The author must live in the sticks. In the Bay Area of N. CA, farmers' markets sell only very fresh, organic, food, because the vendors can't compete on price with supermarkets. Because of the food quality, the prices are sky high:
- apples: $2.50/lb
- tomatoes: $3.00/lb
- unpasteurized almonds: $8.00/lb
- chicken eggs: $7/dozen
- extra-virgin olive oil: $20–$25/250ml bottle
The only thing I buy there are granny smith apples in the fall, because they're low-fructose, and the supermarket ones are tasteless and mealy.
The retail prices of meat from traditionally-raised animals are expensive, too, ($20/lb for rib-eye steaks), and you have to buy a quarter of a cow or half a pig to make the purchase economical, assuming you have a chest freezer.
Regarding buying close to their expiration dates, the supermarkets in my area set expiration dates so that food's salable at full price until those dates. UK practices must be quite different in this regard.
Regarding fasting, women should definitely *not* practice intermittent fasting. Clinical research has failed to show the same benefits for women as men get. There are lots of anecdotes about women showing signs of thyroid stress when they do intermittent fasting.
While the U.S. might waste 40% of its food, the vast majority of the waste isn't from retail consumers. It's food that doesn't meet the aesthetic standards of supermarkets, food that spoils during transit, and food that supermarkets throw out. Chiding people to buy only what they can eat is worse than useless; it raises people's defenses for no good reason.
There are so many other mistakes and myths in that list that I don't have the energy to discuss them all.
If this makes me a sourpuss/"Debbie Downer," so be it. It's shoddy science, acceptance of nutrition myths, and blindered thinking that has devastated the health of 3 generations, and advocates of a return to traditional nutrition need to be on solid ground every step of the way to an older nutrition paradigm. Otherwise, critics of our movement will have ample ammunition to refute our reasoning and our claims, and the next 3 generations will be no wiser or healthier than their forbearers.
Keto and Paleo budget tips
Yes, the author lives in the UK so many of tips here may not apply in US, certainly not in the Bay Area, but in NC with both CAFO (#2 in hogs!) and an active small sustainable farming movement, if I wanted to buy and name my own pig, I could (not!). Both the many local and the four regional state-managed farmers markets are bargains, true truck farm outlets. Think large burlap bags of sweet potatoes off back of pick-ups, 50 lb. for $20.
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