Our Saturday morning shopping: cage-free eggs ($2.50/dozen), raspberries ($2.00/box), fresh made (as in yesterday) blackberry jelly ($4.00), cucumbers ($3.00 for all), corn ($1.00/3), peaches ($3.00), potatoes, zucchini & broccoli from our CSA. Everything in this picture is local and fresh picked. Over the past few years we have slowly evolved our eating habits to include as much locally grown, whole foods as we can. I grew up this way (living Africa without super-markets just led to more self-sustainability and European shops and neighborhood markets foster this idea a lot more) but as an adult in America I initially didn't think much about where my food came from or what was in it. I shopped at big box stores, bought lots of processed foods and the main factor in my purchasing decisions came down to what foods were the least expensive.
In the past few years we have watched documentaries and read books about the food industry. We have slowly become convicted that the decisions we make about the food we eat are important. The way we eat and purchase food has evolved over the past years. We continue to search for local sources and try to eat food that is in season. We buy our grass fed beef from local farmers. We buy honey from a store right down the street, the honey "farmed" just a few miles away. We joined a CSA group (Community Supported Agriculture) that gives us a variety of locally grown veggies once a week from May through October. Our Saturday mornings are spent at the Farmer's Market and the Fruit Stand in our town, chatting with the farmers, listening to the live music, and checking out the produce and goods. The boys usually end up with a free sample of something (this morning it was a small bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies).
We certainly have more room to grow in this area. We still make a trip to Costco every few weeks for our bulk and some organic goods. And we still order pizza or eat out at restaurants when I just don't feel like cooking.
There has been a learning curve. And sometimes eating whole, local foods has been more labor intensive. But when I get home on a Saturday morning and load up my counter with yummy, fresh foods like what you see above I feel so satisfied that I can feed my family healthy food and support local farmers. Plus, everything just tastes better! I had one of those peaches for a snack this morning, the taste was amazing! I just couldn't stop smiling as the juice dripped down my chin.
In the past few years we have watched documentaries and read books about the food industry. We have slowly become convicted that the decisions we make about the food we eat are important. The way we eat and purchase food has evolved over the past years. We continue to search for local sources and try to eat food that is in season. We buy our grass fed beef from local farmers. We buy honey from a store right down the street, the honey "farmed" just a few miles away. We joined a CSA group (Community Supported Agriculture) that gives us a variety of locally grown veggies once a week from May through October. Our Saturday mornings are spent at the Farmer's Market and the Fruit Stand in our town, chatting with the farmers, listening to the live music, and checking out the produce and goods. The boys usually end up with a free sample of something (this morning it was a small bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies).
We certainly have more room to grow in this area. We still make a trip to Costco every few weeks for our bulk and some organic goods. And we still order pizza or eat out at restaurants when I just don't feel like cooking.
There has been a learning curve. And sometimes eating whole, local foods has been more labor intensive. But when I get home on a Saturday morning and load up my counter with yummy, fresh foods like what you see above I feel so satisfied that I can feed my family healthy food and support local farmers. Plus, everything just tastes better! I had one of those peaches for a snack this morning, the taste was amazing! I just couldn't stop smiling as the juice dripped down my chin.
