Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#1
Posted: 12/30/07 at 11:33am
In Manhattan, you can generally buy fruits and vegetables from the sidewalk vendors for half the price in the markets. Seek out the discount spots in your neighborhood.
Everything at the sidewalk vendors is so cheap I spend $7 to $12 and am lugging home almost more than I can carry in multiple bags. Giant eggplants for $1, various fruit and tomatoes at several to the dollar. I have bought cherries, raspberries, blueberries, mushrooms, Persian cucumbers, various kinds of tomatoes including ripe on the vine, citrus fruit, grapes, peaches, pears, green beans, onions, romaine lettuce, cantaloupe and other melons, lychee, radishes...the assortment of what's available is huge. The food at these stands is generally riper than that in the markets so you need to use it fairly soon and shop a bit more often.
Take advantage of the Farmer's Markets. There's a Tibetan-run large stand on the West side of the big Union Square farmer's market that is open every Saturday and some other days suring the week. They have loads of herbs and root vegetables (including turnip and celeriac) and squash, all for VERY reasonable prices. Their cilantro lasts two weeks in my frig, the supermarket cilantro lasts only two or three days. They also have sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) which is a desirable food for diabetics and I pick some up for a friend when I am there. Plants also have phytogens which are very important for the body's needs, vitamins (especially supplements) are not enough, so it's important to eat fresh and cooked plants and vegetables continuously.
There are cheap little vegetable bodegas in the city like the one at 104th & Amsterdam with reasonable prices. Small shops are often a good place to pick up avocados, which are very good for you and contain the good HDL cholesterol which helps prevent heart attacks and balances off the LDL kind. Use only olive oil to cook with, Fairways has a great quart of extra virgin (store brand) that has the lovely scent and taste of artichoke naturally. (My HDL cholesterol just tested at 88, which is very high and good, usual range of healthy HDL is 40-60, and I can only credit the food I cook and eat for that. A cardiologist just gave my heart a thorough screening and said all the results indicate a 20-year-old heart.) For a couple bucks more you can get the Fairways organic olive oil, though I love the artichoke scented one so much that I am not tempted to switch. And incidentally, artichokes and turnip and other "bitter" foods are VERY good for you and necessary in your diet...dandelion greens help detox the body, by the way.
Don't be a fuss budget if you have a tomato or other vegetable or fruit with a bad spot on it. My grandparents were farmers and there was lots of produce on the farm and we thought it a sin always to waste good food. The whole vegetable does not need to be trashed, you just cut out the bad part and use the rest of it. The only exception for me is citrus if the bad part has spread too much on the interior as it can sour the whole fruit.
In addition, stop in to several markets when you have the chance to nab their "loss leader" specials. For example, Garden of Eden has big yummy red cherries on special at $3.99 and you can pick your own. Elsewhere they cost $9 to $13 a pound right now.
With the food you consume being so important to your longterm health, learn to cook and prepare your own. It is MUCH healthier than restaurant food, even the places that purport to be healthy and use a lot of fresh vegetables often add junk to food like MSG, even if they say they don't, because it is in the powders and pre-mixed sauces they use, as in Chinese Restaurants.
And don't forget the lowly bean. Include legumes like lentils, chick peas and beans in your diet. Beans in particular are rich in protein and they also have a direct effect on mood to keep you upbeat and positive. Include fresh-squeezed lemon and lime juice in your diet. They have more than vitamin C in them and are exceptionally good for you. Lemons even supply some iron--who knew?
Updated On: 12/30/07 at 11:33 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
Back to Food#4
Posted: 12/30/07 at 12:21pm
Glad that poster got deleted. There are a few on here that need to banned.
Back to food.
At the Tibetan food booth at Union Square you can actually buy two kinds of cilantro, one is very fine and curly. Both are great in salads, soup, fresh tomatoes to top pasta, as is fresh watercress.
Those greens are loaded with vitamin A. Carrots, on the other hand, are full of sugar, and though they have Vitamin A as well, the sugar is not so hot for you. However, another stand at the Farmer's Market has lovely four to five inch long young carrots in bunches which are delicious roasted in maple butter. They cook very fast, baked only ten minutes or so in aluminum foil in the oven.
