Dairy Confusion

Well we avoided Whole Foods, ok not purposelessly  avoid but were under a time crunch and had some recycling to take back so that put us at Safeway.

We needed

-2% milk

-Butter

-Half/Half

Safeway had organic options for all of these.  Safeway's Lucerne brand was a steal at $2.99/gal as opposed to Horizons on sale $5.99/gal. After a mini-meltdown of what to do hubby said lets research it.  So we went w/Lucerne milk that is packaged in Oakland which is about 100miles from here.  I did go w/Horizon for the half/half but found it made the journey from Colorado to make it to my morning coffee cup which seems like a pretty long trip.  The butter (full creamed  butter cause you know it makes everything delicious) Lucerne again with another steal of 1.99 for a pack. 

So I got home and tried really hard to find info for where Lucerne get's it milk from, what dairy farms where?! I am still in the dark I have no idea from best I can tell there are dairy farms all around Point Reyes & other places in California. The farmers sell their milk to a co-op which Safeway buys from.   If anyone has any info about this I would appreciate it.  Safeway will not buy any dairy that has been treated with Growth Hormones although my opinion that seems to be the norm now.

Poor Horizon Dairy has had their own sets of 'you just can't win em's)  with claims of them not being truly organic. Google that and so many stories and articles come up your head will spin. I believe they are organic sometimes crap happens it just is driving home the questions is it better I get something local or something far away but from the land of organic?

  Do I feel better that my organic milk came from 1300 miles to get into my cup of coffee? Or do I go with knowing my milk came from mystery California cows but from what part/farm?

So this chicken needs to do more dairy research to make the best choice for my family.  

I gotta go to WholeFoods as sonn as I can get up the courage to spend   get there.  

The quest continues...

Taking stock

So we took stock of our fridge and think we have a good week or so of meals.  While taking stock we took the time to read some boxes of some our old staples.  You know if you want to feel like an idiot read a processed foods box...there are more things on there I can't pronounce than I can.  I mean what is it really?!!  

Ohh and the salt apparently everything processed needs 200x the normal amount of salt that you would normally use...then we still salt it because it tastes weird...gee wonder why?

 But we are not going to waste the food already bought and in our fridge, as we do have a budget to keep and kids to feed.  Ohhh I haven't told them yet their beloved chicken nuggets are going to be a thing of the past....ssshhhhhh 

Went to our local Produce Market, I love this place the prices are super reasonable and most everything in there comes from local farmers. We got a few tomatoes, romaine, and broccoli all grown in our county & to supplement tonight's dinner. Now we did get one thing I could not determine where it was from an orange, my 4 year old wanted it and I could not bring myself to say NO NO you can't have this healthy orange, it was organic so it's a go.  Perhaps I need to reevaluate our priorities.   

To me personally organic is more important than local, I feel better feeding my child an organic orange from Florida than a pesticide treated orange from 5 miles away. So organic is our first priority.  It is pretty easy around here to have local and organic and I promise I will not buy something organic all the way from Argentina *hangs head in shame* as I did last week before making this commitment. Damn those blueberries for looking so delicious. 

CCOF is #1 to us it is the California Certified Organic Farmer's label, because honestly the USDA Organic label is nice and all but goverment = big business and I don't 100% trust their idea of organic versus mind. The CCOF I do plus if it has that CCOF label I know it was grown in my state making my search for locavarian delights it easier.

So the rest of the week we ordered from the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) 

find a local one here...

Local Harvest 

We have ordered our CSA box from J&P Organics which is a little farm just a short 20 miles away.  JP delivers it straight to my house and we will have local, organic veggies for a fair price and I don't have to go to the Farmer's Market this week.

  Tomorrow....We need milk so we are going to venture off the the Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods of course. I have done some research and found a company that is organic and has California dairys most within 100 miles.  

Should be interesting!  

So here we go...

We have had several eye opening events in our life in recent years...it started us looking for better ways to live our life healthier, with less impact on our environment.  We have made many changes but still it wasn't good enough and what we did we only half did.  We buy all our groceries organic but then go out to eat at McDees *yeah don't even want to spell it out* but I am confessing it all.  So yeah Organic at home crap outside, plus not everything was organic and still lots of cheeto's, processed cereals, fruit drinks make it into our home.

So now we are going to make conscious decisions about what we buy and eat.   My vegetable eating friends I know your first question and no we are not going to be vegetarians, but our meat will be purchased in a way that we know it's humane, grass fed and local.  We eat many meatless meals but will have some meat in our diet. That is something my husband will never bend on & while I could be vegetarian 6 days a week that 7th I feel I need it.  Perhaps that will change but this is where we are at now. 

We are lucky we live where we do the 'salad bowl' of California where most of the salad greens that are shipped across the country are grown are fields I drive past frequently.  The climate is moderate year round I can get lots of variety of fruits, and vegetables. I can find a Farmer's Market 5 out of 7 days a week within a 10 min driving distance.  So we are lucky and that will make access easier.   BUT our hard wiring (we were raised as 'happy meal' kids too), our kids love of chicken nuggets, and our bank book are going to be the challenge.  

We are going to this gradual we have cupboards full of food, freezer full of stuff as well as the fridge.  So we will use up what we have and find new solutions to what we need.  I will share with you...my goal is to show it can be done.  That just because you are getting a 'good deal' on some crap processed box of food at the local grocery store what your feeding yourself and your family is a load of garbage.  If it cost a little more to make a change in my local economy, a change in the good of the planet, and a change to healthier eating then it is indeed priceless.   

The link is a good start...

10 steps to becoming a locavore 

Our priorities are going to be;

1.Local

2. Organic

3. Family Farm
4. Local Business

5. Fair Trade