{ Local and Organic Doesn't Need to Cost More }
Local food living is a test of wills come February. All the fruits from foreign lands arrive at the grocery store, flaunting their colors of faraway summers in the depths of winter...but no bother, I have canned cherries, peaches and frozen berries. Local apples and some variety of pears are still plentiful thanks to cold storage and as I wandered into the back garden the other day the strawberry shoots are poking their way up through the soil! I caged them to protect them from marauding bunnies!
As I study the numbers from last year (I am a bookkeeper by trade and have our personal finances set up just like a client's), I am encouraged by our food bills. We were able to eat local food (trust me, we don't starve and are not particularly healthy, although we try) and most was organic for about the same price as 2007's groceries. We spent a little more on meat but then again, I have enough in the freezer to make it through until April or May so that's a wash. We also had more invested in food production supplies...things like extra canning jars and storage bins for bulk organic flours and sugars. With good planning, it's been OK and for the most part, food prep doesn't take that much more time living this way then with fast, processed foods. The biggest changes are these:
We have to think ahead about food because "grab and go" in winter is more difficult since things are canned or frozen. We find it's easier to "cheat" and eat out once a week and not once a month as intended (but our local bistro and coffee house feature local organics, so no compromise there). On good weeks we do food prep all at once on Sundays and it takes just a couple of hours. On regular weeks it's more like we prep two meals and make bread dough on Sundays and plot out the rest of the week. The biggest bonuses have been that we aren't breaking the bank, we aren't suffering or feel like we are sacrificing and the last blood draw I did, my sugars and triglycerides were way way down. (Now if only getting on the treadmill were easy!)
It's been an interesting change in lifestyle but from a fiscal standpoint, no harder on the pocket book.
As I study the numbers from last year (I am a bookkeeper by trade and have our personal finances set up just like a client's), I am encouraged by our food bills. We were able to eat local food (trust me, we don't starve and are not particularly healthy, although we try) and most was organic for about the same price as 2007's groceries. We spent a little more on meat but then again, I have enough in the freezer to make it through until April or May so that's a wash. We also had more invested in food production supplies...things like extra canning jars and storage bins for bulk organic flours and sugars. With good planning, it's been OK and for the most part, food prep doesn't take that much more time living this way then with fast, processed foods. The biggest changes are these:
We have to think ahead about food because "grab and go" in winter is more difficult since things are canned or frozen. We find it's easier to "cheat" and eat out once a week and not once a month as intended (but our local bistro and coffee house feature local organics, so no compromise there). On good weeks we do food prep all at once on Sundays and it takes just a couple of hours. On regular weeks it's more like we prep two meals and make bread dough on Sundays and plot out the rest of the week. The biggest bonuses have been that we aren't breaking the bank, we aren't suffering or feel like we are sacrificing and the last blood draw I did, my sugars and triglycerides were way way down. (Now if only getting on the treadmill were easy!)
It's been an interesting change in lifestyle but from a fiscal standpoint, no harder on the pocket book.
posted by Steph at
5:25 AM
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