How To Eat Local...Without Spending Your Whole Paycheck

Written by guest contributor Jess of Poppy Rose Co.

Living consciously. Protecting our earth. Eating local. Sustainability. How many times a day do you see these words buzzing around our online and offline world? I keep coming back to these seemingly simple words; Eat Local. But how do you eat local in a climate where great produce has a minimal harvest season? How do you buy locally when building your own business and funds need to be spread around lightly? Where do you start? I am not an expert but I am a West Michigan woman passionate about food, where it comes from, and what to do with it once you have taken it home.

How to eat local without spending your whole paycheck | West Michigan Farmers Markets | Emily Bode blog | Guest post by Poppy Rose Co.

A book inspired a year-long challenge

Two years ago, my husband and I moved to the West Michigan area from Chicago. As we reacquainted ourselves with Grand Rapids/West Michigan and began building a community of friends, we quickly found ourselves repeating the same Saturday morning routine weekend after weekend. Morning coffee at home followed by a leisurely walk through the Fulton Street Farmers Market, and back home to make brunch with our findings. We continued this ritual through the fall of that first year until I read a book. Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingslover challenged the way I thought about groceries, animals, and food in general. It's a great read if you're interested in food, cooking, and local eating. Closing the final page, I was ready to overhaul the way I shopped, cooked and ate. But, this was not the first time finishing a book that I was ready to overhaul some portion of my world. So, my sweet husband listened to my passionate words about local eating, food miles, waste etc., without believing I would actually uproot our current system of eating.

The one year challenge of eating local

In the new year, I presented my challenge to him: One year of 75% local eating. One year of shopping at farm stands, farmers markets, CSA boxes, and intense cooking at home. One year of truly making due with what we had in the pantry (DISCLAIMER: This did not include dining out, but we did try to mostly dine at local restaurants supporting local farmers).

Challenge ground rules:

Maintain current grocery budget.
Weekly farmers market trips and a weekly stop at a local farm store (West Michigan friends, we went to Rakowski Family Farm Market).
Menu planning once the produce & meat is purchased.
Minimal grocery store runs for necessities like baking supplies, olives oils, and vinegars.

75/25 local eating ratio

The other 25% was budgeted for non-local purchases to cover spirits not made in Michigan, tropical fruits like oranges and bananas, nuts, and the occasional box of Cheez-Its. To make this challenge harder, we counted produce grown locally but sold in the supermarket as part of our 25% – the goal was to purchase directly from local farmers.

A word of caution if you want to start a similar challenge: Do not begin this journey in January, especially without preparation. Starting in January meant living on root vegetables, apples, and the occasional green lettuce grown from Michigan food goddesses that used a greenhouse all winter long (THANK YOU). We had not prepared by canning tomatoes and summer fruits or frozen some of the early fall bounties. So, we had to be savvy with our 25% to make sure fruit and hearty greens were in our diet. We were committed, despite the lack of color on our plates, and we ate well with creative minded menu planning. We found vendors that pickled or canned products to keep us out of the potato rut & were resourceful with our 25%.Let me tell you when I knew the first asparagus would arrive at the market I was there at 7:30 am and walked away with 10 lbs. Yes, 10 lbs. of asparagus for two people. And it was heaven. If you ever need an asparagus recipe, come this way, I think we tried them all. As spring evolved into summer, we were overjoyed with new tastes and smells at the market. Our garden was planted and harvested, and we prepared for our remaining non-peak harvesting months.

Biggest takeaway? How wonderful it was to really think about what we ate.

Yes, some days I wanted to scream when I went to the market and literally bought the same beets and turnips as last week. Or cry when I drove across town and arrived at the farm store on a Monday to stock up knowing full well they rest on Mondays. There is such ease unrealized in driving to a supermarket and buying whatever you need. Some days I missed that ease but the lessons we learned committing to local eating were well worth the occasional hiccup.

4 Tips for Eating Local During Harvest Season

Find a nearby farm stand, store, or market
Farmers markets guarantee local fare and are a great way to meet others in your community doing the same thing. Plus, regularly visiting the market will allow you to be more in tune with what is in season and when. Typically, food purchased in-season is less expensive. Many grocery chains post sales on in-season items and locally grown produce if you can't make the market.
Discover your passion point.
Do you want to eat all local fruits and vegetables? Do you eat meat, but are passionate about the way animals are raised? Have you been thinking of signing up for a dairy CSA? Money is an important factor and we cannot always afford everything. Decide what you feel most passionately about sustaining and go with it! We ate very plant-based meals with occasional meat entrees thanks to my 'everything, all or nothing' personality.
Know your farmers
They are amazing, helpful, funny, and smart. During our year of local eating, we met various vendors at the market. We asked how produce and animals were grown/raised. We shared about our year challenge and they, in turn, shared their hard work. If met with blank stares or someone who was not interested in answering our questions on their growing practices, we would politely move on to the next booth (this was rare). I cannot tell you the amount I learned from the farmers growing and caring for our food. A few things they taught me to stretch my dollar:
- Spoiled milk can be used for making yogurt & the best ricotta During the first six months of the challenge, we often over-purchased milk. When sharing my woes of spoiled milk, I learned how to make my own yogurt before it went bad. Also how to use slightly spoiled milk to make the creamiest, most delicious ricotta I have ever tasted. AND IT WAS NOT HARD. All of this taught by the lovely woman who runs the Rakowski Family Farm Store.
- 6-minute lamb chops We bought lamb from S&S Lamb and learned to grill tiny chops three minutes per side on high heat to make the most delectable lollipop of lamb ever tasted.
- Endless ways to use root vegetables in the dead of winter In the rut of a root vegetable depression, I was given more ways then I could imagine to use potatoes, carrots and celery root from Visser Farms. Depression over.
Remember why you're eating local
You clicked through to this article because eating local is important to you. Our family continues to focus on local eating. While we do not chart our purchases anymore, we still primarily buy local whenever we can. Over our year challenge, we learned how to meal plan and that fridge-dive meals can be the most fun. Cooking was an essential part of eating local, but cooking did not need to be complicated.

Picnic dinners became our favorite – a plate of steamed or roasted veggies alongside locally made cheese and breads with Traverse City wines was always the perfect end to a busy day. We learned to be comfortable shopping in a farmer’s market and treasured the excitement that came from seeing the first asparagus or rhubarb after a long winter. Mostly, we learned how to appreciate and care for the tiny space of the world we choose to call home.

Resources from this article:

Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingslover
Rakowski Family Farm Store
Fulton Street Farmers Market
S&S Lamb Visser Farms

A book inspired a year-long challenge

The one year challenge of eating local

Challenge ground rules:

75/25 local eating ratio

Biggest takeaway? How wonderful it was to really think about what we ate.

4 Tips for Eating Local During Harvest Season

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