I'm thinking about food, but what else is new.

Ok, kids, todays entry does not have a recipe.  Its just some random thoughts I am having, and am curious if you are thinking them too, or if I need to check the species a little closer before I eat anymore of these wild mushrooms.  No, seriously, I went to the grocery store today, and I am wondering why it costs so much money to eat healthy, whole, food.

Hubby and I have recently, (ok, the past year) been trying to eat healthier food with less additives.  We tried going vegetarian, we have developed a habit of hitting up the local farmers markets, and I have been trying to make more things myself.  It seems that if you want bread with no preservatives you need to bake it yourself, or pay $6 a loaf at a specialty store.  Neither of these things are especially convenient, but in the interest of our health, and wallets, I am doing it.  For the most part, I make 80% of what we eat from scratch. This is a huge pain in my butt, and there are days when I just don't have the time.  I AM A FREAKING STAY AT HOME MOM!!!!  ALL I HAVE IS TIME!!!! If I don't have time to do this, who does?  Are we all screwed?  This is the crux of my point today.  Have we doomed ourselves as a culture to eating over processed s%&t all the time unless we have a chef, or stupid amounts of money? 

My best friend, K and I were recently reminiscing about our childhood.  We lived on Koolaid, Fudge Rounds, and other sundry crap.  As close as I can guess, my corpse should have a 90 year shelf life after I die due to the amount of salt I have consumed.  The worst part is that my mom is an incredible cook.  She made us amazing meals, but just like K's mom and many others, they were riding the high of 80's consumerism, and loving up the "convenience food" that was cheap and available.  As Michael Pollan says in his AMAZING book "The Omnivores Dilemma"  imagine your great grandmother looking at a tube of GoGurt.  Do you think she would even recognize it as food? 

Lets talk strategy.  So, we have covered the basics, good food is expensive food.  Crap food is cheap.  Whats a person to do?  Well, here's my thought.  Whole food.  For example; pasta sauce in a can, full of preservatives, salt, and who knows what else, cheap, maybe $1 per can.  Organic pasta sauce in a pretty glass jar, probably has some unneeded sugar and salt, but its not the biggest food sin you'll ever commit, (coughMcDonaldscough.) this will cost you in the $4 to $8 range.  Now, here's an idea, a tomato, maybe two, some basil and oregano, a bit of garlic, and you have pasta sauce.  Its a hell of a lot cheaper than Emeril, and you know whats in it.

So, friends, the answer is to reclaim our kitchens.  If we want to be healthy, we need to prepare our own food, out of actual ingredients.  Grow a garden (or if you have a black thumb like me, you can shop at farmers markets, where you can find some GREAT deals.)   Most importantly, try things.  Maybe you suck at cooking, so did I.  You just have to try, experiment, and fail a few times.  I don't remember the last time I looked at a box of Hamburger Helper and said "WOW! yum!"  I have looked at one and said "wow, that looks fast and easy..." but laziness isn't the answer.  Feed yourself real food, and you will thank me when you don't die of a massive heart attack.

In other news... I am working on some recipes for energy bars/granola bars.  That will probably be my next post, Mondayish.