BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Working Poor are Obese on High Carb

OK, now the whole kitchen thing! Actually, I know many people who never use their oven any more! Everything they could need to cook, they cook with their crockpot, steamer, microwave, grill or burner. So while it might seem to be a huge burden to be ovenless, it really doesn't have to be!

I hugely, hugely recommend a crock pot as THE most important thing for a low carber to own. These are just so easy to use, so inexpensive and healthy. And did I mention easy? You get a really cheap cut of meat. You throw in some healthy veggies and a few spices. You let it sit for a few hours. When you come home from work, the house smells delicious, the food is ready, and the leftovers are just as great as the original meal.

There are thousands and thousands of crockpot recipes on the web and most are naturally low carb. You can easily make 1 or 2 meals a week with your crockpot, always have variety, and get delicious, nutritious things into you.

The grill is another perfect food preparer. You can grill chicken, burgers, just about any kind of fish. You can vary the flavors day to day by using any number of spices or marinades. They're all tasty and delicious!

If you guys like chicken wings, I'd actually also recommend getting your hands on a used deep fryer with a lid. If you deep fry in canola or other healthy oils, that is super easy, super fast and extremely tasty. That's a perfect quick snack for the family!

So as far as cooking for low carb, you really don't need an oven. A crock-pot, grill and deep fryer would be the 3 critical things to have as far as I was concerned!

To Lisa:

I was feeling pretty good with my progress in container gardening. I found that it was cheaper, easier, less time consuming and more successful than a yar garden.

I didn't have all the issues with too wet or to dry soil and flooding. Dad and I tried to work on yard gardening together. He and I spent days on one plot just preparing the soil. We tried two more times in various parts of the yard.

When I decided to use containers. I bought prepared soil in a bag on sale I might add. I dumped it into the buckets and put the seeds or bulbs in. I had some nice little green things going on with a lot less trouble.

Then our kitties mistook my plants for their litter box and that was the end of my kitchen herbs.

I'd like to try it again and hope this time the neighborhood critters leave them alone.

To Lisa Again:

This is my first experience with a crockpot. I appear to be really lame with cooking this way but I think I can be taught!!

Most of our meals are prepared and eaten at the office since we are here during meal hours. So far today I have been here six hours with another eight to go. I will not pretend I have been super busy at work, I seem to find goof off and forums time after all. It just limits certain options.

We have been using the grill very often. I am experimenting with different little things to make the same old meats taste different.

I do have one question regarding chicken. I often use boneless, skinless chicken especially on the grill. Is there a cheaper alternative that would fit on a George Foreman? I already know we tend to waste a lot when deboning whole chicken and Frank won't eat the skins but maybe I missed a great tip to perfecting our technique?

OK I think out of all of the parts of these posts this was the most thought provoking one for me. It's pretty much what the CNN reporter said - that if these migrant workers wanted to buy anything other than bags of potatoes or boxes of pre-made food, they had to hike 3 miles down the road to a supermarket that carried *some* fresh foods.

I think the average daily commute in the US right now is 30 minutes, so that should mean that for most workers, at least one reasonable store should be between a family member and home. I work from home but my boyfriend in fact works 30 minutes away and passes several great supermarkets. We can look at the Sunday paper circulars, cut coupons, and he can get whatever is on sale.

Asparagus is a great example of something that is cheap certain times of year but hugely expensive at other times. So you have to go with the weekly specials based on what veggies are being harvested.

Here, let me go scrounge my weekly supermarket specials and post some ideas!

Okey dokey I made an entire site and forum dedicated to container gardening -

http://www.bellaonline.com/code/ubb/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=239

If any low carber currently does not have even a small garden going, I *highly* recommend they look into it! It is a super cheap, super easy way to ensure you get fresh, healthy, nutritious vegetables into your diet.

I don't have the updated sales papers yet. The biggest problem is that I live in a rural area.

One would think that would make it easier to obtain garden grown produce from small or personal gardeners. I found out differently. It's like we are stuck a little behind the times, canned veggies, the cheap foods and heat em up options are popular. "Hello, that's OUT! Fresh yummy stuff from the garden is really good!"

I do look for good sales, unexpected freebie offers and the bartering system works too. All this is not keeping us in fresh veggies for the period of time between shopping trips. I shall keep at it.

I posted a separate thread about my thoughts on a weekly menu - did that look like it would feed a family of four? Frozen vegetables are very nutritious and usually quite cheap. You can find those on sale and store them for 6 months! In the summer, rural areas are great for farmers markets but I know that winter is tougher, so you do have to stock up, sort of like our ancestors did with canning their crops.

I'm actually in a semi-rural area here - there's a horse farm on my road, and the next road over has a large dairy farm. Probably half of my town is farmland. But even though my town doesn't have any supermarket at all, there are very good ones within 1/2 hour drive. So like I said, my boyfriend stops on his way home from work and can pick up food items. He goes through, sees what is on sale and brings it home. So what we eat is based on what is inexpensive. It gives us a good variety that is nutritious!

We are positioned where the larger grocery is in the opposite direction of home and work. So this is a once to twice a month trip.

Rather than a lot of gardens, I see pine tree groves, horse pastures and cow pastures.

That really is a shame! I can only imagine if there was NO good supermarket between my boyfriend and home and it became a "chore to do" rather than a swing-by as he came home to me that our menu variety might change drastically.

Like I said, our local town really has nothing but gas-station convenience stores. And I was thinking about this a few days ago, it is *horrifying* what they sell in there as food. They have a huge aisle of candy. A huge aisle of sugary soda! Then they have ... white bread, white rice, and a few cans of really awful high-salt cans. If someone actually went into this place to "find food" they would die of obesity!!

A lot of switching to a healthy lifestyle comes from building new habits. I think you have two kids, right? So this will be tougher for you. But maybe look at this good supermarket and then look around it. Is there a movie theater, or park, or something else nearby? Maybe make a once-a-month treat to go to a movie with the family and then shop afterwards? For the opposite week, make a walking trip through the woods, taking photos of its seasonal changes, a fun part of your life?

If you could somehow get yourselves there each week, you could see what's on sale. You could then plan your weekly meals around whatever you found that was inexpensive even if it was "strange" veggies you hadn't tried before. It could be a real adventure. And it should save you money compared to buying what they charge you because you won't be back for a while ...

I think in this modern age that a lot of us are raised to look at food as a chore, to just jam fast food into us and not "waste time" on it. But I think if we start to make food more of an integral parts of our lives, something we spend time and energy on, it really makes our whole lives healthier <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

When I was a stay-at-home Mom I thought looking through the sale paper was an adventure, I enjoyed putting together meal plans and buying carefully.

I did cook from scratch, but my focus was not really low carb for awhile. I realised that low carb was best for my husband and began making some lower carb choices.

The opening of our business and the baby's birth really zapped me of some energy. I am trying to get back at it but this time actually suceed in the long run.