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>[Heidi] and one beef provides enough liver, heart, and kidney for the

>year, and enough lungs, guts etc. for chickens and dogs. And more fat

>than you can use.

>

>[MAP] I agree with that this is a pretty crazy statement, at

>least the heart part! One beef heart is enough heart for one person

>for about a month on a low-heart diet, much less otherwise. For an

>average family, though, one beef heart is good for about one meal.

Well, you see, this highlights the difference between " buying a cow "

and " buying in the supermarket " . If you buy in the supermarket, you

can get anything you want, any time you want, which is why folks do

it. But .. you pay more.

When you buy a beef, you get what one beef has, and adapt accordingly.

One beef has one heart and one tongue, which makes both " rare " .

It also only has one tail and 2 kidneys and a few ribs. Now in our

family, that is enough " cool " stuff to last ... one or two cool

things a month, and a lot of " normal " stuff...

Anyway, that's the route I've chosen, and it's more affordable than

buying stuff the other way, where you get more choices. But it's

an interesting philisophical dilemma! Kinda like ... eating fruit in

season, or whenever you want! You can eat blueberries in winter,

if you import them from Chili. I choose not to ... I eat them when

our blueberry plants have blueberries, and eat the frozen ones

otherwise.

If a family has to have more than one beef heart per year, then

how does that work out for all families? Granted a lot of beef

heart gets thrown out, so you could rescue it, but in a " hunter

gatherer " situation, it's about like killing a buffalo, taking the heart,

and letting the rest go to the scavengers.

Heidi Jean

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--- In , Heidi Schuppenhauer <heidis@t...>

wrote:

>

> >. The biggest

> >weakness for our family is impulsively going out to eat

> >- and we don't like cheap restaurants, either. So I concentrate

> >on having a plan for dinner every night.

> >Aven

>

> That was one of our biggest expenses too! It helps that

> I CAN'T eat out now ... but ... I also discovered that

> one can cook a steak, really really fast (esp. if one eats

> it half raw, like I do). I freeze them so they are easy

> to separate, and plop the whole frozen thing onto

> a cast iron hot grill pan. Steak is our new " fast food " .

> Add a side of kimchi ... maybe some oven fries or

> hash browns, and you got dindin. Even if we

> were paying $10 a steak (we aren't) it would be

> cheaper than going out to eat.

>

> Also we use the crock pot a lot. Throw some frozen

> ribs or shanks in it at breakfast time, they are done

> by dinner.

> Heidi Jean

I do exactly the same with the steak! Pan-fried steak

and pan-fried potatoes are the greatest! For me,

cooking isn't the problem - it's getting the kitchen

cleaned up so I CAN cook. A pile of dirty dishes in the

kitchen makes me want to head for a restaurant.

A crock pot is on my list, but I want to get the right one.

All the ones I've seen new in stores say " nonstick

coating, " and I want to make sure I'm getting something

nontoxic.

Aven

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Heidi-

>If a family has to have more than one beef heart per year, then

>how does that work out for all families? Granted a lot of beef

>heart gets thrown out,

In some hypothetical future, where there's a large demand for beef hearts

again, sure, but at the moment, as you say, most of them are getting

tossed. The situation isn't at all analogous to blueberries which have to

be imported out of season.

-

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>In some hypothetical future, where there's a large demand for beef hearts

>again, sure, but at the moment, as you say, most of them are getting

>tossed. The situation isn't at all analogous to blueberries which have to

>be imported out of season.

>

>-

No, it is different in that respect. But from a food cost respect,

the way I work my life anyway, to get MORE beef hearts

is an extra cost. My goal is to spend a few days a year supplying

my meat needs for the year. Anything beyond that is an

" extra " ... I DO get " extras " mind you, I splurge on all kinds of

things, but I label them as such in my mind. I'm trying to figure

out an optimum way to feed a family that DOES NOT cost

an arm and a leg and still has great nutrition.

I'm not really a beef heart fan, but if I was, then I'd get more

and it would be one of our " extras " . I can get them for free

with the setup we have at the moment, but it would take more

freezer space (and possibly more car trips) so nothing is

really " free " ...

Heidi Jean

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>A crock pot is on my list, but I want to get the right one.

>All the ones I've seen new in stores say " nonstick

>coating, " and I want to make sure I'm getting something

>nontoxic.

>Aven

Look on www.cooking.com. At least some of them are

ceramic (I just looked: search on " Crock pot " ). Also

Value Village and other used places have them cheap.

There was a rumor that some of the ceramics used were

high lead, but I doubt that is true: stoneware doesn't leach

lead easily in any case, but they don't use lead glazes for

cookware anymore. There WAS a recall of some of the Rivals,

but that was because the handles could break off when you

were carrying the base (I never carry a pot of hot anything

if I can help it! It stays on the counter).

Here's the gourmet version:

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=217055

Heidi Jean

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Heidi-

>My goal is to spend a few days a year supplying

>my meat needs for the year.

I'd love to be able to do that, but my primary goal is to improve my

health; hence my interest in more heart than I could get by just buying a cow.

