This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. I originally started eating this way to heal from chronic health problems and...it worked!
Melissa McEwen
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budget
10/21/2011 - 17:20
There is a great article on Yahoo about a guy who is living a minimalistic lifestyle, while maintaining a paleo diet.
What do you eat?
I eat pretty well. I don't skimp on food. I eat a lot of grass-fed meats, fruits, and vegetables ... some people call it the caveman diet. I go to farms, farmers markets, and health food stores. I probably spend about $250 a month on food. I could spend a lot less if I didn't care about eating well.
I think his budget is interesting because $250 is the max amount of monthly food stamps for a single person, so he's basically on a food-stamp diet. It's clear his life priorities are health and simplicity. What I don't get is all the comments that weirdly act as if his choices mean he somehow is trying to say everyone else can live this way. I guess people feel attacked when other people chose to live differently in a way that's obviously not applicable to everyone? I get the same kind of comments when I talk about paleo diets or homeschooling. Here are some lovely sexist/classist gems:
No no, I read that article about living making 20k a year. And the comments weren't that it's a kings ransom, but that the family had to forgo children and are severely unprepared for the inflation and healthcare costs coming down the road. Wow... Now for a mere 11k a single man can live to be trailer trash. Great. So the 99% should all live like trash so the 1% can spend 40k on a kid's playhouse so their kid can have a playhouse with running water and electricity...
He doesn't mention any "girlfriend" or "partner" of any kind... uhmm... You know the reason right? Let me put it this way, if the guy is happy on his own at 42 then fine... BUT spare me the @#$% when what he calls his "freedom" doesn't include a girlfriend/wife/partner etc. So let's be honest about it and acknowledge the fact that with his "free" life style his chances of attracting a girlfriend are pretty much zero...
I missed the part of the article where he suggested everyone live the way he lives. Personally, his lifestyle is not for me, but my own lifestyle is not for everyone either. I think his story very interesting and kudos to him for following his dreams.
I've been moving a lot of stuff lately and I'm kind of horrified that I *own* stuff. When I moved to Sweden I brought two suitcases and then when I life if I couldn't fit stuff in my two suitcases I gave it away. I'm giving a lot of stuff away this move too, but I have a lot more stuff that I'm keeping, I guess because I never was sure how long I'd stay here and I did invest in some nice books/clothes that don't have holes in them. But I still view stuff as a burden and I'm happier if I own less of it.
02/02/2011 - 19:07
Maybe this doesn't work for everyone's vices, but if you are like me and your vices are $5 chocolate bars, then it works great. Every month I've been looking at my budget on mint.com. I used to just have a lump sum for "Groceries" but I've found it's better for my budget and my health to break that down. My categories are
- Cowpooling/meatshare
- Other good things like condiments, vegetables, and fruits
- Treats
Once you start doing that, you realize that every time you buy a chocolate bar it takes away from better things you could be buying and eating. It's also been helpful to microbudget for Meatshare because while the sum for purchase often is huge, if I use Mint to spread it out it doesn't look so bad. I guess this is less applicable if you actually make a decent amount of money, but just seeing how much money goes to junk can be enlightening. For example, in October I spent $60 on chocolate! That was the first month I tracked it and since then I have curbed my spending on that. Of course this also doesn't account for chocolate received as gifts :)
Overall, my food expenses are quite high as percentage of spending. But since the rest of my health budget is so low, I don't mind. I also had cut other budgets like for clothing because food is so much more important.
How do you budget for food? Do you find it a useful tool for eating healthy?
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