go to waste.
As far as growing food goes, too, even if you are like us and stuck in an apartment or move every other week, you can grow in community gardens, often for very little cost & many offer lower rates based off lower income, and there is always container gardening as well. Seeds are quite inexpensive and for those who are really seeing hard times and might even be on state assistance, many states allow seeds and food gardening supplies to be purchased with food stamps, providing recipients a way to become more self-sufficient and hopefully get on their feet again.
And finally, many natural food co-ops, especially those in more liberal areas, tend to offer free or discounted memberships to low income families and oftentimes discounts on purchases as well.
Perhaps an “optimal” diet is not always possible while in low income, but there do exist ways to get nourishing food items worked in, bit by bit.
Amy’s last blog post..Simple Service With Toddlers
I know this is very late in the conversation (I just hopped over here from Simple Mom) and this is not a political question but I felt I had to point something out- the sharing/bartering of items (eg. I have zuccinis you have picking cukes) is NOT socialism! That is the essence of the free market system and it is the only thing that will get our nation back to giving people the choice of healthy sustainable living. Socialism is when some higher up creates a mandated pooling of all resources and then allocates them evenly to everyone, whether they want or need it. What is happening right now in our goverment oversight, and corporate mandating, etc. (no matter what side if the isle it comes from) is not what will make us healthy or more careful and responsible. It’s personal responsibilty for ourselves and genuine interest in out neighbors’ health. It’s seeing that the single working mom accross the street needs more veggies and can’t afford them for her kids AND doesn’t have the time to care for a garden or go to a U-pick, so you give her some from your extra. No socialist group will ever be able to take the place of people caring for someone else.
As a Christian, I believe in taking care of my health but not to detriment of my those who have great needs such as putting any healthy food on the table. Any way I can help someone make healthier choices will bless them and the beautiful planet God gave us.
BTW- Amy, I LOVE some of the other ideas you had to help think out of the box on find out of the way resources to put healthier food on our plates!
I think discussions like this are absolutely necessary – and not just because of our current economic climate. When I use the word “elitist” I mean this pervasive attitude in real food circles that people are just “too lazy” to buy the food or just aren’t “willing to make the sacrifices” that are needed. Is it possible that those people exist? Absolutely, but it’s also just as likely that there are people on the other side of the spectrum as well. Just ask KerryAnn.
This idea that “anyone” can do it just because you or I or anyone else finds that we can in our particular situation/locale/circumstance is what I think is most problematic. While I think it’s important to talk about what’s “optimal” or “ideal”, I think that we’ve done that in the past at the expense of reality for some folks. I just think that the nutritional stakes are far too high to continue with the message as usual. This post is one of many steps in the right direction!
Pampered Mom’s last blog post..Thirst
such a really good post Shannon. It is so unfortunate that it has to cost more to eat healthy. Eating healthy should not be based upon social economic status but instead on choice. I am such a conscious consumer now. I vote with my food dollar. it is that important to me. It is not always optimal but I’m okay with reality.
Denise’s last blog post..Sunday Night Smack Down
Very, very good post. For us, we recoup so much of the outward costs of spending more on food by not spending on health care. Food = health. Of course, there’s always compromises – like pasteurized, pastured butter for us – but we’re slowly moving forward.
Jenny’s last blog post..And the Winner is …
You bring up some excellent points with this. This is one of those topics I think about a lot. We are mostly eating better/best foods at this point, but have definitely noticed more of a crunch in the budget with four children eating heartily these days. I’ve had to pick a few things to “let slide”…for example, potatoes. Since I wash and peel them I quit buying organic now that 10 lbs is only enough for two or three meals these days.
Growing our own does help somewhat on some items, as well as buying in bulk (half cow in particular, or grains and legumes).
It is one of my pet irritations when someone says they cannot “afford” organic/local/the better option, yet has the latest techno gadget or cable/satellite, etc… . If those are their families’ choice, that is fine, but let’s be honest and say we do not choose to buy organic because of other priorities. I say this while still realizing that there truly ARE many people who cannot really afford the better option. Buying the healthiest you CAN afford need not be expensive, though. Rhonda Jean has a great post about that at Down to Earth today.
Great post! We’re in a season of our life right now when I can’t justify purchasing all the items in the quality I’d prefer (my husband was laid off recently and we are expecting a new baby in a few weeks, so we’re trying to keep our savings up and expenses down, just in case) – especially with meats. We’re primarily buying conventional, grocery store meats, but cooking them thoughtfully and thankfully and looking forward to being able to be more choosy in the future.
We are also gearing up toward eating less grains in the future (though those we do eat I work hard on properly preparing) . . . planning on reading that post soon!
Best,
Sarah
Sarah’s last blog post..Taco Casserole with Spanish Brown Rice
Fabulous post. You express very well what has been brewing in me for quite some time.
Also, the elimination of grains has been fabulous for us!
Thank you!
Laura