How Do You Shop for Food?

Eat Seasonally!

I read an article a few days ago, What's Wrong With the American Diet, and I got to wondering how much our way of shopping in the US influences that.  Many of us are in the rut of we go to the grocery store, and pick up everything we need there.  Sometimes we make a list, sometimes we don't, but how much thought do you put into reading labels, or getting what's seasonal?  Do you think about how far that strawberry had to travel before you tossed it carelessly into your cereal this morning?

Yeah, I didn't used to either.  I didn't used to do a lot of things.  I used to go to the local store, and buy everything I needed for the week.  Roughly 40% of what I was buying can in a box, required little cooking from scratch, and even less thought to eat it.  It was put into a plastic bag to be carted home then stuffed into the pantry or fridge where sometimes it went bad before we got around to even eating it.

I cringe thinking about all that now.  We grow though.  We evolve.  We learn to use tools and we do bigger and better things.

I no longer shop at the big chain grocery store.  I shop at a farm market for all my veggies and any fruit we can get local and fresh.  Sometimes, I also venture over to Farmers on the Square and get some additional veg, meats and treats of dairy.  I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to talk to the people who are raising your food.  If it's veg, you can ask exactly what chemicals were used, or not, if it's certified organic, or they just use organic practices, and you can decide who to buy from with an educated decision.  Same with the meats.  If it matters to you how the animal you're eating was raised, what it ate, if it spent its life in a space too small to move, buy local from people you can talk to.

I found myself cringing again today as I was at the farm market buying my veggies.  I was putting a few veg into a plastic bag and then into my tote.  Why?  I have no idea.  Are we so ingrained that no food should touch another even in the shopping bag?  It's nice to keep things from rolling around, but more plastic isn't my answer.  I'll be making some mesh bags in the near future to correct my recent plastique faux pas.

In the mean time, and in honor of earth day, shop locally, eat seasonally, and keep on evolving!

Posted in: Foodie Friday