CDC: 42 percent of Americans obese by 2030

If you grill it too much, though, particularly red meat, it can be damaging. The carbon that you get from, well, kind of burning the stuff has been linked to the same cancers that processed meat has.

But at least it's making your own food, so it's still a positive. And if it takes a bit of barbecue sauce, so be it. But hopefully that's where you make a bit of an effort to find something from a smaller producer that doesn't have as much processed crap in it.

 

My wife is the house Cancer Police after a close relative was stricken in his 40s, so she's an organic food warrior. That shit can get expensive. Talking $6 gallons of milk or worse. Hell, I made the mistake of buying regular oven cleaner spray last week and got read the polite-but-firm riot act for the transgression.

As far as grilling goes, she picks off every indication of a grill mark on her chicken, and if I get up to get anything for a moment, she'll wheel my chicken into surgery, as well.

 

Growing your own food can cut the food bill down greatly.

Right now I have in the ground in two 8x8 beds...
Tomatoes
Various peppers
Carrots
Broccoli
Beans
Lettuce
Spinach
Oregano
Basil
Cilantro
Rosemary
Thyme
Mints (Lemon, peppermint and chocolate)
Green onions

The problem with making the fresh stuff is the spoil factor. I can make a ton of salsa for $5, but I just cannot eat it all before it goes bad.

One thing we do not drink that much of (I don't and neither does Lil 93) is soda. That has been a pretty easy give up, but I will always have coffee. Always.

 

Organic is stupid. Seriously. So not worth the markup and no tangible health benefits.

Just buy food. Find a farmer's market. Find a CSA. Buy food, teach yourself how to take it apart with a knife, apply heat to it and present it in a reasonable fashion.

 

Try home canning and pickling.

 

I have showed her a million articles, from reputable journalism and scientific sources, that says the same. It falls on deaf ears. I guess if it puts her mind at ease, it's worth the price of admission. Dumbo's magic feather and all. This is not a hill I choose to die on.

 

I also think presenting this as a "you have to do 148 things better now" is not the way to approach this.

Our pastor did a great sermon about tithing where he said if you give 1% now, that is fine, but next year try to make 2%. Then next year think about 3%, and before you know it, you will be at 10% and not noticing it.

Find a few things that are easy and healthy to make (salsa and Italian sauce are pretty easy) and work off of that. Add a few more things that eliminate the processed foods (mint to the coffee press, grilling veggies, baked oven fries) and before you know it, you are doing a much better job at eating.

 

Time, baby. Time.

 

Are frozen veggies OK?

 

How much is your time worth? You don't have a single Saturday morning to cut your food costs by several hundred dollars a year?

 

I get that, I do. It's just frustrating, in a wider sense, because all these people are out there buying "organic" when "local" is what you want. You want the food that's been fucked with the least -- and, honestly, pesticides are a good damn thing. Local, local, local -- bad news decision, great food decision.

For sure. Fresh are better, but the packaged frozen vegetables are still better than just about anything. Easiest way to think about it, the more it looks like what the thing actually is, the better it is for you.

 

Good thing SCOTUS ruled against this when they upheld the Affordable Care Act way back in June 2012.