Living-Deliberately.com

Sahah asked this in the comments and it was so good I decided to pull it up for a post.

“you talk so much about this Nourishing Traditions stuff and I’ve read it other places too. I always am left with this question: Does it cost more or take much more time to live with this kind of eating/cooking lifestyle?”

On cost: in many ways it’s cheaper. One thing that was said to me, and what I’ve tried to pass along, is that newbies should start with the steps they can handle. You may not want or be able to do the whole thing right from the git-go.

One thing that made implementation easier for me was that I was already in the habit of pre-planning our meals and living on a budget. For most of this year, my grocery budget for a family of 6 was $450 a month. Now, let me tell you, a lot of people would say that they don’t spend that much more than that but without careful tracking, it can EASILY double. I thought we ate pretty healthy; mostly whole foods and very seasonal.

Cost is ‘iffy’ though. If you want to go all organic on your meats and dairy and produce, it’s probably going to cost you a lot more, unless you grow a good portion of that yourself. If you want to be more vegetarian in your approach and not do much meat, it can cost a lot less. Grains, even good organic ones, are not expensive!

Right now I’m trying to keep our food under $550 a month. It’s hard because I’m still adjusting to a new shopping/store routine and our oldest could probably go through a gallon of milk a day. Our budget allows for good coffee, little chocolate, no processed foods, no junk.
If you shop with my meal plans, you’ll get an idea of how I’m eating and what I’m spending. I use organic grains and beans (non-irradiated). I usually buy organic, free range eggs. I get local produce for the most part but it’s not all organic, or if it is, not certified. Local honey. Nuts and maple syrup and olive oil from Walmart because they are so much cheaper and we eat a lot of them. I hate Walmart though and am looking to adjust this area first.

With the book, I don’t forsee going into the raw meat territory. And I haven’t been making my own stocks due to an a difficulty getting good bones; I buy stock with no MSG.

As for prep: it DOES take pre-planning. You have to know your menu enough to anticipate setting out beans to sprout, grains to soak, cheese to drain. The first few weeks I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and a lot of time THINKING about what I needed to do in the kitchen. Now, it’s much more streamlined. I usually look ahead and lay out the future meal’s requirement while I’m working on the present meal.

Sound tiring? It has it’s moments. But this is no crunchy deprivation diet. The food is BEAUTIFUL. The book is very appropriately named….you can feel that Nourishment in your very marrow when you get in the groove. The Tradition has  a routine and flow. Food has purpose. When you can eat THIS good, this tasty, and feel great for it too, why wouldn’t ya try it?
Jordan Rubin had a great thought he shared on his show awhile back: we often pray, “bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies”. And we pray that over a plate of NON food that we want him to bless and somehow give our bodies what they need to work. We want Him to bless the junk so we don’t have to eat better. But food is either blessed or it’s not blessed. He’s already provided us with a bounty of wonderful things to eat. REAL foods that we can say, “thank you” for and know they are good for us.

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