Wish fresh veggies weren't so expensive
Replies
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3rdof7sisters wrote: »OP, or you could spend less and buy bulk oatmeal and have enough for many, many, many breakfasts.
Frozen berries don't go bad, neither do frozen veggies (you can even freeze fresh veggies and berries for later use). Eggs are pretty inexpensive as well. There are options, if you look for them, that are affordable and nutritious. Big bags of cereal that are not sugary are available as well. We have choices.
Yes. I immediately chop and freeze whatever produce I buy fresh. Half the freezer is full of chopped onions, carrots, turnips, beets, zucchini, red cabbage, (along with what I could cheaply buy already chopped and frozen such as collard greens and spinach).0 -
3rdof7sisters wrote: »OP, or you could spend less and buy bulk oatmeal and have enough for many, many, many breakfasts.
Frozen berries don't go bad, neither do frozen veggies (you can even freeze fresh veggies and berries for later use). Eggs are pretty inexpensive as well. There are options, if you look for them, that are affordable and nutritious. Big bags of cereal that are not sugary are available as well. We have choices.
I do use oatmeal a lot, not only as breakfast. I have big bags of oatmeal, rice, beans, use lots of whole grain bread, etc. Eggs are free for me (get culls from a friend) so I use lots of those too.0 -
Definitely cheaper and faster to eat junk than it is to eat healthy food in the US. I feel ya!!!!
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wellthenwhat wrote: »
Oohh, that's a great idea! I've thought about doing sprouts and stuff, but don't have the place for it. I will definitely have to look into that! The plants would make my basement feel a little less basement-y too!Need2Exerc1se wrote: »wellthenwhat wrote: »
I do. My apartment is hard to grow in because it's a basement, and pretty cold most of the year, but I do have a garden.Need2Exerc1se wrote: »wellthenwhat wrote: »I made myself a delicious carrot/broccoli/cauliflower cooked veggie combo and had some for breakfast. But for what it cost me I could have bought 3 huge bags of sugar cereal that would last me several months vs a week. It's sad.
If you are going to cook them anyway go with frozen. It's much cheaper and just as nutritious, sometimes more so.
Edit: You should also consider growing some of your own vegetables. Even in a small apartment you can grow some in containers.
Cool. Have you considered grow lights? They are fairly inexpensive and don't use much electricity.
I grow sprouts to feed my chickens in Winter on my kitchen counter. I have both of these and both work really well and are very easy to use.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AO3QD2C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Tray-Kitchen-Sprouter-VICTORIO-VKP1014/dp/B005FVPP04/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489520431&sr=8-3&keywords=sprouter0 -
It is disheartening when you are trying to eat healthy and it's so much more expensive. Fruit and veggies cost more and spoil faster lol. Have any of you found that farmers markets are cheaper?
Alas, I think it'll be a while before we see fresh produce at Farmer's Markets around here again...
Also, so glad it's a gym day and not a running day.
Heh, I'm supposed to do 7 miles, and bummed because 5 is about my limit on the treadmill (I get bored) and I want to run home, oh well.
(The sidewalks were covered with snow this morning, and it is snowing quite hard at the moment. This has been a weird year for us, as we had none in Jan and Feb, but some in Nov (and of course Dec) and now finally more in mid March.)0 -
French_Peasant wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »For the calorie amount fresh fruit and veg ARE more expensive. I hate how people say they aren't. If I buy some junk food donuts 1.69 (for pack of 6 at 320 cal per doughnut) and box of cereal (1.69 with 12 servings) that would easily last me 2 weeks of 500-600 calorie breakfasts. HOWEVER, if I buy 4 fresh bell peppers (4.00), one lb broccoli (2 bucks), one large tomato (2), I could eat ALL of that in ONE day and it wouldn't even amount to the same calorie amount of "fuel". So YES eating fresh fruit and veg is more expensive than eating junk because you have to buy A LOT more to get the same calorie amount of fuel.
No way. A few vegetables, some protein and a starch and you can feed yourself for a few days cooking one meal. Even if you buy the cheapest junk food out there you will not get the same nutritional bang for your buck. I wish the myth of "it's cheap to get fat" would die. Some things are very expensive, but seasonal vegetables or frozen vegetables are cheap almost everywhere. Canned vegetables are also an option. All of these are cheaper than a pop tart or hot pocket. I think it's an excuse people use either because they don't know how to cook or they want to keep eating junk and don't want to just admit that.
