Does it cost more to Eat Local?

Picked up our CSA box tonight and found it filled to the brim! I swear Wednesday nights are like Christmas for me!!


This week we got:

• 2 heads of lettuce
• baby beets
• yellow and green beans
• peas
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• green onions
• CARROTS!!!!
• potatoes
• 2 zucchinis (YEAH!)
• pickling cukes

I could have also taken a head of cabbage and pak choy but I passed this time around. I was so hoping to win the tomato lottery this week (if you bring in a clean bin you get to draw out of a hat to see if you are the lucky winner of a ripe tomato) but I will just have to be patient and wait for more to arrive. Soon enough I'm sure.

The kids and I hit up ELS before going to Pick-Up and I bought:

• a giant sirloin roast
• stewing beef (which I will marinate and stir-fry to use up the snow peas)
• beef bones for stock
• yogourt
• sour cream
• chevre
• pastrami 
• kielbasa
• cheddar smokies
• butter
• 2 snack sized bags of Nana's Kettle Corn
• garlic and herb gnocchi

I forget the exact price, but it came to just under $70. I was recently asked at ELS if I was finding it more expensive to Eat Local, and I really couldn't give an asnwer.  Right now it certainly feels like it's cheaper, because the CSA is paid for, as is the pig worth of pork in the freezer, the fish Keith caught and the moose given to us by a friend. 


But, to break it down, I figure the CSA probably costs me about $50-$60 a week or so (depending on the length of the season) including my eggs. I'm not sure what we've been spending on food at the grocery store, because there are always cleaning products, clothes, and what have you on my bill. I'm also buying Keith's lunch stuff (buns, lunch meat, snack sized apple sauce, V8 juice), and I have to buy lactose free milk for Cameron, and then things like olive oil, vinegar, sugar, in-season fruit, cream, crackers and bread when needed. And then, depending on what's in season, I might be buying $50 worth of strawberries, tomatoes or apples, or slightly less than that in peaches, cucumbers, etc. But these of course get eaten over the space of a year, so weekly it works out to a $1.

So, although my numbers might range from $150-$200+, which might seem high to some for a family of 4, what I do know is that for the most part, it is the complete cost for most of my food. So many processed, industrially grown and fast foods don't take in to account the price they will ultimately cost us in environmental damage, future health-care costs, and all the government subsidies that are paid out to industrial farmers, thus paid for in our taxes. Pay now or pay later. :-)

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And so, dinner tonight was pan fried potatoes, garlic and butter zucchini, steamed yellow beans and Dalew roast chicken. Heaven. Kids asked for seconds and thirds....but there wasn't any left! Note to self: cook more food when it's THIS good. :-)

I want to end today with a neat little moment from yesterday. We had dinner at a friend's place so I brought a salad and a bumble-berry upside down cake (I'll post the recipe tomorrow!!). I was making up my salad dressing and tearing several big beautiful basil when Sydney, who is 7, walked in to the kitchen. She took a deep breath in, her eyes about popped out of her head and with this mystified voice asked me what smelled so wonderful! I just about burst with pride. My kid appreciates basil. :-) I told her I loved her and gave her a hug. This project is worth every penny!