Another reason to like summer

[mousme]

Fresh veggies are just about the best thing about summer. Maybe the fresh fruit and berries beat the veggies, but not by much.

I have become a rabbit of late. I've been eating almost nothing but veggies, mostly raw. My gazpacho was a success, I might add, despite the absence of fresh dill. I am a little out of sorts with my body, which has decided to *gain* weight on an almost exclusively-veggie diet (go figure), but the joy I am getting out of the fruits and veggies pretty much cancels out any minor vexation on my part.

I am currently experimenting with veggie smoothies. I have been having tofu and fruit smoothies for breakfast on and off for a few months now, and the results have been invariably delicious, so I decided to branch out into vegetables and see if I couldn't simplify my lunch prep. Right now I just blended a bunch of celery, spinach, a banana, carrot juice, and half a cup of (very yummy organic) vanilla yogurt. It's not bad, but I've shoved it in the freezer, testing out a theory that it will be delicious when properly chilled. I may make it with ice cubes next time. Then again, I may find a combination I like better.

My coworker printed out a bunch of veggie smoothie recipes yesterday, and I'm using those as a basis for my own experimentation. If nothing else, working with a weight-and-nutrition-obsessed girl has made me more aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. I was a little dismayed at *just* how bad Tim Horton's stuff is, especially the muffins and Timbits. It makes me a little sad, but I have decided that I'm not going to deprive myself if I really want something: I'll just stop making a habit of going every day and simply go for a treat, or if I go more regularly, I'll just stick to a coffee, which is my main reason for going anyway. It'll cost less in the long run, anyway.

Whatever benighted person said that it was cheap to eat well on a regular basis was sadly deluded, I must say. Sure, if you're eating nothing but canned and dry food, then it's cheap. The minute you get into fresh produce the prices skyrocket. I honestly don't know how people with reduced incomes manage. Even when I was earning my lowest salary, which wasn't minimum wage, I found it hard to both pay my bills and eat healthy and fresh things.

Ah well. At least now I can buy a $3 bottle of carrot juice and not worry how the hell I'm going to pay rent. It's been nearly a year since I've been financially solvent, and I'm still not used to the feeling. I still boggle every time I see money in my bank account at the end of the month. It's not a ton of money, but it's not a negative amount, which is something in and of itself.

Comments

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

Whatever benighted person said that it was cheap to eat well on a regular basis

This has been a MAJOR pet peeve of mine. It seems whenever I see an article or a show segment on "eating healthy", the authority in the spotlight trots out this old canard.

Its extremely cheap to stay alive and eat badly. Its complicated and pricy to eat well. I don't know why so many people insist that its the other way around.

Call me deluded...

[rosy1.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but I not only agree that eating healthy is cheaper, I can probably produce receipts to prove it.

If you are buying only organic veggies in health food boutiques or only locally grown MAYBE, but if you are not adverse to buying U.S. or other imported produce and know where and how to shop, then veggies, fresh fruits and grains are MUCH cheaper than meats, high-fat cheeses (I always feel like I am buying drugs with some of the prices...) or the absolute worst... prepared foods, especially goodies. (Homemade goodies are dirt cheap and contain tops 4 or 5 ingredients, next time you're in a store, read the back of a bag of cookies or those prepared cakes at Loblaws.

You just have to know where to shop:
In NDG: Rocky Montana on Sherbrooke St. West for fruits and veggies plus Marché Akhavan (on Sherbrooke St. W) for unbelievable nuts at great prices
For LaSalle, Verdun and surrounding area no place beats "Frutta Si"
http://www.lavoixpopulaire.com/annonce2-2011904-Frutta-si-super-marche-internationnal.htmlfor fruits, veggies, pasta (including whole grain and high fibre)...
West Island: Mourelatos - everything above, plus the best tzatziki - yes, even better Akhavan's

[pasley.livejournal.com]

Fresh produce from the Atwater Market is a helluva lot cheaper than a bunch of junk from Provigo! Yes, fresh, market (not supermarket) produce is cheapest in the summer and fall when it's most plentiful, but junk/prepackaged/processed food is always more expensive any time of the year. (We're not talking organic and/or prepackaged health food stuff, however; that, I agree, is expensive. I could never afford to do all my shopping at Optimum or some such place.)

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking today how cheap it can be to eat healthily.

I made stuffed tomatoes tonight that were delicious. They included:

1. a "splurge" bag of basmati and wild rice - 2E
2. a small container of salad shrimp in water - 1.19E
3. 4 large tomatoes - maybe 1.5E
4. a very small zucchini - maybe .75E
spices

The tomatoes, the zucchini, and the fresh basil I used actually came from my garden, so I'm estimating prices. And the spices we had in the kitchen, but then again, I have 3/4 of the bag of my rice left over.

The meal fed two people to absolutely stuffed, was really good, and had some left over for right around 5 Euros.

Now you're right that that is still a lot more than ramen noodles or mac and cheese boxes, but I've seen TV shows saying that lower income families are becoming obese because they can't afford to eat healthily and instead eat at McDonalds. And that just blows my mind. 5E buys one meal at McDonalds, if you don't get an expensive meal, and it doesn't taste nearly as good.

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

my body, which has decided to *gain* weight on an almost exclusively-veggie diet (go figure)

As I understand it (and I'm the farthest thing from a nutritionist), when you lower your caloric intake, the body reacts by becoming more efficient and storing more energy -- going into "famine mode" as it were. So dieting often causes a temporary weight gain -- at least until it "gets used to" the new regime. But how long this takes, I have no idea.

How long ago did you change your diet?

[forthright.livejournal.com]

I agree with the various people who direct you away from the big grocery stores and towards smaller produce stores / Chinese groceries / Atwater Market as a source of cheaper produce. It is also true that a lot of the super-hyped organic omega-3 cruelty-free etc. food is going to cost you a great deal if that's your thing. And of course the traditional student diet of takeout pizza and Chinese 3-5 times a week minimum is ridiculously expensive and unhealthy to boot. Finally, healthy rice and pasta dishes are dirt cheap and easy to cook.

Having said all that, a $1.00 box of Kraft Dinner plus $0.40 for two wieners to add some protein can provide lunch for two adults and one hungry toddler. $1.40 will not ever provide enough fresh produce for a similar healthy meal, and if you want real non-processed meat to add to that, good luck! Not to mention that if you're working long hours and only have yourself to feed, the effort to put together such a meal is considerable for the end result. Despite all those points in the first paragraph I think you're completely right that it is *not* cheap to eat well on a regular basis.

[urban-homestead.livejournal.com]

Oh, and what originally prompted me to post in this thread (and then I totally forgot about it), was, can I please have your recipe for gazpacho with dill? That sounds awesome!!