But I Can’t Afford To Eat Healthy!

December 3, 2024December 3, 2024 Sarah

The concept of Make America Healthy Again is polarizing. If I post about it on my personal Facebook page, I get angry strangers screaming. It’s so oddly weird how they want to protect junk food, highly processed food, and bio-engineered/GMO items. It’s great for engagement, and Meta is giving me a few dollars a month for pocket change, but it led me to ponder: Why are they so against eating cleaner? What angers these people so much? Before the Covid years, these same people were railing about how disgusting our agriculture was in the United States and how we needed food that wasn’t poisoning us…but somehow we flipped?

I often argued with Kirk that we couldn’t afford to buy larger quantities of protein and fresh vegetables. Our shopping bills were already high enough. I would rely on carbs to pad out meals so I could feed 5 to 6 people every meal. Stretch the meat and produce, if you will.

I complained bitterly after every shopping trip in the past two or three years. Everything was so expensive. Comparing the prices I had photographed two to four years ago, I could see how prices had changed. It was miserable to shop, to come out with a few bags, and to spend $125 with little to show for it.

But something happened that I wasn’t expecting once we changed how we eat.

I wasn’t paying attention to how many extras went in the shopping cart every trip. It doesn’t matter if it is mainstream brands or organic/non-GMO; it’s a lot of carbs: pasta, rice, tortillas, chips, crackers, pre-popped popcorn, cookies, snacks for lunches, bread, bagels, and granola bars. But once I stopped buying these items? My deal was we could only eat these things if I or one of them made them from scratch. I bought meat, dairy, and produce without raising the bill. Suddenly, I had more money in our budget. I could afford more meat, produce, and eggs in the off-season. We are eating less because of the density of the food. I find I am full quicker during dinner when I am eating grain-free.

When I cook dinner now, it is nearly always keto-friendly, high-protein, low-carb, and focused on fat content (not too much, not too little, and healthy fats only – no seed oils). Some nights, I make a small dish of a complex carb for the boys, or they have tortillas warmed up with dinner. They need enough carbs to grow. I also make bread for them several times a week. I bake sugar-free muffins or cookies using clean-living recipes for their school lunches. Are they always happy? No. But they are adapting. It takes time to change.

This leads to my thoughts on this topic.

Maybe we can afford to eat healthier if we opt out of the system, which relies on us (the consumer) to buy a never-ending stream of processed foods that are often ready to eat.

Why do we feed cold cereal to children before school? When, instead, would two eggs and a bit of meat keep them fueled for hours? Breakfast cereal is quite expensive if it is not on sale. A box for $5 might serve two to three bowls now. And they will crash quickly after the simple carbs wear off. They don’t need that for learning. Eggs, while also expensive (in the western states due to heavy laws recently enacted), are still a bargain due to protein density.

It’s the same for lunches and dinners. Multi-national food companies have indoctrinated us for decades (since the end of WWII) that dinner should look a certain way or that lunch has a sandwich. Portable? Yes, but not necessarily the highest achievement of mankind.

I now spend Sundays batch cooking, so I don’t panic and run to the store to buy treats for their lunches. I make Kirk his breakfasts two times a week. He eats when he is ready, as he is doing some fasting mornings, but it is ready for him.

My big step right now is chopping up, washing, and drying lettuce greens for my lunches. If tucked away, they last in the refrigerator for days, which ensures I make myself a salad many days. If I do the work, I will eat better. Being hungry and not having a solid choice leads to bad decisions.

Another oddity I have noticed?

In the past month, I rarely enter any grocery store aisles. All I am shopping for is the meat, produce, and dairy aisles. If needed, I might wander down the spice aisle.

The other day, I walked into a local grocery store and noticed how oddly colored “food” is in its packaging. We might as well be fish tempted to grab a lure. It’s all colorful; the brighter the coloring, the more entranced you get. It used to be that the “natural” choices had more muted colors, but not anymore. Even brown is vivid these days.

I thought we were an ingedient household for years, I realize now, even that is flawed. Many things I bought then, I wouldn’t buy now. Instead of buying canned vegetables, beans, and even pasta sauce, I have to make it from scratch to stay within how I want us to eat—minimal sugar, minimal wheat, no ultra-processed food, no seed oils, and so forth. I took what I thought was an outlier diet and changed it to a level I wasn’t sure I could do. It isn’t easy, for sure. But I know it’s worth it.

