With the new year comes the idea of resolutions. I don't really ever make them. I think that they are a great idea but I just believe that there are 364 other perfectly good days to start something new. This year however, Mike and I have decided that we should try harder at becoming more responsible human beings when it comes to food choices. Some of our decisions are only an extension of things that we have already been doing but have still lead to some adventuresome shopping.
The first part of our plan is to only buy 'real' food. This means avoiding pre-packaged foods that contain colors and any of those preservatives that one can't pronounce. It also means avoiding products that contain added sugars, corn or soy ingredients that aren't actually corn or soy products. Because of Calla's allergies we already do a lot of this anyway but we're just trying a little bit harder. The other day Maya asked for a granola bar and I told her that we don't have any. I offered to make her muffins or oatmeal bars and she was perfectly content.
The second part of our plan that I thought would be the most difficult was to buy local meat. This actually turned out to be the easiest. Turns out that there is a meat shop not far from here that carries %100 Manitoba beef, poultry and pork products. They also carry local bison and cheeses. Shopping there is easy.
The third and most difficult part of the plan was to choose foods that were locally grown. Now, I am not a purist or a sucker for punishment. It is January and I live in a city that is snow covered for half of the year. I am also pregnant and feeding two small children so by 'local' I had decided to stick to the continent of North America, at least for the winter months. Easy right? After all, California is still on the North American continent. Well... not so much.
Turns out that the Wild Pacific Salmon I have been buying is a product of China. Huh? B.C. is still one of the Canadian provinces isn't it? In fact, frozen products leave me the most baffled. One time I went to buy some frozen carrots only to realize that they had been shipped in from Israel. Carrots from Israel! Manitoba is famous for its carrots and it is one of the easiest vegetables to find on the shelves year round.
Not long ago Calla requested asparagus for supper. I told her that it was out of season but I would check the frozen aisle and see what I could find. I was thrilled to find it until I read that it had been shipped in once again from China! This year I plan on buying tons of it from the Farmer's Market and freezing it myself. Calla absolutely loves it.
It's funny what you can learn as you pay attention to the items getting thrown into your grocery cart. We still have stuff in our pantry that I am not particularly thrilled about but it's all part of the process.
Georgia has taught us to continue moving forward and making the best choices given the circumstances. We continue to embrace this philosophy in all aspects of our lives even if we have a long way to go!
Love to you all,
Kristen
Happy 11th Birthday Emersyn
5 years ago
Right on! I've been thinking about those things too. Can you post the stores you've sourced for these things? I find the best places by word of mouth.
ReplyDeleteYou know, just today I was thinking about this as well! We only have a farmer's market like 4 months of the year, so I don't know how we're going to go about it, but the wheels are a turnin'.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Way to go!
ReplyDeleteWhat's the name of the place you buy the meat from?
Good idea! If you Google free range ....chickens, beef, etc you will find places around Winnipeg that offer in bulk sales not necessarily organic meat but meat that has not been fed antibiotics and growth hormones so is still not organic (hard to find and very pricey) but much better quality than in the stores and usually has also been humanely sacrificed to us humans. LOL And is local. This is important because in the regular slaughterhouses when the cows are frightened they release a hormone that is then in the meat and is not healthy for us. (Getting too old to to remember ALL the details of this stuff...but the important overall idea I do) Remember grass fed beef is healthier with more omega 3 in it than grain fed. Awesome resolution! Also theres a wonderful small "reservation only usually" restaurant called Dandelion is next door to ...hmmmm the health food store by Confusion Corner by Osborne Village. The Dollar store and a gelato place was there too. Cant remember it now as been to Fredericton and Calgary since Winnipeg. lol But all its food is based on organic, local, etc and is wonderful! I did find their veg to be almost too raw though but if you ask they will cook it just a bit more for you. Lovely place. Fredericton has a local/organic/free range etc etc market all year round you would die for! I miss it now. lol Bought a 1/2 buffalo here (Calgary) though the other week and it tastes wonderful and get organic veg delivered to the door with the option of all being local but the veg options then are very limited over winter so am just going organic. (They have a similar organic veg home delivery service in the Peg too) Now to find chickens. lol Best wishes for a good year! You deserve it! Oh every so often Costco has wild Pacific salmon for sale from BC and it only comes in the whole salmon but when you see it grab lots as its good. Its Sockeye. Good eating! Kate and John
ReplyDeleteHi Kristen
ReplyDeleteIt's been awhile since I've had a chance to read the blog. Miss seeing you and the girls but Laura keeps me posted. So happy for all of you with new sister on the way. Love to all of you and prayers for strength and continued wisdom in dealing with the challenges of carrying on and helping the girls deal with a loss that is hard to understand at their age.
Further to your observations re wild salmon from China - got an education about this in Nfld this past September.Canadian fishermen have quotas that they are allowed to catch per year/ season. Once those quotas are met, they are done until next year. Off shore fishing boats from China, Russia etc are not subject to those quotas. They are there with their floating packaging factories selling us our own fish that we can't harvest. I'm quite sure there is even more politics to that than we were enlightened on but it sure is maddening on many levels.
Have been looking for source for bison for my anti inflammatory diet - nice to know there is another place to source it. Thanks for sharing.
Love and prayers always
Lucille