The low/high cost of food

[smcgrath76]

I agree that there are some Canadians
who struggle to find money for food, but
I believe even more so that there are a
lot of choices. Many people will also
complain about the $ they spent on
groceries when there is also laundry
soap, toilet paper, etc. in their cart.
In truth, it is often much cheaper to
buy "ingedients" or "food" than
processed items, but tradeoffs are made
for time, effort, cooking skill, etc.
We haven't done a very good job in
developing a "food culture".
I don't think we should begrudge someone
who makes $15/pound on their beef cow, I
think we should look and learn.
This is for sure the first time in
millenia where food is not a priority
for a lot of folks.

[kato]

This is a topic near and dear to me. There is a whole generation who simply do not know how to cook. They can order, they can reheat, they can microwave. But they can not cook. Face it, there's a big difference between a fried chicken dinner with four days worth of salt and fat in it and a nice lean homemade burger with Mom's homemade dill pickles and relish on it. Living on fast food is living on the fast track to bad health.

I found that when I worked out full time, I would come home too tired to cook a meal, and too much of the extra cash from the off farm job often went towards that chicken dinner from town, or the convenient stuff from the grocery store. It was too easy. And it sucked back a lot of my earnings.

When I quit work, our cost of living dropped at least $5000.00 a year, right off the start, and that's just for two people. Imagine adding a couple of teenage hollow legged, walking appetite, constantly hungry sons to the mix?

Since then we've added home raised chicken and eggs to the beef we already had, and expanded the garden to the point that now I'm selling veggies too. Restaurants are back to being a treat, or somewhere we visit when we're out of town. Now with the extra savings and my little farmer market sideline, I think we're farther ahead than when I worked out. The farm runs better with both of us at home, and the quality of life has gone way way up.

I realize that not everyone has the opportunity to raise their own meat and eggs, but it doesn't take too many square feet, or even big pots of dirt, to grow some vegetables. It costs a fraction of the restaurant price to make your own versions of the very same food. You can make a $30.00 pizza for less than $10 at home,and it will be bigger, have more on it, and taste better.

By the time some families factor in the cost of pre-packaged convenience food, restaurants, day care, an extra car and the extra costs associated with going to a job every day, they could likely have a good life on one decent income. And their children would be much healthier eating home made cookies than a bag of chips and a coke for snacks.

More people need to sit down and do the math. They may be pleasantly surprised.

[smcgrath76]

Kato - from a household with 3 young
children we have come to believe that
the system is designed to create
employment and/or do nothing with no
middle ground.
For the record, we ranch and I operate a
couple of other businesses from home,
and my wife is an RN. We don't use
external child care.
As it appears to us, you are further
ahead financially to stay home and
collect family allowance, or to put your
kids in daycare and claim the tax
deduction than you are to juggle
life/work and raise your own kids.
Tanya is not going to quit work as she
likes the security of knowing if I get
hit by a bus, she can still provide an
income.

[greybeard]

I've considered that Per. I'm a big believer in Karma ie: What goes around comes around. I've just never felt comfortable jumping in in an already uncomfortable situation.
Might be easy once you've done it once.

[per]

I think we all would be surprised at how many could learn something at a teaching moment. I am positive we would be the biggest winner out of trying that greybeard. Heck it is already uncomfortable.

[kato]

smcgrath76 - RN wages are more than a notch above what anyone around here can earn off farm. Probably above what Manitoba RN's earn too for that matter. I know nurses here who would love to quit and stay home, but they just can't give up the money.

The job I had likely didn't pay a quarter of what a nurse would earn. The aggravating part to me was that other than being with animals rather than people, I was using pretty much the same skill set. The lower the wages, the less attractive that off farm job looks, especially when you come home just as tired, and it costs you just as much to get to work.

I would suspect there are far more women in my situation, work wise, than what are in well paid professions.

[smcgrath76]

kato - noted and appreciated.