How to get started slides 4 2011
- 1. How to Get Started Cooking & Eating the Weston Price Way...
- 2. ...without breaking the bank or spending all your time in the kitchen
- 3. Disclaimers The information in this talk is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for the advice provided by your doctor or other health care professional. The nutritional and other information presented here are not intended to be and do not constitute health care or medical advice.
- 4. I am not a nutritionist, nor am I trained in healthcare. I just like to cook and eat good food, and it's my favorite topic of conversation.
- 5. Food Costs Our monthly food budget for a family of four adults plus guests is $650-$700 a month. This includes:
- 6. 5 gallons raw milk a week
- 7. About 6 months of veggies & fruits from our garden
- 8. Home-baked breads and goodies
- 9. Locally raised meat in the freezer
- 10. Most paper & cleaning & personal care products
- 11. This budget does NOT include:
- 12. Cod liver oil & any other supplements
- 13. Eating out, but we only do that about once a month
- 14. When figuring your costs, don't forget what you spend on health insurance, doctor's visits, prescriptions, and alternative healthcare. Cheap food may not be as cheap as you think it is.
- 15. Time Considerations I definitely spend more time in the kitchen (and garden) than the average American homemaker. Finding and preparing nutrient-dense food takes more time than buying convenience foods from the store.
- 16. Time Savers:
- 17. - Get help from your family; teach your children how to cook
- 18. - Use a crockpot and rice cooker
- 19. - Make large batches for leftovers or the freezer
- 20. - Eat simply
- 21. - Plan menus for the week and get things started in the morning
- 22. - View food preparation as a hobby & an expression of love rather than a chore
- 23. - Don't try to be a perfectionist; make improvements where you can, when you can. It has taken me years to get to where we are now; Shoot for 80/20.
- 24. Step 1: Start eating good fats Nutrition: High Time: Minimal Cost: Medium-High Butter is better; no more Crisco or margarine Buy the best butter you can afford Always eat carbohydrates and vegetables with butter or another good fat
- 25. Good vegetable oils: olive, flax, nut oils
- 26. Bad vegetable oils: corn, soy, canola, sunflower, or other vegetable oils
- 27. Make your own salad dressing:
- 28. Assemble the salad. Toss with olive oil or alternative. Then toss with vinegar or lemon juice. Add fresh garlic or herbs if you have them. You're done!
- 29. If you eat mayonnaise, you should make your own from scratch
- 30. Has anyone found a brand that is made from good oil?
- 31. Cook with animal fats such as lard and tallow
- 32. This is one of the reasons I love to buy whole animals for our meat
- 33. Use coconut oil
- 34. We love popcorn popped in coconut oil
- 35. Great for stir fries and curries
- 36. Good for baking, too
- 37. Step 2: Make & Serve Homemade Bone Broth Nutrition: High Time: Minimal Cost: Low Sip on stock with a meal
- 38. Make your stock into yummy, inexpensive soups
- 39. Make nourishing sauces for meat, fish and veggies from your stock
- 40. Cook grains in stock to increase nutritive value & digestibility
- 41. Freeze extra for use later
- 42. How to Make Bone Broth Making your own broth is not hard: Save any meat or fish bones in a bag in the freezer. If using raw bones, brown before using to make stock in a 400 degree oven. Save all scraps including fat and meat bits from gnawed bones. Place bones in crockpot (or stovetop pot), cover with water, add 2 – 4 T vinegar. Bring to a boil and let simmer 12 to 24 hours or more (less for fish & chicken, more for beef and lamb.) Strain and refrigerate. Now you can get rid of the bones. Fat is easily removed from the top after it chills and can be used in cooking. Really good broth will gel. That's it! Nutritious, cheap, and easy. Let your crockpot do the work overnight or while you're at work. See Stocks chapter in NT for more tips.
- 43. Step 3: Eat the best eggs you can afford Nutrition: High Time: Medium - High Cost: Medium Get your eggs fresh directly from a farmer or raise your own Takes more time than going to a grocery store, but worth it! Look for a farmer who uses soy-free feed and lets his chickens roam.
- 44. The ever versatile egg.... Ways to eat eggs regularly: In a smoothie, raw, preferably just the yolks For breakfast, cooked any way you like: poached, fried, baked, scrambled, soft or hard boiled In quiche, omelets or frittata Egg salad or deviled eggs In custards and souffles Huevos rancheros Fried rice Egg drop soup, Oriental or Mediterranean style
- 45. Step 4: Eat the best meat & seafood you can afford Nutrition: High Time: Medium/low Cost: High Buy your meat once or twice a year directly from a farmer
- 46. Go to Local Resources on our website for names of farmers and ranchers
- 47. Get yourself a freezer
- 48. Once you have the meat, the time investment is less than going to the store. Just remember to take it out of the freezer early.
