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I am curious if there are many on Mrs. S. who worry about quality of food issues such as grass-fed beef, organics, gluten free, dairy free, soy free and GMOs and how you address those concerns.

 

We've been moving toward a prepared life ever so slowly, but still seem to be making progress in spite of life getting in the way. We are members of a local co-op where we have access to grass-fed beef and are utilizing that again. But it surely jacks the price of food way up.

 

I would love to hear from you all on how you address these issues.

 

Do any of you have to deal with gluten-free, dairy-fee, soy-free diets as we do? Do you eat paleo or other special diets?

 

If so, what hurdles does that put before you and how do you overcome those.

 

Just getting back into the swing of things, and this is some of what I've been mulling over.

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I'm moving to a Paleo diet. Not because I have a big belief in it but because I want to eliminate processed food and it seems the best diet to do that.
I don't like all the non food chemicals and GMO's they are putting into our food.

There is a CSA farm near me but I don't have the freezer space right now for meat. By summer I will have the freezer cleaned out and moved to a better spot.
Most meats from the store have added " broth" to them so you are paying for added water and whatever chemicals that are in the "broth".

I haven't done much canning in the past but this year we are going to have a bigger garden and put up most of the produce to have healthier food and to keep cost down.

I found (at Dollar General) some small glass condiment shaker with a 2 piece plastic lid ( one piece has the holes and the other is a screw on lid) for the herbs I'm growing and drying this year.

A few ladies and I at church are starting a support group for the change to real food, beauty products, and cleaners in our homes. We are also ordering online as a group for discounts and to split shipping.

It's slow going for me as I'm highly addicted to processed foods and the cost of switching can be eye opening at first but the long term health benefits make it worthwhile to me.

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I'm very traditional foods. I've had to go gluten free (almost 2 years ago), and now I'm paleo. I got tired of being sick all the time. My youngest is GF, Hubba had his gall bladder removed when he was 3, so we have quite a few obstacles to cover. We don't do much processed, as I have 2 that are sensitive to fake dyes & flavours.

 

I'll be back with how we overcome, because there's so much to talk about. I wanted to jump in, so I can find this thread again later, though.

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Daughter is gluten, soy and corn free. I don't eat soy or any beans at all as they badly affect my kidneys and I get gout. I'm on a chronic kidney disease diet so have to watch the protein and phosphorus intake and avoid oxalates.

 

I bake and cook nearly everything from scratch. I cook separately for daughter and for myself. I raise most of our meat, all our eggs and dairy. I have to be sure the goats don't get any gluten as daughter will react to the milk. The only meat I don't raise is beef and I try to get organic grass fed whenever possible. I just put a goat in the freezer and will be butchering the pig shortly. He is over 300# now. We eat a lot of home grown chicken, some duck and turkey. Right now I'm in eat down mode and trying to use up all the meat I've got canned.

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I have celiac disease and have been gluten free since my diagnosis. I think it's been 9 years. I have 19 diagnosed food allergies. And then a bunch of food sensitivities. I also can't have salicylates. That's the worst as it has eliminated almost all spices, fruits (I'm down to 3 that are safe), dyes, teas, most anything with artificial in it.

 

I just try to make the best of things....focusing on what I can have, not what I can't. After having to avoid the salicylates (my neck gets an incredibly itchy, burning rash which also swells and is bright red. The rash travels down my body and up my face), I get appetite fatigue a bit.

 

I react to the beef in the grocery store. We buy local organic grass fed beef. Seriously, when you consider the aren't adding anything to it, like the solutions they add in the grocery store, and the fact that it's more filling, I think per pound it can't be much more. We also buy a half of a cow at a time, so there's a big discount.

 

DH hunts and when he gets something, that helps, too.

 

Have you read Real Food by Nina Planck? Doesn't address the gluten or food allergies, or paleo, but is about eating real food and why.

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We are on GAPS to heal our guts, especially for my two kids (one teen and one toddler). It's also helped us so that we're not as sensitive to gluten as we were in the past.

 

GAPS is a starch free, nutrient dense diet. It's like a cross between Weston Price traditional foods and Primal.