All of these are not cheaper. A box of poptarts run 1.67 at my local store and that would last a WEEK. For that amount I could get ONE tomato or one head of broccoli, which would just be a small component of ONE meal. I think it depends on location. I am picky about my veg and I don't like canned vegetables or cheap starches such as rice/beans/potatoes so when I make a meal, it is all veg and protein. I buy lettuce which is 2.99 and it lasts me only two salads worth. To eat a salad every day for lunch is quite expensive. I have to buy the lettuce, tomato (2), onions (1), cucumber (99c), radishes (2), green pepper (1), etc it all adds up to about 5 per salad when I figured it out, which is 25 bucks per week. Alternately I could have a hot pocket each day for lunch for the same calories and it would only cost me 7.50 for the whole week.
Just an example, so I don't think you can say it IS just as cheap to eat healthy. It CAN be, but many people such as myself are picky and do not want to eat plain rice and canned vegetables. I also dislike the taste of frozen vegetables. They aren't the same as fresh. So unfortunately with my preferences it is more expensive, although that is my fault LOL. I don't use it as an excuse because my grocery bill is quite high. I do choose to eat mostly vegetables because it's what I enjoy, I just am not happy about it.
It is indeed a regrettable quandary to have a palette that accepts Hot Pockets and cheap doughnuts that last 6 days, but rejects frozen and canned vegetables along with rice, beans and potatoes. I am dealing with this with my 10 year old daughter, who will eat only the most exquisite of perfectly-ripe, unblemished fruits, but will also gladly eat a Totino's pizza. wat.
I am hoping that my love for Creole and French cooking will rub off on her so if money is tight for her she can do amazing things with potatoes, beans n' rice, and the Creole Trinity (celery/onions/green peppers) or French mirepoix (celery/onions/carrots) combined with the miracle of bacon-grease roux or saute (everybody is thriftily saving back their bacon grease in a tin can under the sink, right? RIGHT???)
I made some AMAZING gumbo today: https://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/6098-gumbo
I definitely save bacon grease! But my OH makes it in the microwave on paper towels which absorbs all the grease. Sacrilege!1 -
Definitely cheaper and faster to eat junk than it is to eat healthy food in the US. I feel ya!!!!
Like I said above, I've never found this, but then I guess I never saw it as a dichotomy.
In my 20s I ate somewhat badly, but that wasn't no vegetables, it was rice and beans (package) plus some vegetables and feta cheese or packaged salads or stuff like that, plus order in from pizza or Indian or Persian place, plus go out (reasonably nice restaurants, often paid for by work, though), plus use the workplace dinner in if staying late plan, which was okay restaurants and a delivery service.
When I decided to stop it and mostly do home cooking and eat like I'd grown up doing (but with more diverse cooking and better, since my mom is not really a cook and I decided to learn), I saved a lot of money.
That one would ever not eat vegetables and see that as an option (and something to contrast with the cost of a Hot Pocket) seems weird to me, again. If one enjoyed Hot Pockets, I'd certainly hope one would add some veg on the side.
And there's really not much cheaper than a diet based around inexpensive cuts of meat (buy a bunch of frozen chicken thighs), eggs, and dry grains, legumes, and potatoes.1 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I kept thinking of this thread as I got groceries today and when I got home I had to take a quick picture of my trip. For a little under $127 I filled 2 carts at Meijer and then a basket at Family Fare (Spartan). My grocery budget is $100 so I went a bit over, but Meijer was running their 11/$10 deal, so I got a few extra things. Next week I'll probably spend around $50, so it all evens out
I made my menu plan/grocery list based off of what I already had in the house.
Produce wise I got-
3lbs yellow onions
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 bags of shredded lettuce (I'm weird about lettuce and this is the only way I'll eat it
)
2.5lbs bananas
1 cantaloupe
1 pkg mushrooms
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper
12lbs apples (mostly for baking)
1 bag baby carrots
2 cans of peaches
2lbs tomatoes
2 bags frozen corn
2 bags frozen winter blend veggies
2 small broccoli crowns
It was a fun, but exhausting trip (3 kids/2 grocery carts at Meijer does not equal relaxing!)
eta: you can't see from the picture but behind the cat litter bags (which I normally don't put on my counter lol), there's several boxes of cookie mix, boxed potatoes and yes, a box of Hamburger Helper (and I'm not even sorry ).
