The movie is a bit of a documentary and expose on the food industry and the largely mechanized version of food growth, production, and delivery to consumers. Who controls the manufacture and quality? Not the FDA apparently, but for the moment, the food conglomerates. We are talking big business and some questionable practices. The moral of the story? There are some good guys out there and they will listen if we as a nation stand up and demand better quality food at better prices.

At fist, I was much saddened and disheartened by the movie. But, I now realize we will probably look back on this time in fifty years and scoff when people try and tell us how they ate. “Really? Food with little nutrional value and all those nasty trans, corn related, disease causing food substitutes? No wonder y’all needed healthcare!” Recognize any of same voices we now use when we look back on the tobacco industry? Granted, it still has room for improvement, but we know the risks and they are out in the open for tobacco and additives. We will hopefully one day soon understand the epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers as related to food. For now, we speculate.

Recent efforts to eat better, live simply and be more conscious have made me realize it isn’t easy, but worth it.  I am glad we watched the movie. It was thought provoking, disheaertening and empowering at the same time. Here is to lifting the veil and taking the harder but long term road for health.

The two biggest take aways so far?

1. Simple is hard work. There is a reason things are called “convenience foods” and prepackaged does save time.
2. Simple diet. It works to cleanse and heal the body on it’s natural rhythms.

One of the goals has been to not eat prepackaged foods, processed sugars, no added salt and buy local and organic when possible. I find planning out the shopping trips and meals VERY time consuming. I have been relying on energy bars, energy shakes and pre-cooked meals for a long time. I ate fairly healthy, no sodas, no trans or hydrogenated extras, but would let a little (sometimes a lot) of sodium sneak in for convenience. Now I am constantly steaming vegetables and buying fruit, trying to dehydrate when possible and cook healthy proteins. Between shopping, working, cooking, working out, eating and getting a full recuperative night of sleep, there isn’t much time. Whew. Not easy, but the results are worth it so far.

I have only been at this for a month, and plan on a 90 strict regimen with an evaluation of goals at that point. Then I can decide, what can I reintroduce back in my life, and if I will scale back workouts? We will see what the next set of goals requires. Why so strict? Because it is working! I have a much more even level of energy throughout the day both physically and mentally. Clothes feel better and I am working on functional exercises designed to let my body move and perform instead of just lose weight or gain muscle. Increased health benefits are totally worth the investment. It doesn’t seem so rigid when I consider both the short and long term return on my health.

With concern over health care and cost of health care, taking care of your body seems wise. Many people find themselves laid off in the flailing economy and without benefits as their COBRA runs out. Long term, it is really unclear what our healthcare industry will look like in years to come. Considering so many ailments are directly related to how we live our lives (not all, but many), I am feeling a lot better about getting back on track to a more sustainable diet and physical regimen.

Again, this isn’t as easy as just buying off the shelf what is provided and prepared. It is work and very conscious effort. At first it was a bit of sacrifice, but not the rewards are making the choices easier. I really wish the food industry would do much more to make healthy foods available. Not just foods advertised as healthy!

Last year, we tried a few freeze-dried camping foods during some local power outages. These were, how do I say this?…. Not your brother’s MREs of questionable age. These were fantastic. In fact, we kind of wanted to enjoy a few more once the power was back on. Camp out in the living room anyone?

During the hurricane, we tried Mountain House Chicken and Mashed Potato pouches, chocolate mousse for a comfort food and a few others. This week we also tried Alpine Aire Foods. We gobbled these up with great taste, no cleanup and kept working with full bellies. Both were excellent and depending on flavours, I would recommend both brands. The both are easy to rehydrate and the taste is more than adequate. For example, to heat and serve the chicken and mashed potatoes, remove the mashed potato packet from the pouch. Add hot water and rehydrate the chicken breast, remove chicken and use the water to make mashed potatoes. Serve and eat. Nom, nom. Yum!

This past week, we gave good reviews to the rice and chicken, mexican style chicken and rice, lasagna and well… everyone was a little afraid to try the ice cream, but it is next on the list. These are expensive, but well preserved with a long shelf life of 7 years for pouches and closer to ten or more for #10 cans. We are buying a few more and will probably pick up a few for each car and backpack “just in case.” Well okay, we will probably pick up a few for those backyard campouts as well!

Next on the list, I SO want to try some Mary Jane’s Organic BackPack Foods. This looks incredibly good and love all the extra information about the company and philosophy. That’s being Ready with responsibility!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I am working on the small backyard and raised bed garden to help supplement my families food. We enjoy the local farmer’s markets and have decided we want a bit more control over what goes in our own bodies.

This video from the Dervaes family is amazing, they raise over 6,000 pounds of food a year on about 1/10th of an acre of land. Wow.

Read more Associated Buyers and tips on how to manage a group for bulk purchases. Much like a co-op for larger purchases.

Wheatberries are the things we actually get from wheat, before it is hulled, cracked or ground to flour. How cool is that? I don’t think I am up for growing my own wheat, but these little buggers are available at most health and bulk food places. I grabbed these from Sandy’s in Houston. I soaked 2 cups of them for a few hours, then boiled with a little salt for about an hour on slow simmer. They have a wonderful texture somewhere between my grandmother’s tapioca and tabouli. I totally get the salad recipes where they are used instead of bulghur for a nice pilaf. I had these straight up for breakfast with a few fresh and sweet figs from the farmer’s market. They tasted like fresh wheat bread and slightly nutty.

Wheat berries can be ground to make your own flour and easily store as dry goods. Nutritional value is crazy good, and the price is a steal. Overall, healthy and local foods are rockin’ my chops these days. I am currently reading In Defense of Food, so you may hear more about this.