 

Our biggest issue has been long term storage, because that generally concentrates on grains and GAPS is grain-free. Even if we weren't GAPS, we are all sensitive to wheat so that throw a wrench in the works. To get around this, I buy only gluten-free or very low gluten grains. I also have a good stock of millet. It's the most easily digested, and is the first grain reintroduced when transitioning off of GAPS. I figure if we ever are in a long-term situation where we are going into our stores, we'll start with the millet and then slowly introduce the other grains, fermenting or sprouting what we can to make it as easily digestible as possible.

 

The other things haven't been as much of an issue. We buy local humanely raised beef by the 1/4 from a co-worker of dh's (not totally grass-fed, but pastured and anti-biotics only when absolutely necessary). We do the same with pork, buy by the 1/4 or 1/2, and we have a large freezer. I buy most veges from our farmer's markets.

 

For oil, I buy coconut oil once per year, in a 5 gallon pail. Not only is it a very healthy oil for paleo/traditional foods/GAPS diets, but it's a great oil for long term storage.

 

I don't buy any dehydrated meals because not only do they often have TVP, but almost all are loaded with gluten or other grains.

 

I do buy powdered milk and powdered eggs but those are two things that I hope to never have to use, and plan to only use them in a long-term emergency. They do not get rotated.

 

I buy our grains and such in bulk from Azure Standard. It's a co-op that serves the western US, up to about the Mississippi. I can buy most things organic through them, and I order monthly. I order our coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals. The shipping to me in Wisconsin is tiny, and the price is about equal to a really good Tropical Traditions sale.

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I buy our grains and such in bulk from Azure Standard. It's a co-op that serves the western US, up to about the Mississippi. I can buy most things organic through them, and I order monthly. I order our coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals. The shipping to me in Wisconsin is tiny, and the price is about equal to a really good Tropical Traditions sale.

 

NOPE!! They are almost to the East coast now. NC is getting drops. I'm in TN & we've had drops here in TN for close to 2 years now, Memphis right at 2 (maybe a little more now). Atlanta also has a drop or 3 :D

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As for us, we also order from Azure- our bulk, organics, naturals + the same in HBA & cleaning. I also use Amazon subscribe & save & am a member of Prime & Amazon Mom, all of which contribute to long term savings (the Prime $79/year MORE than pays for itself. We shop Sam's for a few things as well (white rice, vinegar for cleaning, some organics, KerryGold items when they have them, etc) & we have a TN "local" program called Bulk Natural Foods (not a gov program, just a "local" program). I typically get my organics/IPM products through them for canning & preserving. They also offer dry goods, buckets, gallon jars, Gamma lids, Tattlers, coconut oil, etc.

 

In our family, we pick what is important to us. For instance, we go by the dirty dozen. If it's on the clean list, we do NOT buy organic. If it's on the neutral list, we typically buy conventional. If it's on the dirty dozen, we try to always buy organic. Corn products are ALWAYSALWAYSALWAYS bought organic or specifically labeled Non-GMO, even though it's found on the Clean 15. http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

 

We use our Farmers Market, & I'm signed up to their mailing lists & Facebook pages. Last year, I was able to purchase bulk cukes, organically grown (know your farmer!!!) for around a dollar a pound. I was able to can some pickles & ferment some pickles from the 20# I got. Using your CSA is another great perk.

 

We have a Kroger near, so we are sure to hit their markdown sections each time we go (my son also works there, so I've got him on alert for certain items). We also search Big Lots, UGO (salvage store -aka-United Grocery Outlet) & Aldo for organics & GF items. Organics are becoming MUCH more popular in organics, & it's still rare to find GF items. Aldi, also having the best prices on produce, has even better prices when they have their sales. Food Lion has AMAZING markdowns on meat, & they carry a natural line of meats.

 

Trader Joe's & Earth Fare are near-ish, so I use them a lot as well. TJ's has great prices n cheeses (raw & gouda are our faves), dried fruit, nuts, dates (for homemade Larabars) & sometimes they have good sales on their organic meats. I buy some condiments from there as well, the dishwasher detergent isn't too bad & they have some other decent soaps. Tea tree oil is fab there & salsa is a great price with safe ingredients. I always watch place of origin & try very hard to avoid made/grown in China & Mexico.

