Too bad Johnathan Swift died before the Internet came about.This will thrill PETA right out of their naugahyde pumps: doing what no bag of thrown flour could ever hope to accomplish, the recession has caused the average American to cut their meat consumption. According to a survey conducted by Parade magazine (Yes, the cheesy insert in the Sunday paper. Yes, I read it. Shut up.), nearly 60% of respondents say they have reduced the amount of meat they eat due to rising food costs.
In an unrelated but strangely appropriate survey, apparently the recession has also caused an uptick in business at fast food restaurants.
Conclusion: A t-bone steak at $12.99/lb is a budget-breaker but two meat patties on a sesame bun with special sauce for $1.79 is dinner the way mama used to make. There’s something wrong with this mentality and I’m not just saying that because I’m a vegetarian. Somewhere Michael Pollan just had a seizure.
In a country where affordable and accessible health care was one of the biggest issues in our last presidential election, it seems unwise to be trading whole foods for processed ones – especially those with a shelf life of 12+ years. If we want to encourage people to practice preventative health care by eating better and taking care of themselves then pricing fast food cheaper than the real deal seems downright counterproductive. Where’s our health care bailout? But perhaps hitting people in their wallet is the best way to make them sit up and pay attention.
For me, as you might expect, I have tried both extremes of the meat continuum. I‘ve been fully vegan. I’ve also done the Primal Blueprint (also known as The Meat-and-Veg Diet.) And I’ve settled out somewhere in the middle – a place I like to call “non-militant vegetarianism.” Left to my own devices, I don’t generally eat meat. But exceptions will be made for cases like wicked PMS, a bite of my husband’s dinner at a fancy restaurant or a special dish made by a foreign friend. I also don’t waste my breath trying to convert others to my veggie ways. This will almost guarantee the derision of hard-core vegetarians, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t care if you eat meat. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that there are lots of ways to be healthy and I don’t have all the answers.
But if you are looking for ways to cut down on the grocery bill – and who isn’t, considering that food prices have risen 7% over the past year and are expected to go up another 4% in 2009 – then reducing your meat consumption is a good fix. In fact, a whole new trendy name – Flexitarian – has just been popularized for folks who eat less meat but don’t eschew it (get it??) entirely. There is a way to have your meat and eat it too. Just don’t replace it with a Big Mac.
So where do you guys fall on the meat spectrum? How have you had to adjust your grocery shopping this past year?
ack, that picture FREAKS ME OUT!
I just don’t get how people think they are saving money by eating fast food?
As for us, I have given my husband the grocery shopping chore which means that he is not saving any money at all. (coupons are too “annoying” to him) While I hate the fact that he is giving money away, I cannot tolerate grocery shopping anymore. and he loves meat, so our meat bill has gone up a lot.
I’m not much help, am I?
I actually switched to Whole Foods at the begining of this year…once I had the whole fascination of the place in my past, I leveled out our grocery bill for two to an even 3-digit number. Then we switched to Paleo, which meant MORE meat and seafood being purchased, but I was still able to keep the same 3 digit number, and sometimes even less. So that being said, buying few to no processed foods and replacing them with quality meat – didnt change our spending habits one bit. We don’t eat fast food and rarely go out to dinner since quality options are few and expensive.
I’ve been vegetarian for 9 years, and a low meat eater for the rest, but now that i’m trying to eat more protein i do reach for the meats a lot more often. At restaurants i used to take the veggie option but now more often opt for the lean meat dishes. I’m not quite comfortable with all this meat-eating yet, though…
I’ve been playing around with being vegetarian for at least a year. Strangely enough, it came from being tired of having chicken every other night. We’ve never had pork chops, we cut out the red meat 7 years ago (except for the occasional steak) so that left me with being flexitarian as you called it. I can never call myself even mostly vegetarian even if I only eat meat once or twice a month because my 10 year old is a complete vegetarian and according to her, I’m not worthy enough to use that title because of the occasional hamburger.
groceries are the one place where Ive not cut back at all yet.
every other place has had the fat trimmed (rimshot?) but Im trying to use coupons (for items Id regularly buy or reallyreally close seconds) and still purchase all the fresh fish etc. we have always eaten.
that said, the grocery cutbacks are coming it things dont change SOON!
