I said that I would talk more about our visit to the dairy farm so here it is!
Jason and I have made a lot of changes in what we eat, mostly after watching the documentary food, inc.
I 100% recommend watching it! It was a very interesting movie and I learned a lot from it.
This blog is where it all started, I came across her blog one night and read just about every post she had about eating healthier and why she had made the switch to organic.
She has a lot of great information and I highly recommend checking it out
We made a switch to eating mostly organic foods.
I did A LOT of research and looked for tips on eating organic while on a budget.
Let me tell you that it IS possible to eat organic on a budget!!
Start by taking a look at the dirty dozen list, it tells you what produce has the most pesticides in it (you should buy those items organic) and which items have the least amount of pesticides (these are ok to by conventional)
If this is the only change you can afford to make, GREAT! Even one change is better than none!
If you can go one step further pick one or as many of these as your budget will afford and make the switch to organic:
Milk
Eggs
Meat
Other Dairy like cheese and yogurt
We kind of switch those all at once (after we finished off what we already had)
Let me just tell you I used to be an extreme couponer and would get a weeks worth of groceries for $10 or less.
This was a HUGE adjustment for me!
This should tell you how important I think it is to eat healthy and know what you put in your body!
We now buy organic milk from organic valley, it is from free range cows and they are mostly grass fed.
A half gallon cost about 3.65 but I will pour half of it into another carton and fill them both with water, we get whole milk so when you add the water it is basically 2% but you keep all the good fats and nutrients from whole milk.
Eggs can be bit tricky
this link should help you clarify the difference between free range, cage free, organic etc..
We buy eggs that come from organic free range chickens and pay $3.75-$4 per dozen.
As far as meat goes I mostly buy chicken (either the organic brand at the grocery store or straight from the farm), when I buy it from the store I never pay full price for it!
This is another very helpful tip, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. that I go to the grocery store I take a walk by the meat section to see if there is anything marked down, if there is a buy 3-4 of it and freeze it.
I just got some organic chicken marked down to $2.30 for almost two pounds and some all natural (with no antibiotics, additives or hormones) for about $3.
Another tip about meat is just to use less, check out this post where I tell you how much money you can save just by cutting back a little bit.
Also when you do cook with meat just try to make it stretch further! Meat should not be the main course, it should just accompany your other foods.
Any ways more about the dairy farm and the herd share..
There is this huge debate over rather or not raw milk is safe, well my opinion is this
If you feed your cows a bunch of crap and give them poor living conditions they will not produce good healthy milk. PERIOD.
On the other hand if you let your cows graze in the pastures the way they are supposed to and care for them the way they should be cared for then there should be nothing wrong with your milk.
In Ohio it is illegal to buy raw milk, but you are aloud to drink the milk your own cow produces.
When you join a herd share you "own" a portion of the herd and there for can drink the milk it produces.
At Double J farm it cost $50 to join the herd share (the farmer will buy it back if you decide to no longer be a part of it), from there on it is $30 a month and you get 1 gallon of milk a week.
This is a little bit on the expensive side but when it really comes down to it, it is not much more than what we pay for milk now.
The only reason we have not signed up for it yet it because we are moving and it would be a very long drive just to get our milk and we don't even drink a whole gallon a week.
We are still looking into farms that are closer to our new house.
Here are some pictures from our visit to the farm
They also offer a goat milk herd share for the same price.
I 100% recommend watching it! It was a very interesting movie and I learned a lot from it.
This blog is where it all started, I came across her blog one night and read just about every post she had about eating healthier and why she had made the switch to organic.
She has a lot of great information and I highly recommend checking it out
We made a switch to eating mostly organic foods.
I did A LOT of research and looked for tips on eating organic while on a budget.
Let me tell you that it IS possible to eat organic on a budget!!
Start by taking a look at the dirty dozen list, it tells you what produce has the most pesticides in it (you should buy those items organic) and which items have the least amount of pesticides (these are ok to by conventional)
If this is the only change you can afford to make, GREAT! Even one change is better than none!
If you can go one step further pick one or as many of these as your budget will afford and make the switch to organic:
Milk
Eggs
Meat
Other Dairy like cheese and yogurt
We kind of switch those all at once (after we finished off what we already had)
Let me just tell you I used to be an extreme couponer and would get a weeks worth of groceries for $10 or less.
This was a HUGE adjustment for me!
This should tell you how important I think it is to eat healthy and know what you put in your body!
We now buy organic milk from organic valley, it is from free range cows and they are mostly grass fed.
A half gallon cost about 3.65 but I will pour half of it into another carton and fill them both with water, we get whole milk so when you add the water it is basically 2% but you keep all the good fats and nutrients from whole milk.
Eggs can be bit tricky
this link should help you clarify the difference between free range, cage free, organic etc..
We buy eggs that come from organic free range chickens and pay $3.75-$4 per dozen.
As far as meat goes I mostly buy chicken (either the organic brand at the grocery store or straight from the farm), when I buy it from the store I never pay full price for it!
This is another very helpful tip, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. that I go to the grocery store I take a walk by the meat section to see if there is anything marked down, if there is a buy 3-4 of it and freeze it.
I just got some organic chicken marked down to $2.30 for almost two pounds and some all natural (with no antibiotics, additives or hormones) for about $3.
Another tip about meat is just to use less, check out this post where I tell you how much money you can save just by cutting back a little bit.
Also when you do cook with meat just try to make it stretch further! Meat should not be the main course, it should just accompany your other foods.
Any ways more about the dairy farm and the herd share..
There is this huge debate over rather or not raw milk is safe, well my opinion is this
If you feed your cows a bunch of crap and give them poor living conditions they will not produce good healthy milk. PERIOD.
On the other hand if you let your cows graze in the pastures the way they are supposed to and care for them the way they should be cared for then there should be nothing wrong with your milk.
In Ohio it is illegal to buy raw milk, but you are aloud to drink the milk your own cow produces.
When you join a herd share you "own" a portion of the herd and there for can drink the milk it produces.
At Double J farm it cost $50 to join the herd share (the farmer will buy it back if you decide to no longer be a part of it), from there on it is $30 a month and you get 1 gallon of milk a week.
This is a little bit on the expensive side but when it really comes down to it, it is not much more than what we pay for milk now.
The only reason we have not signed up for it yet it because we are moving and it would be a very long drive just to get our milk and we don't even drink a whole gallon a week.
We are still looking into farms that are closer to our new house.
Here are some pictures from our visit to the farm
AWW!! Look at the baby!!
I wanna go on a farm tour! That looks fun!
ReplyDeleteYes! I found someone else who watched food, inc and instantly change their diet as a result of it! I did a few post about how my diet changed after watching that couple with reading + watching "Fast Food Nation". So I'm definitely in the same boat and happy that the two of you are going the extra mile to switch up your diets!
ReplyDelete► XO • KIMBERLYLUXE ◄