We used to go shopping twice a month, loaded up our cart and lived from the food comfortably for about two weeks. According to our new lifestyle one aspect of shopping has changed. We are no longer shopping in quantities and prefer quality. (Well, we don't have a choice, do we??) In our city are few organic/natural stores (Whole Foods is coming soon) but generally very pricey. I used to visited these stores merely to buy some special item that is not available in regular stores, like Teff cereal for Ethiopian Injera. I usually wondered HOW in the world can people afford shopping here? They must be wealthy. Now I know..they probably are wealthy but they know...they know the importance of food and understand the quantity vs. quality shopping system.
I lived in the USA for 9 years now, originally from Germany (born in the Czech Republic) now that we are using the quality vs. quantity system I guess this system does not sound too unfamiliar, since that's the way I used to shop in Germany. Since our daughter was born we kept it easy and tried to minimize visits to the store. Now we will have to change the old way.
Last week we tried the local farmer's market, a.k.a overpriced market. I was happy to see that a lot of farmers had a stand and provided meat, but it's a hard choice when you would like to buy a chicken there. A whole chicken cost $4.99/pound and that particular chicken was 3 1/2 lbs - equals about $18 for ONE chicken. Yes, I know it is free range chicken, the quality is great and we would like to support the local farmers, but I just don't have $18 for ONE chicken.
Bread, vegetables, fruits, condiments, and various other things are overpriced and a lot cheaper at the organic stores. Turns out that the same pastries are available at the store for few cents less. If you can, try to learn the prices, because the same items are not only available at farmer's markets, organic stores but also at regular stores. I am definitely learning that grocery shopping will be done more frequently than in the past.
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| A small roll out bag |
Our local store Co-op offers "one-time fee of $65 to become a lifetime member of the Boise Co-op, which includes a $50 membership fee and a $15 administrative fee....or you can opt to pay the $15 administrative fee and then have a 5% surcharge added to your purchase total each time you shop at the Co-op until you’ve paid off your membership". This membership allows you to get reduced/sale prices that are only available to members. At times it makes a huge difference in price. With my membership purchase I also received this:
That's what I did yesterday I chose the $15 payment and took advantage of the instant 10% - and came home with some groceries and a $45 charge (that includes my $15 down payment) :
- two bananas
- a bunch of green onions
- onion, garlic
- 1/2 lbs fresh organic spinach
- three apples
- organic Cinnamon cereal
- organic bbq chips
- organic lentil soup
- 1/2 pound of bulk organic couscous
- 1/4 lbs organic cane sugar
- 2 cups of yogurt, and a half gallon of organic milk. (2 % Milk Half gallon) Pasteurized, homogenized milk in half gallon glass bottles fresh from Buhl. Deposit of $2.50 required. Return bottles to pick-up site for a full refund.)
This is the info I found about my milk, since it is recommended you inform yourself where your produce is coming from.
"The milk in glass bottles is back!!!
Cloverleaf Creamery is a family-owned farm out of Buhl, Idaho. As weather permits, the farm is home to roughly 70 cows, all 100% pasture raised registered Holsteins. The cows are always pampered and given the best possible feed and care. Every one of them has a name! Because of the care and consideration given the animals, the Cloverleaf cows live and milk well into their teenage years. Lots of pride is taken in this family run operation.
Milk is always hormone and antibiotic-free. Whole milk is non-homogenized with a cream top! Delicious and good for you, good for the cows!!!"
After researching the Cloverleaf Creamery, I went to their website and found some other interesting information, such as the Process of Milk .
I will not go further into detail, but if you are interested about understanding how the real stuuuuff is made and how it differs from conventional milk, click on the link above.
WISDOM OF THE DAY
Locally Grown
Definition varies, but generally means a product was grown in the local area. Whole Foods Market, for example, classifies products as “local” if they traveled seven or fewer hours from the farm to the store. Some people buy locally grown food because they like knowing their food was grown nearby and believe the reduction in transportation time (and therefore greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles) is better for the environment.
Lat night I forgot to buy bread, so I finally decided to clean my bread maker and make some real, homemade, organic bread, with only organic ingredients. This is what I made last night.
Buckwheat/Whole Wheat Bread with Flax and Grain seeds. The bread turned out to be a little mingy and hard, but spread butter on it and you can actually enjoy it (I guess). Hopefully I will get better at that, so we can enjoy an inexpensive all organic bread once a week.
Not bad for the first one, huh?
