About a month ago I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Utilizing a large garden and local farmers markets, Kingsolver shows how a family of four can survive on fresh, locally grown food for twelve months. Kingsolver delves into the nearly lost art of working the family farm, sharing first hand knowledge about harvesting, cooking and canning "in-season" fruits and vegetables to last throughout the year. If a fruit isn't in-season and available locally, the Kingsolver family did without.
I have yet to see a banana tree growing wild among the Aspens of Colorado. So under Kingsolver's plan, the banana that traveled thousands of miles to ultimately arrive at my home would be officially off-limits.
In the real world, the boundaries for greener living can be a little more fluid than Kingsolver's inspirational handbook. After a stressful week juggling laundry, soccer practice and a demanding boss, take-and-bake pizza may be all you can manage to pull together on Friday night. No worries! The goal of living greener in 2009 is to try to make the best choices we can, as often as we can, for our family, our finances and our planet. Even a few changes can make a huge difference. Here's a pick-and-choose list of our suggestions for greener groceries this year:
- Buy Organic when shopping for the worst offenders (aka "The Dirty Dozen"). Pesticides help protect crops by warding off damaging weeds, diseases, and bugs, but they also leave a residue on our produce. According to the Environmental Working Group, the highest concentration of pesticides have been found in these twelve fruits and veggies: Apples, Cherries, Grapes, Nectarines, Pears, Peaches, Raspberries, Strawberries, Corn, Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Celery, and Spinach.
- Shop Farmers Markets. You'll support the local economy and receive the freshest fruits and vegetables in return! During the summer, we walk up to the Belmar Farmers Market for a suburban Sunday harvest picked off produce delivery truckbeds. The farmers have told us, in most cases, the fruits and veggies are picked and sold within 24 hours! Visit ColoradoFarmers.org for list of Farmers Markets in Colorado.
- Join Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): By joining a CSA, you help cover a farm's yearly operating budget by purchasing a share of the season's harvest. Your share in a CSA assumes the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer or grower and helps pay for seeds, fertilizer, water, equipment maintenance, labor, etc. In return, the farm provides a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season - usually late spring through early autumn. Many CSAs have drop off points throughout the city where you pick up your share of that week's harvest. In addition to supporting local farms, your family gets to sample a variety of extraordinary fruits and vegetables. Your drop-off may include lavender cauliflower, and some CSAs invite members to harvest some of the crops (like strawberry picking days and pumpkin patches).
- Buy Fresh over Frozen, Frozen over Canned: Frozen foods require a lot of energy to keep the food frozen as it is trucked to your local grocer. Canned foods generally have a high sodium content and may be store in cans lined with BPA.
- Fewer Ingredients the Better: Have you ever read the ingredients on a box of crackers? The box in our pantry lists 15 ingredients, with many ingredients containing lists of their ingredients in parenthesis. Two recent studies found high-fructose corn syrup, a common ingredient in many foods and drinks, was contaminated with toxic mercury! If childhood obesity and diabetes wasn't enough to keep your children clear of added sugar, the presence of this neuro-toxin should be.
- Less Packaging for a Cleaner Earth: As you stroll the aisles, take a look at the amount of packaging that stores the foods you are considering buying for your family. Did you know that while #5 plastics are recyclable, they are one of the hardest and costliest plastics to recycle, or that the #7 category of "other" plastics are usually not recycled? Can you buy an item in bulk and split it up into smaller portions at home? Do you really need string cheese wrapped individually and sold in a larger plastic bag of 12, or could you slice a block of mozzarella into smaller servings for school lunches? Many staples like honey, coffee, peanut butter and pinto beans can be purchased in bulk using bring-your-own-bag containers at Whole Foods or Sunflower Market.
- Cageless Birds and Hormone-Free Cows: California voters recently passed Prop 2 - a bill requiring veal calves, pregnant pigs and egg-laying hens be confined in a space that allows for them to lie down, stand up, extend their limbs, and turn around. Nearly two thirds of voters were in favor of Prop 2. Really? 37% of voters feel it is OK to not let the hen turn around occasionally? Wouldn't you call animal control if you neighbor caged his Dalmatian in a kennel so small it couldn't wag its tail? Respecting the animals that spend their entire lives producing food to nourish your family is part of being a responsible citizen of the Earth.
- Plan your Meals: Once a week, sit down and come up with a list of meals for the week and make a grocery list ahead of time. When you do it alongside the Sunday coupons, you'll even save extra money. T-Bones on sale this week? Plan a couple meals using the sale item, and you can even cook all the meat at once to save time later. Shopping from a list keeps you from buying pricey convenience foods and helps you purchase only what you need.
- Walk, bike or stop on the way home: Try not to make a specific trip to the grocery store. Passing by on the way home from band practice? Stop in and grab what you need (keep your reusable grocery bags in the car), so you don't have to make an extra trip. We live close enough to bike to the grocery store. A shopping bag on each bike handle keeps our bikes from getting off balance and ensures we don't over buy.
- Buy (and use) a set of reusable grocery and produce bags for each shopping member of your family. My husband and I each keep a set in our car, and we have a set hanging on the laundry room door for the days we walk or bike to the store. I even keep a cute string bag folded up inside my purse for trips to the mall, and a canvas bag in my son's stroller for impulse buys when we are out walking. Reusable bags hold more, are sturdier, and last for years. Plus, most grocers will give you $0.05-$0.10 per bag - each time you bring them to the store. In just a couple of months, the bags paid for themselves.
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