<p>It’s hard to justify Costco now that are 4 kids are gone ,but I still find great deals on non -perishables . The supplements are great here as well . I grow some of my own vegetables now ,and nothing tastes better than fresh- picked . If you are willing to cook , a very healthy diet doesn’t need to be expensive . We save so much not buying processed foods , and we almost never used disposable diapers !</p>
<p>There is a lot of wasted backyard space across the country, and this CNN Hero nominee founded The Dinner Garden, an organization that provides seeds and gardening advice to low-income families so they can grow their own food:</p>
<p>[Free</a> seeds helping Americans get by, live healthier - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/14/cnnheroes.hirshberg.seeds/index.html]Free”>http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/14/cnnheroes.hirshberg.seeds/index.html)</p>
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<p>Don’t you need to pay kind of a hefty fee for a membership to shop at Costco, or has something changed? We like Costco and used to shop there whenever we could go with Grandma because she had a membership, but it is not the sort of thing that low income families around here dream of paying for-- the idea of sending the low income moms to costco to find inexpensive healthy food is sounding kind of funny to me.</p>
<p>I think you are all forgetting that Walmart carries food. They have excellent prices. They even sell organic foods these days. </p>
<p>My daughter, who is a vegetarian and knowledgeable about nutrition, spends less on food than anyone I know, by a long shot. I think she is fairly typical of the struggling mid-20s person right now though. Lots of beans and lentils; buys in bulk; buys what vegetables and fruits are in season. Eats ethnic food–bulk tortillas, etc.</p>
<p>HIMom: my experience is limited to the Big Island, but I’m always stunned with the quality and low prices of the farmer’s markets there. And everyone I know there has fruit trees and a vegetable garden. I realize that can’t be true everywhere, but wouldn’t there be local produce on all the islands?</p>
<p>Checked the price of apples at the market yesterday. 1.99 to 2.99 lb depending on variety or if they were organic.</p>
<p>I just bought peaches at a fruit stand. $4.00 for 10 delicious peaches. </p>
<p>Bananas are very cheap fruit - 77 cents a pound. </p>
<p>Ears of corn on the cob are cheap in season.</p>
<p>It all tastes so much better than the crap at fast food places.</p>
<p>Corn on the cob is $1 an ear. It isn’t in season long so I wasn’t sure if that was cheap or not?</p>
<p>This week:
Cabbage 25c/lb
Brocoli crowns 59c/lb</p>
<p>That’s not cheap for corn. At Walmart they are $.38 an ear, and were just on special for $.20. I can say that as a cashier, most produce does not strike me as cheap, but some greens seem to be good bargains. Big bundles of kale, collard greens, and mustard greens come in at under a dollar. The question though is whether you are able to cook these things or have the palette to eat them. I sure don’t, on either account. </p>
<p>What I see a lot with my customers who use foodstamps is that there are a lot of convenience foods being bought. Many people don’t have gas for their stoves, and I’ve heard of people who cook entirely from microwaves. Contrary to what might some people might perceive, many of my customers on foodstamps are also working, but still not making it. Halfway through the month they are running out of money. </p>
<p>The picture that is ultimately painted are of people who are strapped for cash and time, and who also don’t have the education to know how to plan and prepare their meals. I can tell you that $14 of produce can be split up, based on a transaction today, into a bag of vidalia onions, a package of green onions, two navel oranges, approximately a 2 pound bag of cherries (very on sale this week), and a couple small bags of peaches and nectarines (with maybe one or two other small things that I can’t remember). Alternatively, that is 15 or so Banquet TV dinners, which are $.88 a piece. Or 7 packages of Hot Pockets side shots ($2 each). Or three or so packages of generic hotdogs and buns to go with them. Or many, many packages of Ramen. When I see that you can purchase an entire frozen dinner for the cost of two oranges, it doesn’t surprise me at all to see people on foodstamps leaving with carts full of frozen food.</p>
<p>Speaking of transporting groceries. I carried 2 Ducinea watermelons, a bottle of Cuve M, 6 pounds of cherries, a loaf of bread, a new kitchen waste bin and a Dell laptop in my laptop tote and a plastic sack all the way home on Friday - two bus transfers, 25 miles. No biggie. Of course, this would not be representative of a typical grocery run content-wise, but weight-wise it is pretty close. Unless there is no public transportation in the area where one lives, the excuses that it is impossible to shop for healthy foods without owning a car are pitiful. If one uses a bag with wheels, much more can be carried with less effort. I constantly see little old ladies with bags on wheels carrying groceries on my bus route.</p>
<p>Sorry, the Big Island’s farmer’s market is MUCH better and lower priced than the ones I’ve been to on Oahu (they have a LOT more farmers & land that is being farmed with lower population density). Many on Oahu (the island just shy of 1,000,000 folks) live in high density situations–condos & apartments with not much space to grow/plant. Produce that I’ve purchased and seen tends to be pretty high–in markets & at farmers markets (FM). FM beets are $2/pound; tomatoes @ $2+/pound, lychee $6+/pound, lettuce $2/pound. Market prices are probably roughly double.</p>
<p>I paid $1.99 for a six pack of zuchini and have been getting unlimited zuchini everyday.
