i'm always trying to discreetly convert our household to the 100-mile diet. i'm not a fanatic about it to steal a quote from greg but i do try to add foods as they become available.
recently, we've switched to drinking illinois cellars norton wine. the wine is made from cynthiana grapes and is just as good as a good shiraz not to mention it is cheap. but, the best thing of all, the winery is only 58 miles away from us. our local grocer supposedly carries it but i have yet to see it on the shelves, even though i've seen it advertised in their weekly flyers and the website says they do. i think i'll go to the manager and ask if they could special order a case or two of it for me. it is a reasonably priced wine (ranges from 5.19 - 5.99 per bottle).
also, since i've switched to mostly shopping at my local grocer, i have discovered some more local products. i now buy a salsa that is made in belleville which is just a few towns south of us. also, their beef is local, grass fed, supplemented with only non-gm grains and hays and is antibiotic free. i don't think our local butcher can even boast that. i buy their bread that is not organic or natural but it is made in the bakery and has no corn syrup or preservatives in it.
i am fairly disappointed with their ice cream offerings though. nothing local or natural. they do have starbucks which is sinfully good but expensive and full of crap we don't need. time to start making my own.
i have been doing fairly good about eating mostly organic or natural foods. so good in fact that when we went to so mo saturday, eating a day's worth of crappy food did me in and my gut hurt so bad that night (not to mention i had really bad gas).
summer is a great time to establish a 100-mile diet since produce is abundant. i also have a side of beef on hold for this fall from a friend who raises them nearby. couple that with our retiring laying hens, wether and the possibility of venison and other wild game and we should be good meat wise. we have a crop of wheat growing so we'll see how the yields are from that.
i would love to just eat from what we grow and raise and can get locally but it's convincing everyone else that those bagels, flavored yogurts and ice cream (no one but jaden and i eat my homemade yogurt) and crackers are not necessary that is hard.
3 comments:
It's the same in my household. The Man tries to help me by grocery shopping accasionally, but he would not even know where to start with eating more healthy and local. That's my dept. (I also am not 100%, but I try). I did tell him last night, though, that he made us an almost completely local meal: pork chops from the pig we raised, green beans from my canned stash from last year, and apple sauce made by FIL (he did by the apples on a fishing trip to Michigan). It was very good and he seemed proud!
we try to live keeping our carbon footprint in mind. our food goals in order are:
-grow and raise what we can ourselves.
-buy/trade local naturally grown
-buy local
-buy naturally grown in bulk
-buy healthy food in bulk
-stay away from gmo corn in all it's forms
-the *stay away* list is too long to bore you with.
Our family has also made the commitment to the 100-mile diet. It was tough getting started but now we really enjoy it. We make a game out of it for the kids at the grocer. It seems to get them more enthusiastic about the whole thing.
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