Wednesday, February 26, 2014

BLOOD Pressure check!

Yesterday I spent most of the day tracking down a Disney princess Toddler Bed for my granddaughters birthday.  We purchased one for ten bucks at the goodwill, but the goodwill had a mixup with paper work and sold it twice!   The first lady got it first.  I ordered it from K Mart
 but the order got lost in cyberspace and k mart didn't have it in stock.   I started calling every retailer of children's things until I finally found one at toys r us in stock.  And, I go it 15 percent off.  We wound up getting one with a canopy .  It wasn't ten bucks, but it's new and very cute.  And she was so delighted.

Meanwhile,  the morning show on channel 5 had a lady that was known for feeding her family on one hundred dollars a month.  She has a garden.  I don't know what they eat, but I think that is remarkable.  Most things you can get for under a hundred  dollars a month my family wouldn't eat!

She had been given 1500 dollars from GLAD wrap to show how much food we waste in America.  I thought it ironic that I had just posted about that the same morning.  She proceeded to go to every yuppie, designer store and buy 150.00 worth at each one.  I'm not quite seeing the correlation.  You might not be wasting food, but you are sure wasting money.   I know for a fact, one of those stores that shall remain nameless, has a 42 percent markup.  The more specialty foods a store keeps in stock, the more money you are going to spend for food.  They have to keep fresh stock.  It's only common sense.  I worked retail enough to know that shelf space has to turn or you don't make a profit. That is why Costco can sell some things so cheap.  You would never have to worry about a stale date there.  LOL.

You are not going to shop at designer stores and feed your family on a hundred dollars a month.  It is not possible.  I have read a lot of articles lately about food shopping.  I try to keep well informed.  There are two ends of the spectrum.  I have read people that feed their children .29 chicken parts, hot dogs, and dollar cheese pizzas, fried oatmeal called chicken fried steak!  Yum!   And I have read
about people that buy no MSG, GMO, gluten free, salt free, sugar free, processed free foods.

Groceries on the cheap Tries  to reach  a happy medium between the two.

According to what I just read, anything that comes on a box, bag, or can is a processed food.  In this day and age it  would be pretty hard to achieve a no processed food status.  Maybe if you lived on a farm in some parts of the country.  We are too global and too urban.  As the population rises it would be harder and harder.  Oh, reality strikes.

If you didn't eat  anything that someone has decided wasn't good for you, you would not die  from a touted list of ailments, you would die from malnutrition.  I read on a science fiction story years ago that we would eventually get to the point where dinner would be a handful of pills.  LOL

The bottom line is this :

  • Whether you eat a steak or hamburger, it all looks the same when you are through with it.  
  • We all need a balance of protein, carbs, and vegetables for our body to run properly.  We also need a certain amount of salt, sugar, and fat.  Moderation is the key.  
  • We eat first with our eyes.  As long as the food is tasty, looks good, and is nutritious it's fine.  I am amazed at the variety of foods you see if you look at traditional ethnic foods.  Yet, many nationalities of people have survived.  
  • Through the years, what foods are good for you have evolved.  What was good ten years ago, isn't good for you now.  And ten years from now,the list will be different.  My take is to just eat!  Eat a variety of foods, eat in moderation, and do what you can to limit your intake of salt, sugar and fat.  We all know that we need some of those things to survive and make food taste good to us,  we also know that too much is not good for our bodies,  the entire scientific community has endorsed that idea for years now. 
  • SNAP funds are being cut.  Many people are still reaping the consequences of the drought and the last recession.  Unemployment and under employment is a fact of life for many.  Eating is a basic necessity.  But, designer food from designer, yuppie stores is not.  I have target prices for all the foods that I use often.  I went to one of those designer stores.  I walked out with a BOX of strawberries, that was a little over my target price, but looked beautiful, and a basil plant.  
  • You can feed your family on the USDA thrifty stats or below them if you use coupons wisely, buy good food and not junk food, and buy your food from the down home regular people chain stores shopping wisely.  Down home regular food  stores is characterized by ALBERTSONS, QFC, Fred Meyer, SAFEWAYS, TOP Foods  in the Seattle area.  I'm sire there are other chains in other parts of the country.  
  • You can't eat on a low five digit income or less buying specialty foods at specialty stores.  It just doesn't work.  It doesn't pass the BLT.  

That's about all . 

Thanks for stopping by

Please share 

Jane 




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