I have been remiss in my postings for One Local Summer this year, it’s not that we haven’t been eating locally, more that there just aren’t enough hours in the day right now to experience life and write about it. Plus, my camera lens is slowly dying, choosing to only focus on things far away and nothing up close. It makes taking photos of food difficult. A new lens is in my future, but not for a couple of weeks.
This past week, the only photos I got before the lens went south, were of the beginnings of a pasta dinner. I gently sauteed garlic scapes and spring onions in local butter. Then I added a bit of cream from my favorite local dairy for a light cream sauce.
I steamed homegrown broccoli and shelled peas over homemade linguine (our egg and WA flour) and tossed it all together. We ate every last bite and topped it all off with handfuls of the neighbors’ cherries.
I had several interesting conversations about the choices we make around here about foods – when we strictly adhere to our locavore ideals and when we make other choices based on time and priorities. I’m contemplating a post, but I’m not sure if anyone is interested in knowing why I sometimes (gasp!) buy Heinz ketchup, Swedish Fish and Costco hotdog buns instead of making a different choice?
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well i for one would be interested in hearing how you go about making your grocery-ing decisions. i push myself to eat local and seasonally and am always curious how other people seem to do it so effortlessly. would love some insight!
The one thing I look for when buying off the “big grocery store chain” shelves is does the item contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. If it does, it doesn’t go into my cart. I buy Annie’s natural ketchup. I have the advantage of being retired and having one husband (he eats anything I fix), one dog, two cats and four tomato plants to care for. I also live in California where it’s much easier to eat local all year.
We buy Heinz, too.
We also make our own ketchup, but for some things it’s not the same. I’d love to get away from Heinz,mostly due to the HFCS, not the food miles. But we don’t eat that much of it, so I figure it doesn’t really pay to fret about it too much. Some day I’ll be able to re-train my tastebuds to accept homemade (or artisan) ketchup as the real thing, but for now I am cutting myself some slack.
I’d be really interested in hearing about it Laura. I’ve mentioned a few times on my blog as well that regardless of what I would like to do ideally, sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. Particularly with two of us working and three kids!!
I’m curious to hear what you have to say.
P~
I’m always interested to see how other people approach this question. I used to make my own ketchup, but prefer Heinz for most things. And just because I’ve learned to make my own mayonnaise doesn’t mean I’m going to stop using Best Foods. There are other products, however, that I’ll simply do without rather than buy at the supermarket. With limited time at home, I find it pays to choose my battles
I am trying my best to stay away from the grocery store lately
The garden is producing abundantly — tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, peppers… I think the key to it is getting creative in the ways that you prepare the food you harvest from the garden. This way, it doesn’t seem like you’re eating tomatoes 3 times a day LOL
I would also be interested. We live in the suburbs (how I originally found your blog!), we both work, and we have two very active kids and two very active dogs. I try to do what I can, but I feel guilty when I can’t get it “just right.” Or when I realize that there’s a purple cabbage, some edamame, and a kohlrabi in the fridge from our CSA that really MUST be eaten, but I totally lack inspiration and just want to order pizza! (like tonight!)