Last week I think I overloaded the Monday post with too many links. Today I’ll try to ease up a bit…
- If you haven’t seen Food, Inc. yet, and are still eating conventional meat, you won’t after you read this New York Times article: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection. The problem is, like always, there’s no mention of the better option: buying from farms you trust, who raise animals right! (Although I didn’t read all six pages, maybe that’s buried in there somewhere, but I doubt it.) Here’s an excerpt:
“The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.”
Thanks to Jen for sending me the link. She had this to say about the article:
“This was the most amazing passage to me: ‘Dr. Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said that the department could mandate testing, but that it needed to consider the impact on companies as well as consumers. “I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health,” Dr. Petersen said.’ WHAT?!?!? Hello! He better take another look at his job title!”
- In many instances, not all, eating well costs more. Especially when it comes to your meat, the phrase “you get what you pay for” is true, plain and simple. However, there are many ways to be frugal and eat well. The key is saving money any way you can on other foods, so you can afford buying better meat. Have you seen these posts all about frugal nourishing meals?
- Today I’ve also posted a comment from an overwhelmed reader struggling with this very issue of how to afford eating healthier, I hope you’ll go there and give her tips for saving money on real food.
- More about meat that is safe to eat (more nutritious, too) and where to find it.
- Woohoooooooo, wait until you read about these big meanies: Monsanto being investigated. “At issue is how the world's largest seed company sells and licenses its patented genes. Monsanto has licensing agreements with seed companies that let those companies insert Monsanto genes into about 96 percent of U.S. soybean crops and 80 percent of all corn crops.” (Thanks for sending this info to me, Elaine!)
Michael says
@kc
About Monsanto, I think this company has the means to kill off humanity with their
darnold23 says
I really need to spend a day reading your back posts. Some of what I have read, I have been doing for years on my own just because I felt it was the best thing to do. Thanks for all of your research. Just wanted you to know that Mister Linky is up and ready for Crock Pot Wednesday. Thanks so much for participating.
kc says
I agree with Local Nourishment, I will no longer buy grocery store meat even in a pinch. The last batch I bought gave me stiff neck and a migraine that just hung on for days. I am slowly easing into the GAPS diet so I have begun making bone broths and cooking everything in broth. I have found that using broths to cook all our veggies helps to boost the nutritional value and hunger satiation even when there is no meat to add to them. It is a very economical way to feed the family because the cuts that are best for using to make broth are the least expensive. Braising inexpensive cuts of meat is also very useful for keeping food costs down.
One thing that I think is often overlooked when talking about GMO corn: Almost all medicines start from corn and there is never any mention if the corn is GMO or not. Most of the time the pharmacist or doctor will insist that there is no corn left in the final medication but as someone with a corn allergy, I can tell you that is not true. I would suspect that since they insist there is no corn left after fermentation, that there is no regulation against using GMOs. Does anybody have any first hand knowledge about this? I know from experience just trying to track down the origins of a pharmaceutical ingredient is almost impossible.
About Monsanto, I think this company has the means to kill off humanity with their “terminator gene” if they continue to go unchecked. Anybody have any ideas to help bring them down? There’s got to be something that we can all do besides not buying any of their products.
Local Nourishment says
I’ll be honest. All that pie-in-the-sky “healthier future” stuff is hard to invest in when you’re looking at a monthly grocery bill the size of a mortgage or car payment. It took several months before our health caught up to the level that it made sense for us to eat the way we do. But, the point is, it did catch up. We now spend so little on medical needs that I can boost the food budget with the savings. We’re off almost all our maintenance meds and don’t need them. It’s not pie-in-the-sky for us anymore. It’s meat on the plate.
Emily says
I hope I didn’t come across as “dissin'” the reader you mentioned; I read her story and can totally empathize with someone with five kids trying to get it all “right.” (And she’s certainly doing better diet-wise than most people I know!)
I was intending my comment more generally–I know there are a lot of people out there eating the SAD who get sick often, and who could perfectly well afford to eat clean meats and organic produce but can’t figure out why they should make such an investment.
FWIW I appreciate your posts and your pulling on your readers to give ideas; even though we can afford all the “good stuff” I don’t mind saving some money when I can. 😉
KitchenKop says
Emily,
I agree and totally get your point, (I posted similar thoughts from Joel Salatin at this link: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/03/nourishing-frugal-healthy-meals.html), but many, like the reader who wrote above, are already stretching things as very far as they can, and things are still difficult. I’m so thankful for all the great tips so far today!
Kelly
Emily says
Here’s my question for people who complain about the higher prices of healthier food (a-hem, which is sometimes me): Would you rather increase your food budget and be healthy, or buy cheap food and pay for exorbitant medical bills after the food has made you sick?
Local Nourishment says
I planned the use of the ground beef from my CSA wrong this month and fell short. Rather than try to change my menu, I ran to the store and bought a package of “organic” ground beef. Oh, it tasted so awful! And strange. There was a chemical flavor that was just terrible. I tried to cover it with seasonings, but it just wouldn’t go away. Never again. From now on, if there’s no meat for the dish, there’s no meat in the dish. Ew.
The only real surprise for me in Food, Inc. was the ammonia wash of meat. I had no idea that was being done. But it was enough to turn me off from the “meat” I used to buy. I am suddenly dead serious about food. If it means I turn off the cable, internet and cancel Netflix, I’m ready. Food comes first for us.
Catherine @ Healthy Fit Mom says
Hey Kelly,
A few weeks ago I got a call from World Vision asking for money to sponsor some family and help them in starting gardens and crops and if I would like to be a part and donating some money for seeds.
Since Monsanto’s reach is global I asked them if they new if any of their seeds that they were sending are GMO. They said they would get back to me. And they did…
It is World Vision policy that all the seeds used are to be not genetically modified. However the seeds and food that they get from emergency disaster relief organizations can not be guaranteed to be GMO free.
So I guess my point is that if anyone you know sponsors disadvantaged families in impoverished areas that they should double check to make sure that they are not being fed GMO with YOUR MONEY!
Food for thought.
Jen says
You’re right Kelly, the info about how to buy safe, quality meat (as always) is missing in this article. I still give the author, and the NY Times props for exposing this disgusting industry and it’s very real dangers though.
Ooooh, I can only dream about the day that Monsanto goes DOWN! This company’s entire history is evil. If you haven’t taken the time to watch “The World According to Monsanto”, I highly recommend it. Check out this link: https://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm