Eating healthy, eating organic, can I find something cheap and filling?

Folsom · « **on:** 27 Jun 2006, 05:42 pm »

I like to eat mostly organic food, or certain types of food. It helps my body out in many ways, most noticably loosing some weight with exercise.

The thing is it is not always cheap! I am trying to figure out what is organic and cheap, that I can stuff my face with, as a filler for snacks or on the side with meals. Well plain old big cheap meals are useful too. I find PB&J sandwhiches are somewhat cost affected, but not too much.

I find the food way to important to me than to just give up and start buying the cheapest stuff there is; plus I eat a lot more of the cheap food.

Any ideas?

woodsyi · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 07:20 pm »

If you have access to a world market or asian supermarket, you can get a bucket of organic tofu. I think it's under 10 bucks for 10 pcs in a gallon bucket. 2 pcs would make a filling meal. 2 bucks a meal is not bad. Steam it and eat it with sauce of your choice. It's as healthy as you can get. Don't go to wholefoods -- they will sell you the same stuff for 4 bucks a pc.

TF1216 · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 07:50 pm »

How about brown rice? It is a pain to cook but you can actually find it pre-cooked at place like Trader Joe's.

Just like the tofu advice, you can easily mix it with a flavor of your juice and with some flax seed oil or grape seed oil to get your unsaturated fats for the day.

Another idea if you like PB&J sandwiches is to try almond butter or another butter from a different nut. Just have to be a little creative : )

R_burke · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 10:26 pm »

For snacking, nothing beats sweet peas in the pod, endamame (soy beans in the pod) or just baby carrots

Andrikos · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 11:08 pm »

Cheap and filling eh?
Legumes and pulses is your answer.
Beans (tons of different types), peas, lentils, etc. etc. are low in glycemic index and fill you up with soluble and non-soluble fiber. Good protein source that can be found in organic form at great prices.
The above combined with whole type rice (brown, red, black) can be extremely flavorful and filling.

There are tons of recipes online if you're the DIY type...

Good luck.

Doublej · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 01:14 am »

Actually brown rice is very easy to cook if you have a rice cooker. $20-$40 for the non-stick variety at Linen and Things, $10 for a basic one at Walgreens (with stick). Where I live LNT constantly sends me coupons for $20% off so that makes it even more affordable.

The one I have has a steam hole in the cover. It makes a mess becuase as the rice cooks stuff sprays out the hole and onto the counter. I am not sure if a cooker without a hole in the top would be better or if the stuff would then just come out the sides.

The more expensive machines ($70) do a much better job of containing the bubbling mess.

Folsom · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 08:19 am »

There is just one organic place here where I am... I am in Montana, in the only city that would have one, so I am lucky for that.

I will check on the Tofu though. This place has beat Albertson on prices on things before.

I might have to look into the rice, I totally forgot about rice!

Baby carrots are something I grab semi often.

Andrikos are you talking about, er what kind of beans? Canned beans like black beans are not cheap when organic, even though they are cheaper at the store I go to than supermarkets (strangly).

sts9fan · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 12:22 pm »

Quote

Canned beans like black beans are not cheap when organic

Whole Foods sell beans for $1.20 a can. I that not cheap?

As for the rice cookers even the ten bucks is a waste of money. If you have a pan you have a rice cooker. Why would you ever spend money on one? If you want to steam it(which adds nothing) just put the rice in a metal strainer on top of a boiling pot of water then put the lid on the strainer.

woodsyi · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 12:39 pm »

Quote from: Andrikos on 27 Jun 2006, 11:08 pm

Cheap and filling eh?
Legumes and pulses is your answer.
Beans (tons of different types), peas, lentils, etc. etc. are low in glycemic index and fill you up with soluble and non-soluble fiber. Good protein source that can be found in organic form at great prices.
The above combined with whole type rice (brown, red, black) can be extremely flavorful and filling.

There are tons of recipes online if you're the DIY type...
Good luck.

Absolutely,

Of course, tofu is processed soy beans which makes it much quicker to prepare. My vegetarian wife claims that she ate nothing but beans (sacks of dried beans are dirt cheap) when she was a poor graduate student in California. Check this site out for more information. http://www.beanslentils.com/

woodsyi · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 12:42 pm »

Quote from: woodsyi on 28 Jun 2006, 12:39 pm

Quote from: Andrikos on 27 Jun 2006, 11:08 pm
Cheap and filling eh?
Legumes and pulses is your answer.
Beans (tons of different types), peas, lentils, etc. etc. are low in glycemic index and fill you up with soluble and non-soluble fiber. Good protein source that can be found in organic form at great prices.
The above combined with whole type rice (brown, red, black) can be extremely flavorful and filling.

There are tons of recipes online if you're the DIY type...
Good luck.

Absolutely,

Of course, tofu is processed soy beans which makes it much quicker to prepare. My vegetarian wife claims that she ate nothing but beans (sacks of dried beans are dirt cheap) when she was a poor graduate student in California. Check this site out for more information. http://www.beanslentils.com/

Oh, and beware of certain gas build up until your digestive system gets the hang of processing a lot of beans.

Doublej · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 03:29 pm »

sts9fan,

Because the last time I checked my stove didn't shut off automatically when the rice was cooked.

