Real food? - Mini vent.

[sumi]

When my son was a baby I started reading labels on food and boy, was that an eye opener? I cannot believe the stuff we buy and ingest, thinking we're doing the right thing and eating "healthy".

Let's start with fruit juice. Yesterday I went to the supermarket and looked through the juice selection on offer. First I see 40% and 50 % fruit juice, I skipped those and looked for 100%. That produced 2 options. Only 2... I picked one bottle and looked at the label for the ingredients list. The first thing I see is "water", I didn't bother reading further. The second bottle of mixed fruit juice amazingly consists of JUICE from actual fruit! Out of all the options available there was 1 that was what it promised to be on the label: fruit juice. It makes buying a juicer and making my own juice at home seem like a very good idea.

Today we went into town again and I felt hungry so DH bought me a "pepper steak" pie. I didn't detect even a hint of pepper and half the filling was soya chunks... I ate it, but it wasn't a very enjoyable experience. And that pie was not cheap either...

Vegetables and fruit. Have you ever eaten a mandarin orange that tasted of absolutely nothing? It was like eating uniquely packaged water... I wonder what the nutrient value was? Green bananas that goes off within a day of us removing them from their carefully maintained environment in the supermarket. Tasteless sweet potatoes, watery potatoes... I can go on all day.

Eggs. After eating eggs from my own free ranged hens for a few years I cracked a battery egg into a frying pan, looked at the watery white and the half-hearted pale yellow yolk and my heart when out to the poor hen who did her best to produce that.

Red meat dyed with artificial colouring to make it look fresh? Pass. And chicken? I burst out laughing in the shop when I saw the label proudly telling me the chicken chunks comes with "special marinade" of brine, to keep the meat juicy and tender. Which is their response to the government forcing them to admit that bag contains 70% chicken and 30% brine and you pay dearly for both. I'm glad I stopped eating chicken meat.

Milk that is so watered down, I cannot believe they have the audacity to still call it "milk". I've tasted the real deal, straight from the cow. When I pour milk into my coffee and I have to fill half the cup with milk to get it to the required milky state, I dream of my own cow...

The pleasure of having REAL, undiluted food to eat must be one of the biggest plusses of self-sufficiency. I'm hoping life will send me to my own place soon, where I can grow my own fruit and veg, keep a goat or two and as many chickens as my heart desires. So I can raise my son on healthy, real food.

 

[TwoCrows]

Sumi, you need to move. LOL Organics, Non GMO and more natural foods are becoming more common here in the United States. They used to be more expensive, but have come down some due to the popular demand. But I do agree, I don't know how they label some food. "Food". It is either tasteless, overly sloppy, greasy, salty, sweet, etc..Even what is supposed to be natural has no flavor anymore. I swear, they are doing things to some of this food to eek the most out of production on their end, and sell you less product for more money! Some manufacturers will blow air into the food to save on the product on their end or add oils, water, ect...Just think about how much money they can bank if they give you 1% less food in their product!! Just crazy.

There are things I just don't eat off the grocery shelves anymore. And some of these "Mystery Meats" are scary! LOL Along with how the animals are treated in some of these production houses keeps me away from a lot of foods. It's a wonder I can find anything to eat!!

So read those labels and in your case Sumi, I think you need a new country!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Totally agree with you, Sumi. We only eat chicken if it comes from the backyard. My freezer pork is getting low so I'll be getting a couple new porkers when we come back from vacation. I don't raise beef, so if we eat it, I only buy organic. And we do eat the occasional goat/lamb.

I promised myself long ago that I would NEVER put pasteurized dairy products into my body again and have stuck by it. So, if I'm out and want a cup of coffee I've learned to drink it black.

I swear some of the stuff we put in our bodies is criminal!

 

[Britesea]

Considering the massive increases in obesity, diabetes, ADD and ADHD, ASD and who knows what else since these so-called foods (and microwaves! do the research- this is NOT a healthy way to cook food!) have been offered... it's tempting to subscribe to conspiracy theories about some secret group wanting to kill off the majority of the human race, isn't it?

