Comments on: Mary’s Notes, June 12, 2007

By: herbert browne

herbert browne — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 05:40:27 +0000

Thanks for the link, Chelsea… it was informative to see what people had suggested to Ms. Lee to improve her buying power (I guess even the poor/ formerly poor read blogs, now & again).
It would be interesting to examine the connection between the genetically modified crops and the crops supported most substantially by the Farm Bill. It seems like there’s a parallel there… which implies that maybe the genetic seed modifiers are simply using farmers as a “pass-through” mechanism to tap into the U.S. Treasury, via crop subsidies… chow ^..^

By: Brian Dunbar

Brian Dunbar — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 04:39:00 +0000

And no offense, Brian, because I love the stuff, but Ramen is a heart attack in a packet. Enough sodium to keep you going for a week and a lot of fat too.

No offense taken. I love Raman as well but recognize it’s not exactly a packet o’ healthy goodness. i said cheap and quick not ‘heart healthy’.

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Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:43:17 +0000

[...] ne of the listener/contributors, Garrett Zevgetis, became such a prolific help online that he’s been hired as a summer production intern at Open Source. For the past two yea [...]

By: greenbrier

greenbrier — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:27:20 +0000

Ehhh…I think that people have an instinctive sense of nutrition (hence all of those classic comboes of beans/rice/corn that actually make a pretty decent diet) but it’s been all but firebombed out of them in this country by advertisers, corn syrup peddlars, junk food moguls, et al. You don’t see a lot of poor people in this country buying brown rice. If they’re lucky, they have ethnic food traditions that allow for common sense, inventiveness and actual cooking (go down to Haymarket in Boston of a Saturday and watch the Chinese grandmothers haggling with the young Italian fruit vendors over this bit or that of bruised fruit). If they don’t, they’re end up the ones you see in the Foodmaster buying gallons of neon fruit drink and bags of chips as big as sacks of charcoal briquettes. And no offense, Brian, because I love the stuff, but Ramen is a heart attack in a packet. Enough sodium to keep you going for a week and a lot of fat too.

I know that boredom would be the biggest challenge for me, getting irritated by the same leftovers every day, getting tired of bananas. That said, the best bang for your buck is probably a big pot of soup. An 89-cent bag of split peas, an onion and a hambone will get you pretty far, as will a chicken, boiled up with some carrots, garlic, and noodles or rice or what have you. Good luck!

By: Brian Dunbar

Brian Dunbar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:43:10 +0000

Iâ€™ve had is that saving money is time consuming because it involves multiple trips to multiple stores in order to fully take advantage of the weekly sales

Don’t forget ‘free bagel’ day at the office.

Ah, you laugh. But ‘found’ food is a great way to stretch a budget.

By: Potter

Potter — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:38:08 +0000

A great book on dietary combinations to make complete proteins is Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Plant. As well- she wrote “Recipes for a Small Planet”. Not to be too flip but I thought you could pick the dandelion greens on the way to work. Boil them for 10 minutes. Serve with oil and garlic. Oh yum.

I wonder if good nutrition is taught in the schools. School lunches used to be simply awful and a recent look at school lunch menus show that not much has changed. A show idea: get Alice Waters on to talk about this. I understand this is a passion of hers.

By: loki

loki — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:28:39 +0000

Congrats! Garrett aka nother.

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:44:42 +0000

Howdy,

Thanks for the nutrition advice.

I’m trying to eat mainly protein, fruits and vegetables and I’m relying heavily on the bruised fruit discounts at Stop& Shop. The main revelation I’ve had is that saving money is time consuming because it involves multiple trips to multiple stores in order to fully take advantage of the weekly sales. Saving money also means saving everything, rather than tossing a mug half full of coffee, I now refrigerate it and warm it up for breakfast the next day. I also understand why so many have to eat junk food. When you can buy 10 frozen pizzas for $10.00, which could amount to 20 meals for one person, it makes 69 cent mangoes look pretty frivolous.

Speaking of food stamp diets, I came across this diary entry during my hunt for Blogsday material.

By: herbert browne

herbert browne — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:19:23 +0000

I’ll echo Brian Dunbar- nutrition isn’t a secret of the upper & middle classes- and beans are good (& can be delicious). Beans & rice together cover the “required” protein spectrum… and, invested with a sauteed onion & a little fat (butter, whatever… I’d be tempted to try peanut butter, but probably not the oil from the tuna- if you got oil packed, & not water) the beans can be refried and eaten with steamed rice (brown rice, short or long-grain… not the white stuff) & whatever condiment/sauce works for you. I like your shopping list- but I’m a fruit bat (could live on citrus, berries, bananas, dates, etc). When I tried the “straight” macrobiotic thing years ago (brown rice, tamari, sea salt), the only “outside” bonbon that I allowed myself was popsicles… ^..^

By: Ken Pittman

Ken Pittman — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 04:27:17 +0000

I’ve always wondered about the food market. Exactly how did we get to a world where it’s cheaper to buy a lot of junk food and deserts then healthy food?
That and is there anyway to get away from it and start making something like an apple, cheaper then a deef friend Mars Bar?

Do eat right Chelsea, life is that much better when you do eat all that you should and not an imbalance of what is just laying about.

By: Brian Dunbar

Brian Dunbar — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:44:17 +0000

Have we mentioned that Chelsea is living off of the 21 dollar a week food stamp diet?

Beans are good. For a cheap quick meal look into Raman – you can even get off-brand Raman that is cheaper yet. Add hot sauce for a flavorful treat.

As far as ‘knowing’ about nutrition – I’ve been poor and I knew about nutrition. Granted I’m only a case of one but still.

By: Potter

Potter — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:34:01 +0000

( btw- That’s why I think she should weigh herself- to see if she is losing.)

By: Potter

Potter — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:24:13 +0000

Kate I think she will be okay if she makes some minor changes. Too many mangoes- and forget the pops- that was not wise. I do worry about the calories she needs. Buy beans.

The point it that one really needs to understand nutrition to negotiate this and the poor- for the most part I would guess- do not. The allowance as is should not assauge any guilt about caring for the poor.

By: katemcshane

katemcshane — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:52:25 +0000

About Garrett — I had an intuition that this was happening. Good luck!! Also, I’ll be in touch about Edward Hopper as soon as I get my poems into the mail. But will you have any time, now that you’re basically working three jobs?

Chelsea — Honey, I’m worried about this. I’m serious. You can’t live on what you bought. You’re already petite. You can’t afford to lose any weight. And peanut butter is filling, but despite what they tell us, it’s not the best thing to eat. I give you so much credit for doing this. I’ll be thinking about you. And this will make a great show, assuming you’re planning one.

By: Potter

Potter — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:14:29 +0000

Forgot to say- I was thinking Garrett might morph—-wonderful!!!

By: Potter

Potter — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:13:41 +0000

Did Chelsea weigh herself before she started?

Jim McGovern is our congressman (article linked above)- we love him.