– Coupon carefully. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you can buy a basket of groceries for pennies on the dollar. It involves using coupons, shopping sales, finding stores that double coupons and putting it all together carefully. One site to check for more information is www.hotcouponworld.com.

You can find coupons to match items on sale at your local grocer at www.thegrocerygame.com. Beware: Unless you’re using good coupons on products you would buy anyway, this can be a spending trap instead of a money-saving deal.

– Buy some good containers. Roughly 13 cents of every food dollar goes to packaging and advertising, and you’ll spend a lot more than that if you are always buying 100-calorie snack packs and tiny bags of chips to send to school with your kids. Buy some reusable containers, buy your favorite products in bulk and make your own individual packages.

– Use meat for flavor, not bulk. A mixture of meat and beans over pasta or rice will satisfy those who love the taste of meat and poultry, but cut costs significantly than eating large cuts of meat.

– Make your dollar buy more nutrition. Instead of buying sugar-coated cereals, white bread and chips, buy items like whole-grain bread and oatmeal. Instead of candy, buy fruit. Popcorn that you pop yourself has been heralded for generations for being cheap, fun, nutritious and tasty.

– Buy frozen fish. Almost all of the “fresh” fish you buy has been frozen and thawed. Fish from the freezer section has often been frozen on the boat, so it’s equally fresh — and cheaper.

– Do your own work, as a family. You’re spending more on labor than on food when you buy lots of presliced, prewashed, preseasoned foods. Yet all the experts seem to agree that family mealtime is an important ritual. Extend the ritual by getting the whole family in on the slicing, dicing, cutting and stirring that dinner requires, even if it’s just a once-a-week cooking session. You’ll save money and maybe bond a little.

– Eat out judiciously. Last year restaurant prices actually rose less than grocery prices, but it still costs a lot more to eat out than to cook at home. Americans typically spend about half of their food budget eating out, according to the Agriculture Department. Cut the cost without cutting the fun by mixing it up: Have appetizers and drinks at home before going to the restaurant, or have dessert at home. Or buy a precooked, carry-out chicken, but fix your own side salad.

– Stock up on sales. You know you’re always going to use pasta, lightbulbs and toothpaste, so buy a bunch on sale. Sure, this is inflation mentality, but double-digit price increases on food means we’re in an inflationary environment, food wise. Furthermore, if you already have easy, good food in the pantry, you won’t have to run out at the last minute and buy over-priced convenience items just to throw together dinner.

– Grow your own. Oh sure, anyone who’s gardened has thrown too much money at their tomato plants. But some crops are more worth growing than others. Basil and other herbs, hot peppers, eggplant and lettuce are some items that are very easy to grow and are never cheap at the grocer or farm stand, even when they are in season.

– Make it fun. Save with a goal in mind so it becomes a game and not just drudgery. Shave $10 a week off of your food bill (that’s less than 10 percent for the typical household), and you can all do something special, like go see a movie at the end of every month — Of course you’ll bring your own snacks.

I really don’t like posting things like this. It seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if it is not true, media attention can make people believe there is a food shortage and cause panic buying. Self-fulfilling.

I will admit my first reaction was to rush to Costco’s and see prices and availability in my area. Maybe buy a few extra things to stock-up on. I didn’t, but will make a regular shopping trip this month. Let me know if you notice any changes in availability in your area.

Each time I read it, which is typically at least once a year from cover to cover, I have to ask myself to value the choices I make in my house, at the grocery store, in vacations and more. I am in no means advocating the giving up of travel, family, and those things that make life so enjoyable. But, you are challenged to value the cost of a, say… new shiny pasta maker for example. Pasta maker, that you probably use once every few months if you stretch it. I remember this example from the book, but please insert your favourite, had to have it so I rationalized it, gadget that was going to save you time and make dinner with you family more enjoyable. Don’t smirk at me… you know we all have something equivalent.

You paid somewhere around $50 for the “pasta maker”, how long did you have to work? and the time to research and go pick one out, have it shipped or go to the store and purchase said new shiny kitchen coolness machine. Great! It is a blast and the family loves it. Now you have to clean it, find cabinet space to store it with the other cool machines. How many hours do you have to work to pay for that larger kitchen? and store all the devices in that larger kitchen and clean them so you will see them and use them more often? See where this is heading. The initial cash outlay compounds terribly over the years as you hump the pasta machine to each new kitchen, work longer hours to pay for the larger kitchen, work longer hours for someone else to clean the newer bigger kitchen full of stuff, so now you have no time to use the kitchen devices and just go out to dinner with family or worse, go out for work and networking events to keep you on the right track to keep paying for the cool device. WHoof.. I don’t know about you, but I am sucking it up and putting that baby on Freecycle.

This is just one example of how we often get caught up in shiny gadgets and their external and variable costs compile to make our lives more complicated. Less stuff, more valuable stuff, then we become happier. Value might be that one really well made item that IS worth it. Maybe a really good cutting board and set of really nice knives would have served better than above gadget. You can still make pasta the old fashioned way on a flour dusted board and the family can still help. The value of the knives can make the entire process a culinary event. Love it!

The book includes sections on Travel, Lifestyle, Food, Home, Gardening, Finances and Career and a great chapter on Health and caring for family. Stories of real people are interspersed just enough to make me see the reality of living in a more “rich and valuable” manner. Unclutter your house, your office, and your brain. Simple living leaves you room to be more productive.

After talking to my “dahling and brilliant” colleague today, Happy Katie, I pulled my book out of my shelf for a new look see. My household is on a continued mission to simplify and build relationships with friends and family we care about. Time to dust off the cover!