Good food is not luxury in retirement — it is preventive maintenance for the body

[Winemaker]

View attachment 63040

OK, that's a joke, but it's thought provoking. I also find it humorous how food is such a fashion statement. There's always some food item which is in vogue today, and out of style next year.

We eat to live. We shouldn't live to eat. Portion control. Exercise. Moderation. Don't cut out huge categories of foods from your diet, and don't focus on any one as being some sort of miracle food. You'll be fine.

Here's an example of a stupid food fad. Table salt, sodium chloride, is made by evaporating sea water. You can buy salt which was mined from the ground, in formations naturally evaporated from shallow seas millions of years ago. It's cheap. And remember, the oceans millions of years ago weren't polluted.

But of course no-one wants to buy inexpensive salt. No, they want to pay more to get stylish "Sea Salt." You know, the stuff that was artificially evaporated from modern, polluted oceans.

When I spent most of my day 600-1299 feet below the serface mining bitumious coal, in wet areas where water was dripping from the roof, drops would always find away to my mouth. Plenty salty!

We pumped outside millions of gallons of water a day, and we had to watch our dissolved solids discharge, not acid.

 

[MarieIG]

Living in northern Wisconsin, fresh, healthy food can be difficult to come by for a good part of the year. Fresh (hot-house-grown) tomatoes in my neck of the woods right now are $4.69/lb. While a can of diced tomatoes is 99¢. And the $4.69/lb. tomatoes are either a pink-ish color, or if they look like a normal tomato then they sometimes go moldy within a day or two of bringing them home. DW bought a green pepper last week, went to use it two days later and there was mold at the stem area. When she just tried to cut that part off and use the rest, the inside was mold-filled as well.

We like to cook at home, but finding quality ingredients can be difficult. In August, if we look for road-side food stands (usually about 40-minutes away) we can usually get decent locally-grown sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers. And in September, there's all the fresh zucchini one would want. People who grow it have a hard time giving it away.

In the winter, we supplement our protein with organic frozen vegetables usually from Costco and BJs. We also keep organic rice on hand. DH uses Ezekiel bread for sandwiches. Tomatoes from the grocery store are (IMHO) usually awful. We do keep canned tomatoes / tomato paste in the house.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

In the winter, we supplement our protein with organic frozen vegetables usually from Costco and BJs. We also keep organic rice on hand. DH uses Ezekiel bread for sandwiches. Tomatoes from the grocery store are (IMHO) usually awful. We do keep canned tomatoes / tomato paste in the house.

Organic frozen veggies? Only what's available at Wal-Mart. The closest Costco is 100 miles away. The closest BJs is close to 500 miles away.

 

[audreyh1]

Canned tomatoes are great!

 

[TheWizard]

Canned tomatoes are great!

They are.
I'll be using several cans for my next batch of American Chop Suey tomorrow...

 

[audreyh1]

They are.
I'll be using several cans for my next batch of American Chop Suey tomorrow...

We rarely find really good fresh tomatoes - you have to grow your own and let them ripen property! But canned tomatoes are great quality and probably even more nutritious. We are addicted to the fire-roasted canned ones.