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florasita
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Trish my sil belonged to a food buying club when they were on the farm ,she did the ordering & distributing for it . I think it is an option across Canada .
One of my best friend's mum started a organic food coop here in the inner city . It was focus to eat cheaply .She wrote the book the no fad $5 a day cook book in the 70's .
My mum used to shop there and eat at thier restaurant that's how we first met 
How to kee things cheaply is to not purchase packaged foods for one .Organic items can be just as bad as non organic in the being packaged to death in cardborad & plastic etc. I look at it as I'm not buying 5 bags of chips be they organic or not .Chips are a luxery item here so we buy 1 bag .
Buying local fruits and vegies is a muct .My mum is big on that not eating so much imported foods . Support local cheese shops / bakeries etc.
We have the hutterites here but unfortunately they do not farm organicly and in fact have some of the biggest farms around . I wish we had the amish here 
What we are seeing and feel we need to promote in missions is self suffiency as much as possible .
The poor are ridden with oor eating and lifestyle habbits here . Dietbtese and heart diesese are really high . As well imported foods the prices will continue to climb in poor areas because of high fuel costs .
Our food coop ran well because people donated thier time . No person was paid . All volunteer .
However what we saw happen and it always does is an area becomes trendy , house prices go up and the food coop became a trendy new age cafe . Low income people could not live there or purchase food there .
It is a struggle to teach people to stay in thier gang ridden naighborhoods and make the changes ourselves etc.
Healthy eating / lifestyles is one of them .
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Mackfam
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florasita wrote:
One of my best friend's mum started a organic food coop here in the inner city . It was focus to eat cheaply .She wrote the book the no fad $5 a day cook book in the 70's .
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Do you know if this book is still in print Florasita? I'm sure it would be somewhat outdated, but it seems in principle that the ideas would be timeless. I'd love to find out more about it if you know anything.
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JennGM
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Mackfam wrote:
florasita wrote:
One of my best friend's mum started a organic food coop here in the inner city . It was focus to eat cheaply .She wrote the book the no fad $5 a day cook book in the 70's .
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Do you know if this book is still in print Florasita? I'm sure it would be somewhat outdated, but it seems in principle that the ideas would be timeless. I'd love to find out more about it if you know anything. |
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It doesn't look like it's in print. I looked up on bookfinder.com and found "The no fad good food $5 a week cookbook" by Caroline Ackerman. Only a few copies, starting at $31!
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stefoodie
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Forgive me, I couldn't help but laugh: I looked it up too, and found it selling for $253.74. It seems you'll be saving lots of money by eating for $5/week, but you may have to forego eating for a year to save up enough money for this copy  . (I did find copies around $31 just like Jenn, but the $250+ price tag on that one shocked me.)
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JennGM
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stefoodie wrote:
| Forgive me, I couldn't help but laugh: I looked it up too, and found it selling for $253.74. It seems you'll be saving lots of money by eating for $5/week, but you may have to forego eating for a year to save up enough money for this copy . (I did find copies around $31 just like Jenn, but the $250+ price tag on that one shocked me.) |
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I had the same thoughts and chuckles, Stef!
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JennGM
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florasita wrote:
| How to kee things cheaply is to not purchase packaged foods for one .Organic items can be just as bad as non organic in the being packaged to death in cardborad & plastic etc. |
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I totally agree, Rox. I find it irritating that to keep the organice vegetables and eggs "organic" they wrap them up in the plastic and foam. What's wrong with cardboard egg cartons? 
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lapazfarm
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Here's my gripe: buying organic produce at my local grocer that is shipped in from California! Now, that certainly does defeat the purpose, with all the fossil fuels burned up to ship it cross country!
Better I should just skip the oranges, which don't grow here, and stick to our local apples. Skip the plastic-bagged lettuce and grow my own greens (so easy!).
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Theresa
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florasita
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Jenn its sort of like trendy vegans wearing trendy leather hiking boots
Young people all need a place to have a purpose though
My girlfriend sunshine her mum Caroline wrote that book ages ago . My mum and I still have copies .Sunshine was trying to re-write it to update the nutritional info and the economics as well have changed she was trying to make it $25 per day
She stopped though as it was so time consuming and expensive project .However she did go on to become a chef and cooking instructor at our local CC and continues to focus on healthy menu choices in her teaching
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Betsy
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+JMJ+
Another thing that I though of that we try to do to be more frugal is to go meatless on Fridays (like Mother Church recommends. After Lent this year, we have also considered fasting on Wednesday...maybe skipping lunch or some variation on a full fast?!
Betsy
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helenofsnowball
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Hello All,
I have to say I have been mostly lurking and not writing in any of the forums for such a long time. But this thread has great interest to me at this time. I have over the last year changed the foods we eat to nearly all organic.
We are also members of a United Natural Foods Buying Club. I have to drive 3 1/2 hours one way to pick up our order. But some friends that we go to church with are much closer ansd sometimes they pick it up for us and I pay for part of their gas.
I would suggest to anyone who wants to do this to find a co-op. Ours is as I said quite a distance but you might have someone who lives much closer that could pick up for you and then you get it from them such as we do at Church on Sunday.