-

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Pratick-

>We get ours for $4.99/dozen - organic, free-range, but those are Canadian $ :o

>I would prefer to pay about $2.50 CAD for dozen.

I'd love to spend less for everything without compromising quality...

BTW, though I don't know whether this is different in Canada, in the US,

" free range " doesn't mean at all what it sounds like. It just means

chickens aren't in tiny cages -- they're able to " freely " " range " through a

barn over a concrete floor. It's really, really deceptive. Though there

are no legal standards, " pastured " typically means that the chickens are

out on actual pasture. Country Hen eggs, the supermarket brand I buy when

I can't get pastured eggs, are free range in the concrete-floored barn sense.

Unfortunately, a lot of organic " free range " eggs come from companies which

proudly announce the vegetarian feed they give their chickens.

>Most of the fishes are in the $2.49 - $4.99 a lb range.

Wow. I live in a fish town (NYC) but I can't even come close to

that. Maybe if I frequented Chinatown at the right time of day, something

I'll have to try sooner or later...

Then again, it's hard to know whether fish is better to avoid anyway, with

all the mercury scaremongering going on.

>Thick cream (40% fat) - $4.99/lb

Huh, you pay by the pound? Interesting. At the moment I'm getting

pasteurized grass-fed heavy cream (probably just 35% fat) for

$3.99/pint. Bleck. I'm trying to line up a new raw source which might be

a little cheaper and also a lot better, but we'll see.

-

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< It just means

chickens aren't in tiny cages -- they're able to " freely " " range " through a

barn over a concrete floor. It's really, really deceptive. Though there

are no legal standards, " pastured " typically means that the chickens are

out on actual pasture. >

I'm not sure about this, but I was told " uncaged " in Calif. means free to

roam in a building/barn, " free range " means free to walk out the open door

onto dirt (which supposedly few do), and " pastured " means on grass (but

these are still given feed which may not be organic). I pay a ghastly $4

plus for a half-dozen New Zealand eggs which are both pastured (estimated

70%) and fed organic (unfortunately, incl. soy)--but they are large, the

yolks a good orange and the shells very hard. I figure the yolks speak to

the quality of grass and the shells speak to the quality of the insects.

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,

What brand? Does that mean you're in NZ? I thought i was the only kiwi here.

Deb

-----Original Message-----

From: West [mailto:clairewest@...]

I pay a ghastly $4 plus for a half-dozen New Zealand eggs which are both

pastured (estimated

70%) and fed organic (unfortunately, incl. soy)--but they are large, the

yolks a good orange and the shells very hard. I figure the yolks speak to

the quality of grass and the shells speak to the quality of the insects.

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-

>I'm not sure about this, but I was told " uncaged " in Calif. means free to

>roam in a building/barn, " free range " means free to walk out the open door

>onto dirt (which supposedly few do), and " pastured " means on grass (but

>these are still given feed which may not be organic).

Well, California would be the state to require greater accuracy in

labeling, so it wouldn't surprise me if it's true there.

> I pay a ghastly $4

>plus for a half-dozen New Zealand eggs which are both pastured (estimated

>70%) and fed organic (unfortunately, incl. soy)--but they are large, the

>yolks a good orange and the shells very hard. I figure the yolks speak to

>the quality of grass and the shells speak to the quality of the insects.

Frenzs? I tried them when I was in LA, but I thought they had an odd

flavor. Maybe something I'm just not used to.

-

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That's the way that I pick my supermarket eggs. Despite the claims on

the labels...if they make any of us sick, don't smell, taste, look

right, and if the cats won't touch them...we move on to the next

brand. Surprisingly, Fred Meyer (also known as Fry's and Kroger in

other parts of the country) has put in their organic/natural section

recently, including their own store name brand. These have actually

turned out to be pretty good compared to the rest of what is in the

stores. So in a pinch, " Naturally Preferred " free-range eggs, and

organic (albiet pasteurized) milk are fairly good and not too

expensive. I don't recommend their " organic " eggs....

Catz

)--but they are large, the

> yolks a good orange and the shells very hard. I figure the yolks speak to

> the quality of grass and the shells speak to the quality of the insects.

>

>

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> Value Village and other used places have them cheap.

I got my lovely enormous Rival ceramic crockpot at Goodwill for

something like $6. Looked brand new.

Lynn S.

------

Lynn Siprelle * web developer, writer, mama, fiber junky

http://www.siprelle.com * http://www.thenewhomemaker.com

http://www.democracyfororegon.com * http://www.knitting911.net

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>I'd love to be able to do that, but my primary goal is to improve my

>health; hence my interest in more heart than I could get by just buying a cow.

>

>-

Yeah, and you are on a different route for sure! It doesn't seem

from your posts that you are feeding a family either, which is a whole

different ball game. I ate MUCH different when I was single, and

my dh had a very different " single " diet than I had. And obviously

a " therapeutic " diet is different from an " affordable " one. I think

of the Indian who gave the blinded trapper all the fish eyes ...

obviously a diet of just fish eyes isn't doable in the long run.