WOW!! I'm not even joking, this would be over $150 at the only grocery store within an hour of where I live. I went shopping this weekend and spent over $75 on grocery staples. I only buy the "manager's special" meat, this week I got a 1.5lbs chicken (30% off @ $6), 1.3lbs pork (30% off @ $5), and 1.5lbs London broil (50% off @ 4.50), 2 oranges ($1 each), 4 bananas (.79/lb), 6 yogurts ($8), 2lbs carrots ($5), 1 cantaloupe ($2.50), 4 russet potatoes (.99/lb), 1 yellow onion (99/lb), 2lb strawberries (on sale for 5.99), 12oz shrimp ($9.99 - I'm picky about seafood and only buy wild caught, so even though this is going into the freezer for quick meals later, I couldn't pass up the deal!), 1 cabbage (.39/lb), cookies ($5 for two Pepperidge Farm), cottage cheese ($3.5), multigrain bread ($4), English muffins ($3), tomatoes ($5), and a couple of other things that I can't remember right now. I shop at Safeway, and use the app and coupons, and nearly always buy only what's on sale that week. Food is just really expensive in some places, and I have to drive over 30 minutes to get to the ONE store that's not over an hour away.0 -
It is disheartening when you are trying to eat healthy and it's so much more expensive. Fruit and veggies cost more and spoil faster lol. Have any of you found that farmers markets are cheaper?
I love farmers markets and usually they are indeed cheaper but the ones that specialize in organic tend to not be.
Here in MA, they close or have very limited selection over the winter.
Find some near you: http://www.localharvest.org/brockton-ma0 -
Spring is coming, time to plant your garden
For the last few years I've been planting peas around St Patrick's Day and more two weeks later. Because the ground is so cold @ Mar 17, both crops are ready at the same time instead of staggered. I don't imagine I'll be planting them any earlier than April 1 this year. There's about 10" of snow on top of my garden right now.
I'll be planting kale and swiss chard as soon as the seedlings are offered for sale - the reputable growers here don't offer them before they are safe to plant (with some protection if needed.)
I've tried fava beans (another cool annual) the last few years but haven't had good luck with them so am crossing them off the list.
When I was in an apartment in South Florida I had a nice little herb garden on my balcony. I'm sure I had more than basil and cilantro but that's all I remember. I love growing herbs because the supermarket sells way more than I can use before they go bad. In my garden here I have the perennial herbs sage, oregano, green onions, and chives. I'll be planting parsley and basil. I may or may not do cilantro and dill, as they are quick to bolt, which I find annoying.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »For the calorie amount fresh fruit and veg ARE more expensive. I hate how people say they aren't. If I buy some junk food donuts 1.69 (for pack of 6 at 320 cal per doughnut) and box of cereal (1.69 with 12 servings) that would easily last me 2 weeks of 500-600 calorie breakfasts. HOWEVER, if I buy 4 fresh bell peppers (4.00), one lb broccoli (2 bucks), one large tomato (2), I could eat ALL of that in ONE day and it wouldn't even amount to the same calorie amount of "fuel". So YES eating fresh fruit and veg is more expensive than eating junk because you have to buy A LOT more to get the same calorie amount of fuel.
No way. A few vegetables, some protein and a starch and you can feed yourself for a few days cooking one meal. Even if you buy the cheapest junk food out there you will not get the same nutritional bang for your buck. I wish the myth of "it's cheap to get fat" would die. Some things are very expensive, but seasonal vegetables or frozen vegetables are cheap almost everywhere. Canned vegetables are also an option. All of these are cheaper than a pop tart or hot pocket. I think it's an excuse people use either because they don't know how to cook or they want to keep eating junk and don't want to just admit that.
All of these are not cheaper. A box of poptarts run 1.67 at my local store and that would last a WEEK. For that amount I could get ONE tomato or one head of broccoli, which would just be a small component of ONE meal. I think it depends on location. I am picky about my veg and I don't like canned vegetables or cheap starches such as rice/beans/potatoes so when I make a meal, it is all veg and protein. I buy lettuce which is 2.99 and it lasts me only two salads worth. To eat a salad every day for lunch is quite expensive. I have to buy the lettuce, tomato (2), onions (1), cucumber (99c), radishes (2), green pepper (1), etc it all adds up to about 5 per salad when I figured it out, which is 25 bucks per week. Alternately I could have a hot pocket each day for lunch for the same calories and it would only cost me 7.50 for the whole week.
