Something that is a factor for us, in our whole foods journey, is our budget. We've made healthy, nutrient dense foods a priority, so I'm picky about what I buy for us to eat. It's better to buy something that will be filling and nutritious, than "food" that is completely processed, won't fill you up and can be detrimental to your health (boxed mac n cheese comes to mind). Eating foods that have vitamins and minerals is the best way to get them, but supplements have their place in our society, where we don't eat a complete diet that gives us all that we need.
We can't drink cow's milk in our house, due to intolerances. If we were able to drink it, it would be raw, as after pasteurization the total of soluble calcium is very much diminished as well as other vitamins. We use coconut milk and almond milk instead, usually. Milk is usually associated with calcium, although there are other ways to get calcium in your daily diet. One that I recently learned about is sardines. They're really high in calcium, and have other great vitamins/minerals as well. I bought a can yesterday, so I will post when I've tried them! Some more are bone broths - using the bones of chicken, beef or fish, adding apple cider vinegar (preferably raw) to make the bones release the calcium (bone broths also help heal intestinal inflammation, so when my stomach is upset, especially from a food, I try to drink some hot broth), dark green, leafy vegetables, & eggs, to name just a few.
Kimi, at The Nourishing Gourmet, has the Pennywise Platter every Thursday and also has great posts on eating nutritiously on a budget. Here's a post on frugal nutrient dense foods. A few foods she highlights are eggs, soaked oatmeal, dried beans & soups.
