Cost of Food

I've been visiting a "simple living" website for ideas, and somebody turned me on to this:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2007/CostofFoodJun07.pdf

It's a breakdown of how much the USDA recommends a family spend on a healthy diet. We are in the moderate to low end of their budget, which, when you consider the type of food we buy (organic, etc.) is pretty impressive to me. I'd be happier if we were on their "thrifty" plan, of course, but I don't know if that is possible without making some compromises that I do not wish to make. The fact that we don't eat soda, or many prepackaged foods, only partially offsets the higher costs of dairy, fish and meat, and fruits and vegetables.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking about our food budget, intake, health, etc. as you can see. The impacts of food on the earth are impressive, and while we may cut down on the level of electronics in our lives (let's just say that we won't be going flat-screen plasma TV any time soon) we're not going to cut back that much on food, so it's an area to improve on our consumption habits.

This morning Tessa and I planted two long rows of carrots - Scarlet Nantes and Dragon varieties. I wish that I was stronger (without weight restrictions) so that I could prep some more rows, because I'm ready to get snap peas, beans, beets, and radishes in the ground, too. But within the next two weeks I hope that we'll have them ready to go. Anyway, Tessa is excited about the carrot crop; she finds it tough to get excited about lettuce, kale, and beets but she does have grand visions about purple carrots.

These days I'm feeling like a throwback to a prior age (although I guess then I wouldn't be on the computer right now!). My house smells like vinegar right now because I mopped the floor today (all that going in and out yesterday didn't help the floor), I'm baking this afternoon because a few friends are coming over this evening to talk about the Dalai Lama's ideas....it all seems old fashioned. But I like it.