I will cut back EVERYWHERE before I cut back on food or gym membership.
I believe the only reason folks are turning to fast food in this climate is because nobody knows how to cook anymore. So fast food is the easy option, which is still relatively cheap. Back in the war, when everyone had to tighten their belts, the women already knew how to cook. They just found more inventive, thrifty ways to do it. In the 21st century a lot of us don’t have that knowledge base to work from. And we’re lazy.
Not me though, I have a crippling mortgage and a vegan boyfriend, so we never eat out! I AM a sucker for convenience food though. I’m hooked on the portion/calorie control.
TA x
BK and I just graduated college, so we’re dealing with it by eating healthily and trying to make sure that nothing gets thrown out.
Right, and when those people are 50 and are in the hospital because they had a heart attack, they’ll be thinking, “why me?” Because you’re a frelling idiot! I really do enjoy fast food on the very rare occasion I have it, you know, until an hour later when I feel sick, but until then, I enjoy it. But I don’t eat it more than once a year. It’s just soooo bad for you!
We already don’t eat much meat, so to cut back on expenses, we’ve stopped eating out. ‘Course we didn’t eat out much to begin with, so it’ll only save us about $50 a month, but eh, it’s something.
I stopped eating meat long ago! I just found this information from Dr. Gabe Mirkin’s site. It may add even more weight to the argument against eating meat.
http://drmirkin.blogspot.com/
I’m with Miz….as of yet, this is one area that hasn’t suffered much (mostly because I FINALLY switched to a cheaper store in town…I get SO much more for my money!).
As far as meat, I don’t eat a ton of it. I guess put me down as a “Flexi.” Not because of money or principal, but I just don’t crave it a ton…and hello, Morningstar! 🙂
I remember hearing the term Flexitarian a couple of years ago – I think I saw it in a Fitness magazine – and I thought it sounded pretty reasonable.
I am not a big meat eater and I think I could go vegetarian (there’s part of me that really wants to) but my Husband freaks out at the word. So we eat meat, but not a huge amount of it – I tend to cook it in things (soups, sauces, stir-frys, etc) which seems to make the meat go farther, but Husband is still getting meat so he is content.
As for fast food, we drive-thru Wendy’s once in a while (less than once a month) and even then I usually go for one of the chicken breast sandwiches. I don’t find that to be cheaper that cooking at home, but sometimes if I’m too tired to think of cooking and washing up, it is easier…
Food is the one thing I don’t even try to budget. I guess you can say my diet leans toward the “primal” variety, so meat, vegetables, eggs, and dairy. Honestly, I can’t even tell you how much I spend on food a month. I don’t buy processed food and I rarely eat out, so I assume it evens out a bit. I don’t mind spending more on food (says the childless, single woman).
Yes! This is so right on. We have not had any red meat in months since I am the one who grocery shops. Hubby doesn’t like it but once a week we have veggie patties and green beans for dinner. I make a big pot of bean soup and eat it for three days. Food is expensive and I’d love to hear what other people do to keep costs down.
Good Morning Everyone!
I am a single mom, working 2 jobs, working on that 3rd job, I find grocery shopping pretty financially strapping. It’s me either keeping my house or buying groceries for myself and my 9 year old. I’m not much of a cook anyway, but cheap ramen noodles have become popular in the house. Most times with our busy schedule, fast food is what I bow down to. It’s either spagettios or a healthier Subway meal.
I started eating less meat as a way to force myself to eat more veggies. It worked well, and I was amazed at how it cut down the grocery bill.
I stay away from the fast food, though.
Hehehe oh Jonathan Swift…
I’m a total flexitarian. I don’t ever cook meat at home anymore; I just eat it when I’m ordering from restaurants or at the parents place. But I end up appreciating the taste of meat so much more because I don’t eat as much of it!
I reduced my meat consumption and completely eliminated beef several years ago in an effort to reduce my ecological footprint. I don’t preach, but will explain the reasoning to anyone who asks.