Updated On: 12/30/07 at 12:21 PM
pulling sinews from roadkill to use as noodles#2
Posted: 12/30/07 at 1:37pm
Who is she calling a tedious bore?
Or is she talking to herself again?
pulling sinews from roadkill to use as noodles#3
Posted: 12/30/07 at 1:54pmThis is all too confusing. The first two posts are like being dropped in the middle of a Carolyn Chute novel you never wanted to read.
pulling sinews from roadkill to use as noodles#4
Posted: 12/30/07 at 2:31pmi get a kick out of when the subject lines mysteriously change as if by magic.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
Joined: 12/31/69
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#5
Posted: 12/30/07 at 10:22pmGreat Googly Moogly, what in the name of Jessica Rabbit is going on here today?
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#7
Posted: 9/29/09 at 4:42pmHave I traveled through time?
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/04
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#8
Posted: 9/29/09 at 4:43pmHow can you tell whether or not these fruit and vegetables are organic?
Joined: 12/31/69
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#9
Posted: 9/29/09 at 4:54pmGreat Googly Moogly, how can I tell if the ROADKILL is organic?
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#10
Posted: 9/29/09 at 10:19pmOrder your fruits and vegetables from Chinese bike delivery services, right nomdeplume?!
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#11
Posted: 9/29/09 at 10:26pm
All I can say here is that the produce sold at the Union Sq. greenmarket is far from cheap. I'd rather go to Whole Foods.
Occasionally I'll buy from those street vendors, but 1. They don't let you select the pieces you want, and 2. I'm not sure how much soot and other fumes and stuff is on that produce from being out in the street all day.
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#12
Posted: 9/29/09 at 10:27pmI think McD's has the side salad on the dollar menu now!
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/14/03
Let's all keep saying Great googly Moogly!#13
Posted: 9/30/09 at 12:56am
Thanks for the post.
I like to steam my veggies and add garlic to keep the vampires away. 
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#14
Posted: 9/30/09 at 3:59am
Calvin, did you bring this old food post back?
Makes me hungry just to read it. Those roast maple carrots were great. I don't hardly shop at the Union Square farmer's market any more. Too many markets around here now.
The latest thing people are doing in the neighborhood is buying shares of farmer's crops that get delivered for a weekly distribution to temples and churches. I looked into it but it didn't look like a great deal price-wise and you are stuck with whatever produce they offer that week even if you don't like it, though they have an "exchange" box. You also have to be there (or send someone) during a specific two-hour period each week to pick up your food or it's gone. It's associated with some kind of national food distribution system to support U.S. farmers which is a good idea, though.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/08
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#15
Posted: 9/30/09 at 9:31amI don't buy from street vendors often. I usually get stuff that's packaged in a container or something like bananas, oranges, etc. Nothing with an edible peel. Why? Because I've heard that street vendors often pee in the street or into bags they throw away, and they don't wash their hands.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/04
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#16
Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:38pm
Nomdeplume has not been heard from since eating her giant $1 eggplant from the Chinatown store.
I suspect foul play.
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#17
Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:42pmIf the worst has happened, can we expect a memorial on the corner?
Good Food on the Cheap to Stay Healthy#18
Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:43pmIf you mention The Corner at the memorial, you get a free glass of wine.
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#19
Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:46pmAll praise the powers of the mighty eggplant!
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#20
Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:57pmI think she did one cleanse too many.
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#21
Posted: 5/24/13 at 7:24pmI sometimes wonder what would happen if I came out in my professional life? Would I lose the low self esteem and self-hatred?
Joined: 12/31/69
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#22
Posted: 5/24/13 at 7:59pmGreat Googly Moogly! What brought this up?
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#23
Posted: 5/24/13 at 10:45pmI hear anal ring toss is being added to Pippin next week.
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#24
Posted: 5/24/13 at 10:47pmIf Orion is doing it, I'll be front row center.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/04
Organic Googly Moogly is not Cheap#25
Posted: 11/12/13 at 11:51amDoes anyone have a recipe for Maraschino Salmon?
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