Ahhh...spring is here, which means that the produce section has a fresh new appeal! Strawberries, fresh young greens and other yummy stuff is in abundance.

But...how often do you hear this:

"It's too expensive to eat healthy" or

"Fast Food is SOOO much cheaper than fruits and vegetables".

Many of us here at 3FC are on tight budgets, especially those of us with hungry young mouths to feed so I figured this would be a good time to offer some thoughts, based on what we have here in the Bay Area. (Yes, I realize that here in California we are blessed with a plethora of healthy whole natural foods...)

What I enjoy doing when I have time is going to my local farmer's market. Here in my neck of the woods, we have the California Federation of Certified Farmer's Markets which has an online listing of markets in my area.

http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/

I feel good about supporting local farmers, the cost is generally the same or LOWER than the supermarkets (last summer I got 8 ears of sweet white corn, picked just that morning, for $1.00!) and they're ORGANIC for the most part. It's also a nice outing - a cool morning with my little market bag, going around and enjoying the sounds, aromas and tastes of a farmer's market is quite invigorating and relaxing all at once. The advantage of a Farmer’s Market is that you can select exactly what you want, out of the locally-grown, in-season produce, and because you are buying directly from the farmer, you can ask questions about how the food is grown!

Okay - if you want to get even MORE hands-on - why not grow your own? What? You say you *want* to but you live in a dinky apartment with no yard...hmmm. Have you checked with your town or city to see if there is a community garden in your area? You might be pleasantly surprised - around here, many city park & rec departments have set aside space for these community gardens. Cities in my area with these gardens include San Carlos, San Mateo, Palo Alto, San Jose and Berkeley. If your town doesn't have a community garden program set up, then it's time to step up to the plate and ask. As my dad (an old N. Carolina farm boy) would say, there's nothing like digging in the earth and growing your own food...and getting your kids involved - when I was growing up, my sisters and I helped plant the vegetable garden in our backyard every year and would watch with excitement as the little plants sprouted and grew. Vegetables that we normally wouldn't eat became totally edible once we 'grew them ourselves'. I well remember pulling radishes out of the ground, washing them off with the garden hose, and eating them right there - because *I* planted them and took care of them myself.

Community Sponsored Agriculture - dunno if you've ever heard of this, but the concept is positively growing in our area! Here's how it works: You become a member of a CSA organization. For a nominal cost (usually $12-14 a week) each week you go to your selected pickup point and get a weekly order of seasonal organic produce (enough to feed 2-4 people). A wonderful concept since you are supporting LOCAL farmers and the vegetables are positively fresh...here are some Bay Area links to give you a general idea.

http://www.fullbellyfarm.com/index.html

http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/

Okay...then there's 'the rest of us' who shop at our local Safeway or Albertson's. The key words to saving money are "Buy in bulk" and "buy in season". Generally, veggies and fruits IN SEASON are MUCH less expensive than buying, say, peaches in December.

For example - here's this week's Produce Specials at Safeway:

Emerald Globe Zucchini Squash - 99 cents/lb.

Cameo Apples - .99/lb

4 pound bag navel oranges - 2 bags for $5 (or 62 cents a pound!)

Texas Ruby Grapefruit - 2 for $1.00

Asparagus - 2 lbs for $5.00

2 lb bag 'baby' carrots - $2.50

D'Anjou Pears - .99/lb

And I bet if you go to the store there's a lot of other sales on produce.

What about frozen or canned veggies and fruits? Well, frozen is great - I buy frozen veggies all the time, especially when they're on sale. Just stay away from the ones that have sauces and such in them - those are calories you DON'T need. Canned veggies - except for tomatoes - is a whole 'nother thing altogether. Most of the nutrients have been 'cooked' out of them, and they generally tend to taste awful anyway, so I stay away from them. Not to mention that they're LOADED with salt!

This was also inspired by a recent Dr. Phil "Weight Loss Challenge" rerun where a guest claimed that it was too expensive to eat healthy. Dr. Phil's nutritionist, J.J. Virgin, accompanied the person to her local grocery and gave her some tips on how to eat healthy.

Hope this helps out - I don't want you guys to miss out on those fresh veggies and fruits that are coming our way!

(BTW...you 3FCers in other parts of the country - anyone out there do the community garden thing? Farmers Market? Pick Your Own? Let's hear from you!)

