Is anyone here cooking fully local, fully organic?

[grasswire]

This household is considering a full switch to organic and local foods. Obviously, all meal-planning and purchasing must be revamped for that to happen. To simply buy local and organic for the same kinds of menus would be far too costly for us. Example: a local chicken on sale costs about $3. At the same supermarket, a free-range organic chicken is about $11 and never goes on sale. And so one obvious conclusion is that we will eat very little meat in the new plan.

We're already spending a LOT of money on groceries. I'm curious about other households who have made this kind of transition.

Anyone?

[NMDemDist2]

1. i am lucky, i buy local (but not necessarily "organic")

we have a "local" market named Sprouts where I get great bin goods (flour, rice, beans, cereals etc) local produce and free range meat that DOES go on sale...

it's a cross between a "Natural foods" market and a supermarket and I love it!

www.sprouts.com

edit to add, check online and see if there are any local producers that you can buy "shares" in, they'll give you local food weekly of what's in season.

IIRC Wildeyed tryed it.......

[grasswire]

2. we've done that in years past...

...but stopped it because there was not enough of any one thing to use for a dish unless it's vegetable soup. A scattering of a lot of things in a box once a week might work well for two people, but not for a household with teenagers.

Getting produce in the summer is not a problem, as there are farmers markets. It is definitely more expensive to buy directly from the farmer than to buy at the supermarket, though.

[wildeyed]

3. I had exactly the opposite problem with my Community Farm

last summer. We got too much of the same stuff. Not enough variety and the portions were smaller than we were led to expect, even accounting for weather issues. I think the idea is sound, I just need to find a good farm. There are a few established CSA's but it is impossible to even get on the waiting list with them.

[cmf]

4. We try to as much as possible

The first thing is that we do eat very little meat. It's just more economical that way. We're also very fortunate to live in an area where there are many CSAs to choose from, so after trying a couple, we have one that we like. I freeze extras from the summer to supplement the winter. We also have a small garden in the summer. So we freeze extras from that and trade with our neighbors to supplement our own produce. The biggest change you have to make when switching to this type of diet is to eat seasonally. I think that because there is so much choice in American supermarkets, we get spoiled and get used to having whatever we want whenever we want it. But if you plan your menus well, you may find that you will spend less on groceries by buying locally (and seasonally). Winter squash that is grown locally costs less than asparagus grown in South America. I like to check out cookbooks from the library to get new ideas for recipes. We also eat a lot of stir fries and curries, because you can mix and match the vegetables based on what is plentiful (and cheap).

[grasswire]

9. thanks for your input

If there were only adults here, this would be easier. But there are two young teenagers who (naturally) want to eat pizza and burgers and aren't too keen on ethnic dishes, which would be what we adults would love to have daily. It's going to be a real challenge.

[politicat]

5. It's not possible.

We live in an area where indigenous people were migratory hunter gatherers who did not do their farming in this area (when they farmed at all). It's dry, with poor, clay based soil, and is really only good for grazing. Farming this region is actually the worst thing we can do to it; the soil takes generations to recover and those who are further down the mountain have rights to much of our water. To encourage farming in this region is to encourage destruction.

That said, we do buy locally and organically during the summers, and grow our own veggies as much as possible. I preserve what I can. There are a couple of 4-H clubs in the area and if I can find someone else to go in with me on a lamb, I plan to buy a lamb at end of the year and have it butchered - DH and I, as much as we love lamb, cannot possibly eat one all by ourselves. We're looking for someone right now to do the same with chickens, since we live in an area where we can't have them. Beef, which is safe for this area, as long as it is raised like a bison, we get from a local cattleman who raises them on grass.

If we were to eat only local produce, then for 7 months out of the year, we wouldn't eat and the land is not productive enough in the five months it can grow crops to have a "winter" surplus. Our top soil is only a couple feet thick (compared to Kansas, where it is 600 feet thick...). People should not have settled this region since it cannot support the numbers that are here. Unfortunately, we can't leave, either. (It makes the environmentalist in me very queasy....) To minimize our impact, we buy in bulk when possible, generate as little garbage as possible, reuse our gray water (even though that is technically illegal) for the garden and the compost heap, support local farmers when possible and eat a diet that is most consistent with local conditions.

