$300 a month to feed a family

[james03]

There is no such thing as organic food, unless you go to virgin land, slash and burn, and plant crops.  That will probably produce for a few years, then you'll end up with crappy produce.  If you remove protein/nutrients from the soil, you have to put it back.   You can kind of put some nitrogen back in if you plant a legume and plow it under.  But that cuts your production and you have to pay for the seed.  It also doesn't provide enough N for corn and wheat.  I guess you could raise beef on alfalfa also, but that would be some expensive beef.  And the alfalfa will need potassium and phosphorous. 

Or you can inject ammonia into the soil.  The bacteria will convert it into nitrite and then bio-available nitrate.

For potassium and phosphate, you are SOL.  Therefore SOMEWHERE in the chain you find inorganic fertilizer used because you have to.

I like watching the Joel S. videos on Youtube because the dude can run a very profitable business.  He claims to not have used "industrial" fertilizer for 20 years.  So I started looking to see how he sneaks it in.  First, he puts chickens on his pastures.  The chickens are feed chicken feed.  That is how he sneaks in the N-P-K.  He also uses pig manure, which are fed corn.  Again, another source of N-P-K.  The chicken feed and corn are bought, not grown/made by Joel.

The other thing he does is hire Mexicans to package his broilers.  That is very profitable.

Now personally I have a preference for "farm fresh" protein.  I'll take Joel's pork products over factory farm pork any day.  I also like farm eggs, which taste a lot meatier.  However, when it comes to steak, I want corn finished steak.  Grass fed steak is not as good.  For hamburger it is ok.

I like local vegetables.  However that is because it is picked ripe.  Food grown in Chile is picked unripe so that it will store longer.  That robs from the flavor.

[Chestertonian]

dont rice and oats come in a box

[Baldrick]

dont rice and oats come in a box

Well, i kind of mean so-called "prepared foods" - processed cold cereals, that sort of thing. 

But actually, if you buy stuff like that in bulk, it generally comes in bags. 

[Baldrick]

Now personally I have a preference for "farm fresh" protein.

I think it's undeniably better - fresh eggs are amazing; as is fresh chicken, which is almost a different food from what one buys in most stores. 

I have to say, though, grass fed Beef is amazing - OR, it's terrible.  It really depends on so many things.  With poor/sour grass, it can have a really gamey taste.

[Hannelore]

I agree that cereal is a huge waste of money. Oatmeal and/or rice is the cheapest breakfast food I've come across. Healthy, too.  But the woman in the article only has a two-week rotation of dinners? Is that normal? I don't think my family even has a rotation, but if I had to plan and cook all of my own meals my rotation would be pretty limited, too.

[Heinrich]

Unlike the woman in the article, I don't see organic and non-GMO food as luxuries. It isn't the same as "fancy" wine versus ordinary wine (using her comparison). It's more like wine versus wine made from grapes that have been soaking in toxins. Buying organic and non-GMO food is a priority for us, and while it does mean that we spend more for groceries than we would shopping at Aldi, it is possible to shop for these products without breaking the bank. My family is far from wealthy--really, really far from wealthy--but we do almost all of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods. There is a way to shop smart at stores like Whole Foods (which we find to have organic products for lower prices than typical grocery stores).

Well said. We ain't rich, but I prefer to spend more on organic now than to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on health care costs as I get into my senior years.

[Baldrick]

Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.  This is cheaper and generally of much higher quality.  There are some decent bread makers out there now and it is admittedly hard to replicate a real brick/bread oven, but still it's cheaper to make your own.  Soup is a no-brainer.  I don't know how peeps can eat that stuff out of a can. 

[Heinrich]

Prolly most peeps here know this but I also think that there are things that should ALWAYS be made at home:  soups and breads being the most obvious.  This is cheaper and generally of much higher quality.  There are some decent bread makers out there now and it is admittedly hard to replicate a real brick/bread oven, but still it's cheaper to make your own.  Soup is a no-brainer.  I don't know how peeps can eat that stuff out of a can.

What's a peep? Bread bakes well in the oven. You don't need a maker. Maybe we'll make some bread and soup before it heats up for the summer. I loves me some soup sammichez.

[LausTibiChriste]

Baking bread is da bomb. I like to do mine with some olive oil and herbes de provence....my flat smells amazing when that's cooking. Agreed about soups too. My favourites French Onion....5 big onions here will cost you ~ $0.65, plus some broth and you're in business. Yum.

[Heinrich]

Baking bread is da bomb. I like to do mine with some olive oil and herbes de provence....my flat smells amazing when that's cooking. Agreed about soups too. My favourites French Onion....5 big onions here will cost you ~ $0.65, plus some broth and you're in business. Yum.

Do you garnish it with a flower, too?

You need da cheeez fer da soop, dude! How much is it there? 

[LausTibiChriste]

Baking bread is da bomb. I like to do mine with some olive oil and herbes de provence....my flat smells amazing when that's cooking. Agreed about soups too. My favourites French Onion....5 big onions here will cost you ~ $0.65, plus some broth and you're in business. Yum.

Do you garnish it with a flower, too?

You need da cheeez fer da soop, dude! How much is it there?

I'm going to mail you some bread and you won't be talking smack any longer, I guarantee it

Cheap - everything's cheap, cheap, cheap. Gouda and some weird Polish cheese is what I use..can't find Gruyere

[LausTibiChriste]

Another thing to make at home is sauces and stocks. A good chicken stock can be done in a couple hours and last you a long time - they add a ton of flavour and body to dishes, are easy too make and relatively cheap (beef stocks are harder). Also, sauces. A good tomato sauce is really easy to do, and BBQ is something I've started making recently - super easy and delicious.

[Heinrich]

Baking bread is da bomb. I like to do mine with some olive oil and herbes de provence....my flat smells amazing when that's cooking. Agreed about soups too. My favourites French Onion....5 big onions here will cost you ~ $0.65, plus some broth and you're in business. Yum.

Do you garnish it with a flower, too?

You need da cheeez fer da soop, dude! How much is it there?

I'm going to mail you some bread and you won't be talking smack any longer, I guarantee it

Cheap - everything's cheap, cheap, cheap. Gouda and some weird Polish cheese is what I use..can't find Gruyere

How about I just fly over to Poland and we can lift, drink wine, slurp soup, and dunk dat bread.

[LausTibiChriste]

That sounds like a plan 

[per_passionem_eius]

What's a peep?

Peeps = people.