I tried shopping for food at Wal-Mart today, and it was almost a complete waste of my time. I knew they carried Stoneyfield Organic yogurt so I assumed they must at least have a couple of organic cheese options and maybe even some other inexpensive organic stuff. With the exception of some organic brown rice (which I didn’t buy since it wasn’t quick cooking) and some organic Pam cooking spray, the yogurt was just about the only thing that made it worth going there. And who wants to traverse through a football field size store to save a measly buck or two on three things? I was actually a little relieved I don’t have to go back anytime soon!
I did have a list today though, and due to time constraints I had to do my best at selecting some things that we really needed. Here’s what I got (pictured):
- Large box of Triscuits $3.50
- Quick cooking brown rice $1.44
- Starbucks espresso roast ground coffee $6.98
- Wal-Mart brand Monterey Jack cheese $3.58
- Organic Pam olive oil spray $2.98
- Sour cream $0.88
- 6 bananas $1.48
- 1 gallon of canola oil $5.98 (I usually buy organic, but this was a good deal)
- Large organic plain yogurt $3.24
I do admit that the espresso and oil were much better deals than what I would find elsewhere, although the alternatives at a place like Earth Fare would be organic or at least “All Natural”. There were also several other things I needed, but I decided to wait until tomorrow when I can get the organic version. I just have a hard time pumping too many pesticide-infused things into my precious daughters, even if it is not on the dirty dozen list! Here’s what I hope to be able to afford from Earth Fare tomorrow…
- Frozen peas
- Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
- Dried dates (I am going through some serious chocolate withdrawal until I get these)
- Celery
- Parsley
- Grapes and some other fruit
- Ground meat (beef or turkey)
- Tomatoes (only if they are local)
- Peanut Butter
- I also heard the chicken is buy one get one free…we will see how much $ I have left!
I figure if I need to save $30 for the milk we love (which is delivered on Thursday morning) and about $20 – $30 for farmer’s market veggies on Saturday then I can spend about $35 – $45 at Earth Fare tomorrow. That’s even less than last week…I don’t know if it is possible for me to leave there with only spending 40 bucks! I also worked on our dinner list for the week. My husband is out of town on business for a few days so nothing too fancy…
Sunday: Last night we had an egg omelet, baked sweet potatoes and sautéed swiss chard (which the girls and I tried, but did not like!)
Monday: Quesadillas (with leftover cooked bell peppers and onions from fajitas last week…this is why I needed the Monterey Jack Cheese today!)
Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs with green beans
Wednesday: Leftovers (hopefully)
Thursday: Kids eat free at Earthfare night (and my husband will be gone)!
Friday: Chicken Soulvakis with chicken from stock I need to make this week too and maybe some roasted butternut squash
In other news I would love to meet those in the Charlotte area at the Hillbilly Produce Fall Festival this Saturday! It is from 1:00 – 3:00 P.M., and I am going to have a table set up so I can chat with people about eating real food. And if anything just stop by for some free samples from several local farms (including Baucom’s Best and Grateful Growers) and to listen to the Bluegrass Band that will be there.
Also, I figured why not combine real food with some exercise so the weekend after that I am running in the Brookhaven 5K in honor of our friend’s son Jake Pritchard. He is 6-years-old and received a heartbreaking diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy a couple of years ago. Our dear friends (his parents) do an amazing job of organizing this annual race, which raises money for finding a cure. It just breaks my heart every time I think about it so I of course want to do anything I can to help them. Which is why I started a little fund raising page (http://tinyurl.com/2dzdot6)! I am only about halfway to my goal of raising $300 and would absolutely love your support if you are interested in making a small donation. Every last dollar counts!!