As to the rising food prices, I’ve been trying to eat even more beans, legumes etc. as chicken can be pretty pricey. I’m also considering making my own cottage cheese from milk, but have to examine the cost implications (a friend does it and claims that it saves money, but a lot of volume is lost so I’m not sure…)
Back when I needed to lose my last 10# (or so I thought) and was living a long plateau, my trainer had me go flexitarian. Well, he didn’t know the name, but I only ate animal protein on days that I pushed weights. (3x a week). Other days I was an ovo-vegetarian.
It pushed me off my plateau and I discovered that I felt better and thought more clearly. So I kept it up.
Lately, I’ve gotten lazy and returned to many of my old eating habits (which, thank goodness NEVER included eating fast foods). Realized last week I’m not feeling as good, thinking as well, sleeping as well and I’ve got about 8-10# to lose.
Going back on the flex routine this week.
We haven’t cut back on the groceries much–but I’m a vegetarian and the husband is….whatever I cook for him.
About the fast food, I had a roommate in college that would argue with me all the time that fast food is cheaper than her cooking. She kept that argument up until she went to the doctor and s/he told her that she’d better start eating right or her liver’s going to fail. At 22! I’m sure the binge drinking contributed as well….
What’s sad in all this is that if everyone in the world cut back their meat to 1 meal a day, we could feed the world. Humans are supposed to be altruistic animals, but we seem to have trouble seeing past the few in our immediate circles. Alas, I suppose I can be grateful people are cutting back for now.
We’ve actually been eating more meat and fish around here, as well (we’ve both been told recently to up our protein intake). So we go to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods and, like Toots, have found that cutting down on processed foods helps our bottom line (and MY, er, bottom line, if ya know what I mean)
There’s still some guilt involved, and there are types of meat I refuse to eat (I feed the ducks and geese, I don’t eat them, lol!)
Just trying to be healthy, take care of my family, and be as humane as we can.
I love, love, love a good steak, but I rarely (maybe 3 times a year?) have one because it upsets my stomach now. I still have chicken about once a week, but I love Boca burgers, beans, eggs, and veggies. I even switched to soy milk because I like the taste better, but I have definitely noticed my grocery bill is higher, despite not buying any addtional food. I only eat out about once a month, so I’ve just absorbed the extra grocery cost. It sucks though!
My cost of living greatly increased this summer and it had nothing to do with my grocery bill. That being said, I’ve gotten better at pooling my resources with people around me so that we can get more bang for our buck. That sometimes means Costco trips for 3 people where we split the bulk meat, produce, and drinks up between us, but it works.
I’ve been trying to eat more veggies, but as someone who is chronically low on iron, I can tell you that eating steak once in a while beats drinking an iron supplement twice a day any time. I truly dislike veggies and am making the transition slowly. Budget is definitely a consideration. We haven’t cut back yet, but it is certainly one of our goals for this year.
I feel kind of guilty saying this, but we seem to be one of the few who are doing pretty well in this recession. It’s still scary, but we haven’t felt it much, especially now that gas is back way down ($1.69 here). About the time things started to get bad, my husband got a promotion and raise, and other things started to fall into place. If anything, we’re eating out MORE often lately (had lunch at Chick Fil A today with my boys).
We’ve not eaten much meat in about 5 years, since I got pregnant with our first son and the Mad Cow scare occurred. It was enough to get me to stop eating beef. We probably only cook meat at home 1-2 times a month, with the exception of fish, which we eat fairly regularly – canned tuna, frozen salmon.
And we haven’t changed our grocery habits much. My husband once told me he’d feel rich if he could go into the grocery store and not look at the prices, and we are finally in that place. That doesn’t mean we’re rich (even if my 4-year-old believes those “gold” dollars make us so), but to my husband who grew up pretty poor, it sure feels that way.
I feel like I need to represent the other side of the spectrum–almost primal 🙂
I only eat fast food when traveling, and even then I usually fast instead.
