local!

First, a couple of dinners from this week:


Local potatoes, local kale, and local eggs. An oldie but goodie.



Sushi and miso soup again -- avocado rolls for me, tuna rolls for Dan. (He ate a bunch of avocado, too!)

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I woke up at 7:10 this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep because I was too excited about going to the Farmer's Market. So, I gave up on sleeping in, hopped in the car, and loaded up on local goodies:

This week's haul ran us about $50, but as you can see from the grocery shop picture below, we got almost all of our produce for the week from the market! Yay, local! Clockwise from bottom left: plums, salad mix, eggplant, Yukon Gold potatoes, watermelon, red onions, "Kellog's Breakfast" heirloom tomatoes, beets w/tops, carrots, baby heirloom tomato mix, fresh mozzarella, cucumber, apples, garlic, artichokes, wild rice, and basil. (Yes! Local artichokes! They were a buck apiece, which is why I only bought two, but still! How exciting!)

A post-Farmer's Market lunch:

Heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Slice of homemade bread not pictured.

And the week's co-op (and grocery store) haul:



BAKERY:
local multigrain bread

BULK:
locally-roasted, organic, fair-trade coffee

FROZEN:
organic grape juice concentrate

HERBS & SPICES:
kava

PACKAGED GROCERY:
organic extra-virgin olive oil
locally-bottled, organic, fair-trade vanilla extract
organic crushed tomatoes
Seventh Generation dish soap

PRODUCE:
organic lemons
local, organic mint

REFRIGERATED GROCERY:
local, organic, whole-wheat pita

Also, a package of dried lima beans from the regular grocery store, since the co-op doesn't carry them! Do you think this is strange? I do.

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And last . . . the final grocery budgeting results for August! Given all of the stocking up we did on sale items, (and all of the stocking of the freezer, too,) we did well sticking to our budget of $500, coming in at a grand total of $488.57 spent! I think this is a budget we can live with, comfortable without feeling deprived.

I must confess . . . I wasn't sure, when we started this budgeting adventure, that we could do it. And I'm still unsure that I can keep up with the level of work required for this type of eating -- especially the volume of dirty dishes! However, I'm pleased with how our eating habits have changed. We are eating a lot more beans and a lot less cheese than we ever used to, slightly less organic overall, but still very healthy, in my opinion. And even less processed food, too!

How has the economy changed your family's eating habits?