It can be expensive to buy fresh produce and I hear that excuese a lot too.
I also like to take advantage of local community produce, Or I will play one store against the other and read all the adds and just get the good deals out of each store. also, lots of people just find it to be a huge drag cleaning and cutting up and cooking fresh veggies and act like its too much trouble. And it can be time consuming, but I think if you are really commited and really want to eat better, you will do it. I buy whats in season or what is on sale for the week and just eat tons of it until something new comes in season.
I hate it when Tomatos are $3.00 a pound. So when that is the case, I do get more of the stewed tomatos. I really love artichokes, and one week they were 4 for $1.00 so we ate artichokes for two weeks. I cook them in the pressure cooker.

I do buy canned tomatoes often - the S&W Ready-Cut brand in different flavors. Nice to have around to add to homemade soups or sauces!

Frozen veggies as well - I confess to buying the frozen chopped onions. Not because I'm lazy, but because I work full time and have other interests that take up my 'spare time' it's SO convenient to have the ready-chopped onions!

My favorite frozen veggies is a 'mix' called "The Ultimate Stir Fry". There is no sauce in it, but it contains broccoli, carrots, baby corn, water chestnut slices, peppers, mushrooms, onion, and bamboo shoots - the PERFECT mix for a quick stir fry.



This weekend my baby sister and I are planning a trip to the Farmer's Market at the community college - hoping to get some of those fresh strawberries at $6.00 a flat - the ones we can't eat right away I wash, hull, slice in half and freeze in Ziploc bags and containers - sometimes I add a little Splenda to them...Jim LOVES them partially thawed with his Jello FF/SF Tapioca Pudding...

this is sooo right on!!!!!! as long as you buy what you will use, and use what you buy, fresh/frozen, minimally processed food is the BEST. and it's not hard to prepare. in fact, cooking fresh asparagus takes less time than nuking a box of frozen. <canned asparagus is completely inedible>

the food bill for me and alzheimer's mom is outrageous, but i know why: i buy many prepared things, like store-cooked chickens and cut up salad bar veggies. i eat so little because of the wls, and mom CAN'T sequence events enough to prepare a meal that buying in bulk or even 'normal sizes' just leads to too much waste. but i know that. and this is a planned decision for meeting our food needs.

but in the summer, i push her into the car and we go to local farmers. one grows their own strawberries and asparagus [but their border collies also like asparagus... they're cute rooting around for them!!!!]. and corn in august. and great fresh lettuce [perfect for wraps without tortillas] and the best nectarines i've ever tasted.

as everyone says, eat with the season!!!!

and i nearly forgot my absolute favorite!!! now that i'm no longer bedridden and am hiking, last summer i picked wild blueberries and raspberries. what a wonderful treat!!!! i took a little plastic baggy with me, and picked what i'd eat that day.. HEAVEN!!!!!

after being unable to move for several years because of the weight.. to be hiking early in the morning.. with beautiful sweet berries just waiting for me.. and that goofy dog... it was the closest thing to heaven i'll ever see on earth!!

Jiff - your memory about picking wild blueberries made me think of one of my favorite books as a kid, "Blueberries for Sal" - remember?



I remember back when I was about 11 years old - my grandparents from W. Va. were visiting and we all went to Monterey for the weekend. On the drive down, we passed a little "U-Pick" place and Grandma got all excited - Dad stopped and we all got out, grabbed buckets and picked ollieberries at Grandma's direction.

When we got to the house that Dad had rented for the weekend, Grandma took all the berries, went into the kitchen and whipped up a huge and delicious ollieberry cobbler.

Man, it's been 30 years and I STILL remember my Grandma's cooking...that cobbler wasn't diet food by a LONG shot but each mouthful was like a spoonful of heaven. You don't get that from a frozen box of Marie Callendar's. I'm sure if we had been there for longer than a couple of days, Grandma would have made preserves!

One of the things I do, aside from frequenting our amazing farmers market, is I am a working member of a co-op. Six hours of work a month gets me 21% off, plus the work is pleasant. I know it varies from co-op to co-op, but it really saved me when I was a VISTA and making almost nothing a month.

oh karen.. i never read that book, but it looks adorable!!! what's an ollieberry?? whatever it is, the whole cobbler sounds DIVINE. <i used to love making cobblers!>

it's kind of interesting how so many of our really lasting food memories are tied up with the fresh foods that grandma made us!!!! also kind of sad that we don't necessarily nurture ourselves with the same kind of care. it's fast this, and quick that.

