Following up on Gobbler’s popular post, Skinny Bitch and the Organic Shopping List, I thought now would be a good time to revisit the topic amidst changes in our habits and disposable income.  Last we checked, Gobbler was livid that his wife’s fav new book, Skinny Bitch, made their grocery costs shoot through the roof.  While this isn’t news, the fact remains food is more expensive now, and we have to second guess that trip to Whole Foods or Foods of All Nations.  Or do we?

The NY Times wrote an interesting piece on Monday on the rising cost of food and our return the dark side…junk food.

“You have to know how to cook beans and rice, how to make tortillas, how to soak lentils,” said Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington. “Many people don’t have the knowledge or the time if they’re working two jobs.”

Last year, Dr. Drewnowski led a study, published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association, comparing the prices of 370 foods sold at supermarkets in the Seattle area. The study showed that “energy dense” junk foods, which pack the most calories and fewest nutrients per gram, were far less expensive than nutrient-rich, lower-calorie foods like fruits and vegetables. The prices of the most healthful foods surged 19.5 percent over the two-year study period, while the junk food prices dropped 1.8 percent.

Obesity researchers worry that these trends will push consumers toward less healthful foods. “The message for this year and next year is going to be affordable nutrition,” Dr. Drewnowski said. “It’s not the food pyramid, it’s the budget pyramid.”

The City/Farmer’s Market is closed for the season, and we are left with few easy options at the moment (we do have plenty of farms locally, but its not as convenient as hopping over to South St on a Saturday).

What have you done differently since our last chat and where can we procure inexpensive healthiness?  Are you cooking more?  Are you sick and tired of rice and beans, or do you have a ridiculous recipe?  Or are we going completely seasonal where October consisted of pumpkin granola, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread, roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, etc…

[pic from Andrew* on flickr]

So, I returned from a long weekend away from my wife to find out that she’s been reading Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman and has decided that she would like to start living the organic lifestyle. She will only eat organic food, cutting out dairy all-together, and is considering becoming a vegetarian.

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Seth Rosen, from the Daily Progress, reports:

But there are divisions over the merits of going a step further and building an expensive bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes on U.S. 29. Though a fleet of sleek, larger buses speeding down exclusive lanes would shrink travel time and make transit a more attractive option, it would cost up to $138 million to lay down the asphalt and build the infrastructure.

Currently, only 2% of Albemarle County residents and 5% of City residents ride the bus to work. While a fancy bus system may benefit a small few, this sounds like an insane amount of money to spend on something. I’m all for public transportation, but how much would usage increase if we had a top tier bus system?

Slutzky, a Supervisor, tells the Daily Progress:

Even if we had to fund it ourselves, we can afford it, $138 million sounds like a big number when you put it out there by itself, but when you put it in context, it is quite doable.

Are they going to get the money from those “increases” in real estate assessments?

[via Daily Progress] [pic]