Also, through this co-op we are able to get fresh produce, greatly discounted Frontier Brand products, organic chickens and turkeys, and now we have available to us an opportunity to purchase from a warehouse that sells organic canned vegies (these arranegements are made by the family that runs the co-op and they are paid NOTHING extra. They do this as a ministry! God bless t hem!!).
Our co-op has a very large order each month and we now qualify for a 17% discount on all purchases through the United catalog which makes most things I purchase from the catalog nearly the same or less than what I would pay for non-organic, grocery store type merchandise.
I started out by replacing our staples such as rice, cornmeal, dried beans. But I bought in bulk ten, fifteen or more pounds at a time of each item. My kids and hubby bought me a Food Saver vacumn sealer last year for Mother's Day and it is the best investment ever!! I vacumn seal a lot of the things I buy in bulk and freeze some and some I put in large plastic storage boxes after vacumn sealing to use sooner. I have replaced everything including french fries, tater tots with organic brands which dh loves. I even buy organic corn starch and other staples such as this.
Last year our garden did not do well and I didnt' get to can much so I ended up buying organic tomato juice by the case as well as crushed tomatoes and other vegies.
Because of the availability of fresh produce through our co-op I canned 30 pounds of organic juicing carrots last year and have frozen just this week 2 cases of fresh broccoli that was an excellent, better than grocery store price. I was also able to get 4 flats of fresh organic strawberries which we have been eating fresh but the bulk of these will be made into jelly using xylitol as a sweetner and low methoxyl pectin as the jelling agent.
By buying in bulk I have each month bought a few more replacements to what I would normally buy at the grocery store and what I buy in bulk I always make sure it is organic. And because I buy in bulk, I don't need to buy the same things every month. I still have rice left from 4 months ago, but it will soon be time to buy rice again. Each family will have different needs but buying in bulk you won't have to each month buy the same things because you won't be out and need to replace each month.
You will need at least a large freezer, storage space such as a walk in closet, storage containers, baggies or a vacumn sealer (the best I think). We have two freezers and two refrigerators as well as a storage room that was a former bedroom that is right off the kitchen. Because we raise our own beef and grow a large garden I already have canning supplies. And this would be a good investment for someone who is serious about organic growing and canning. It's hard to freeze everything from the garden since we have to have room for our beef when it is butchered so I can a LOT of vegies. One very, very good thing to can and it will save you $$ is your own homemade broth. I can chicken, beef, and ham broth. I am planning on trying my hand at vegetable broth this summer but I haven't tried it yet.
We buy locallly anything that we can. Raw milk from which I make butter and yogurt and ice cream. I'm gonna try my hand at cheesemaking soon. I tried cottage cheese and while it wasn't exactly a failure it wasn't exactly what I wanted either. I grind wheat berries for flour and make our own bread. I bought apples last year from a neighbor but the hard freeze killed all the budding fruit in April so I will have to find that elsewhere this year.
Well this has become quite long but I would love to chat with anyone who is trying to start out. Just email me either on the forum or privately.
This is do-able with Patience and diligence!
Love in Jesus through Mary with Saint Joseph,
Helen
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MarieC
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Wow, Helen!
I'm really impressed. I would like to do more organic here and begin canning and freezing a bit....what you've done in a year is just amazing to me!
Thanks for all the good info.
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Mackfam
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Helen,
Your list is impressive! I second the idea about homemade broth. There is something that just feels so right about using every last drop of something for the good of the family.
Since I first posted, I have been working on making hamburger buns from scratch. They came out well.
I'm finding being frugal means more and more make-it-yourself. Are you guys finding that too? These books have helped me a lot in case you all are interested. Make A Mix and More Make a Mix (which is currently out of print, but you can find it on used book seller sites.) They aren't organic, but their philosophy fits in very nicely with being frugal since buying in bulk is often the most effective way of being frugal. The recipes can easily be redeemed by using healthier/more whole versions of their cousins.
Still checking into joining a local United Natural Foods Buying club in the area.
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MichelleW
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helenofsnowball wrote:
Because of the availability of fresh produce through our co-op I canned 30 pounds of organic juicing carrots last year and have frozen just this week 2 cases of fresh broccoli that was an excellent, better than grocery store price. |
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Helen, do you cook the broccoli first, before you freeze? I've only done this with broccoli left over from a meal, and it always seems extra mushy to me? How do you do this?
helenofsnowball wrote:
| I was also able to get 4 flats of fresh organic strawberries which we have been eating fresh but the bulk of these will be made into jelly using xylitol as a sweetner and low methoxyl pectin as the jelling agent. |
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I make a lot of jams. I've never heard of these substances you mention. Can you give me more info?
helenofsnowball wrote:
I am planning on trying my hand at vegetable broth this summer but I haven't tried it yet.
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I think I read about this in the Tightwad Gazette years ago, but this is what I do. I clean my veggies, and then I put the onion skins that I don't cook with, carrot peelings, and celery tops in a large plastic container I keep in my kitchen freezer. When it is full I boil these "cast-offs" into a broth, strain and can or freeze. Very yummy and I feel "frugal." I keep a separate plastic container in the freezer for those veggie leftovers that are too small to keep as leftovers. That container becomes soup when it is full.
