America gets even fatter!

[crazy canuck]

Water is better for you than those crappy fizzy drinks and it's a lot cheaper too 

Actually, given the amount of bottled water people drink it is not cheaper but most certainly healthier.

[garbon]

The fact that you like Pepsi at all invalidates any claim you have in knowing what tastes good.

[Norgy]

Is there a problem drinking tap water in Canada?

I tried in Greece and Italy (and on Jersey) and it tasted like detergent.

[crazy canuck]

Is there a problem drinking tap water in Canada?

No.  Which makes the practice of drinking bottled water even more ridiculous.  I live right next to a water shed and my neighbours have their water delivered to them in bottles.

[Norgy]

Fashion victims.

"San Pellegrino" water retails at the same price as a pint of beer here. Yet people buy it. The tap water here is excellent, even in Oslo.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The tap water in my hometown is the only good thing about the place. It's in a limestone hard water area, delicious stuff 

[Barrister]

Is there a problem drinking tap water in Canada?

I tried in Greece and Italy (and on Jersey) and it tasted like detergent.

It's a really big country.  That's like asking if there is a problem drinking tap water in Europe.

It depends on where the community gets its water, and how its treated.  A few isolated communities (mostly reserves) have to boil their water.  Quite a few communities that get their water from wells have very hard (and bad tasting) water.  Some communities over-chlorinate, so it tastes like crap but is safe.

Whitehorse gets its water from the glacier-fed Yukon River, so it tastes great.

[Savonarola]

The tap water in my hometown is the only good thing about the place. It's in a limestone hard water area, delicious stuff 

Detroit's tap water is so good that Pepsi bottles and sells it as "Aquafina" throughout the United States.   

[saskganesh]

Even cooking from scratch you can't eat a healthy meal for the cost of a quarter pounder meal from McDonalds. 

fail.

for example, red beans and rice is healthier. materials cost pennies. lettuce is in season now, so a quick salad on the side is very doable.

the trick is to remember to soak your beans and rice the night before. but this is hard for people.

Thats what I was getting at by filling up on starches like our grandparents.  There's no doubt a diet heavy on beans and rice is better than processed foods, but it's not terribly nutritious either.

And I say all of this as the person who cooks most nights (and when I don't cook, my wife does).  I've been on a "old fashioned cooking" kick for awhile as well - I made chicken soup from scratch the other day.  It was delicious and very nutritious and used only basic ingredients - but fastfood would have been cheaper on a per-meal basis.

And while my produce costs are high, I have lived in other places, and have cooked in other places.

red beans/rice is a complementary protein. its more than starch. 

price. not sure about that. I can buy a chicken for $10 (less if farm fresh) , roast it, have a few meals. leftovers I can make chicken salad. another meal. then I can cook the carcass, wind up with soup stock, which is then the basis for several other meals.

meanwhile $10 is the average dinner spending at KFC. one meal.

but what's spent is time. given $10 which took you anywhere from one hour to 5 minutes to make, depending on your job/career, it's still going to be less time working enough so you can eat at the colonels than cooking the first chicken.

[Barrister]

red beans/rice is a complementary protein. its more than starch. 

price. not sure about that. I can buy a chicken for $10 (less if farm fresh) , roast it, have a few meals. leftovers I can make chicken salad. another meal. then I can cook the carcass, wind up with soup stock, which is then the basis for several other meals.

meanwhile $10 is the average dinner spending at KFC. one meal.

but what's spent is time. given $10 which took you anywhere from one hour to 5 minutes to make, depending on your job/career, it's still going to be less time working enough so you can eat at the colonels than cooking the first chicken.

You're missing the cost of veggies.  Let's see, the recipe I used included the $10 chicken (minus the breasts), plus an onion, leeks, and carrots.  The soup itself then also contained a red pepper and two ears of corn, and a half cup of brown and wild rice.  Probably made 8 good sized bowls.  But I don't think it compared well to a $2-$3 cheap burger, or even a frozen pizza or hamburger helper.  And then yes - the time difference is enormous.

I'm with you in terms of preferring home-made food from fresh produce (or as fresh as you can get in Yukon).  But I don't think it's honest to say that you can make that kind of switch without financial, as well as time, cost.  And any change in public policy has to take that financial aspect into account.

And now you've got me hungry.  I wonder what I'll make for supper tonight...

[saskganesh]

onions, carrots, corn always cheap.

leeks, peppers ... it depends.

buy in season, shop the specials, you'll find veggies are always affordable.

[Malthus]

Is there a problem drinking tap water in Canada?

No.  Which makes the practice of drinking bottled water even more ridiculous.  I live right next to a water shed and my neighbours have their water delivered to them in bottles.

At my cottage, there was a big fight - a water bottler wanted to tap into the watershed. Turns out that the Coldwater River aquifer has the highest water quality in the country ... 

Needless to say, we don't need to buy bottled water. 

[Capetan Mihali]

Frozen vegetables are the ticket.  Healthy, affordable, convenient.   Always in season, often in a brick.

[Ed Anger]

I only eat onions in ring form and deep fried.

[crazy canuck]

I only eat onions in ring form and deep fried.

But they were once frozen so that takes care of part of Mehali's criteria.