What about the cost?

She really was laughing in this picture!  This is my daughter thoroughly enjoying her organic Stonyfield YoBaby Yogurt!

I have been having a lot of thoughts lately about what I wanted to say in this post.  My intention is never to offend anyone when I share my thoughts about food and what I feed my family.  When I try to explain things, I always try to remember that a year ago, I was clueless about what was in the food I eat, and about how the animals and workers that produce much of this food are treated, and about what lots of this food does to our bodies.  I chose to educate myself, and made radical changes to our diets.  There are many people in my life, that are very close to me, who think that I am nuts.   That can be hard for me because when I share with them things that I have learned, I am doing so out of concern for their health.  I don't expect to convert them to my way of thinking, but there are sometimes simple things that they can do that would help specific health issues.  For example, cutting back on processed foods (which are full of sodium usually) can have a big impact on someone with high blood pressure.  But that isn't really the point of what I am trying to say here today, it is just part of the thoughts that are in my head.

Today I want to talk about the cost of food, because, let's face it, food is really expensive, whether you are buying it in the grocery store or out at a restaurant.  I feel this cost very keenly every time I go to the grocery store, because I never have enough to shop the way I would really like to, so every shopping trip is full of choices, but the important choices are always made before I even leave the house.  My choices are never based on how much food costs, but about what is in or more importantly, not in the food itself. 

Meat is one of the most expensive products that many families buy.  This is the purchase that scares me the most.  If someone tells me that the meat they paid 99 cents a pound for the chicken they had for dinner, it makes me cringe a bit.  That kind of news used to excite me, but now that I know the truth, it doesn't excite me anymore.  There are more costs in life than what the food actually costs to buy.  What about the cost of what the food can do to when you eat it?  What about the cost to the animals and people that produce the food?

The vast majority of meats sold in this country are factory farmed meats.  Not only are the animals raised in horrible, inhumane conditions, but what they are fed is pretty atrocious too.  Cows, pigs and chickens are vegetarians.  Yet in factory farms they are fed byproducts from other animals that have been slaughtered.  They get to eat the parts of the animals that aren't edible for humans...but we end up eating them anyway, because we eat the animals that have consumed them. These animals are given antibiotics to keep them from getting sick in the horrible conditions that they are raised in, they are given hormones to increase their growth rates, and at least the chickens have been genetically modified to grow faster and produce more breast meat.  The conditions these animals are raised in are so disgusting that the animals are led to slaughter covered in feces, and at least the beef meat is washed in an ammonia solution to help kill the bacteria that is left in the meat after the animals are killed. Then there is the cruelty that is endured by these poor creatures.  I can't even really talk about that, it brings me to tears every time I think about it.  That is what 99 cents a pound really costs.

Meat costs a lot, especially the meat I buy.  So we eat less of it now.  We go meatless three or four dinners a week.  The last time I bought chicken breast it cost me $5.99 a pound.  It was Nature's Place brand from Hannaford.  This chicken is vegetarian fed, antibiotic and hormone free, and most importantly Humane Certified by the Humane Society.  Factory Farms do not let the Humane Society have access to the conditions that their animals are raised in.  The meat that I buy is not organic, organic meat is really hard to find in the choices of places that I have to shop.  The only thing that would make it organic would be if the animals were fed an organic, vegetarian diet.  But the choice that I make in my meat purchases definitely eliminates much of the not good stuff that is in most of the meat that is purchased in supermarkets.  Most of the meat that I buy is chicken, occasionally I will buy pork or ground turkey.  Ground beef is a really rare purchase for us, I usually substitute ground turkey, which is just as good if not better in most recipes.  Hannaford does carry Nature's Place meats in all of these categories.  Buying a whole Nature's Place Chicken is usually considerably cheaper than buying parts of the chicken, so I try to do that whenever I can.  I can usually get 2-3 meals out of a whole 4-5 pound chicken.

I have also struggled with choices of dairy products.  I will only buy eggs that are Free Range and Humane Certified.  Egg laying hens are often kept in horrible, inhumane conditions just like meat producing chickens.  I usually buy Nellie's Eggs from Hannaford.  That leaves me with milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream...all staples in my diet.  Initially I did not realize how horribly dairy cows are treated.  I feel that if I am too lazy about what dairy products I buy, I can be contributing to the inhumane treatment of dairy cows.  I love milk, cheese and ice cream, and therefore really appreciate the cows that produce the milk to make these products.  One of the huge issues with dairy products are the antibiotics and hormones given to the cows to make them produce more milk.  I do not want my family ingesting these antibiotics and hormones, so I buy dairy products that state on the label that they do not contain antibiotics or artificial growth hormones.  I also want the animals to be treated well.  I like cows!  So many dairy farms are gigantic, the animals cannot possible be treated in the way that they should be.  And I have been horrified by videos I have seen of overcrowded conditions, and most especially the treatment of the calves.  I have done a lot of research and only buy the majority of my dairy from companies that get their milk from small farmers that have less cows that they respect and treat like family.  Stonyfield and Organic Valley are my favorites.  They are larger companies made up of co-ops of small farmers from all over the country.  My daughter loves her Stonyfield Yogurt.  And for someone on a tight budget like me, Stonyfield is one of the few companies that produce organic dairy products and a constant supply of coupons.  Even though the products cost more, I am able to save money with the coupons that I can use for nearly every purchase.