Another thing to watch is eating in season. Do I want blueberries in November? Sometimes, yes, and I will pay for that luxury.

This is forcing me to look at produce when shopping. Buy North America first. Potatoes, apples, onions, and garlic are all US-grown! You don’t need to buy imported all year long.

But maybe I should only use bell peppers in season and not buy grapes from Peru in January.

Because that alone will save me money and allow me to buy more California-grown romaine lettuce!

So yes, I can afford to eat now, but it comes with tight restrictions. Maybe we should all try this: Eat in season, buy as little processed food as you can, and stay out of the inner aisles of the grocery store. You might find your shopping trips faster, more affordable, and better for your body. For me, just eating a lot less has also helped. It’s helping me feel better.

~Sarah

Bioengineered Foods

“You Are Privileged!”

July 19, 2024July 19, 2024 Sarah

Anytime you think you haven’t seen it all, wander into the comments on reels and shorts on social media.

The other day, I saw a reel on Facebook where the comment section was playing into the victimhood many people create for themselves to avoid hard work. A woman had created it, talking about how she had just passed three years of cooking from scratch, at home, for all their meals. She was fully an ingredient household and rightfully proud that her family had gotten off of processed foods, eating out, and so much more.

And the bitter comments were shameful.

Don’t deny people their self-righteous anger, for sure.

Look at all that anti-government behavior! How dare she be in the kitchen, cooking fresh meat, veggies, and more!

For now, there is a group of people who seem to truly believe that being self-sufficient is an arm of White Nationalist behavior, where the kitchens of America are full of evil White racists bent on destroying democracy. I wish I were joking, but I am not. Why do I go into the comment section? I should know better.

But yes, should you carve the time out to cook for yourself (and your family/friends), you might as well be a Nazi—no matter your race, economic status, political stance, or gender. You are, at minimum, supporting it by simply cooking.

I find that many Americans (and also Europeans) are happy to sit on their couch or in bed, ready to complain about everything since they have an audience.

How AI imagines two bitter people sitting on their couch, surrounded by bags of delivered DoorDash…

They complain that cooking food is a sexist thing to enslave women. That freedom is buying food from multi-national corporations (which pay low and use the lowest quality ingredients) and using people to deliver it to their work and home, creating a further poverty hole for gig workers to slide into (though they don’t talk about the gig work usually).

That is progress, it seems to them.

They scream about how the reel personality has to be a “Trad Wife” and how she is holding everyone down—and she must be a breeder of children and a Christian, and she must be “x” or “x” (whatever fills their need at the moment).

The saddest part is this is right out of the communist playbooks (See “The Kitchen, The Dining Table, And Why It Matters” for my thoughts on that). Have people reliant on the system. In the 1920s-40s, there were government-sponsored cafeterias and no kitchens in apartment buildings.

Now, it relies on others to cook for you; somehow, you are freed by it. They never pause to consider how much they spend daily and how much isn’t nourishing food (Starbucks? Yesterday, I treated myself to a frozen lemonade. I was hot, and I thought…it’ll cool me down. A 20-ounce Venti cost me $6.68! I rarely go out for drinks, so I am somewhat out of the loop now, but wow, I’m glad I had gift money on my Starbucks app. Now imagine if I bought a $4 pastry with it. Nearly $11 a day. For $11, I could have gotten a lot more groceries, even with the current inflation.

If that argument fails, they switch to Ol’ Reliable: “You are privileged! It must be nice to have time and a kitchen to cook in, with all the ingredients.” It usually devolves into where the person must be rich to afford “food.” So, of course, they must be holding down everyone to live this life.

The irony is that it IS cheaper to cook from scratch. Even if building a pantry is expensive initially, you will eat it all. Is it better to spend $25 for one meal for one person? Or, instead, spend that $25 to buy food you can cook multiple meals with? (For example, 1 pound of pasta will serve 4-6 people and costs $1 to 2 depending on the brand and sales. A 5-pound bag of rice is $5 and will feed one many times. Go to an Asian restaurant and want rice? You will spend $1-5 for a tiny amount.

But it takes being willing to think beyond today. To be willing to do the hard work.

The Takeaway (for me):

Their arguments are based on their unhappiness. They don’t want to take care of themselves, and they want the government to do everything for them. They want free housing and food. They should only have to work a few hours a week and have the latest mobile phone. They want the lives they see on reality shows and “influencer” pages on social media, which are nearly all fake. They refuse to accept that most people don’t live in luxury but are just average.

