Food Deserts?

[kelpdiver 2]

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you're still listing prices for a jar of pasta sauce, not the can of tomato sauce. You're not seriously telling me that a 6oz can of tomato sauce costs $2.50? Don't be lazy and buy the prepared stuff.

I may add diced tomatoes to the sauce, but I'm not eating pasta with plain tomatoes, and by the time you've added the spices, have you gained anything? This is a case where the 50 cents saved isn't worth it.

[rhaig 0]

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you're still listing prices for a jar of pasta sauce, not the can of tomato sauce. You're not seriously telling me that a 6oz can of tomato sauce costs $2.50? Don't be lazy and buy the prepared stuff.

I may add diced tomatoes to the sauce, but I'm not eating pasta with plain tomatoes, and by the time you've added the spices, have you gained anything? This is a case where the 50 cents saved isn't worth it.

weren't we talking about eating healthy? for the same amount of money? use $0.50 in spices... knock yourself out!

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Rob

[kelpdiver 2]

I think we were talking about your high horse, which was vaguely healthy, but the easiest example that cannot be eaten daily, at least not happily.

[nigel99 151]

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you're still listing prices for a jar of pasta sauce, not the can of tomato sauce. You're not seriously telling me that a 6oz can of tomato sauce costs $2.50? Don't be lazy and buy the prepared stuff.

I may add diced tomatoes to the sauce, but I'm not eating pasta with plain tomatoes, and by the time you've added the spices, have you gained anything? This is a case where the 50 cents saved isn't worth it.

weren't we talking about eating healthy? for the same amount of money? use $0.50 in spices... knock yourself out!

I agree with you. As a family we eat on a budget. It helps that none of us are meat addicts and are happy to eat meat 3 or 4 times a week. Tomato and onion on pasta or rice is cheap, so is macaroni cheese. Mince on pasta is cheap if not loaded on. Interestingly we feel that we can't afford to eat out all the time - but most of the unemployeed live off Fish and Chips. This is the UK not the US - so there is a difference as you guys have a far bigger eat out culture than here and good food is correspondingly cheaper over there which does help.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[rhaig 0]

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I think we were talking about your high horse, which was vaguely healthy, but the easiest example that cannot be eaten daily, at least not happily.

wow... we're not even talking about politics, and you can avoid the get off my high horse remark. I must have struck a nerve. dont worry, the mods wont call you for a PA, you're on theiir side politically. I'll try it in another thread in a couple of days though and lets see what happens.

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Rob

[wmw999 2,178]

I agree that the problem of food deserts is there, and that education of people on home ec in 8th grade or so (where it belongs) also sucks.

But if you have a freezer and a burner and some time, you can eat cheaper, healthily, for less than you can eat at McDonalds. Even living alone. It won't be variety, but neither is fast food on a daily basis.

The problem comes when you have 3 little kids and you get home from work at 6:00, or you're already fat and get tired from standing at the stove , and don't know how to do that stuff.

So I'll start a thread in BF about nutritious meals that can be made inexpensively. How inexpensively? Obviously that depends on your location and what you can get. So substitute freely.

But if you:

buy what's cheap that day

get your spices at the dollar store or out of the little bags in the hispanic food section

cook in categories (i.e. don't get stuck on exactly following the recipe: if you have a little leftover broccoli or spinach that's tired, throw it into the spaghetti sauce or beans or stir-fry)

cook foods in larger quantities and freeze them in single-serving portions (ziploc bags work for this)

read a cookbook or food book, but don't just follow the recipes -- you're looking for techniques and what in general goes well together (so you can cook in categories)

If anyone is interested, I can provide a way for 2 people to eat 4 meals off a single chicken, and never repeat a meal. Yeah, it takes other ingredients and some time to cook, but not all that much. If you serve a chicken and a few fries to 2 people, it'll be pretty much gone the first night.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Andy9o8 0]

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I can provide a way for 2 people to eat 4 meals off a single chicken, and never repeat a meal. Yeah, it takes other ingredients and some time to cook, but not all that much.

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Bubba: Anyway, like I was saying, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There's, uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

[wmw999 2,178]

ya left out shrimp pizza

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[pirana 0]

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Kids don't take home-ec anymore because . . .

Kids don't take or schools don't offer?

Even at when it was offered, when I went to school more than 30 years ago, it simply wasn't something boys took -- ever.

I went to school back then too. And yes, if it was offered I would not have taken it the first time. However, it was not offered - it was required.

Everybody in 7th and 8th grade had to take 1 quarter of home ec each year. It was very simple, it was only humiliating for the homophobic crowd, and most of it was actually kinda fun.

