tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142723629182519637.post3682620234233048367..comments2011-02-24T10:01:19.572-05:00Comments on Bread Nut Bakery: The costs (more ways than money) of foodEmily Rexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06032782787563683098noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7142723629182519637.post-38994862610478733002009-10-31T13:40:53.038-04:002009-10-31T13:40:53.038-04:00Love this article- especially the graph at the top...Love this article- especially the graph at the top which frames the discussion nicely. The concept of cost must be considered together with value such that you can ask "Am I getting more when I pay more?"<br /><br />Since I'm a numbers guy, I thought I'd throw in a cost perspective on the discussion (yes, you can tease me about this):<br /> <br />1. Growing/Raising food itself requires water, land, equipment, etc.). Organic products save on some costs (fertilizers and pesticides) but have higher costs elsewhere- (a) less mechanization requires more manual labor (b) smaller farms requires higher unit prices to generate a profit.<br /><br />Summary: paying more for organic adds value in terms of fewer pesticides, more nutritional value and improved taste. OK, this just reiterates what was posted in the blog so I'll move on to the next point.<br /><br />2. Processing food. This is where I think there is a significant amount of debate. Processing food (e.g. tomatoes into ketchup) adds cost in exchange for convenience and sometimes taste but definitely does not add nutritional value. In fact, it usually makes foods much less healthy.<br /><br />Being selective about which foods you buy processed can make a big difference in cost and quality. For example, chicken on the bone doesn't dry out as much as boneless and it costs less too. So you could just shift your grocery dollars from boneless chicken to organic regular chicken and possibly even save money.<br /><br />Summary: if you want to eat healthier, your money will go further with less processed foods (of course, working with more basic ingredients may add to prep time)<br /><br />3. Food preparation: this step is a large cost input for food and results in the largest variation in nutritional value. All those big offenders (salt, sugar, fat) can sneak their way in at this point. I find that I have to be very conscious of my choices with prepared foods- it's too easy to make bad decisions.<br /><br />The unfortunate thing here is that it's cheaper to dress up marginally nutritious food with salt and fat for the dollar menu than it is to work with higher quality ingredients without additives. <br /><br />And while it may be clear that McDonald's is unhealthy, there are many surprisingly bad choices out there: Panera's full Mediterranean Vegie has 610 calories and 1450 mg of sodium. <br /><br />Summary: Prepared foods can be very misleading. Finding good healthy value requires a lot of legwork to find out which restaurants are really delivering on their health claims.ben dyllahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10315790228840118326noreply@blogger.com