[wildeyed]

6. Why is it illegal to re-use grey water?

I would have thought it they would encourage that. My sister lives in Australia, and I believe that there they are required to re-use the grey water, and the houses are rigged to do that automatically somehow.

[politicat]

7. Because we are at the "top of the stack" so to speak, and people

downstream have the right to our waste water. Our water rights laws were written in the 19th century, for miners primarily, so they're a bit archaic and were based on mining claims rather than farming.

Farmers in Kansas have been there longer than I have been on this piece of land, so they have the prior claim. I also can't store the water that runs off my roof.

[grasswire]

8. very interesting, thanks

One area where we could do better in this household is the generation of garbage. That means handkerchiefs, not kleenex, for one thing, and cloth rags instead of paper towels. But then there's the bugaboo of detergent and water to wash handkerchiefs. At every turn it seems something is bad and worse! It's hard to know where to start.

[politicat]

10. Rags and handkerchiefs don't increase the load much.

With two people, both with allergies, and using almost no paper products (save TP, but that's recycled from newpapers and such), we do about 4 loads of laundry a week (we have a front loader, so they're big loads, but low water usage and very low detergent usage). We both use handkerchiefs the same way - use once, drop in ziploc baggie, wash. No snot rags in this house. We use big flour sacking towels instead of kitchen paper.

It hasn't increased the load all that much; I think I was doing 3.5 loads a week before.

As for drying, we have one of those drying racks that I dry the handkerchiefs and kitchen towels on because then they're easier to fold and more absorbant.

[NMDemDist2]

12. allergies

my step mom swears that if you eat a tablespoon a day of local honey from bees feeding on the allergin that bothers you, your allergies will disappear

I've got hubby on it and in spite of the smog he is doing better! worth a try ......

[politicat]

13. DH's allergies are to cats (and he refuses to give our two up); mine are

to pine trees and to gasoline additives. Other than the pine trees, bees don't really have much interest in either MBTE or cats.

Besides, that much sugar would cause other problems.

[NMDemDist2]

14. yours are the same as hubby's

the gas additive just lays him out, but it would help with the pine allergies

honey is the perfect food you know.....

Honey/1 tablespoon

Calories 64
Total fat (g) 0
Saturated fat (g) 0
Monounsaturated fat (g) 0
Polyunsaturated fat (g) 0
Dietary fiber (g) 0
Protein (g) 0.1
Carbohydrate (g) 17
Cholesterol (mg) 0
Sodium (mg) 0.9


and it has many trace minerals and anti oxident and anti bacterial properties

[politicat]

11. Another thought: Local and not organic is better than organic and

not local. The amount of oil used to make the pesticides and fertilizers on a local, but not organic tomato would be significantly less than the amount required to transport a similar, organic tomato from 1000 miles away in a refrigerated truck. Same for a chicken - if I can get a locally raised chicken that provided a job in my community (and chickens are 99% of the time antibiotic and hormone free) versus an "Organic" chicken raised halfway across the continent, I'll take the local one. Fresher, safer (by being fresher) and better for the place that I live.

And what does organic mean in terms of chicken, anyway? Doesn't necessarily mean free range. Doesn't necessarily mean it was fed a vegetarian, organic diet (not that chickens do well on a vegetarian diet, anyway - they like bugs).

Same with beef, pork and lamb in my local area. If it comes from New Zealand, it's right out. If it comes from the kosher butcher three towns over (they process a lot of the free range meat because the halal butcher is the only one small enough to handle the smaller herds), that's better. Pork comes from a local guy who does all of his own processing.

[calico1]

15. I am in the process of doing a similar thing.

Organic and locally grown/made. For example, there is a group of local dairy farmers. One supermarket distributes the milk and I buy it. There is also another local dairy that sells raw milk which I have bought at the healt food store but its very expensive. One way I try to save money is by not buying any prepacked, instant or convenience type foods. If you haven't already try cutting all that stuff out. I also will attempt to grow some of my own veggies this year so we will see how that goes. That might be another thing you may consider trying. At least a few of them.

[calico1]

16. If you can get a copy of the book

"The Real Food Revival" by Sherri Brooks Vinton and Ann Clark Espueals. I really liked it and it was very educational with regard to organic foods, local, in season, etc. Its a very good read and I think it will help you in your transition.