Since we are moving to reduce preservatives and increase organics I have had to do some re-imagining of where we will get out food from, and also some budget re-jigging.
Luckily there have been some recent significant improvements in availability of "good" food (although in theory I don't support giving food moral status, nothing makes a food good or bad, it's just a choice, you know? That way it doesn't make you "good' or "bad" for eating or not eating something, it's just a choice. Anyway.
Here are the options I have at the moment:]
1. PC organics at the local superstore.
2. Alpine Bakery organic produce club, opt in week-by-week, you get what you get
3. New local food co-op focused on developing a market for local organic and responsible farmers, also planning to source bulk dry goods and organic produce from western provinces and states
4. Bulk ordering with a food club from Horizon foods out of Vancouver. You pay shipping and in this case a donation to a local youth cycling club to mass order and reduce overall shipping charges.
5. Grow your own in your back yard!
Currently I have worked out a mix of 1, 2 and 4. Working on number 5 (planted and waiting!) and I plan to take up with 4 in the fall too. Here's why.
Superstore is great for apples, oranges, bananas, frozen berries, onions, sweet potatoes and occasional oddities like portobella mushrooms. They are cheapest. \
Alpine bakery adds variety, our first basket had corn, plums, garlic, a pineapple and little bell peppers to name a few things that we just can't get at the store. We will do this every 2 weeks due to the expense and because we supplement from superstore. cost is approx. $55 every other week.
I just made my first bulk order and received it on Friday! Here's what I bought:
Thompson Seedless Raisins, Organic (California) (w/sunflower oil) 13.6kg $82.59
NEW Pineapple & Mango, Organic 28g $42.72 [12 packs baby snacks]
Cocoa Powder, Organic (Fair Trade) 224g $34.50 [6 tins]
Black Beans, Organic 11.34kg $27.43
Navy Beans, Organic 11.34kg $39.63
Diced Tomatoes, Organic (can) 796ml $36.36 (12 cans BPA free)
Crushed Tomatoes, Onions & Garlic, Organic (can) 796ml $36.36 (12 cans BPA free)
Crushed Tomatoes, Basil, Organic (can) 796ml $36.36 (12 cans BPA free)
Quinoa, Pearl, Organic (Fair Trade) 454g $38.72
Unbleached White Flour, Organic 10kg $21.42
Sprouting Seeds, Great Mixes, Organic 1ea $30.36 [6 varieties x2 = 12 pouches]
Gin Gins Ginger Chews, Original 5kg $66.73 [errrr, this is for me haha]
Oats, Rolled, Quick Cooking, Organic 11.34kg $29.05
NEW Coconut Cream, Organic (can) 400ml $63.84 [24 cans, BPA free]
total 586.07+$80 shipping + $20 donation to youth cycle to participate in the buying club = $680.
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Yeah, I wasn't sure about the raisins but now they are my fave purchase BY FAR.
Our usual monthly food budget is $400 (what's yours? How do you make it work? Tips solicited!)
If I take the $610 (I bought the gin gins out of my allowance, not the family food budget!) and spread it over the next 6months, then subtract about $110 for Alpine produce club, that leave about $40/week for anything else we may want to eat. We have quite a bit of meat in the freezer and rice in the pantry and a breadmaker churning out cinnamon raisin loaves every 4 days (oh my god, cinnamon raisin toast in the morning YES).
So far I don't know if this will continue to work. My current goal is to prepare 2 bean/lentil recipes a week, and keep them different and not make too much so we don't get sick of everything. I mean, it's black bean burgers and then a curry at some point. Not too bad. We are still going to eat meat, but more carefully, and more often as a seasoning than a main course. The best thing about beans is that billions of poor people subsist on them worldwide so it's not hard to find great simple recipes. Peasant food, it's what's for dinner!
The $40/week is left to cover dairy, grocery incidentals (sauces? impulse buys, meat, etc). We have a fairly well stocked pantry from my 50% off gathering (lots of pasta, some pesto, rice and such) plus stuff leftover form our previous heady days of excess (ha).
Finally, we supplement our food budget with PC points and also we have an ice cream slush fund (ha) that comes from recyclables we pick up on our weekly disc golf date. We play sunday at noon, after the saturday drink n throw players have come and gone. It's fun.
I never expected that we would be able to sustain our budget with the changes but maybe we can. I'm going to see if we can keep on track. If we can drop our budget due to PC points or getting more creative (making salad dressings etc) then we can channel more into the mortgage fund or an RRSP or travel and that would be so good.
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So far, I'm cooking more, I'm finding great tasting recipes (you know how healthy food can taste like you're building character? That's not good enough!) and building a repertoire. And keeping a close eye on the budget. We get our second monthly produce club tomorrow, I wonder what recipes it'll have me looking up?
I will keep you posted on the budgeting and the costs. Do you have any tips or ideas to share? I want to win at food! Thanks!
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