First, I love 100 Days of Real Food and I appreciate all of Lisa’s work she’s done to communicate and educate. I’ve long had the desire to eat more cleanly, and we have really tried to educate ourselves and do so over the last year or so. But we live in an extremely small town with a single grocery store – WALMART…and a very small one at that. Organic selection is there but minimal and trust me when I tell you it is impossible to buy only organic produce and meats there. It’s even impossible to selectively buy organic for foods on the dirty dozen list. If I want organic fresh fruit of any kind, it is simply not for sale at our Walmart. There are a few organic vegetables and some frozen organic vegetables but nothing like you’d see in a city supermarket. Organic chicken? Forget about it. Not available. We have Farmer’s markets in the summer only…once a week for 3 months and the selection is very very limited…mostly to veggies and some fruit. Though I am often inspired by Lisa’s postings, I do also occasionally feel defeated because I simply am not able to purchase many organic goods. So we do our best in reading labels and trying to stick to as many whole foods or less than 5 ingredient foods as we can. When I read her comments about her having trouble feeding her daughters pesticides, it does insult me a little bit as it would appear that she assumes I must feel ok feeding my children non-organic foods. The truth is, I don’t feel OK about it and I try to reduce it, but I do not have the resources to eliminate it entirely unless I stop feeding them fruit and meat altogether which is not OK with me either. I wish she would consider the jabs some of her words carry to those of us who are doing the best we can…even if the best we can is not up to Lisa’s personal standards.
When we were in the position that we wanted to feed our kids more organic foods than those to which we had access in local stores, we started to grow our own. I had less than a quarter acre lot, and had four semi-dwarf apple trees and a sweet-tart cherry. I had strawberries as ground cover in my flower garden, with both june bearing and ever bearing fruit. I had raspberries and black raspberries. I had red currants. I had a veggie garden that ran the length of the south facing wall of our house, and was seven feet wide, with a one foot stepping stone path in the middle. We grew everything we possibly could UP, so climbing cucumbers, pole beans, trellised melons, tomatoes, tomatillos, you name it, if it could be grown up, we grew it. We used runner beans along our front porch, and grew them up fishing line from the dirt at the base of the porch to the wood beneath the gutter. The humming birds loved them, the neighbors thought they were beatiful, and we had beans to freeze. We had peas, and zucchini, and carrots and potatoes. We used drip lines after we saved for them for a couple years. We used leaves from the woods at the edge of our property to dig into the soil in the autumn to improve it as much as possible. We had enough organically grown food to eat well all summer and can and freeze some for the winter. It was several years of investments into improving our property with perennials and saving seeds…but in the end, it made it possible to eat the way we wanted, when it wasn’t available to do so through local sources, and we did so on a very small amount of property. Now we live on 2.5 acres, and are improving the property again. Hopefully in the next few years, we’ll be much more able to eat as well as we’ve always liked.
I like reading these articles to help me with cleaner eating, but I understand how you feel. Many people make it sound like you are less of a person or not as into the clean eating if everything is not organic organic of gmos. I have read many articles and they have all suggested that it is not necessary to buy organic with all fruits and vegetables, they say if you stick to getting the dirty dozen organic than you are fine. Some do not have the resources for complete organics and some do not have the funds for complete organics. Some of these people are way over the top, I mean look at them getting upset because she chose an oil at the bottom of the good for you oil list instead of at the top. Come on people.
You should be proud of yourself for providing your family with healthy, nutritious meals even if they aren’t always organic.
What do you do when you only live near a Walmart and a small local grocery store ?
Hi Darc. Walmart has gotten better in recent years, actually. They are being more responsive to consumer’s demands for more organics and better quality meats. If you find that not to be the case at your Walmart, I would approach a manager and be proactive. :) Outside of that, do you have access to farmer’s markets?
i also order online in my rural area from Amazon or other stores.
Why buy oil AND Pam? Pam is a waste of money. Purchase a mister and fill with the oil you like. And…when you use real oil and not that cooking “spray” stuff, you won’t have ugly discolored pans. Bonus!
Hi there. This was an early post. Lisa no longer uses Pam and is very particular about her oils. ;)
I cannot believe you are cooking with canola oil. It is at the bottom of the list of “good for you”. Coconut oil. Grape seed oil, and olive oil are the healthiest and then butter or grass fed fats are next. Grass fed lard is wonderful!
Hi Valerie. This was very early on in Lisa’s journey. She’s got the down-low on oils pretty quickly: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/. :)
I live in a town with a Walmart, Aldi, Kroger, and Martins. It is a pain having to go to more than one store with four kiddos in tow. Which one of these do you believe to be the best when it comes to finding healthier items?