Just an example, so I don't think you can say it IS just as cheap to eat healthy. It CAN be, but many people such as myself are picky and do not want to eat plain rice and canned vegetables. I also dislike the taste of frozen vegetables. They aren't the same as fresh. So unfortunately with my preferences it is more expensive, although that is my fault LOL. I don't use it as an excuse because my grocery bill is quite high. I do choose to eat mostly vegetables because it's what I enjoy, I just am not happy about it.
It is indeed a regrettable quandary to have a palette that accepts Hot Pockets and cheap doughnuts that last 6 days, but rejects frozen and canned vegetables along with rice, beans and potatoes. I am dealing with this with my 10 year old daughter, who will eat only the most exquisite of perfectly-ripe, unblemished fruits, but will also gladly eat a Totino's pizza. wat.
I am hoping that my love for Creole and French cooking will rub off on her so if money is tight for her she can do amazing things with potatoes, beans n' rice, and the Creole Trinity (celery/onions/green peppers) or French mirepoix (celery/onions/carrots) combined with the miracle of bacon-grease roux or saute (everybody is thriftily saving back their bacon grease in a tin can under the sink, right? RIGHT???)
I made some AMAZING gumbo today: https://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/6098-gumbo
I definitely save bacon grease! But my OH makes it in the microwave on paper towels which absorbs all the grease. Sacrilege!
Awesome on the gumbo!! I took the half day cooking class at New Orleans School of Cooking quite a few years ago, and now I can make dishes like a legit swamp Cajun. I've been using lard for the roux but my bacon grease stockpile is growing so I need to clear it out (and as an Indiana girl I have to confess I keep it in Ball jars in the fridge). I made gumbo a few weeks ago for soul food day at work. We had huge pans of collards, mustard greens, black eye peas, southern green beans, corn, and all the BBQ and the fixings. Best lunch of the year, and it is so healthy. I have no idea how thrifty, delicious food like this, that sustained generations of poor blacks and whites, ever got traded in for the crap people are eating nowadays.1 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »
"Food deserts" is blown out of proportion. Not eating healthy is a lot more about not being able/willing to plan meals, never having learnt how to shop and cook, and fear of trying new things or choosing the path of least resistance. Oh, and constantly being told about food deserts and how expensive healthy food is.kenyonhaff wrote: »Yeah guys, this can be a real issue with families in poverty at least in the US. Or, even if not in abject poverty, there are "food deserts" where there is a store, but no access to a lot of fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables (think Family Dollar). It's easy to criticise, but if money is tight in the budget food that's expensive, perishable, and the kids whine about eating it anyway are often the first to get cut.
It's definitely NOT blown out of proportion. Not having a car can make even a couple of miles insurmountable. I currently live in a city and rely on public transport. Technically there are many grocery stores within a five mile radius but all require at least a mile of walking. It's very time consuming so I can't go every week and walking carrying two weeks of groceries is difficult. I mean I can do it because I'm young and energetic but someone older, busier, or who has to shop for more than one person would really struggle.
We just moved from a college town and it was the norm to see college students pushing carts down the sidewalk with groceries-either the ones you can buy, or they just took them from the store (you'd see carts lined up in front of the apartments, which was kind of funny lol). This is the style that most of them use and I have something similar for when I go to the farmers market in the summer https://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-Deluxe-Rolling-Utility-Shopping/dp/B001DZ4QTC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489424775&sr=8-3&keywords=grocery+cart.
Back in the day, when my oldest was a baby, I didn't always have a car so I'd push the stroller to the grocery store and strategically place groceries in it. You do what you got to do
There's a difference between pushing a cart down the street and hiking multiple miles in inclement weather through unsafe neighborhoods (uphill both ways)
My point is that food deserts are a well documented and studied problem in the US. Just because something's not an issue for you doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
How can it possibly be uphill both ways?1 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I kept thinking of this thread as I got groceries today and when I got home I had to take a quick picture of my trip. For a little under $127 I filled 2 carts at Meijer and then a basket at Family Fare (Spartan). My grocery budget is $100 so I went a bit over, but Meijer was running their 11/$10 deal, so I got a few extra things. Next week I'll probably spend around $50, so it all evens out I made my menu plan/grocery list based off of what I already had in the house.
