A FEW YEARS AGO, I came across an announcement for a blueberry festival in Hammonton, New Jersey. My wife is always up for doing something different, so we made our way there one summer day.
It turned out to be a great way to spend the day and learn the history of New Jersey’s blueberry industry. The industry was founded by a woman looking to expand the crops on her family’s farm around the turn of the 20th century. What I learned that day has changed my life—or, at least, what I eat for breakfast.
First, the history: Elizabeth White was the oldest daughter of a cranberry farmer in the Pine Barrens section of New Jersey. She came across an article from the U.S. Department of Agriculture discussing what would be needed to turn blueberries from a wild species into a farmed crop. Elizabeth volunteered her family farm as the test site.
It turned out that the sandy, acidic soil of coastal New Jersey was well-suited for blueberries. She cultivated several new blueberry varieties and then developed methods to boost production. Heavily populated New Jersey is still among the top six states for blueberry growing, producing more than 22,000 tons in 2022.
What do blueberries have to do with personal finance? They’re considered a superfood, one that’s jam-packed with nutrients. This means that, from an efficiency standpoint, eating blueberries provides a large percentage of the daily nutrients our bodies need.
The cost of health care in the U.S. is staggering. The older we get, the more our bodies tend to break down. The less money we spend on doctor visits and prescriptions, the more we have to invest or spend. Blueberries are my means to a healthier, wealthier life.
I sprinkle blueberries on my cereal every morning. It may not be the fountain of youth, but it’s a start. Thanks to modern agriculture, I can get blueberries all year round, not just during the summer growing season.
The only downside is the cost of imported berries. My wife, who does the food shopping for our family, always tells me how expensive blueberries are during the off-season. I remind her that I don’t spend money on drugs, alcohol or gambling. I throw away my money on a blue superfood instead.
My wife follows a simple practice when deciding what we should eat. She tells me to keep my plate colorful, meaning I should make sure the food in front of me has colors like blue, green, yellow, orange and red. These are the hues of fruits and vegetables. What I don’t want to see on my plate is brown food, like grilled steak. Heart problems run in my family. For me, eating brown food is asking for trouble.
In college, I took a nutrition course taught by a World War II British army nurse. She emphasized that vitamin and mineral supplements are far more costly than consuming vitamins and minerals in food.
Getting your required vitamins and minerals is easy if you buy fresh produce and cook your own food. Not taking advantage of this opportunity would be a shame, especially as we age. Frito-Lay will fare just fine even if you never buy another bag of chips. Trust me.
Me too Dave!
Mom would make the best Blue Berry pie! Of course it did have the best sugar! ha.
I like BB in pankakes with walnuts or crushed pecans…. Yummm
Blueberries are definitely a healthy choice. We have an organic farm that we can pick our own in the summer, then freeze for later. Great for breakfast combos with nuts and seeds. I would add that there are other fruits out there that deserve attention – mango, strawberries, apples, currants, bananas, blackberries, raspberries. Each serves a unique source of Goodness. By eating all of these, we can get a full spectrum that nature is begging us to partake in.
I miss South Jersey and especially picking our own blueberries, some of which made it back to the weighing station. But I am still amazed at how good my oatmeal is when it serves as a platform for as many berries as I care to pile. Thanks for stirring the memories.
I buy fresh blueberries and blackberries (wash & dry them) and then freeze them. I add both to my cereal, strawberries, and pecans. The frozen berries keep the milk cold. 🙂
growing up in South Jersey there were plenty of wild blueberry bushes in the woods although smaller they were tasty…..who knew I was being healthy a 8 years old and now 78 still eating them
I can see that there are a lot of fellow blueberry lovers here! I always have some on hand, but I actually like the idea of considering frozen ones (though I usually manage to eat them all before they spoil). Over yogurt, over cereal, over oatmeal, mixed with other fruit into a side salad—there’s no wrong answer here.
While I agree one shouldn’t build a lifestyle around steak and chips, moderation is key. If one is trying to be healthy and/or lose weight, total deprivation usually backfires after a while. I like a nice steak every now and then—I’m talking maybe every other month, tops—and I don’t eat huge portions of it. Protein is good for weight loss. Now, Fritos not so much, but thank goodness for the snack-sized individual portions for those occasions when one wants to indulge a bit. They cost a bit more but are good for self-control.
Eat them every day, breakfast and dinner dessert. Costco sells an excellent 3lb bag, frozen organic.
My breakfast is blueberries, granola, protein powder and organic whole milk yoghurt followed by one slice of organic whole wheat toast with butter and marmite. However, the blueberries are frozen organic wild ones from Whole Foods. I like them small, and these are reliably small, and I don’t have to worry about how fresh they are.
I recently learned that blueberries are also grown in North Carolina.
Greek yogurt, blueberries, and a sprinkle of high-protein cereal for some crunch. Perfect breakfast or snack.
Another blueberry fan here, David. My wife and I include blueberries (and a lot of other good stuff) on our oatmeal every morning. And I’m with Brent on the frozen variety—not too costly, never go bad and, in my humble opinion, just as tasty as fresh.
Great reminder, David, that what we put in our mouths can protect our nest egg.
It’s hard to believe eating blueberries offers some protection to heart and brain and the rest of the body, thereby saving cash and preventing trouble.
Here’s a recent summary of health benefits.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7442370/
I’d forgotten why I used to eat so many blueberries and even planted blueberry bushes in my garden. Now I’ll be putting them on my morning oatmeal again.
For fresh berries I try to buy whatever’s in season or on sale. I also like frozen berries because they’re a little cheaper and you don’t have to worry about them going bad.
One day I’d like to buy more organic produce, but sometimes the markup is twice to three times as expensive as non-organic and I just can’t justify the expense. I suppose any produce is better than Frito-Lay though.
David, thanks for this article, I need to make better choices. Mustard and ketchup are not the right bright colors we need on our plates, even if they do successfully hide the brown cow beneath. My Levies have been begging for an upgraded waist size, and I’m beginning to think that the HP&C (High Protein and Carb) diet isn’t working for me.
Well—speaking as someone who’s been working on weight management for a while—you have the “high protein” part right. It’s good for satiety. But it matters what kind of protein it is (lean meat vs cheeseburger, for instance).
As for carbs, yeah, we should manage them, but I’m never going to give them up entirely. A life with no bread, rice, or pasta just sounds too sad to me. I try to moderate by eating lighter bread and bagel thins and mixing “real” rice with cauliflower rice. I did find a low-carb pasta brand that I thought was pretty good, but my husband drew the line on that one, so I just stick to smaller portions.
I use pasta noodles made with 100% legumes such as lentils and garbanzos. Higher protein and fiber, lower carbs.
David, I enjoy blueberries on my morning yogurt. If you want to learn more about Elizabeth White and the NJ blueberry and cranberry industry, visit Whitesbog Village in the Pine Barrens It’s an historic farm and village that depicts the history of the industry. Nearby is White’s Farm, a commercial blueberry and cranberry farm. You can see how cranberry bogs work. There are events on weekends, tours, and you can volunteer.
https://whitesbog.org/