Hi Amber. I’ve never really shopped Aldi and am not at all familiar with Martins. I do know Kroger well. Kroger seems to carry a good variety of organic produce, has their own organic label (simple truth) and has a pretty large organic and “healthier choice” section to their stores. They are also very responsive when it comes to carrying items that you request. In my experience, it is much more difficult to find things I feel good about purchasing at Walmart. That’s just my opinion. ~Amy
Triscuits have soybean oil as an ingredient. Am I mistaken, or is soybean oil an okay ingredient to consume?
Hi Leah. This was a post from early on. Triscuits are not an item Lisa buys often anymore. She replaced them with Ak Mak crackers or whole wheat matzo. Soybean oil is a refined oil and not one that falls within the pledge rules. :) ~Amy
Why the canola oil? It’s so bad for you.. have you tried the unrefined, organic, cold pressed coconut oil yet? So much healthier and so delicious! I have switched to coconut oil for all things that organic extra virgin olive oil will not work for. The only other fat is real butter. These three options have made a huge difference in our health and our waistlines! I am also curious about the Triscuits.. do they have less than 5 ingredients? I thought they were highly processed so I am wondering what your perspective is on them. I love this blog and plan to follow it now to keep abreast of your findings. Thank you for being health conscious!
Hi Vicki. This post was early on in the Leake’s journey. As the process went on, they have “educated†themselves thoroughly on oils. Here is a post which clarifies: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/. The same holds true for Triscuits. While they do have less than 5 ingredients, the Leakes now stick with Ak Mak crackers and whole wheat matzo. Hope this helps. ~Amy
Beware of “Wild Caught Salmon” that is “Made in China”. Maybe it is safe, maybe it isn’t – I’m not experimenting with my family. China has so many pollution issues that I don’t even want to risk buying food that has been exposed to that.
I have seen it at WalMart, Food Lion and Aldi’s.
Joe – wild caught salmon that is ‘made in China’ is a beef of mine too, as I live on the west coast where local fisherman work. I have learned that ‘made in China’ refers to factory ships that they have at sea that freeze the fish on board, then bring it to the US for distribution. So they don’t actually land the fish, or process it, in China.
Hi Rebecca. Both soybean oil and canola oil are refined oils that we don’t recommend consuming often. Here’s a post that helps explain: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/. ~Amy
I just had a question about the Triscut ingredients as they are made with soybean oil. Is this considered a safe and good fat? Also I read that if something is USDA Certified Organic, It Cannot and will not Have GMO’s in them. So why is Organic Canola Oil a bad choice?
Our Walmart has a good variety of organic produce and other products. I’m guessing it varies by your region. If there’s not a lot of demand for organic products in your area, Walmart won’t stock it. I shop there often, and the savings compared to my regular grocery store, (Harris Teeter), is huge!
You can get NON GMO flours there for a fraction of the cost of natural grocers..and Wal Mart does have a lot of organic items along with wild caught fish for much cheaper. I don’t buy their meats but some of their seafood is ok. Try again :-)
PS In some parts of the country-parts I lived in-Wal Mart is the only grocer and offers more than it does in areas where natural grocers are present because they have to cater to both natural and organic shoppers as well as thrift shoppers. Just fyi after traveling and living lots of places.
This is a great idea, but you only seem to have dinner meals in your $125 budget. What about breakfast, lunch and snacks through out the day? I have two growing boys who are always hungry and this would not be enough to feed them 3 meals plush snacks every week.