Produce wise I got-
3lbs yellow onions
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 bags of shredded lettuce (I'm weird about lettuce and this is the only way I'll eat it )
2.5lbs bananas
1 cantaloupe
1 pkg mushrooms
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper
12lbs apples (mostly for baking)
1 bag baby carrots
2 cans of peaches
2lbs tomatoes
2 bags frozen corn
2 bags frozen winter blend veggies
2 small broccoli crowns
It was a fun, but exhausting trip (3 kids/2 grocery carts at Meijer does not equal relaxing!)
eta: you can't see from the picture but behind the cat ltter bags (which I normally don't put on my counter lol), there's several boxes of cookie mix, boxed potatoes and yes, a box of Hamburger Helper (and I'm not even sorry ).
This is interesting to me because when it comes to vegetables, I would eat one of the peppers per day. I eat a bag of lettuce each day, a whole tomato, a whole cucumber. I can eat a half bag of broccoli per day too. If I eat zucchini or squash I eat about 400 grams which turns out to be about two large. I don't eat fruit but still, the way I go through vegetables...it gets pricey.0 -
I buy almost all fruits and veggies frozen. It is expensive, but I no longer have the energy nor the desire to raise/can/freeze all my own food like we did on the farm. (Don't even ask about my recipe for chicken and dumplings, hint, it starts with get the big axe).
Also, it is harder for those who have diabetes to fill up on many of them without totally messing up their blood sugar. The same goes for the grains/beans. For my hubby, it is a matter of a small bowl of berries or a cup of melons as a side dish. Non starchy veggies and meat.
As far as the sugar cereal. Never have bought any.1 -
Do that many people really have access to farmer's markets? I live in a smaller metro area (around 200k pop) in the middle of farm country and there are a couple a week in my community.
I can't see the logistics of a farmer's market near the downtown area of a large city. The fact the farmer has to drive 40-50 miles (in traffic) to get there plus the set-up logistics would seem to make it a curiosity/novelty at best as opposed to a sustainable source of food. The farmer sure isn't going to set up in the questionable areas of the community.0 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I kept thinking of this thread as I got groceries today and when I got home I had to take a quick picture of my trip. For a little under $127 I filled 2 carts at Meijer and then a basket at Family Fare (Spartan). My grocery budget is $100 so I went a bit over, but Meijer was running their 11/$10 deal, so I got a few extra things. Next week I'll probably spend around $50, so it all evens out I made my menu plan/grocery list based off of what I already had in the house.
Produce wise I got-
3lbs yellow onions
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 bags of shredded lettuce (I'm weird about lettuce and this is the only way I'll eat it )
2.5lbs bananas
1 cantaloupe
1 pkg mushrooms
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper
12lbs apples (mostly for baking)
1 bag baby carrots
2 cans of peaches
2lbs tomatoes
2 bags frozen corn
2 bags frozen winter blend veggies
2 small broccoli crowns
It was a fun, but exhausting trip (3 kids/2 grocery carts at Meijer does not equal relaxing!)
eta: you can't see from the picture but behind the cat ltter bags (which I normally don't put on my counter lol), there's several boxes of cookie mix, boxed potatoes and yes, a box of Hamburger Helper (and I'm not even sorry ).
This is interesting to me because when it comes to vegetables, I would eat one of the peppers per day. I eat a bag of lettuce each day, a whole tomato, a whole cucumber. I can eat a half bag of broccoli per day too. If I eat zucchini or squash I eat about 400 grams which turns out to be about two large. I don't eat fruit but still, the way I go through vegetables...it gets pricey.
I also had some frozen veggies, raw sweet potatoes and onions, and fresh fruit still in the house before I made my shopping trip. Back in the day I used to run a pretty popular frugal living blog and one thing I always pushed was to shop your own kitchen before you make your menu plan and grocery list Between what I already had and what I bought, it's enough for me to do 800g of veg/fruit a day for the weekdays and then enough for my kids to graze as they want. My husband does not eat vegetables at all and will only eat a few pieces of apple, so he's not factored into what I buy for produce 1 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »
"Food deserts" is blown out of proportion. Not eating healthy is a lot more about not being able/willing to plan meals, never having learnt how to shop and cook, and fear of trying new things or choosing the path of least resistance. Oh, and constantly being told about food deserts and how expensive healthy food is.kenyonhaff wrote: »Yeah guys, this can be a real issue with families in poverty at least in the US. Or, even if not in abject poverty, there are "food deserts" where there is a store, but no access to a lot of fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables (think Family Dollar). It's easy to criticise, but if money is tight in the budget food that's expensive, perishable, and the kids whine about eating it anyway are often the first to get cut.