Because a rice cooker uses less energy than a stove due to the fact that the heating element is directly linked to the pot.

Because I enjoy luxury and can afford the extra 3 cents per batch that a $10 rice cooker adds to the meal cost even if it didn't cosume less energy than the stove.

Because I want to

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 03:45 pm »

Quote from: sts9fan on 28 Jun 2006, 12:22 pm

Whole Foods sell beans for $1.20 a can. I that not cheap?

As for the rice cookers even the ten bucks is a waste of money. If you have a pan you have a rice cooker. Why would you ever spend money on one? If you want to steam it(which adds nothing) just put the rice in a metal strainer on top of a boiling pot of water then put the lid on the strainer.

Rice cookers really are better than pots and pans for making rice (it's also more convenient with built in timers)....just ask the many Asians that make rice a daily staple in their diet. Steamed rice is simply a better, more flavorful way to cook it then sitting in water for an hour until the moisture is all whicked up in a pot. It's part of the reason the rice is purr-fect in Asian restaurants you visit. The most popular cookers that rice lovers aspire to are Zojurushi and National/Panasonic ones - and they go for a lot more than US$10.00. I own a Rival, costs a lot less than the others, and it works well.

My take on 'healthy' eating revolves around blood type specific foods...if you eat organic food inherently troublesome for your type, you're not eating healthy at all. But, that might be another sermon entirely

woodsyi · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 04:11 pm »

$10 rice cooker does fine with milled rice (white), but brown rice and other whole grain mixes cook better in a pressure cooker. Just as you have 9 grain breads, there are multi grain "rice" that includes other grains, beans and peas. There are pressure rice cooker for this, but they can be expensive. Regular pressure cooker over a stove will work fine if not as conviniently. BTW, these are great with beans as well.

Carlman · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 07:04 pm »

I watched a show on Food Network that had some good snack ideas:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/episode/0,1976,FOOD_9956_38665,00.html

Check out the recipe links for Brown Rice Crispy Bar, Granola, and the Protein bars... just a thought. I haven't tried them (yet) but I will.

-C

ctviggen · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 07:54 pm »

I think some of the best things you can eat are raw vegetables and fruit (and nuts). Check out a local fruit/vegetable stand. Will this be "cheap"? Not sure.

amplifierguru · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 09:20 pm »

My wife makes a delicious Dahl using red lentils, ginger, garlic, curry powder, cummin seeds... I have it rolled in unleavened home made Naan bread. Or with rice.

then there's the brown lentil soup... full of iron and B group.

Nuts.. don't forget a couple of Brazil nuts daily.. great source of selenium and a 'feelgood' pill. Lifts the spirits.

Brewers yeast... a big B vitamin pill....best sourced at the bottom of the Home Brew bottle.

Cheers,
greg

Folsom · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 06:13 am »

$2.25-5.00 canned beans are not cheap. Plus it is hard to eat just them for a meal.

I think I might have to look into a rice/pressure cooker.

I hate vegitables that are not organic, I can tastes all the pestisides in them, it taste like poisen becaues, well, it is.... The human tongue can mostly taste poisen, more than anything else. I noticed it right away and it makes me not want to eat vegitables at all.

Fruits are more tolerable but still, most of them and vegitables are some of the most saturated with chemicals. I know it REALLY sucks because I love apples. At $3.00 per two apples they are spendy most of the time for organic ones. They taste amazing though.

I still eat meat, but I try to make it only stuff I got from some where, that raised it, or all natural at the least.

I think beans and rice may become really handy.

ctviggen · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 10:59 am »

Interesting, as most of the farm stands where I live are organic. If you get rid of fruits and vegetables, what do you eat? Fruits and vegetables have much lower glycemic load (not glycemic index) than many times including rice and beans, leading to smaller blood sugar spikes. For instance, when I was on a low fat diet, my normal dinner of rice and beans would make my head spin because of the massive amount of carbohydrates hitting my system. A bowl of red cabbage and raw green beans, on the other hand, does not. I personally would rather eat vegetables and fruit (low glycemic load fruits, that is) way before rice and beans, but then I'm insulin resistant and perhaps you're not. I find it odd though that "eating healthy" means giving up fruits and vegetables. What do you live on?

Folsom · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 05:20 pm »

It does not mean giving up, it is just that some of them are expensive. I have to investigate if there is a farmers market or something around here, I have no idea. I just know certain fruits and vegitables are not cheap that are organic at the organic grocery store here.

I get vegitables from soups and some things I eat. I plan to make soups eventually, and I like Minestrone soup so I will be buying vegitables.

I think fruit is more expensive than vegitables actually; vegitables are reasonibly priced I think.

amplifierguru · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 10:45 pm »

We're lucky in that regard as the region grows pineapples, bananas, mangoes, macadamia nuts, watermelon, avocado and strawberries. Our home vege garden grows passionfruit, beans, strawberries, tomatoes and chinese and fancy red lettuce.... We have a stand of banana trees.

roadside stalls sell pineapples 5 @ $1 in season. now. In 1 month it's strawberries ~ 500gm @ $2.

What to eat.

Cheers,
Greg