Pink Slime

The other day I came across this article on yahoo. Basically it goes through the 9 worst things that you can buy in the supermarket. Let me just say that I usually avoid reading things like this because it is impossible to eat completely pesticide/cancer free foods and someday we're all going to die of something anyway. Right? I would honestly rather not know.

I however made the mistake of reading the article. It talks about nasty things such as pink slime in ground beef, MRSA in turkey, and pregnancy hormones that cause birth defects lining the inside of canned foods. Oh and apparently the FDA allows canned fruit and vegetable juices to contain up to 15% mold. Awesome. Now I am completely grossed out and don't want to give my baby any more canned peaches.

The thing is, while it is 100% disgusting knowing the things they put in food these days, it is also 100% impossible to do much about it. Sure we can all go back a century and grow all of our own food and raise our own animals, that's realistic. We could also go organic and buy only grass fed beef raised in ideal conditions, but who can afford that?

Lately, I have been trying to come up with some more realistic ways to eat a little healthier...

1. Bountiful Baskets If you have never heard of this, it is a pretty cool organization. They are a food co-op that put together baskets of fresh fruit/vegetables that you can order on Monday for $15 and pick up on Saturday. You don't get to choose the foods in the basket so sometimes you get strange things you have never tried before. I have done this once and we ended up throwing a bunch of stuff away. I decided to give it another go this week since I have been cooking more lately. I am going to make it a goal to use ALL the food in the basket. While it isn't all organic, it is definitely handled less than grocery store produce and its cheaper. (You get a TON of produce) If you don't live in the Salt Lake area, look up food co-ops in your town.

2. Farmer's Markets - I will admit, I have never really bought food at a farmer's market. I have walked through them but never thought much of it. This summer I am going to try to go to them regularly.

3. Canning my own food - alright I know it's a little overly ambitious. Ok a LOT ambitious. Canning, like jam making is something that in my mind you have to be either a supermom or over 50 to do. However, it is something that I am willing to try. My sister-in-law and I are going to attempt to can some peaches come end of summer. You will DEFINITELY want to stay tuned for that one

4. Freeze fresh corn - This is an easy one that my co-worker does every year. Go to one of those little stands where they sell fresh corn, take it home, cut it off the ear, and freeze it. So easy to do.

Those are my goals for the summer. At least I can try to get rid of moldy, hormone filled canned food and replace it with something a little bit fresher and a little bit healthier. One step at a time.

(You may see me going vegetarian until I can figure out a way around pink slime/hormone/infection filled meat...)