Same with cucumbers and tomatoes. If the market is further and one doesn’t have transportation then grow your own food is the next best option. Vegetables last a long time cutting from home, not rotting in 3 days like store bought.</p>
<p>Timely article:</p>
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<p>[Obesity:</a> Access to supermarkets doesn’t improve diets, study finds - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-food-deserts-20110712,0,537936.story]Obesity:”>Access to grocers doesn't improve diets, study finds)</p>
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<p>From the money viewpoint, perhaps, but from a safety viewpoint, I wonder.</p>
<p>Food that you grow at home is food that is grown in close proximity to areas that are used for purposes other than growing food – such as lawns. These areas are often treated with pesticides and other chemicals that are not approved for use on food crops. Yet those chemicals can drift into your garden.</p>
<p>Container garden is the best option if there are pesticides.</p>
<p>Marian, I have a 5000 sq ft lawn in the back yard next to the veggie garden, and neither of them has seen a trace of pesticides! If the soil is healthy, there is no need to apply any. It is a myth that one cannot have a beautiful lawn without pouring chemicals on it. Or better yet - get rid of the lawn alltogether.</p>
<p>My whole lot is 5000sqft- but I * did* take out my lawn- using handtools by myself including the planting strip a few years ago. :)</p>
<p>I have a small veggie garden in the back- ( the neighbors oak trees shade the front), which was fairly poor soil that I have been slowly amending which is expensive & tedious- ( I would agree that containers are a great way to grow things- especially when the soil is crap or you need to move your tomatoes around to catch the sun!) I have been concentrating on finishing the front, so I didn’t even put in tomatoes this year- our average temp seems to have been in the mid 60’s.</p>
<p>I think this thread is devolving into " I do * this* why can’t you?", but I think it is worth paying attention to the roadblocks people have mentioned to getting food as when we vote for transportation options in our neighborhood we can keep them in mind.</p>
<p>For example our county transportation has already cut many local bus stops and wants to eliminate the main route for our neighborhood. Not a problem if you drive or normally bike, but really impacts families who moved to the city so they didn’t have the expense of a car. </p>
<p>There are also waiting lists for P-patch plots ( community gardens) and families who have tried to grow gardens in public housing ( & selling the surplus) have been made to shut down.</p>
<p>I’d like to see more community gardens & more free ( or any) community cooking classes to show people what to do with produce.</p>
<p>This is a bit nitpicky, but: Not understanding why the apples currently available in stores count as “fresh.” Apples come ripe in the late summer. Any apples you buy right now are almost a year old. That’s not fresh in my book. You’d be better off buying actual fresh fruit, or fruit frozen or canned right after picking.</p>
<p>What truely annoys me is fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown in our area are still expensive. I just came home from Vons (owned by Safeway) which is one of the regular markets in our area. I usually don’t pay much attention to the produce prices but after this thread I was interested. Fresh produce in our area is expensive if you don’t buy whatever is on special this week. This week on sale Cherries for 1.77 lb. They didn’t look great. Corn 5 for $1, which was good but I am avoiding carbs so didn’t buy. 6.99 for a watermelon! 1.99 for a tiny avocado (that won’t even taste good). 2.50 for a pint of strawberries on sale (again they didn’t look that great). What is crazy is that we grow avocados locally but the avocados that the grocery store are selling are pale and tasteless. I picked up some avocados from another market that is more upscale and they were large and from Ca but they want almost 3 bucks an avocado.
Peaches at the farmers market will run you $4 a lb. Also the problem with farmers market is you need to available the times the market is happening.</p>