It was child's play though compared to what I learned at home. Yes, I can easily turn out a home cooked meal for less than eating at McD's.

Problem is that is hardly a fair comparison; putting my highly nutritious and delicious home cooking up against the goo they serve.

I do eat the stuff occasionally, and have the following observations:

1 - It tastes OK, as long as you don't eat much of it; or else the synthetic nature of the flavors starts to sink in. I think the only natural flavoring in most of the stuff is salt.
2 - For young (and tougher) digestive systems, it is tolerable. As you get older though and your system loses it's tolerance for the 6 flavors of grease they sell, things change. They might as well call the place McLaxative.
3 - Because of the methods used to make sure it always tastes the same; and to ensure it is always the same consistency; they have basically settled for the easiest texture to duplicate - GOO. Something really bugs me about meat that does not have to be chewed.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[pirana 0]

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Chef Boy R Dee is the really cheap version of it, too.

It's also much easier to inexpensively feed 4 than 1 on a per person basis.

[Andy9o8 0]

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Maybe we do need to teach this to all the helpless victims.

[skipbelt 0]

road runner
the coyote's after you
road runner
if he captures you
you're through .

[TriGirl 278]

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Kids don't take home-ec anymore because . . .

Kids don't take or schools don't offer?

Even at when it was offered, when I went to school more than 30 years ago, it simply wasn't something boys took -- ever.

That's about the time my brother was in junior high -- he took home-ec. Of course, he was able to counter any teasing from his friends by 1) feeding them the excellent cookies and brownies he baked in class, and 2) pointing out all the cute girls he got to hang out with there!

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

[wayneflorida 0]

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in the hood.

Yeah. We get it. Don't even need a code-book.

Speak your mind clearly and precise. I don't have the key.

[doughboyshred 0]

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Fresh fruits and vegetables cost 10 times more than junk food, according to researchers at the University of Washington. A thousand calories of nutritious food cost $18.16, while a thousand calories of junk food cost a mere $1.76. How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple, actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives. Speaking of . . .

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/15-shocking-food-industry-secrets

........

[Andy9o8 0]

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How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple, actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives.

Mmm...Slim Jims...

[turtlespeed 212]

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Fresh fruits and vegetables cost 10 times more than junk food, according to researchers at the University of Washington. A thousand calories of nutritious food cost $18.16, while a thousand calories of junk food cost a mere $1.76. How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple, actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives. Speaking of . . .

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/15-shocking-food-industry-secrets

........

I believe they meant to say that 1000 calories of nutritious food CAN cost as much as 18.16.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Skyrad 0]

If more US towns & cities were designed to allow people to walk to their shops then it wouldn't be so much of an issue. People need to get out of cars and start exercising and I don't just mean down at the gym or running.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[wmw999 2,178]

If you read further, it's saying that it's 10 times more expensive to get 1000 calories of fruit and vegetables. That's a big difference, because the simple addition of fat and sugar are probably a large part of what makes it to cheap to eat crap.

So take those bananas, sugar them and deep-fry them and you have banana fritters -- I'll bet it's not nearly as hard to hit 1000 calories that way.

Note: I'm all for the original conclusion that it's harder to eat healthy in some places than others. But I'm even more against making bs arguments using dissimilar data.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 2,476]

>Fresh fruits and vegetables cost 10 times more than junk food, according to
>researchers at the University of Washington. A thousand calories of
>nutritious food cost $18.16, while a thousand calories of junk food cost a
>mere $1.76. How do they keep junk-food costs so low? Pretty simple,
>actually: flavor enhancers and other chemical additives.

Flavor enhancers and chemical additives don't result in cheap calories. Fats and sugars do. Industrial partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup are incredibly cheap, and we're 'programmed' to like them. If you want to make a cheap candy bar out of the above, you can get thousands of calories for next to nothing.

Of course, flavor enhancers can contribute to a food's desirability, no matter what it's made of.

[kelpdiver 2]

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If you read further, it's saying that it's 10 times more expensive to get 1000 calories of fruit and vegetables. That's a big difference, because the simple addition of fat and sugar are probably a large part of what makes it to cheap to eat crap.

So take those bananas, sugar them and deep-fry them and you have banana fritters -- I'll bet it's not nearly as hard to hit 1000 calories that way.

Note: I'm all for the original conclusion that it's harder to eat healthy in some places than others. But I'm even more against making bs arguments using dissimilar data.

Wendy P.

I would venture that they insisted on it being a balanced 1000 calories of f+v, not just 1000 cals of the cheapest one (say, bag of potatoes).