"But I can't afford healthy food."

[sophie]

I hate this excuse so much, I hear mostly from my husbands coworkers. 90% are single and spend more on food than my family! For example: one woman spends $125 a week just for herself, I spend $165-175 every two weeks when the kids are here and $100-115 every two weeks when they're at bio moms for half the summer.

They even lie about saying they once payed $5 for a single bell pepper. We buy almost all organic and I have never payed that much or even see one cost that much.Or they think it takes too much time, I can have a full meal ready in 30 minutes not 4 hours like they claim it takes.

A group of them were shocked to find out that foods have seasons. Strawberries don't grow here in winter and fennel doesn't in the summer, big surprise.

I've even be accused of starving my husband and kids because we only eat meat 5 times a week and one of those is fish or they think we live on rice and beans, even if we did it would be better than premixed box crap or mcdonalds, some of them get fast food for every meal. My husbands boss thinks Sprite and water are the same because they don't have caffeine.

[TheHuckster]

I had a conversation with someone on this topic. They seriously thought the only healthy food you can get were at expensive stores like Whole Foods. I explained that most of the regional supermarkets were still healthy.

If you really want to get healthy for cheap, go to a farmers market. I tend to be a little wary of meat and dairy at those places, but I do get veggies very cheap and it's just as good, if not better, than what you'd get at Whole Foods.

I mean, I get it. I've had more expensive free range chicken before, and it's definitely superior to purdue. But you can still get decent nutrition from purdue compared to the sodium-injected junk you get in the frozen dinner aisle.

[wolfie]

My husbands boss thinks Sprite and water are the same because they don't have caffeine.

Thinking that 2 liquids are equivalent because both are non-caffeinated?

Johnny was a chemist's son
Johnny is no more
For what he thought was H20
Was H2SO4

[sophie]

Some of them even dig through my husbands lunch to see what he has. Grown adults unable to identify blackberries isn't normal.

[HYHYBT]

Unless they perhaps confused them with mulberries, no.

[Dreamstalker]

I get customers who can't tell the difference between blackberries and blueberries...I'm waiting for someone to hold up a pound of strawberries "Aren't these blueberries on sale?"

[Lace Neil Singer]

I buy a lot of my fruit and veg from a stall in town, and it's cheaper and more delicious than the stuff from the supermarket, and my mum sometimes gives me veg from her allotment. I also cook everything I eat from scratch, which is cheaper than buying ready meals and takeaways. A lot of the people who think vegetables and fruit are expensive are not bothering to shop around. There's also a farmer's market every Saturday, where you can not only pick up cheap fruit and veg in season, but also cheap cuts of meat.

[sophie]

The fact that we eat less meat bothers people, we prefer to eat less of it so what we do get is of much higher quality.
When you're being lectured about protein and vitamins from some eating chicken mcnuggets and guzzling diet sodas it really doesn't have the effect they want. Thanks for the advice but I think my husbands better off with the pb&j made with homemade bread and jam( I didn't feel like making the peanut butter this time). The worst I've seen there is still french fries dipped in margarine.

[Seshat]

Eh, I can't identify blackberries. But at least I'd be able to identify them as berries!

I guess it's a matter of what grows well in different regions.

[Mr. Anubite]

Of course, there ARE people who can't afford to eat healthy. In many poor urban areas, fast food is cheaper and more readily available than fresh produce, and due to a lack of education, food literacy isn't the best in those areas.

From what you describe, though, your husband's coworkers don't live in a food desert, and really should know better.

[sophie]

Eh, I can't identify blackberries. But at least I'd be able to identify them as berries!

I guess it's a matter of what grows well in different regions.

They look just like mulberries, these people have lived in America there entire lives they should know what grows here. I probably couldn't identify some Australian foods but I could at least get the type of plant right.

I think it might also have to do with his coworkers not cooking. In winter we're prone to ice storms/blizzards, they usually run to the store and buy frozen pizza and lean cuisine type meals , the storms can and do knock out the power for a few days. The lean cuisine won't help when that happens, unless you enjoy chicken Alfredo Popsicles.

[Seshat]

Undercooked chicken alfredo popsicles.

Heck, I can make chicken alfredo. Give me milk, flour, chicken, collection of herbs, salt, some cheese, small bit of butter or oil (to make the roux). Ideally some vegetables to go with it.

I could probably make some sort of chicken alfredo from a cow, a chicken, either seawater or a source of rock salt, and a bunch of appropriate plants. But it'd be a rather crap one, and of course you'd have to wait for the cheese to mature.

[sophie]

People act like cooking is some huge mystery. They have internet at home just type it in and instant recipes.

They also love to complain that my husband and I are in better shape than them, he unloads trucks 5 days a week, carries boxes that are often over 100lbs and only sits down for an hour and half at most while at work. Even though the work for/with him they're always taking "breaks" or can barely lift 15lbs, it shouldn't take 3 full grown adults without any physical disabilities to lift 75lbs, the other managers try to hide in their offices all day.
I do housework and chase after kids and dogs all day, the only time I sit down is when my indoor chores are done but it's still dark out so I can't do the outdoor ones yet. Not to mention our house has some of the steepest stair I have ever seen. And for some reason the dishwasher is in the laundry downstairs and the kitchens upstairs now that is excerise.

[Seshat]

I blame parents/guardians who don't have their children "helping" to cook from a young age. Sure, it adds to the mess when a 5 year old "ices" cupcakes (and himself!)

But it's interaction-time with the child, it demystifies cooking, it's fun for everyone involved.

And if he can spread icing, he can spread peanut butter. Even at that age, the kid could make his own healthy sandwiches, with minimal adult supervision.


Kitchen 'helping time' teaches everything from OH&S to food safety to chemistry to cooking to cooperative action to heat dynamics in fluids to ... oh, I could go on and on and on. Making a roux is chemistry and physics (heat dynamics) in action. Making home-made cheese is an adventure in many fields, especially biology.

Kitchen science is FUN. Food making is FUN, especially looked at through a kid's eyes. Spend time with kids! Teach them cooking!

[SongsOfDragons]

I was taught to get my own breakfast when I was three.

Here's your bowl, spoon and cup. There's a jug of milk on the lowest shelf of the fridge. Weetabix/shredded wheat's in the cupboard! Done.

My mum did admit that she taught me that so she could sleep in ^^;;