It's definitely NOT blown out of proportion. Not having a car can make even a couple of miles insurmountable. I currently live in a city and rely on public transport. Technically there are many grocery stores within a five mile radius but all require at least a mile of walking. It's very time consuming so I can't go every week and walking carrying two weeks of groceries is difficult. I mean I can do it because I'm young and energetic but someone older, busier, or who has to shop for more than one person would really struggle.
We just moved from a college town and it was the norm to see college students pushing carts down the sidewalk with groceries-either the ones you can buy, or they just took them from the store (you'd see carts lined up in front of the apartments, which was kind of funny lol). This is the style that most of them use and I have something similar for when I go to the farmers market in the summer https://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-Deluxe-Rolling-Utility-Shopping/dp/B001DZ4QTC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1489424775&sr=8-3&keywords=grocery+cart.
Back in the day, when my oldest was a baby, I didn't always have a car so I'd push the stroller to the grocery store and strategically place groceries in it. You do what you got to do
There's a difference between pushing a cart down the street and hiking multiple miles in inclement weather through unsafe neighborhoods (uphill both ways)
My point is that food deserts are a well documented and studied problem in the US. Just because something's not an issue for you doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
How can it possibly be uphill both ways?
Lol... I caught that too
Reminded me of a "In my day, we walked to school 20 miles in a blizzard" story. Although I suppose the hill could be in the middle
2 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »I kept thinking of this thread as I got groceries today and when I got home I had to take a quick picture of my trip. For a little under $127 I filled 2 carts at Meijer and then a basket at Family Fare (Spartan). My grocery budget is $100 so I went a bit over, but Meijer was running their 11/$10 deal, so I got a few extra things. Next week I'll probably spend around $50, so it all evens out I made my menu plan/grocery list based off of what I already had in the house.
Produce wise I got-
3lbs yellow onions
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 bags of shredded lettuce (I'm weird about lettuce and this is the only way I'll eat it )
2.5lbs bananas
1 cantaloupe
1 pkg mushrooms
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper
12lbs apples (mostly for baking)
1 bag baby carrots
2 cans of peaches
2lbs tomatoes
2 bags frozen corn
2 bags frozen winter blend veggies
2 small broccoli crowns
It was a fun, but exhausting trip (3 kids/2 grocery carts at Meijer does not equal relaxing!)
eta: you can't see from the picture but behind the cat ltter bags (which I normally don't put on my counter lol), there's several boxes of cookie mix, boxed potatoes and yes, a box of Hamburger Helper (and I'm not even sorry ).
This is interesting to me because when it comes to vegetables, I would eat one of the peppers per day. I eat a bag of lettuce each day, a whole tomato, a whole cucumber. I can eat a half bag of broccoli per day too. If I eat zucchini or squash I eat about 400 grams which turns out to be about two large. I don't eat fruit but still, the way I go through vegetables...it gets pricey.
I also had some frozen veggies, raw sweet potatoes and onions, and fresh fruit still in the house before I made my shopping trip. Back in the day I used to run a pretty popular frugal living blog and one thing I always pushed was to shop your own kitchen before you make your menu plan and grocery list Between what I already had and what I bought, it's enough for me to do 800g of veg/fruit a day for the weekdays and then enough for my kids to graze as they want. My husband does not eat vegetables at all and will only eat a few pieces of apple, so he's not factored into what I buy for produce
ohhhh you seem to eat a pretty high volume of vegetables too. I love it. Would gladly pay for them.0 -
Trader Joe's has super cheap fruits and vegetables, organic or nonorganic 0
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Trader Joe's has super cheap fruits and vegetables, organic or nonorganic
I love Trader Joe's! I wish we had one closer to our house, i.e. within an hour and a half drive. We do have an Aldi's, though. I'm trying to content myself with that. (My birthday treat is a splurge trip to Trader Joe's.....)0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Do that many people really have access to farmer's markets? I live in a smaller metro area (around 200k pop) in the middle of farm country and there are a couple a week in my community.
I can't see the logistics of a farmer's market near the downtown area of a large city. The fact the farmer has to drive 40-50 miles (in traffic) to get there plus the set-up logistics would seem to make it a curiosity/novelty at best as opposed to a sustainable source of food. The farmer sure isn't going to set up in the questionable areas of the community.