- 49. Get all the bones, fat, organs, and roe (fish eggs) you can and eat them regularly.
- 50. This is easy to do if you buy your meat in bulk. Be sure to tell the butcher you want everything.
- 51. Quality is important here. Good fat, bones, and organs come from animals raised on pasture outdoors in uncrowded conditions.
- 52. Liver is so important. Eat it regularly even if you can't afford the best quality. Toxins are stored in the fat, not the liver.
- 53. How to eat liver: Make it into a pate, try liverwurst, or slice, dredge in flour, then fry in lard or bacon fat for about 5 minutes a side. The liver should still be soft and pink in the middle. Serve with sauteed onions, apples, and bacon.
- 54. How to render fat: Heat the fat on low or in a crockpot. After it has all melted, strain off the liquid fat into glass mason jars. Fry up any leftover bits to make cracklings – really good with eggs and in Mexican food and fried rice. Store rendered fat in fridge or freezer. Try making French fries with it! More Meat Tips
- 55. Step 5: Get enough Vitamin D Nutrition: High Time: Low Cost: Low - High Get out in the sun
- 56. During the summer, get outside daily in the sunshine without sunscreen. The amount of time depends on how dark your skin is. Darker skinned people need more time outside than fair people. Of course, avoid sunburn.
- 57. Take a cod liver oil supplement.
- 58. Preferably with high vitamin butter oil. Whole food supplements are vastly superior to synthetic supplements. Green Pasture products are now locally available.
- 59. You can get them at the Old Feed Store in Laporte, across from the schools. The prices are similar to the group buying price.
- 60. Step 6: Eliminate or reduce white sugar, HFCS, and artificial sweeteners from your diet Nutrition: High Time: Minimal Cost: Medium/High No more soda (More on beverages later)
- 61. Replace sugar with rapidura, honey, date sugar, maple syrup, palm sugar
- 62. Bake your own goodies
- 63. Eat fruit when you need a sweet
- 64. Have a square or two of high quality dark chocolate when you need a treat
- 65. Step 7: Switch to raw milk and dairy products Nutrition: High Time: Low/Med Cost: Medium/High Raw milk is available in Colorado through the herdshare law: you own a part of a cow or goat and are therefore entitled to a portion of milk that comes from the animal.
- 66. Raw Milk Tips See our Local Resources listing for dairy farmers who offer shares in the herdshare program. Look for cows and goats on pasture with shiny coats.
- 67. Other raw milk products such as butter, cream, kefir, or yogurt are not currently allowed, but you can learn how to make these foods. Home Cheese Making by Rikki Carroll of New England Cheesemaking is a great resource.
- 68. Some raw milk cheeses can be found at Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, and similar stores as well as through Windsor Dairy and other local producers.
- 69. If you can't afford raw milk, try to get most of your milk through yogurt or kefir or cheese because they include bacteria that make them more digestible and nourishing.
- 70. Step 8: Stop eating store-bought breakfast cereals Nutrition: High Time: Medium Cost: Low Here's a case where you are going to save money. Boxed cereals can cost $3, $4, $5 or more a pound and they are not good for you, even the so-called healthy brands.
- 71. Breakfast Ideas - Oatmeal or other grains soaked overnight (p. 455 NT) - Baked oatmeal (I will put this recipe on the website) - Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham - Whole grain pancakes or waffles (p.478 - 480 NT) - Dinner leftovers - Crispy nuts, fruit, and yogurt - Toast with cheese and/or nut butter - Breakfast burrito - Smoothie
- 72. Step 9: Replace white flour products with properly prepared whole grain flours Nutrition: Medium Time: Medium/High Cost: Medium Even so-called health food products and gluten-free products are not usually prepared properly
- 73. Grains must be soaked before they are cooked for digestibility
- 74. Start with pancakes (p. 478 NT)
- 75. Grains Tips For bread, buy or learn to make sourdough bread (Cresset Farms makes wonderful sourdough rye bread.)
