Over a decade ago, I started working toward localizing our diet. We never achieved 100% local, 100% of the time, but at this point, every meal that we prepare here at home has something local. For instance, tonight will be chicken tenders (using chicken we raised ourselves) with roasted potatoes (local potatoes) and a salad (not local lettuce, but the dressing is homemade using local ingredients). Depending on the time of year, the entire meal might be local (sometimes all from our own nanofarm) - a fact we don't even think much about ... until we think about it (like thinking about where tonight's menu items originated).
We started our journey toward an all local diet at the beginning of the locavore movement, and our search for local foods coincided with our local supermarket's answering the call for more local goods to be available to a wider market. As the years past, we found that most what was available in our local food shed had become available at our local supermarket - all with handy labels that identified the items that were "close to home." It couldn't have been easier.
So, between shopping at the supermarket, direct purchases from local farmers, what we grew ourselves, and foraging, we have been able to enjoy many meals where everything was local, without having to really scrounge for local ingredients. We just bought local food at the supermarket, and that's what we ate.
Unfortunately, the last year has done a lot to change how I shop. Mostly, I really hate going to the grocery store, and I have been looking for alternatives.
I've tried a few online shopping sites. I like Thrive Market**, because their products are mostly organic, but there are so many things that I couldn't buy from them (like fresh produce and dairy), and they don't deal in food that is local to me. So, transitioning to buying all of my groceries through Thrive wasn't going to happen.
**If you use this link to go to their site and shop, I will get a referral bonus - just FYI ;).
There is a local dairy that contracts with a milk delivery guy. I tried to get on their delivery list, but I was too late. They didn't have any slots open, and there was no indication of when they would have any availability for delivering to my area.
I kept looking, though, and recently, I discovered a company that carries a lot of Maine-based and regional products. The company is Native Maine. I think they used to only serve restaurants and grocery stores, but at some point, recently, they started offering home delivery service - and they will deliver to me ... next day delivery!
They carry just shy of 200 Maine-based and regional products, including Pineland cheese and Fox Family chips - both of which regularly appear in my kitchen. I can also get half&half (for our coffee) and milk from them, if I want.
I just placed my first order with them, and from this initial experience it looks like between them and what we can get from local farmers and/or grow on our own property, there are very few things that we have to find elsewhere (mostly snack kinds of foods that my daughters want, pet food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies), which means, perhaps, my trips to the grocery store can be few and far between - a fact which thrills me!
The best part is that I don't have to compromise my hard won Locavore diet just so that I can avoid having to go shopping, and as an additional bonus, I discovered that Native Maine carries both a local brand of peanut butter and a local brand of coffee. I ordered extra of both ;).
Has the pandemic changed your shopping habits and/or food choices?
**Photo credit here
One of our supermarkets offers both delivery and pickup (aka curbside). Seeing as we *may* have been exposed to you-know-what this weekend (probably not, but being cautious), we’ll likely do curbside next trip.
ReplyDeleteBut as for habits, we don’t eat out nearly as much as we used to. We’re more likely to do some meal planning, too. We inventoried and reorganized our pantry in October, and labeled nearly all the jars we had in there. (That was important for me, because she knew what stuff was but I didn’t, and I’ve been doing half the cooking lately.) So a fair amount of our food is local, because it came out of my mother in law’s garden. There’s also a “Georgia Grown” label that we can use to select local-ish produce and meat.
I’ll probably start hitting the farmer’s market a lot more often once we’ve been vaccinated, too.
Most stores in my area are offering curbside. During the lockdown last spring, many of them went to curbside only. They've opened up for in store shopping, but several of the smaller, locally owned places are limiting number of customers and still offering curbside. I'm impressed by the level of resilience most of them have exhibited.
DeleteThe big chain grocery store (Hannaford) had a "to go" service before 2020, but it was cumbersome and required setting up a pick-up time, which was never convenient. I hear they improved the service significantly, and while I haven't used their curbside service, friends and family report positive experiences.
I'm not worried about exposure, personally, because I'm pretty healthy for my age, but the experience of shopping right now is just extremely unpleasant, and so I avoid it as much as possible. People are just so fearful and on edge. Every time I go to the store, it feels like it wouldn't take much to set the place on fire - metaphorically. You know? As a prepper, I have been conditioned to avoid volatile situations ;). So, I avoid public places and stay home. Home is not a bad place to be, really. ;)
I started using Thrive Market when we moved, and I like it (especially how well they package everything!) - but I wish they offered bulk packaging of their "store brand" items. It's a lot of plastic packaging I would prefer to forego.
ReplyDeleteThe combo of them and Misfits Market is working pretty well this month; we are going to take a trip to Polyface Farm soon (TOTALLY FANGIRLING) and fill the rest of the space I have in the freezer. I also learned that starting in spring, PF does a drop in a town near us. I'll be ordering through them that way as the drive to their farm isn't one I'd want to do more than a couple of times a year. I'm grateful that there are volunteers who are willing to host a drop instead so we can support them during our time here.
You lucky girl! I met Joel Salatin at the Mother Earth News Fair ... well, not "met". I saw him and eavesdropped on the conversation he was having with (I believe it was) David Kline. Salatin was fan-boying Mr. Kline and getting his copy of Kline's newest book (Letters from Larksong) signed. I just happened to be at the table next to Mr. Kline signing copies of my book. It was an incredible day. Just sayin'.
DeleteI agree with you about Thrive and the lack of bulk items. It's a little disappointing. I did place an order with Thrive at the same time that I placed my order with Native Maine. I'm hoping the combination of the three services - Thrive, Misfits and Native ME - will be exactly what I need to keep me out of the grocery store.