Hi JJ. Have you looked at this post which outlined what the budget covered which was all meals and snacks with a few exceptions: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/10/05/budget-day-1-getting-organized/. ~Amy
With this post about eating whole food meals on a budget should go a recipe for homemade organic yogurt! I started making my own, and it is incredibly easy, and cut my yogurt costs (about $30 per month for a family of 7!) down to about $6.00. Here’s what you need:
1 gallon organic whole milk
2 cups of your favorite PLAIN organic full-fat yogurt
5 1 quart mason jars, or 9 pint size with sealing lids
1 trustworthy candy or meat thermometer
Place 2 cups of your favorite store-bought organic yogurt in a bowl and cover on the counter so it can slowly come to room temp. Pour gallon of milk into a large bowl (if using a microwave), or into a large pot on the stove. I like the microwave because the milk doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pan. This seems to happen on the stove no matter how low the heat or how often I’m stirring. Heat the 1 gallon of milk to 180 degrees F. This kills all the undesirable bacteria and cultures. Remove from heat and let it cool to 115 degrees (about 45 minutes, stirring every 10 to speed the process). Add the organic store-bought yogurt and stir to mix well. Immediately pour into clean mason jars and seal lids tightly. Place jars into a small ice chest (I use one just big enough to fit all the jars). Fill with 110 degree water just up to the neck bands on the jars, close the lid, and set them aside. Set a timer for 7 hours to allow them to culture. Remove jars and dry. Place in fridge and eat the next day! Reserve 2 cups from your batch to make the next batch. After the initial batch, the only cost is your gallon of milk. Keeps in the fridge at least 2 weeks (ours gets eaten so fast I’m not sure how long I COULD keep it). It’s great with granola, fruit, smoothies, mixing with ranch mix for veggies, adding to avocados for guacamole, thickening soups, etc. It’s so cheap! :)
So I see the picture of what you bought and trying to determine how some of these things are not processed. Triscuits contain palm oil, which in my opinion is worse than HFCS. Canola oil is a highly processed oil. PAM is made by ConAgra foods and made with canola oil. ConAgra is the processed food kings of the world. In order for a rice to be instant it would have to be processed at some level. This is something I am seriously considering, and I don’t I am just confused because the above picture does not indicate a non-processed food diet.
James- my thoughts exactly. From reading other posts, I’ve gathered that she’s learned about oils and such and has since cut them out.
I know that you want to give the kids variety, because kids can be picky like that, but you can get a whole chicken and rice and vegetables to feed 4 people for < $10 a day and you'll still have left overs. Stuff like ground beef and cabbage is a < $10 meal.
AVOID WAL-MART, which you've found out. Ethnic markets are really the best.
I agree with your meal choices (especially the chicken and rice meal, which for the two of us last THREE meals-AND chicken stock for another two for under ten-twelve dollars for FIVE MEALS!), but shopping at Walmart is really my only choice. Its them or WinCo, and they have next to nothing you could consider to be ‘organic’!
Some of us really don’t have the choice BUT to shop at Walmart -or raise and grow your own food!
-erin in Olalla, WA
Rosacea is an itchy and annoying disease. It can give you those red, scaly patches of skin and that really annoys me. .`.'”
Take a look at our personal blog as well
http://www.caramoantravel.com
I have been eating real food since march and I find it pretty easy to feed a family of four on $125 or less a week. I budget $150 but never spend that much and if I stick to my list I could prob spend less than $100. I live in a small town in Alabama and the nearest Whole Foods is an hour away. I am fortunate enough to live 5minutes from our local dairy so all of my milk, butter, and cheese come from there. A friend and I drive over to Georgia twice a month to whole foods which is almost a two hour drive but we really love the Great Harvest bread so we just make the trip :) it definitely takes some planning on my part but I get it done. I haven’t had to shop at walmart in months. I have found that Publix has a pretty decent selection of organics and also some grass fed beef and bison. When I’m in a pinch I know I can go there. Unfortunately not everyone is able to shop at health food stores and walmart may be the only other option. Thankfully they are starting to offer more organics and hopefully will bring in more local produce. I think for those who do depend on chains like walmart, reading labels and understanding ingredients is crucial when adopting a real food lifestyle. I think people can still make a real positive change in their diets regardless of where they shop.
Carissa,
I read your comment and am very interested in learning to feed my family real food. I too live in Alabama and wondered if we were close. I live in Piedmont, near Gadsden/Anniston. I found the bakery in Rome and love it. I’m planning a trip to Whole Foods and have been looking up Farmer’s markets in the area. I have so many questions and so much to learn. I a new also to this blogging stuff and was hoping I could get your email address. My email addy is [email protected]
I’d really like to learn all I can and you being from my area would be really helpful. Hope to hear back from you. Thanks!
Brenda Reynolds
I’m enjoying all of the different posts as you’ve journeyed the last couple years. Thank you for sharing the journey so others can learn. I am hoping someone will respond to this thread. I’m fairly confident I read in another of your posts on ths site that we should never use canola oil – only use olive, coconut, butter and ghee. Did I miss something? Or did you buy the canola and make this post before you decided against it? I’m a newbie trying to make better food choices for my family. So clarification would really help. Blessings! And thanks again!
Hi Jennie. Yes, this post was early on. As the process went on, Lisa became more “educated” on oils. Here is the post she did https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/. Hope this helps. Jill