When they see people who are actually happy and living a good (and honest) life, they react with anger. It’s everything they have been trained to want to hate. The people they hate have things they want but don’t want to put the time/effort into getting them.

And that is it:

We all get 24 hours a day. Many women work full-time yet come home and cook a meal. It’s part of life. Every human has to eat to survive. Some choose to invest time into their lives. And so what if it is women who do it? It may bring them happiness to nurture their family. Maybe there is no big picture, no hidden agenda. They want to save money and eat real food. Gasp.

Or you can sit at home and be a bitter prune seed. And wait for the government to feed them for free. They might not like what they get fed, though. A steady diet of bug protein, corn, and whatever else it finds to feed the masses cheaply.

I’ll take getting in the kitchen and doing the hard work. No matter how tired I am.

~Sarah

Recipes

Pantry Staple Recipe: Potato Salad

March 28, 2024June 9, 2024 Sarah

What is a pantry staple recipe? It is one you can prep with ingredients you have on hand and keep around all the time. We are an ingredient household where creating recipes is a necessity.

I am not a huge potato salad fan because I find it too mushy, whether I bake or boil the potatoes. But when I saw the idea for this recipe, I wondered about it and got looking in the pantry. The original recipe called for canned whole potatoes that you cut in half. But even those can be mushy. But what doesn’t get mushy is canned cubed/diced potatoes. Those stay firm. I often buy those to stock in our pantry; they work great in soups and chowders. They can be harder to find in some regions, but when I find them, I stock up. Del Monte, Libby’s, and even Walmart make them.

I have included the Instant Pot method for hard-boiled eggs. If you use farm-fresh eggs, you know peeling them can be so hard when fresh. They tend to tear. In the Instant Pot, though, they come out perfect using the 5-5-5 method. It makes it well worth pulling out the Instant Pot to do it. I make a dozen at a time, so we have them on hand for snacking (the boys love them quartered and slipped into bowls of ramen).

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

3 cans 14.5-15 ounce diced potatoes
4 hard-boiled eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
1½ tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp pickle relish (sweet or dill)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp granulated garlic
½ tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

Drain and rinse the potatoes in a colander, gently shaking off the water. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise and spices till smooth.

Gently toss the potatoes with the dressing.

Peel the hard-boiled eggs, slice them into quarters, and then chop.

Add the eggs to the potato salad and gently fold in.

Transfer to a glass container and chill for a few hours before serving.

Notes:

I used sweet relish as I had it on hand. Either version works, though I liked the light sweetness it adds. Try to find organic so you can avoid all the artificial food coloring that is used in pickles and relish.

Straight out of the chicken coop, these are about as fresh as one could get. And who needs to dye eggs with these?

Instant Pot Hardboiled Eggs

Ingredients:

1 dozen chicken eggs
1 cup water

Directions:

Wash eggs if farm fresh.

Place the metal trivet in the bottom of your Instant Pot (I place it so the metal arms are pointing up), and add the water.

Place the eggs on top of the trivet.

Put the lid on, and check the steam release to ensure it points correctly.

Depending on your model, use the “Egg” or regular “Pressure” setting, which is set for 5 minutes.

Let vent for 5 minutes, then release the valve to bring it down.

Fill your sink with a few inches of cold water and a rack of ice cubes (about 14). Transfer the eggs to the cold water with tongs and let them sit for 5 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Crack and peel the ones you need; otherwise, refrigerate the rest for later eating.

~Sarah

Homesteading

Proud To Be An Ingredient Household

December 19, 2023 Sarah

Have you heard the term “Ingredient Household” yet? Because it is all the rage with the kids these days on Tik Tok. Where they show the world how poorly done to they are (or were) because they grew up in an ingredient household. Instead of a “Snack Household“.

Yeah, I had a good laugh first time I heard it. I was being called out for sure.

According to one site “The phrase refers to a household where there is no ready-to-eat food, but rather ingredients used in larger dishes. Instead of opening a bag of chips after school, all that’s stored in these ingredient-only households are small items such as chocolate chips, croutons, or peanut butter.”

Croutons? Yeah, go make those you slackers! My kids are not even that lucky. Though I have been known to munch on croutons before as a snack.

I won’t lie though:

I grew up in an ingredient household as a Gen X’er. I went to college and was too poor to do anything else but continue on as I knew. I spent my single day off from work every week making bread, and made casseroles to eat all week. If I was hungry, I made a pot of spaghetti from scratch.