I live in the middle of the desert. The farmers' market is significantly more expensive than the grocery store.
It was great when I lived in an agricultural area. The produce was so cheap. I miss that.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Do that many people really have access to farmer's markets? I live in a smaller metro area (around 200k pop) in the middle of farm country and there are a couple a week in my community.
I can't see the logistics of a farmer's market near the downtown area of a large city. The fact the farmer has to drive 40-50 miles (in traffic) to get there plus the set-up logistics would seem to make it a curiosity/novelty at best as opposed to a sustainable source of food. The farmer sure isn't going to set up in the questionable areas of the community.
I live in Brooklyn. I can hit up a couple farmers markets per week pretty easily if I wanted to. It'd be harder for some of the communities in very south Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx I bet.0 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »I kept thinking of this thread as I got groceries today and when I got home I had to take a quick picture of my trip. For a little under $127 I filled 2 carts at Meijer and then a basket at Family Fare (Spartan). My grocery budget is $100 so I went a bit over, but Meijer was running their 11/$10 deal, so I got a few extra things. Next week I'll probably spend around $50, so it all evens out I made my menu plan/grocery list based off of what I already had in the house.
Produce wise I got-
3lbs yellow onions
1 bag of fresh spinach
2 bags of shredded lettuce (I'm weird about lettuce and this is the only way I'll eat it )
2.5lbs bananas
1 cantaloupe
1 pkg mushrooms
1 red and 1 orange bell pepper
12lbs apples (mostly for baking)
1 bag baby carrots
2 cans of peaches
2lbs tomatoes
2 bags frozen corn
2 bags frozen winter blend veggies
2 small broccoli crowns
It was a fun, but exhausting trip (3 kids/2 grocery carts at Meijer does not equal relaxing!)
eta: you can't see from the picture but behind the cat ltter bags (which I normally don't put on my counter lol), there's several boxes of cookie mix, boxed potatoes and yes, a box of Hamburger Helper (and I'm not even sorry ).
This is interesting to me because when it comes to vegetables, I would eat one of the peppers per day. I eat a bag of lettuce each day, a whole tomato, a whole cucumber. I can eat a half bag of broccoli per day too. If I eat zucchini or squash I eat about 400 grams which turns out to be about two large. I don't eat fruit but still, the way I go through vegetables...it gets pricey.
I also had some frozen veggies, raw sweet potatoes and onions, and fresh fruit still in the house before I made my shopping trip. Back in the day I used to run a pretty popular frugal living blog and one thing I always pushed was to shop your own kitchen before you make your menu plan and grocery list Between what I already had and what I bought, it's enough for me to do 800g of veg/fruit a day for the weekdays and then enough for my kids to graze as they want. My husband does not eat vegetables at all and will only eat a few pieces of apple, so he's not factored into what I buy for produce
ohhhh you seem to eat a pretty high volume of vegetables too. I love it. Would gladly pay for them.
I actually didn't used to but a couple weeks ago, after the new revised recommendation to eat 800g a day of veg/fruit came out, I decided to challenge myself (there's a group of us here doing it), and I'm hooked! I now aim for a minimum of 600g a day, with a goal to hit around 800g. Eating supper right now and I'm over 600g, with a banana still coming up (mixed with vanilla pudding and a freshly made crushed snickerdoodle cookie
). That will get me over 700g for today! 0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Do that many people really have access to farmer's markets? I live in a smaller metro area (around 200k pop) in the middle of farm country and there are a couple a week in my community.
I can't see the logistics of a farmer's market near the downtown area of a large city. The fact the farmer has to drive 40-50 miles (in traffic) to get there plus the set-up logistics would seem to make it a curiosity/novelty at best as opposed to a sustainable source of food. The farmer sure isn't going to set up in the questionable areas of the community.
We live outside one of the largest cities in our state and there's a huge farmers market smack dab in the middle of down town in the summer. You seriously have to park blocks away and walk in. Many of the outlying towns also have their own, and if you head to the lakeshore (West MI here), there's a massive one that can be an all day outing. Plus there's numerous hobby gardener stands all over the place.
My daughter is going to be working with the lady who runs our local one for the first time this summer, (it takes place in the parking lot of one of the area colleges), and I'm hoping leftover/ripe produce will get sent home with her this summer 1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »It is disheartening when you are trying to eat healthy and it's so much more expensive. Fruit and veggies cost more and spoil faster lol. Have any of you found that farmers markets are cheaper?
