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One area I’d love to lighten up on would be our family’s food budget, both in the area of environmental impact as well as dollars spent if possible. After all, who wouldn’t like to save a little money? Even though we live in the breadbasket of America with possibly the greatest concentration of agriculture in the world, it’s a lot more difficult to eat locally than you would ever think.
Oh, sure, locally raised beef / pork / chicken is everywhere (especially the first two). But there’s only so much meat you can eat before you, well, die. Try to find any local vegetables outside of onions, tomatoes, or sweet corn (bleh), and the pickings are slim indeed. Even hitting the local farmers market doesn’t yield much more: red and white onions, maybe a couple varieties of tomatoes, soon enough all the god awful sweet corn you can stand; if I’m lucky, some carrots or cucumbers of maybe even a green pepper or two might make an appearance. Heck, if I’d stumble on some asparagus or broccoli or salad greens or even garlic, I’d wonder if I was in the right place. No doubt my experience is tied to the quality of my particular farmers market (because I’ve been to many that are excellent; just not our local one 
), so all you farmers market proponents out there can relax! 
I’d love to get a local CSA subscription. But the closest ones I’ve been able to find leaves us quite a distance outside their delivery range. And far enough away that driving to pick up weekly deliveries makes no economic sense.
I’m personally looking forward to setting up our own garden - I’ve got too many ideas for what I’d like to attempt - once we settle a bit more at our new home. But considering that it’s almost June already(!), I’m not sure there is time this year to plant all that much. But future years will certainly see quite a bit of very local produce! 
So I am a little bummed that I can’t pull something off like Rebecca Blood with her Eating Organic on a Food Stamp Budget series - Nebraska just ain’t California, I’m afraid. Our little family of three will just have to continue to spend a fairly ridiculous amount to eat. We go out of our way to avoid as much overprocessed food as possible, and unless I’m missing out on some cost savings that haven’t occurred to me, eating healthy is expensive.
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I see you’re uptoyour neck in sweet corn
And just as I was reading your post, I was eating my second bowl of fresh corn chowder - vegetarian, sauteed in garlic and onions and with lots of Philippine malunggay leaves thrown in. That’s a green vegie with leaves as small as your thumbnail. Yum! And cheap, too, around here.
If you live in the Philippines, it’s quite cheap to eat healthy with a lot of fresh local vegies available year-round.
I guess your family’s best bet is to do some gardening. You’ll have to raise quite a variety, though. Best of luck!
Greets MM…
Actually, it’s a little early for sweet corn around here — I just can’t stand the stuff, yet when it’s harvest time, it’ll be available everywhere!
I just find it a little depressing how much of a monoculture (ok, bi-culture: corn & soybeans) the vast majority of agriculture is here in the US Midwest. And the really sad part is, most of that isn’t going to feeding us directly, but instead used to feed pork/beef. Or worse yet, turned into vast quantities of that oh-so-awful-for-you high fructose corn syrup.
Anyway, enough ranting… thanks for stopping by!
i can never eat light i just end up eating again if i eat light have to make sure im atleast at the brink of being full before i stop
I agree, it is more expensive to eat healthy, but worth it. I live in the Raleigh, NC area and local produce is pretty good at the farmers market. You do have to pay for what you get though. There is usually a good variety depending on the time of year. Hope you get more of a variety where you are or at least at a better price.
Greetings from a fellow Nebraskan.
You’re absolutely right about the lack of fresh vegetables in the local markets. It seems like the only way you’re going to get a selection of what you like is if you grow it yourself.
People who grow are more interested in the subsidies than they are in feeding people with any variety.
Our growing season just cuts down the amount of time you have. Back home in California, we were able to grow things year-round.
It is hard eating right in middle America. We get crappy produce (except for sweet corn) and seafood. However you can’t buy a steak anywhere on either coast that compares to what we get here. The beef and pork are great. So we eat BBQ and grill out and I need to lose 30lbs.
Of vegetable origin, tofu is cholesterol-free. It contains much less fat and saturated fat than meat. It is a good source of essential fats and iron. Because it is a legume, its iron content is not absorbed as well by the human body as the iron from animal origin. However, eating tofu with foods like oranges, broccoli, kiwi or cantaloupe that are high in Vitamin C will increase iron absorption.