 

I have relationships with quite a few farmers as well. I've been able to get some deals from them. I've heard I'm "consistent," so they tend to treat me well. I've formed these relationships. For example, one gal was selling me eggs. Instead of the normal $4/doz, she was selling me imperfect eggs (hairline cracks with membrane still intact; thin shelled eggs, etc) for just $2.50/doz- I didn't see a difference in the quality & they definitely tasted WONDERFUL, but she knew I needed lower cost eggs. I also brought a customer to my milk lady that buys SO much milk that I get the "bulk" discount on milk. I try to rotate a frozen stock of milk outside of what we drink fresh & make into other things. I'm also blessed that when she has Jersey milk available, I get that.

 

I did GAPS for awhile. As I mentioned, I'm currently low carb paleo, always GF. Youngest son is GF. Hubba is low tolerant of a lot of gall bladder no-no's, BUT he handles those foods (dairy, egg, lamb, rich foods) if they're homegrown/homemade. Little processed foods, traditional way of eating/preparing. I cook no less than 15 hot meals a week.

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  • 5 years later...

So many folks with special needs for food variations.  Only thing we have is that with my hypothyroid, I cannot have soy and DH with his heart issues cannot have salt. I do not can with salt and also is one of the reason I can my own soups, stews, and veggies. I also can my meats. I try to buy organic when I can as well as grass fed meats. I have been looking into buying from a company that sells all grass fed meat but I need to get my freezer empied first as you have to buy a certain amount at a time to get the prices. It would be cheaper than buying in the store.  Wish we still had more farms around here, but they are being sold off and houses, apartments and any thing else they can think of to build are taken it's place. Might be heading to N. Carolina to some of the farms there. I know of a couple that would only be about an hours ride.  Just need to remember to pack a cooler with ice. 

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I go to TX every month.  I found a store selling grass fed beef, never frozen meats.  Outstanding!  We’ve felt a huge difference in how we feel. Around our area, most meat is frozen several times before it is put on the shelf.  :banghead:

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I've been GF for 15 years or so now.  Celiac runs in my family, but I'm not going to eat wheat and be miserable so they do testing and tell me not to eat wheat because it makes me miserable.  We're now figuring out that nightshades are a major issue for me (I had been getting nauseated every night for almost a month - cut out nightshades, no more nausea!) to the point that I just cleaned them out of the pantry yesterday, leaving just a few things for hubby & the kids.

 

Meat is ordered from ButcherBox - it's a little pricey, but they deliver it frozen to my doorstop and it's grass-fed, organic, etc., and I don't have to deal with going and getting it from the store.

 

I'm the only one who cares about food quality in this house, but luckily hubby doesn't give me too much crap about spending extra and having to cook differently.  I've talked to him about possibly trying to reintroduce various nightshades after I've been off them for a while, and he's actually arguing for keeping them out permanently if that will make me feel better.  He's also the one who opted not to have a separate gluten cooking area anymore after the kids kept trying to move things back and forth between gluten and non.

 

Food storage is...what we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer.  We do keep a bunch of water bottles frozen in the freezer and figure it could go a day or so without power if necessary.  I never started storing food again because we're still figuring out what to even eat for regular meals.

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I can still buy pork or lamb by the half and beef by the half or quarter from people whose names I know.  One of the half porks had boar taint, though, which really soured my son on local meat.   Dependent as I am these days,  I am trying to get him past this.

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The CG,  I have been checking into Butcher box.  You are the first one that I have heard that uses it. That is good to know. I have been trying to get my freezer emptied so I can order from them to try it out. Right now I have no room in freezer for anything else. As soon as freezer has gotten down low, I will place an order.

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9 hours ago, Ambergris said:

Very strong.

A friend of mine had Butcher Box and loved it but went back to Cosco after a while.  BB was great meat, but did cost rather more.

If they ever get the Costco built out here, that might be an option.  As it is right now, we don't really have good options for cheaper organic/grass-fed/unicorn meat in stores locally.

  • Haha 1
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On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 11:49 AM, out_of_the_ordinary said:

http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

 

Sorry--for some reason I can't copy/paste links right here.

 

Anyway, here's a site for finding grass-fed farms.

 

I've been looking for this post. I was really interested in it. Thanks!

Here is what came up: http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

  • Thanks 1
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