Hi Gang! I'm fortunate to have several acres and DH's hobby is gardening.

As for cleaning and cutting up, I had an adversion to it because I had to do so much of it to prepare our bounty for canning and freezing. BUT! When I relearned to eat and prepare my own healthy meals, cleanng, cutting and cooking became a labor of love - for ME! Since I shop and prep twice a week, everything is ready in ziploc containers for when I need them. Like everything else in this new way of life/lifestyle, if you do it often enough, persist and practice, it becomes habit.

I also eat store brand frozen vegetables because that's what I like because that's what I was raised on.

This year our garden will be minimal due to time constraints, and we will stick to the basics like red potatoes, green beans, corn,yams, peppers and tomatoes. It's hardly worth the trouble any more when we can go to a farmer's market and buy it for less, too.

dip

Oh, that idea about freezing the strawberries is ingenuous! How come I never thought of that?
My 10 yr old loves them, but he can't just eat one or two, he usually eats half a lb. And at that rate I can't afford them.
What other fresh produce can you freeze? I know lettuce and stuff like that can't be frozen, but what about asparagus or belpeppers? I love fresh stuff, but it usually goes bad before I can eat it all.

My favorite thing to freeze is grapes. Then I eat them frozen. They're like tiny popsicles!

For ideas on what's "freezable" just check out the frozen section in your grocery store. If they can freeze it, so can you!

As someone already mentioned, I rely on frozen more than fresh because of both schedule constraints and my budget. In New England we can take advantage of Farmer's Markets for only a few months.

I buy tons of frozen veggies (as well as pineapple and mangos) from Trader Joes. I will sometimes eat half a bag of those french stringbeans in one meal.

Mrs.Jim oh how I love frozen onions, and frozen peppers! Onion fumes make my eyes swell so much that it affects my vision for hours.

We have a local farmers market right in the downtown core of the city and another one in the west end plus an organic farmers market that is open only on Saturdays in the summer.

The market downtown is within walking distance so I take my folding shopping cart with me and DH. A lot of the produce is 50% cheaper than in the grocery store and we just buy whatever fruits and veggies we need for a week so it doesn't go bad. Also in the same area are cheese shops, butcher shops, a fish market and a deli/Italian groceteria where I find different products and they are ususally comparable if not cheaper than the grocery stores and the food tastes better too

At the end of the season - last few weeks leading up to October things like broccoli and cauliflower are only 50 cents or so and things like green beans and wax beans are really cheap. I take one weekend and stock up on these items - take them home and chop, blanch and freeze them for the winter. I ususally have enough veggies and berries to last until February/March and supplement them with root vegetables which are more plentiful and cheaper in the fall and winter.

Throughout the winter I make batches of different soups, spaghetti sauce, chili and stews and use them for hot lunches or a quick supper - just microwave and serve

I am planning on making some casseroles and freezing them for weeknight dinners - I just have to get myself organized

Another way to save on your grocery bill is to buy non -grocery items like cleaners, dish soap, toilet paper, tissues, shaving cream, soap etc at a discount store - the one by my place carries many name brands and they can be any where from 25 cents up to $1.00 cheaper than the drugstores or grocery stores.

I am trying to save money and cut down on the amount of chemicals I use in my home by making my own cleaning products when the store bought stuff I bought is used up.

Ollieberries? I guess they're just here on the Coast. They're like a blackberry...I googled it and found this article on berries - check it out.

Oh and BTW, for the *best* ollieberry pie (of course this will have to be on your 'no diet' day...who diets on vacation anyways? not I!) if you happen to be in the Bay Area, go to a little town between San Francisco and Santa Cruz called Pescadero and have lunch at Duarte's Tavern and split a slice of their Ollieberry Pie with someone you love (for lunch may I suggest a bowl of their artichoke soup?? or their crab ciopinno??? yummers...)

oh YUMMMM!! no.. make that a DOUBLE YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

every single word in your post sang to me, karen.. ollieberries sound wonderful, and now i understand the difference between blackberries and raspberries!!! all in abundance where la dog and i hike..

And now I know that black caps are raspberries! I have a secret place in my back forty where I go for a solo dessert on occasion and commune with nature.