Keeping it local for 5 days...

I'm always interested in those people who take challenges to eat locally for a certain period of time. A great read for those of you who are interested in such things is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Kingslover. She and her family eat locally for an entire year. As I said, it's very interesting...but I don't want to be one of those people frankly. First of all, I don't garden. I have a black thumb and I don't like to get dirty, buggy and hot. Nothing sounds more horrible than being on my hands and knees in July weeding some 10X10 piece of rock hard dry earth pulling weeds while gnats fly up my nose. Yuck. (My lack of desire to actually tend the garden may just be why it dies, shocking though I know that is.) I'd rather go to a market and simply purchase my produce from someone who obviously has a passion for gardening or farming. Second, I'm kinda busy. I have hobbies and friends and TV to watch, I don't want to take the sheer time it would take to eat 99% local! Third, I do enjoy certain foods that I don't think Indiana can produce, like good peaches and limes.




All of that being said, I do see so much value in eating locally. There are many reasons and I won't bore you with a long lecture but I will bore you with a short one. First, nearly 20% of all of the oil used in the world is used for farming and transporting food. Imagine all of the pollution that our earth endures to get you some Argentina strawberries in January. However, if I get my strawberries from a farm the next town over, that amount of fossil fuel used is much less. Second, a few years ago I had a staff infection that got out of control. I was on tons of antibiotics but eventually had to be hospitalized to receive 15 bags of IV antibiotics. I rarely take antibiotics so I know it wasn't ME who made my body resistant to the life saving medications. 25% of the antibiotics produced in the USA go into our food animals. In turn, these go into us. If animals are allowed space and their natural food source, they don't need those antibiotics to stay healthy. Third, if my money stays in Indiana, it enriches the economy that I live in. Okay, I could go on, but I will spare you because I promised it would be short and I always keep my promises.

My goal is to have 20%+ of my food to be from a local source. I think this is a pretty darn reasonably goal. Let's see how I did.




Sunday- Pan Roasted chicken legs with herb butter, sauteed greens, and strawberries.

• local- chicken legs, herbs, greens, strawberries



• not local-olive oil, butter, salt, pepper

Monday- The Perfect Salad (salad greens, strawberries, goat cheese, candied pecans, balsamic vinaigrette, balsamic chicken).

• 
  local-chicken, salad greens, strawberries



• not local-goat cheese, candied pecans, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper

Tuesday- Chipotle pasta in a cream sauce with red peppers and chicken

• local- pasta (I got it at the farmer's market...I have no idea where the pasta maker got the ingredients), chicken, red pepper



• not local- cream sauce (it was from a jar), Mrs. Dash Chipolte Seasonings, salt and pepper, olive oil

Wednesday- Red pepper pasta in a tomato-cream sauce with red peppers, onions, fresh mozzarella.

• local- pasta, red pepper, onions, garlic, tomatoes



• not local- cream, red pepper flake, mozzarella, Ramano cheese, salt and pepper

Thursday- Fried chicken breasts, sauteed greens, salad

• local- chicken, garlic, greens, salad greens

• not local-olive oil, bacon, balsamic vinaigrette dressing, salt and pepper

So I think I'm doing pretty well. I have learned that the work comes in shopping for the foods. Once you have them in your kitchen it is natural to use them. I think what stops most people is that you can't decide what you are eating before shopping because if you are eating seasonally, what if what you decided upon isn't around? My strategy is to go to the market, see what's in my CSA (I pick it up in the market), go off to the side and plan a couple meals in the head based on that information. Most of what I make isn't terribly fancy-just a few ingredients.

A quick word on the financial cost of eating locally. The produce is pretty much on par with Kroger prices, often cheaper (since you aren't trucking it in from Assbackwards God Knows Where). Meat is a different story. Meat is significantly more expensive. I know I can get Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale at Kroger for $1.97 a pound. I've not seen the same product for sale by a local farmer for less than $5.00 a pound. I've found it is the most cost effective to purchase whole roaster birds and break them down yourself. Keep the bones so you can make chicken stock to offset some of the cost. I've gotten roasters from Kroger for $6.00. Most of my roasters from the farmer's market are $13.00+. A dozen eggs from Kroger is under a dollar. A dozen eggs from a local farmer is $3.00. It is more. However, when I add it all up, it costs us about $50.00-$75.00 more a month to buy ALL (and I don't buy all local meat. I really like my steaks to have been never frozen, and I haven't found decent local bacon...and you know how I loves me some bacon...) local meat. That's a lot to me, but it's less than my husband and my cell phone bills. It's less than what we pay for cable TV. In the end, it's worth it to me to know that the animals lived happy healthy lives and were killed humanely, and to know that my meat is safer to eat.