How to afford healthy meals??

lynn_glenmont

ChristinaPruitt276 wrote: »

Thank you to everyone who posted! And to the comments made on my "retarded expensive" comment, I didn't not mean to offend anyone. I only use the word for things like as I mentioned , the insane price of baby formula! I never use it towards another human being because I feel that it's missused on the wrong people.

Please don't take this as a personal criticism or a suggestion that you go around intending to offend anyone. It's just an FYI, to help you understand why some people will find "retarded" offensive even when used to describe a situation or an idea, not a person, much less a person who actually experiences a developmental disability. It also applies to a lot of other words people use and claim people shouldn't be offended because they're not using it to refer to the people who were originally marginalized by the use of that word.

When you take a word that originally was used to describe a person, and then use it pejoratively to describe other things you feel negatively about, you are implying, whether you realize it or not, that the people that the word originally applied to also share those negative characteristics. You're using a metaphor, and metaphors imply shared characteristics between the original reference for the item and the new thing that is being described by the same term.

If I say of someone whom I believe is ditzy or not very bright, "she must be a natural blonde," it's not just an insult to that individual -- it's an insult to all blondes, because the reference makes no sense if I'm not implying that blondes as a group are ditzy or not very bright. In your usage, saying that prices you find "insane" are "retarded" implies that individuals with developmental disablilities are "insane," whether you're conscious of that implication or not.

And while as a group, blondes are not necessarily disempowered, vulnerable, or marginalized, as a group, people with developmental disabilities are, so using metaphors that imply they should be viewed negatively (because you never say something is retarded when you want to give people a positive impression of it, right?) isn't just offensive. It's being offensive about people, who as a group, are generally excluded from the conversation about what's offensive.

cherys

Can you base your menus around staples that are relatively cheap? In USA, I noticed meat is much cheaper than in Europe. Veg seems more expensive. If you have a protein based main with two-three portions of frozen veg or in season/special offer veg and/or fruit at each meal then you should be able to find something in budget. One advantage of frozen veg is that you only use what you need and so it never spoils. Works out cheaply that way. Same with frozen fruits. I have frozen berries most mornings. They are 50-75% cheaper than fresh but just as delicious.

andfivesixseveneight

We gave up meat, cheese, bread, processed snacks and cereals, sweets, and we mainly drink tap water now. Most of our groceries are whole food that we cook ourselves at home. These changes have saved us about 50% on our grocery bill!
Buy lots of bulk dried beans, seeds, lentils, oats, nuts. Whenever healthy foods are on steep clearance, I stock up. Buy whatever fruits and veg are least expensive and do without whatever is too spendy. Ethnic grocers and aldi often have fantastic prices on produce.
Stay away from individual portions of prepackaged foods- packaging costs more. I don’t make a shopping list. Whatever is on sale/best value is what we eat and pack the leftovers in our lunch boxes.
Best of luck to you and your family.

jgnatca

So nice to get your feedback, @ChristinaPruitt276 . Around this part of the world, if you want to get in to fruit growing, it's a lot less maintenance to put in a few raspberry canes. They keep giving, and giving, and giving.....

Another great home fruit (stem) is rhubarb. This plant is also un-killable.