Heidi Jean

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Deb and ,

It is Frenz that I buy--imported from NZ to southern California for the

Whole Foods Store. I got Jimbo's to offer them, too (a store much closer to

me), but they are a tiny chain and charge much more. I haven't yet figured

out how the extra charge might weigh against the mileage for gas. I buy a

case at a time and that gives me a 10% discount. Their packaging has all

kinds of info, like " No beak trimming, no batteries or barns " (batteries?)

www.frenzs.com

Pratick,

I eat these eggs raw, so I can't comment on peeling them when cooked.

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I know someone else touched on this already, but I've noticed my budget has

stayed about the same, I've just exchanged sources of the expenses. Instead of

paying for different prescription meds for allergies/asthma/shots, I pay for

better food. And, we don't have the frequent MD visits either.

As far as money saving ideas, we've bought meat in bulk from local farmers.

Dairy direct from the farm; some local, some shipped to us. Buying produce from

the farmer's directly, or farmer's market helped, vs. the grocery store. But,

the biggest difference in expense reduction was when we cut out grains. Even

the NT-style, soaked grains. We rarely eat grain anymore, and that has allowed

me to spend more on meat and veggies like we prefer. (That doesn't mean the

kids don't ask for them anymore, it's just that they get other foods substituted

instead!) Right now, for our family of 5, I'd say we spend around $800-$1000 a

month. That's after a great deal of shopping around for grass-fed meat, organic

produce, and raw dairy.

Rebekah

Food costs.

I was wondering if people would be willing to share how much they

spend on food when eating the NT way. I have already seen my gorcery

bill skyrocket. I feel good about spending money on real food and

supporting local farmers and shops by eating this way. However, I am

really feeling the bit in the back pocket. \

Green Blessings,

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Thanks

--- In , Heidi Schuppenhauer <heidis@t...>

wrote:

>

> >A crock pot is on my list, but I want to get the right one.

> >All the ones I've seen new in stores say " nonstick

> >coating, " and I want to make sure I'm getting something

> >nontoxic.

> >Aven

>

> Look on www.cooking.com. At least some of them are

> ceramic (I just looked: search on " Crock pot " ). Also

> Value Village and other used places have them cheap.

> There was a rumor that some of the ceramics used were

> high lead, but I doubt that is true: stoneware doesn't leach

> lead easily in any case, but they don't use lead glazes for

> cookware anymore. There WAS a recall of some of the Rivals,

> but that was because the handles could break off when you

> were carrying the base (I never carry a pot of hot anything

> if I can help it! It stays on the counter).

>

> Here's the gourmet version:

>

> http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=217055

>

>

> Heidi Jean

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Our produce spending dropped dramatically after we joined a CSA community

supported agriculture group. We get organic produce farm fresh weekly for

about $20 per week and it is about $2 per pound.

Do a search for community supported agriculture and you state and see if you

can find a group near you.

Connie Bernard

http://www.PandoraPads.com

Organic Cotton Feminine Pads, Tampons, Nursing Pads,

Natural Progesterone Cream, and Children's Supplements.

On-line Discount Voucher: nn242g223

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> < It just means

> chickens aren't in tiny cages -- they're able to " freely " " range "

through a

> barn over a concrete floor. It's really, really deceptive. Though

there

> are no legal standards, " pastured " typically means that the chickens are

> out on actual pasture. >

>

> I'm not sure about this, but I was told " uncaged " in Calif. means

free to

> roam in a building/barn, " free range " means free to walk out the

open door

> onto dirt (which supposedly few do), and " pastured " means on grass (but

> these are still given feed which may not be organic). I pay a

ghastly $4

> plus for a half-dozen New Zealand eggs which are both pastured

(estimated

> 70%) and fed organic (unfortunately, incl. soy)--but they are large,

the

> yolks a good orange and the shells very hard. I figure the yolks

speak to

> the quality of grass and the shells speak to the quality of the insects.

,

My chicken/egg man told me if the eggs are uniform in shape/size, then

those chickens are getting regulated feed. No way true pastured eggs

all look the same by the dozen or half-dozen. Yes, I may be poorer of

hope, but still freer of illusion...(Tom Robbins)

B.

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The Frenz eggs that gets are uniform in size because Frenzs grades

them that way (I get them too). They size them from small to XL.

Deb

-----Original Message-----

From: downwardog7 [mailto:illneverbecool@...]

,

My chicken/egg man told me if the eggs are uniform in shape/size, then

those chickens are getting regulated feed. No way true pastured eggs

all look the same by the dozen or half-dozen. Yes, I may be poorer of

hope, but still freer of illusion...(Tom Robbins)

B.

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,

<My chicken/egg man told me if the eggs are uniform in shape/size, then

those chickens are getting regulated feed. Yes, I may be poorer of

hope, but still freer of illusion...>

Well, illusion exists, always, as part of the agenda of any business, but,

as I said, the company does admit to a 30% feed (organic), and both the yolk

and shell strongly testify to a huge amount of grass/insect ingestion. I

don't think any predominantly feed-based egg could possibly produce that

vivid an orange or that hard a shell. Also, the eggs are sold in both large

and extra-large containers, and even within any container, there is some

variation.

I tried many eggs before deciding on these as the best I had seen and

tasted. I don't spend that kind of money easily. <g>

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