Cheese and Ice Cream have been a little more difficult for me to make choices on.  I can't always be as sure where the milk is coming from, but I try to find cheeses that say that they are hormone and antibiotic free.  Hannaford does carry some organic cheeses and also some block cheeses that state on the label that they are hormone and antibiotic free.  I do like to buy American cheese occasionally as well as shredded cheeses (much easier for some recipes).  These types of cheeses are never labelled hormone or antibiotic free.  I have tried researching online to find brands that say that they are, but with not much luck.  This frustrated me for months.  Organic Valley does make some shredded cheeses, but they are really expensive and Hannaford does not carry them, so I would have to make a separate trip to another store to get some.  Then one day when I was at Target, (which I go to at least once a week), I realized that I had finally found a brand of cheese labelled antibiotic and hormone free, Target's own Market Pantry brand.  For a very reasonable cost I am now able to get shredded and American cheese at a price I can afford.  It isn't organic, but what is most important to me is that we are not ingesting the antibiotics and hormones.  I have had the same struggle with ice cream, it is difficult to find brands that are hormone and antibiotic free...but now I have at least two choices, Ben and Jerry's (check out their website, they are doing lots of stuff for sustainability) and Hannaford's Nature's place brand. 

We don't eat organic and natural or humane certified all the time.  We still eat at other peoples' houses and we do go out to eat, and sometimes I don't always feel good about it, but I know that the changes that I have made will and are having an impact on our overall health.   Grocery shopping is expensive.  I have to make a menu for the week and a careful list before I go shopping to make sure that we have enough healthy food to get us through the week without breaking the bank.  Some weeks are more challenging than others, but I have come to the conclusion that the money that we spend on food is certainly not the highest cost that we could be paying.  The choices that we make in the food and other products that we buy have a direct effect on our health, on the environment, and on people and animals all over the world.  I have changed my food choices yes, but I feel that I have a long way to go with other products that I buy for my family and energy that we use.  It is important to remember that monetary cost is never the only cost to consider.

Ready for Number Two!

Changing Table all Prepped with my Newborn Diapers on the Top shelf and Toddler Diapers on the bottom shelf, with a few backups tucked underneath....just in case!

So things have been a bit crazy lately.  I have had every intention of posting more reviews on the diapers that I use every day, but frankly, I am pretty tired, and have spent most of my time trying to get things ready for the arrival of our son.  I am 35 weeks pregnant today, and thought that in celebration, I should write a blog entry, because who knows if I will be able to get another one in before Matthew arrives.

This pregnancy has been an easy one, just like my first, so I can't really complain, I have just been really tired lately and never feel like I get enough sleep.  Between the several trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and the waking up and not being able to go back to sleep, I start the day feeling pretty exhausted.  The biggest difference between this pregnancy and my last, is that I never seem to be able to get a long enough nap in during the day.  I am lucky if I get 20 minutes while my two year old is sleeping.  You get much longer naps when you don't have another kid to chase around :o)

I would like to do more blog posts, but have been mostly focused on getting through the days and getting everything ready for baby.  I have also been really trying to enjoy one on one time with my daughter while I can.  We have also been doing lots of play dates to help the days go by faster.  We have also been working a bit on a relaxed version of potty training.  I started out determined to completely train her, but it was too stressful for both of us.  I wanted to have her trained before the baby came, but realized that wasn't as important as I originally thought.  She has the general idea...and goes a few times a day.  I will try another full throttle approach this fall, after the baby comes and has been here for a while.

We have also spent lots of time talking about Baby Matthew and getting all his things ready.  All the baby stuff is out now, all his clothes are washed and in the dresser.  The hospital bags are mostly packed, I just have to add a few more things.  And of course...all of his cloth diapers are prepped and ready to go...as you can see from the picture.  I have plenty of one size diapers and 10-22 lb size diapers...but I didn't really have enough newborn diapers.  With my daughter I didn't start exclusively using cloth until she was about 10-12 lbs.  I just didn't have enough small diapers, and the one size ones didn't fit her teeny waist.  I am determined to only use cloth with Matthew, so I purchased some more pre-folds and a couple of covers, and have borrowed some covers and a ton of Kissaluvs Size 0 from a friend.  So we are in good shape.   One criticism that I have heard from people regarding cloth is that they cost too much.  I spent probably about $400 on diapers for my daughter, mostly because I tried different kinds out, and I didn't really know what to buy at first.  If I had known more I probably would have purchased more one size diapers.  But still, $400 is nothing compared to the $1600-$2000 that most people spend on diapering one child...and what the criticizers fail to mention or realize...is that cloth diapers can be reused for child after child.  I might have spent $400 for diapers for my daughter...but for my son I spent $13 on some used newborn size diapers, borrowed some from a friend...and will not have to spend another penny from birth to potty training on diapers for him.  In fact some people asked me if I wanted to have a baby shower for my son, and I said no, because I really don't need anything.  We bought a couple of things that we needed that were pretty minor, and that was it.  Several people have given us like new boy clothes and all the general stuff that we used for our daughter was gender neutral.  To me it is silly to spend tons of money on baby clothes, when you can get stuff used...babies hardly ever wear their clothes out.  

So I am basically enjoying time with my little girl, trying to get enough rest, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of my little boy.   Life is surely about to change :o)