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Mary G
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I just wrote a blog post about this very subject.... it seems that eating healthy, organically, naturally really boils down to buying foods (or growing them) locally and making sure that we don't eat processed food. There are some great books out there that help, but my favorite so far is one I mention in the post -- Nourishing Traditions -- this is chock full of great info about nutrition!
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my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Mackfam
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Michelle-
Hope Helen will chime in here.
Usually you have to blanche veggies to freeze and preserve well. This involves cooking for a short time and then instant immersion into ice cold water and then straight to the freezer. The ice bath stops the enzymes from breaking down the food and getting "mushy" as you call it.
You can find xylitol and low methoxyl pectin at a health food store or you can probably google them and find them anywhere online. Xylitol is a sugar alternative, and although a cousin of sugar, it is chemically different and known to have some health benefits while sugar does a lot of damage. Low methoxyl pectin allows you to make jams without sugar. High methoxyl pectin (the stuff you pick up off the shelf near the canning items) requires scads of sugar to set up your jam and gel it. If you're limiting or eliminating sugar, low methoxyl pectin is the way to go.
I love the idea for making vegetable broth, I never thought of doing it that way. I tried to just use what I had left over after putting veggies in for a roast or something, but I never quite had enough. Thanks for the frugal tip! I can start my container now, and maybe get a few batches of vegetable broth in the freezer for some fall soups! How yummy - I can't wait to get started.
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Jen Mackintosh
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helenofsnowball
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"Helen, do you cook the broccoli first, before you freeze? I've only done this with broccoli left over from a meal, and it always seems extra mushy to me? How do you do this?"
No, I parboil it for about 6 minutes in boiling water. Then I immediately place in ice water. I take it out of the water when cooled a bit and place on towels to dry for a little while. Then I vacumn pack it. If I don't let it drain, it retains too much water and my vacumn sealer cannot make a proper seal because it pulls the excess water out of the broccoli and draws it up where the seal is going to be made. It cannot seal the bag if it is wet.
"I make a lot of jams. I've never heard of these substances you mention. Can you give me more info? "
Xylitol is a 5 carbon sugar or sugar alcohol (it even makes your mouth feel a bit cool!) and regular sugar is a 6 carbon sugar. They do not react in your body the same. Xylitol does not raise your blood sugar, it does not feed candida and it does not promote tooth decay. In fact, it can help improve your dental health as well as your body's health. Xylitol is expensive but it is so much better for you that I have made the switch and am not looking back. It is hard to find and I have been buying a 3 lb. bag for $14.39 from Xylosweet at a health food store. You can get a cheaper version from NOW but the Xylosweet brand is NON-GMO which is also very important to look for in your foods. It measures out just like sugar but does not crystallize like sugar so you cannot make candy or jelly as you would with regular sugar. You can make jelly however using Xylitol with the low methoxyl pectin. Here is a link to more info and how to purchase it online.
http://www.pomonapectin.com
For those of you who are buying through UNITED on page 67 of our June catalog you will find POMONA Universal pectin in the left hand corner a little farther than half way down. By the way those small boxes of Pomona make more jelly than the same size boxes of Sure-Jel so they are more economical.
Michele I love your idea for saving up to make broth. I always feel a bit guilty sending the "scraps" to the compost although they will benefit us again. I've gotta try that!
I used to keep a container in the freezer for leftover vegies and have completely forgotten about that. I'm gonna start that again today! Thanks for reminding me!
The Make a Mix book is great. I got one when I sold Tupperware years ago as a prize. The recipes in there are easily adapted, I use my fresh ground flour and organic ingredients and then freeze the mix so it stays fresher. Flour goes rancid 72 hours after grinding. Of course you know what that means y'all, the flour that we buy is way past the 72 hour mark and so fresh home ground is better for you. If you freeze your home ground flour you hold off that 72 hours for a few weeks more and it gives us the time to use up those mixes. The mixes are great alternatives to store bought convience foods. You can make them better and fresher and still have the convience but with the nutrition also!
Mackfam please send me your hamburger bun recipe!! I have used my bread dough recipe and it turned out alright this last time but I would love to give your recipe a try too!
Gotta go! Time for homeschool band practice and I gotta take a shower first.
I look forward to more posts on this subject.
Love in Jesus through Mary with Saint Joseph,
Helen
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mary
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helenofsnowball wrote:
For those of you who are buying through UNITED on page 67 of our June catalog you will find POMONA Universal pectin in the left hand corner a little farther than half way down.
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thank you, helen!
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Mackfam
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Helen - Here's my post about the hamburger buns. I link to my basic dough recipe in the post.
I'm working on hot dog rolls/buns as we speak - well...ok...confession...the Zojirushi is rising the dough as we speak. If they turn out ok - I'll blog about them later.
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5athome
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I have been making the hamburger/hot dog bun recipe from "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Book" by Beth Hensperger and highly recommend it. The machine does all the work and then I pop them in the oven. They are really tasty - I ran out of time one week and bought buns at the store. Even the kids noticed how bland they were compared to our homemade ones.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: frugal living - organic eating
