Juicing on a budget and how to get your kids to drink it!

Juicing can be a very expensive addition to your menu but worth it.  The health benefits to juicing are amazing. I find it gives me as much energy as a cup of coffee which is great!  So, how do you make juicing work in your budget.  Well, like everything if you juice the same things everyday, it is easier to fit it in your budget.  Since we are on a limited budget, I pick vegetables to juice that give me the best nutritional value.  These are the veggies and fruits that I juice every morning for my family: carrots, celery, green pepper, cabbage, parsley, beets and apples.   Carrot juice is amazing for vision and provides vitamin A, C and potassium; green pepper and parsley provide necessary folic acid and calcium; the cabbage juice protects against free radicals in the body, is a muscle builder, blood cleanser and eye strengthener, proven to heal stomach ulcers, has been known to help people with Crone's disease and is also rich in iron and sulfur; and beet juice is a blood purifier, cures diseases of the large intestines and digestive system.  It also is known to dissolve kidney stones, liver stones and bladder stones. The apples provide riboflavin, thiamine, carotene, vitamin B6, biotin, folic acid and vitamin C, not mention they make this drink sweet. 

How to get your kids to drink this drink!
Start by juicing carrots and apples.  Once they are used to the juiced apples and carrots begin by adding one other vegetable.  Start with a little piece of the that vegetable and slowly increase the amount.  Once they are drinking the desired amount of that juiced vegetable, add a new vegetable.  Keep repeating this process until you are giving them the desired amount of juiced vegetables that you want.  My kids drink every vegetable that I have listed above and love it!

Good Luck!  If you are looking for a good juicer, click here!

To be Organic or Not to be organic....that is the question.

Making the choice to go organic can be a very expensive choice.  As many of you know in today's day and age we have to pay more to get things healthy.  And if you can afford it, it is definitely worth it.  Food that is free of pesticides and contains all intended nutrients is often the best way to go.  But what do you do if organic is simply not in your budget.  I know for my family...as much as I would love to provide solely organic vegetables/fruits for my family...a diet that is completely organic is not feasible at the moment.  So what does one do?...well I have spent alot of time on this and have learned from my research that some vegetables and fruits absorb more pesticides than others.  Thus, I buy traditional grown vegetables/fruits that do not absorb as many pesticides and those that do absorb a lot of pesticides, I buy organic.  This way I am maximizing my budget and cutting down on the amount I spend.  Below is a list of the top 14 vegetables and fruits that absorb the highest amount of pesticides and should be bought organically; and the top 15 vegetables and fruits that absorb the least amount of pesticides.  (Over time, I lost the sites in which I received this information from.  Just know that I did not come up with the information myself.)

The Top 14 vegetables and fruits that absorb the highest amount of pesticides:
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes
11. Carrots
12. Pears
13. Blueberries
14. Spinach

The Top 15 vegetable and fruits that absorb the lowest amount of pesticides:
1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet Peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

If I had to be honest, there are time that we are not the best at following this list.  There have been times when we simply could just not afford to buy organic.  It happens to us all. So, understand that if you cannot always buy organic it is okay.  Non organic/traditionally grown vegetables are still better than processed foods and needless sugars.

The Green City Market

Many do not realize this; however, most Farmer's Markets in the city accept food stamps.  In fact, many have incentive programs to encourage people to use their food stamps at the market.  For example, Green City Market will give you an extra $10 to spend if you use your Link card at their market.  The Green City Market is my favorite for many reasons. 1) It is open all year round, so I can purchase meat, eggs, honey and some fruits and veggies from this market all year long, 2) They are very helpful and 3) They have free parking in the winter and cheap parking in the summer.  In the summers you can park at the Chicago Historical Museum for $10 and in the winter you can park at the Diversy Harbor Parking lot for free since the market moves to the Peggy Notebaert Museum.  You can go to their website for more information: http://greencitymarket.org/

Some of my favorites at the market are:
1) Meadow Haven Farms:  We buy all of our meat from this farm.  It tastes great and the owner are very helpful and wonderful people to talk to.  From my conversation with the owners, they follow a lot of the values found on the Westin A. Price foundation website.

2) Bron's Bee Company at Heritage Prairie Farms:  This the best tasting raw honey I have ever had! It tastes like you're eating flowers!  And you can get 6lbs for $30.  This lasts us most of the month making our lemonade's for the kids and the occasional desert.  And the price is pretty comparable to Aldi's honey which makes it a blessing for a family on a budget!

3) McNichol's farms:  I love their apples!  I buy 20lbs at a time and dehydrate them. They make for great snacks on the go with little ones.  They are not certified organic, but they are sprayed minimally and taste really good!  They also sell organic greens that are pretty good as well.