Alas, I think it'll be a while before we see fresh produce at Farmer's Markets around here again...
Also, so glad it's a gym day and not a running day.
Heh, I'm supposed to do 7 miles, and bummed because 5 is about my limit on the treadmill (I get bored) and I want to run home, oh well.
(The sidewalks were covered with snow this morning, and it is snowing quite hard at the moment. This has been a weird year for us, as we had none in Jan and Feb, but some in Nov (and of course Dec) and now finally more in mid March.)
Much annoyance at having pulled into the gym parking lot and finding it CLOSED! (for a few silly inches of snow). At home, about to pull out the resistance bands and barbie weights and get something done.1 -
WOW!! I'm not even joking, this would be over $150 at the only grocery store within an hour of where I live. I went shopping this weekend and spent over $75 on grocery staples. I only buy the "manager's special" meat, this week I got a 1.5lbs chicken (30% off @ $6), 1.3lbs pork (30% off @ $5), and 1.5lbs London broil (50% off @ 4.50), 2 oranges ($1 each), 4 bananas (.79/lb), 6 yogurts ($8), 2lbs carrots ($5), 1 cantaloupe ($2.50), 4 russet potatoes (.99/lb), 1 yellow onion (99/lb), 2lb strawberries (on sale for 5.99), 12oz shrimp ($9.99 - I'm picky about seafood and only buy wild caught, so even though this is going into the freezer for quick meals later, I couldn't pass up the deal!), 1 cabbage (.39/lb), cookies ($5 for two Pepperidge Farm), cottage cheese ($3.5), multigrain bread ($4), English muffins ($3), tomatoes ($5), and a couple of other things that I can't remember right now. I shop at Safeway, and use the app and coupons, and nearly always buy only what's on sale that week. Food is just really expensive in some places, and I have to drive over 30 minutes to get to the ONE store that's not over an hour away.
Definitely cheaper for most things where I shop (a discount grocery chain rather than 1 of the main supermarket chains)(I'm w/in the city limits of a reasonably sized city though, so the stores have a lot of competition..I drive a few extra miles for my preferred store):
Produce: Carrots (2lb bag) 99¢, red cabbage 69¢/lb, zucchini/green squash $1.29/lb, turnips 59¢/lb, bananas 49¢/lb (same at Wegmans), beets (79¢/lb), red onions 89¢/lb, Empire apples 99¢/lb (other local varieties are $1.29/lb).
Dairy: store brand cottage cheese: $3
Frozen: bag of collard greens $1.19
(I also picked up chorizo, several cans of mushrooms, a few jars of jam, a large pack of chicken thighs, gallon of vinegar, dried beans, saltines, yogurt, nail polish remover).. Just under $40 (which is typical for me when shopping there).
0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »Do that many people really have access to farmer's markets? I live in a smaller metro area (around 200k pop) in the middle of farm country and there are a couple a week in my community.
I can't see the logistics of a farmer's market near the downtown area of a large city. The fact the farmer has to drive 40-50 miles (in traffic) to get there plus the set-up logistics would seem to make it a curiosity/novelty at best as opposed to a sustainable source of food. The farmer sure isn't going to set up in the questionable areas of the community.
Cities often have some sort of parkway or Greenway space that can and does get utilized for Farmer's Markets. They do pretty good business, so it's probably worthwhile for the farmers to make the trip.1 -
Cereal might be kinda cheap but you'd be forgetting the milk. 3
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kenyonhaff wrote: »Yeah guys, this can be a real issue with families in poverty at least in the US. Or, even if not in abject poverty, there are "food deserts" where there is a store, but no access to a lot of fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables (think Family Dollar). It's easy to criticise, but if money is tight in the budget food that's expensive, perishable, and the kids whine about eating it anyway are often the first to get cut.
The problem is education and demand, stores can only stock what will sell. Between frozen and canned, you can readily get your veggies across the US, even in Family Dollar. FD will never look like whole foods, who must probably waste a lot of perishable themselves.
I went shopping with my mom about a month ago. She lives in a small town but drives over to the next to get her food. The "produce" section was ridiculous. Essentially everything was packaged and on shelves. It was a big-chain store too. I'd never seen so much plastic-wrapped food in my life.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »
Here too. Most of the things I'd like to grow can't go outside until June because our last frost date is so late.0
This discussion has been closed.
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