 

[WendyJ]

Low or no fat things like skim milk have to be among the biggest scams out there. I know lots of people of Indian descent, they tend to drink a LOT of milk, all full fat (in India they drink water buffalo milk, our full fat tastes weak compaired to that) and last I checked India doesn't have an obesity issue.

 

[sumi]

@frustratedearthmother Did you work out how much it cost to raise your own pork? I found after doing some sums that our pork, even when processed into sausages and bacon by the local butcher, cost 30% - 50% less than the same products in the butchery shop. Apart from being able to control what goes into that meat and how the animals get treated, the savings is another big plus!

@Britesea That's the other side of the coin, the stuff they add to the food... Wow, cancer causing agents, salt in absolutely everything, unnatural colorants and flavourings, some of which have proved to cause behavioural problems in children. When I lived in Ireland I sometimes bought some jelly sweets, I think the brand name was Haribo. One day I looked at the ingredients and saw they used plants to dye the sweets. Nettles was one of the things they used, to dye the green sweets. I wish I had a packet around so I could give you the full list. It just shows you, it can be done!

@WendyJ I could not believe it when some of my friends in the US told me selling raw milk is illegal in their states. I can buy raw milk in certain shops here, or directly from the farmers and it's labeled as such, or you simply take your own container and they fill it for you. It's never done me or my family any harm... As long as the required procedures is followed re hygiene and sanitation, what's the problem? Skimmed milk is a joke! It's so watered down it doesn't even taste of milk any more. What's the health benefit of that?

 

[Denim Deb]

I live in one of those states where it's illegal to sell raw milk. Eventually, I want to be able to get my own milk, either from a goat or a cow. I need to find a way to taste goat's milk to be sure I like it first. I'd rather go w/a goat. They're much simpler to care for. Plus, I doubt I'd need as much milk as I'd get from a cow.

I hate getting recipes off the internet. They call for a package of this, a package of that instead of listing real ingredients!

 

[WendyJ]

@sumi raw milk is sort of available here, but it is in a grey area, the courts are still trying to decide just what to do about it. Some farmers are trying to get around the legalities of it by selling shares in the cow, as you can drink raw milk from a cow you own, not sure how that will work out. Part of the problem is there have been some people that didn't put proper care into it and people did get sick. It is always a bit of a balance between how much regulation is needed, and what is too much. All meat and dairy in Canada is more regulated (and thus more expensive) in Canada already, personally I like that hormone and antibiotic use is controlled here, but I realize it does make it harder for the farmer to compete.

@Denim Deb I find lots of good recipes on the internet (I am a bit of a Pinterest hoarder), if you look for "clean eating" recipes they are often real food.

 

[sumi]

I think they should allow it everywhere, with some guidelines and regulations to make sure no-one gets sick. There is always a risk though. I got food poisoning from flavoured milk once, that I bought in a supermarket and it was sold under our biggest local dairy product brand.

They make it hard for the farmers here and pays them a pittance for their milk, so it's nice that they are allowed to sell directly to the public.

 

[Britesea]

@Denim Deb goats milk can be delicious or nasty- it depends on the goat. I think that goat breeders have been getting better about culling the goats with bad tasting milk, but it used to be they didn't- they were just selecting for production or conformation or even color. Cows HAVE been culled for good milk flavor, so you rarely come across a cow with bad-tasting milk. The safest thing is to buy a goat in milk and insist on tasting the milk before you buy. (and DON'T feed them cabbage!) Make sure the doe gets supplemental minerals too- especially the heavy producers- as that can affect the taste of the milk.

I really don't understand why goat milk is lumped in the same regulations as cows milk. Cows milk is required to be pasteurized because cows can get brucellosis, which can be passed to humans. I don't believe there has ever been a documented case of brucellosis in a goat (but my information is 20 years old now so I may be wrong).