I really do love to eat healthy. In fact, I even experience cravings for foods that are bright green or cheery red (and not having anything to do with Red Dye #3). Sometimes. Don and I were watching a TV show the other night, and the woman needed to make a change in her life -- disposing of her junk food stash (M&M's in the nightstand drawer, and marshmallow fluff hidden in the toilet tank, for starters) and making healthy choices. Her boyfriend helped her trash the junk, and then the two went on a "date" to Whole Foods. I kind of laughed later on in the episode, how she suddenly and whole-heartedly made the switch. Peanut M&Ms were replaced by fruits and veggies. Yeah, it's that easy ...
She wanted to show her boyfriend how good she was doing, and the scene took place in her kitchen. They stood behind the island, and she told him of her successful shopping trip to Whole Foods. She declared she would be making a Caprese salad for lunch, because they had such stunningly gorgeous tomatoes and fresh basil, and she just couldn't pass them up ... The woman literally had a plate of no less than 15 huge tomatoes, and an entire bowl full of basil. My goodness, that's going to be some salad ... I laughed at the ridiculousness of the amount of food, but it sure did look good and I felt those cravings for summertime bounty ...
Eating healthy, though, can be expensive! OK, so she was an actress (on the show) and was loaded. She can afford to buy 15 Whole Foods tomatoes. How I wish I could shop weekly at Whole Foods, stocking up on hormone-free meat and organic veggies. Don would need to take on a second job for that, however. This hit home yesterday on a much smaller scale, but an eye-opening event nonetheless ...
My kids love applesauce. Heck, we all do in our family. It's healthy, makes a great snack, and even falls into the fruit segment on the food pyramid. I've been purchasing those individual cups of applesauce, which are perfect for Aidan's lunch. But when I stand in the aisle, preparing to make my choice, I've been choosing the store brand over Mott's. If I can save at least $1.50, if not more, per six-pack, then it's kind of a no-brainer. Finding savings in every corner is a necessity. But in my haste to save my pennies, I never stopped to look at the label.
Yesterday for lunch I decided to have one of those little applesauce cups. When I pulled back the foil lid, I stared at it for minute ... wondering if I would need a straw to suck it up, it was that watery. Where are the apples? Or are they there, but pureed to a point that would make even a toothless person scoff? I decided to look at the label, wondering if "water" was the first ingredient ... and then wondering what else is in there to make it that soupy ...
Phew. First ingredient: apples. OK -- not a total loss. But then it was followed by sugar. And then with a high fructose corn syrup chaser. And then some other kind of sugar derivative. Oh, and of course lots and lots of water. Might as well just thrown in some pure cane stalks for extra sweet measure.
I did have a small cup of the Mott's brand, left over from a while ago when Aidan declared he didn't like the Mott's mixes. Apparently, for Aidan, applesauce should only contain apples, and not be mixed with other fruits like berries or peaches. That would just take way too much imagination to stomach. The Mott's "Berry Blend" was still in the pantry, so I checked out that label:
Apples. Purees of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Fruit and Vegetable Juice. Vitamin D. Water.
No sugar. No high fructose corn syrup. No junk.
But it was $1.50 more.
My healthy conundrum ... I have to pay more to eat better. Or I have to learn if there are any loopholes or corners to cut in order to eat healthier and save money at the same time. Is it even possible? I don't even know.
I might not be able to afford free-range, hormone-free, dye-free, evil-free meat at $9.99 a pound, but I guess I can start with buying Mott's (straight apples, of course) instead of the slurpy sugar offered by the store brand.
Have you found yourself in a similar conundrum? Have you found corners to cut, or loopholes to happily -- and healthily -- skip through? Share your secrets, my friends -- this family's gotta make some changes.
1 comment:
It is expensive to eat healthy, but there are ways of making it work. First of all, start eating beans (kidney, black, etc) and making dishes out of them (soups, tacos,...I make tons of indian dishes too). The best are the kind you soak overnight, but in a hurry I use the canned variety. Second, try lentils. They are loaded with protien and are not that expensive.
For fruits, eat them seasonally, and some fruits you can get away with eating non-organic. Oranges, for ex. are okay non organic. But strawberries should be organic, and in summer.
Finally, clip coupons & buy non perishables in bulk. I hate that part. :-)
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