I eat a lot of meat, trying to get more protein without eating processed foods (which means no protein supplements either). At costco, dark meat chicken is about $1.29 a pound, and pre-washed spinach is about the same.
At the grocery store, the easiest way to save is to buy fresh veggies on sale–whatever’s in season is almost always on sale. I’ll figure out how to cook them when I get home.
yeah- i dont eat much meat but its just because i dont like buying it and i dont know how to cook it. im not trying to go broke while giving myself e. coli.
I buy frozen fish, and frozen turkey burger patties- and occassionaly will cook some frozen chicken breast, but other than that- protein comes from beans and peanut butter.
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
Yeah, well, Jonathan Swift did have a solution to the rising cost of meat 😉
I’m starting to become a fanatical not-so-much-meatarian. It’s a bit worrisome, actually. I feel so much better the less meat I eat (A rhyme? sweet!) that I want to go out and convert people.
Need to find some sort of Diet Therapy, i.e. a kind of therapy that deals with “I have the answer!!!” fanatics.
I guess I already talked about my diet and how it’s motivated by environmental and health factors on another post about ‘diet vs. lifestyle’ or some such…
Anyway.
I have issues with factory farming in general. Therefore – no factory farmed anything for me.
I get my protein from certain kinds of seafood, and beans and nuts. I’m never going back to eating ass of cow, though.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to criticize people who would be completely unable to stomach the idea of butchering an animal, yet will happily eat that same animal. I’ve cleaned and cooked plenty of freshwater fish, and while it’s not exactly the most enjoyable experience, I don’t find it repulsive.
On the other hand, the thought of having to butcher a hog causes my stomach to churn. No thanks. Besides, where do you think tuberculosis came from? Right. Thanks, pigs.
Is that Jason?
Oh, gosh, I went vegetarian for a brief period some years ago and I have never been so tired in my LIFE. So I’m a confirmed meat-eater (though my mom is vegetarian). These days I’m eating a lot of chicken, because I’m trying to save money, but I’ve also been known to peruse the grocery ads and buy (and cook) whatever’s on sale. It’s a great method for trying new recipes, actually: sometimes there is stuff on sale that I would NEVER normally buy, and then I have to figure out how to cook it! (Hello, liver! No, really: it was good.)
I used to eat sushi 2 to 3 times a week, and take out Mexican another 2 nights, and then a fancy dinner out 2 other nights, not to mention lunch out almost every weekday. I couldn’t afford to keep it up!
So, I decided to spend only $30/ week on groceries – including items for lunch. That was a huge awakening. I’ve gotten into collard greens, sweet potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts, salads, macintosh apples from upstate– whatever is in season is my dinner!
I love Fairway!
A typical dinner for me is boiled red potatoes with cheddar cheese and broccoli. I can really stretch a potato!
I do still eat meat, but nowhere near as much. I get one type of meat a week, it’s usually ground to save money and usually pretty fatty because that’s the cheapest. Last week I got a half pound of ground lamb. This week it’s ground beef. I love to make delicious hamburgers once a week. When I have meat now I really enjoy it! Or, if it’s a windfall week — I have fish.
I no longer buy much alcohol or sweets either – it seems like a waste of money when you only give yourself $30/ week.
In addition to saving money- I’ve lost 10 lbs in the past 3 months – and I’m fitting into all my old clothes!
Yeah, I know I’m late to the party, I was on vacation… 🙂
I’m a registered, card carrying meat eater. I prefer it more as a condiment than as the feature – as in I’m more comfortable with a chicken or shrimp stir fry or turkey sandwich piled high with veggies rather than a steak. I just can’t imagine NOT eating meat regularly though.
We’re trying to save money by cutting out frivolous stuff like buying blu rays and games and techy gadgets when we have Netflix and games we haven’t played yet and way too many gadgets already. Worrying about the cost of food may come someday if it takes a lot longer to get a second income in the house again from (the fiance’s new company is slow in getting rolling), but we have lots of other things to cut out before that.
And I haven’t eaten fast food in 3 years, and would probably rather pluck some twigs from my yard and chew them. Probably be more nutritious as well…