- 76. Or try making yeasted bread using the recipes from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
- 77. Make desserts from Nourishing Traditions
- 78. Note: Only organic corn is non-GMO in America
- 79. Step 10: Buy or grow organic fruits and vegetables, local if possible Nutrition: Medium Time: Medium Cost: Med/High Join a CSA or visit Farmer's Markets regularly and/or grow your own produce
- 80. Buy organic produce at the grocery store
- 81. Buy organic canned and frozen products
- 82. Some of the least expensive veggies are the most nourishing: cabbage, potatoes, carrots, chard, onions, kale, broccoli, garlic
- 83. Always serve veggies with cream or butter or similar fat for best assimilation of vitamins and minerals
- 84. Step 11: Add fermented vegetables and beverages to your diet Nutrition: High Time: Medium/High Cost: Low/Med Make or buy lacto-fermented sauerkraut and other veggies
- 85. - Bubbies sauerkraut is available in stores
- 86. - Cresset Farms offers a number of wonderful fermented veggies
- 87. - Use the recipes in NT to make your own
- 88. - Team up with a friend who has a crock to make a large batch together
- 89. - Use Pickl-it to make your own: http://www.pickl-it.com/
- 90. Add fermented drinks to your diet Make or buy kombucha, soda substitutes, kvass, kefir, and other fermented drinks
- 91. - My husband has been making ginger beer for us regularly. It helps our digestion and tastes wonderful! We will try to have a class or put a video on our website.
- 92. - Watch my mailings for classes on how to make these drinks
- 93. - Try making fruit or beet kvass
- 94. - Bring your extra scobies to our meetings
- 95. Step 12: Prepare beans, nuts, and seeds properly Nutrition: Medium Time: Medium Cost: Low/High Snack on homemade crispy nuts and seeds that you soaked and dried (pp. 513-516 NT)
- 96. Sprouting is another good way to prepare seeds
- 97. Always start with raw nuts and seeds
- 98. Of course, dry beans have to be soaked before cooking
- 99. Tips on Beans Make your own refried beans:
- 100. Wash and soak 5 c. pinto beans in warm filtered water with 4 T whey for 12 – 24 hours. Drain and rinse. Place in crock pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer until beans are soft, 4 hours or so. Saute chopped onion and garlic with seasonings of your choice in ¾ c or so of lard, tallow, or other animal fat. Drain off most of the liquid in the bean pot, add fat with veggies, then blend with a handheld blender. Yum!
- 101. If money is tight, incorporate beans with rice, tortillas, or other whole grains into your diet. Add a small amount of meat and/or cheese to increase the flavor and nutritional value. Remember those pork cracklings? They taste great with beans.
- 102. Lentils only need to soak 7 hours
- 103. Start in the morning, cook in the evening.: Roman Lentil Soup p. 215 NT, Dal p. 508 NT, and Egyptian Kusherie (recipe to be on website)
- 104. Step 13: Eliminate soy from your diet except for traditionally fermented products such as tamari, miso, and tempeh Nutrition: High Time: Low Coat: Low Soy is really hard to digest unless properly fermented and appears to have hormonal and other effects on the body
- 105. Soy is Everywhere Soy is in most processed foods as lecithin, soy oil, textured protein, and other additives, even so-called health foods
- 106. Most soy in America is GMO
- 107. Rather than spending time reading labels, start making more of your foods from scratch without soy. You can do it! One recipe at a time.
- 108. Step 14: Become an informed shopper & cook Nutrition: Medium/High Time: Medium Cost: Low-High Get a copy of the 2011 WAPF Shopper's Guide – only $1.00 or free when you become a member
- 109. Check out the Local Resources section of our website, wapffc.org.
- 110. Join Weston A. Price Foundation for $40 a year and receive Wise Traditions four times a year to keep informed on the latest research and food prep ideas.
- 111. Take an online cooking class – see Local Resources for links
- 112. Buy a copy of Healthy 4 Life for $10. This is the WAPF reaction to the new USDA Food Guidelines, and it's a concise introduction to WAPF principles along with some easy recipes.
- 113. If you have a copy of Nourishing Traditions , use it!
- 114. Step 15: Relax! Health: High Time: Low Cost: Zero Good health is not a matter of food alone. Cultivate contentment and happiness
- 115. Try not to make this new way of eating a project
- 116. - Delight in the new things you are learning and the new tastes you are trying
- 117. - Unless you or a loved one is ill, work your way into this new way of eating one step at a time
- 118. - Food prep and consumption is a wonderful hobby – you can do it all your life
- 119. - Eating should be pleasurable; make time to savor and enjoy it
- 120. - Be patient with your loved ones who are reluctant to try new things or give up old favorites. Just do it for yourself to start. Few people object to butter, home baked goods, and cream. Start where you can and add in new foods when you can.
- 121. Fear is not the best motivator; Do this for the love of good food!