I thought everyone did this. I grew up poor, and my Mom, and then when I was old enough, we cooked every meal from scratch. I also walked every where those days. Cars were not something I could afford.

Then…..I went crazy in my 20’s eating so much processed food. Once I had a car and a job as an adult, I loved fast food. Slide in after work and get some, get myself all greased out on the way home. And oh the food I could buy at the store, ready to eat. Toss in a microwave, and eat that frozen meal. And those snacks. So many snacks. Candy, sugar cereal, crackers and chips.

I eventually connected that eating to why I didn’t feel good internally and had gained a lot of weight. When the boys were young we went back to an ingredient household once again. We slid as they entered school, and became a snack household again. Once we went to homeschooling though, I realized I didn’t need to be buying crap once again. I could make them lunches. We could make cookies together. I could make bread most days. Call me a Trad Wife if you will, but doing this for my family matters to me. I sit writing this post while I eat a curry I pulled together in under 30 minutes for us to eat for dinner, out of our pantry.

It’s an internal struggle though. Of course the family loves snacks, and easy to make food. But the more I stick to it, the better we are off. It teaches the boys how to cook, how to plan, and to not mindlessly munch. I am also always bummed when commercially made food just doesn’t live up to the promised taste. Or how little is in a container, when you get home and go to eat. Shrinkflatation is real. So is inflation.

I’d say I agree with Mark Bittman and some of his famous quotes:

“Anyone can cook, and most everyone should.”
“Junk food companies are acting very much like tobacco companies did 30 years ago.”
“I got into cooking out of self-defense.”
“I think people at least now, as opposed to ten-15-20 years ago, kind of get it, what is the bad food. I think, before, there was a time when they didn’t even get it that processed food was hurting them. Now, I think they get that, but the big enemies to switching over to good food are convenience.”
“Like pornography, junk food might be tough to define, but you know it when you see it.”
“Convenience is one of the two dirty words of American cooking, reflecting the part of our national character that is easily bored; the other is ‘gourmet.’ Convenience foods demonstrate our supposed disdain for the routine and the mundane: ‘I don’t have time to cook.’ The gourmet phase, which peaked in the eighties, when food was seen as art, showed our ability to obsess about aspects of daily life that most other cultures take for granted. You might only cook once a week, but wow, what a meal.”
“Cooking is like exercise or spending time in nature or good conversation: The more you do it, the more you like it, the better you get at it, and the more you recognize that its rewards are far greater than its efforts and that even its efforts are rewards.”

And for the win, Michael Pollan:

“Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.” Literally he said what I believe in now.
“Eat all the junk food you want – as long as you cook it yourself. That way, it’ll be less junky, and you won’t eat it every day because it’s a lot of work.”

Be proud of being an ingredient household!

You have skills. And if you want something bad enough, you can make it from scratch. If not…maybe you didn’t want it that bad? It for me is a clue it is bed time rather than snack time if it’s 11 pm and there’s no container of chips or cookies calling me.

A well stocked pantry can seem overwhelming to achieve, but work at it slowly and eventually you will get there. To make it even more so, we grow a lot on our homestead, and as well do prepper shopping in bulk.

We grow our herbs, and air dry them for the year. And even some spices now.

We grow fruits and berries, to turn into canned items, such as jams and sauces.

Produce is canned, frozen and freeze-dried to be used later.

Having basics like soy sauce, sesame oil, and such go far in cooking.

We buy wheat flour and yeast for bread in bulk and prep it to store for long-term.

Have recipes you know will turn out 99% of the time, your quick go-to’s that you all like. Have cookbooks that have cookable recipes.

Learn new skills as often as you can. This will increase how you cook and eat.

It’s totally normal to have flops in the kitchen. I have at least 4 dinners flop a year, that are not what anyone wants to eat. Yes, this is hard when money is tight, but if it isn’t this is why you should explore cooking beyond the usual meals.

Maybe it’s OK there isn’t go-to snacks constantly. It’s less temptation. If we eat a banana instead, is that a bad thing?

And it’s OK to have a day where you do buy prepared food and snacks. Maybe your energy is not good that day and you need something to wallow in. That’s OK. Today we went on a long walk and popped into a French style bakery and bought some items. They were made locally, so I didn’t feel guilt over it. It’s still made to what I would use at home.

~Sarah