Local Food

[Roo]

Food prices are getting pretty ridiculous. Every time I go to the store I feel like I spend at least 50 bucks, even if I'm just getting things for dinner and a few things with a longer shelf-life like coffee and TP. Sometimes I feel like going out to cheap restaurants all the time would be more cost-effective, then I remember how much I like to cook and eat leftovers for breakfast.

Now I'm not one of those people who eats only food from a 100 miles radius by any means; I quite like imported food items of a particularly high quality or relative scarcity. But what drives me nuts is this: increasingly, big chains (QFC where I live, but the distributor is Kroger) are cutting costs by importing damn-near everything. Washington State is literally world-renowned for our apples (we sell lots to Asia and beyond), yet when I'm shopping for apples, all but one variety hail from California or New Zealand. WTF would I want or need with an apple that was shipped across the mighty Pacific from New Zealand? Especially after reading in the Seattle Times that the apple farmers just over the Cascade Mountains, less than 2 hours away, reported a bumper crop this Summer! All I want is a goddamn Washington apple. How can it be cheaper to send them from New Zealand?

I'll bore you with some more examples. The last time I was on the Oregon Coast in Seaside I went to Safeway for some groceries. I knew I was going to stop at the little fish monger afterward for that day's catch but thought I would check the seafood prices at the grocery store to maybe save some money. The shrimp they had were labeled as being from Indonesia and Vietnam... Are you shitting me? The Pacific Ocean was a 5 minute walk from a seafood counter selling Vietnamese shrimp? How about ground beef? if you look at the fine print you might find something similar to the following: "Product of the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand". All in one single-pound package? That is ****ing disgusting. I do not need my beef to be frozen and shipped from neighboring countries and the ****ing South Pacific! For God's sake this is the "Wild West" is it not? If I need ground meat I will gladly pay a couple dollars more for a single-source product. I often buy Bison actually (as GoVegan sheds a loan buffalo tear) because it's tastier, more healthy, and is produced in relatively small quantities.

I wish I could afford to buy the best products all the time. Every now and again I splurge and stop at Pike Place Market on my way home from work and buy some fresh, local Chinook or King salmon and vegetables from the local farmers who set up and take down their stands every day. Fresh, high quality ingredients make a very satisfying meal. We also have a lot of farmers markets in various neighborhoods around town on the weekends, some of them selling interesting meats like duck and goat and hand-cut bacon, but at a premium.

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? Or have I just reached a new level of boredom this evening?

[lxskllr]

I think it's retarded that stuff from the other side of the world can be competitively priced with USA goods. That's due to American greed, from the unions, to the company owners. Globalization sucks, but at least I have snus; for now....

[precious007]

This happens pretty much everywhere..

To be honest since the EU was born, food in Europe is pretty much priced the same.

So it's not happening in the U.S only. (where food is slightly cheaper than in Europe anyways)

[Roo]

Thanks for deleting the double post LX, not sure how that happened.

[Bigblue1]

I only buy corn on the cob from one farm here in Northern Illinois, Stades in McHenry county. Everything else is bought on sale at the chains (meir, Jewel (Albertsons), Dominicks (safeway). I'm talking bulk shopping of course I buy Boutique when it is just spectacular, but I just can't afford to be a store snob for the most part. In the same vein tho, I hate applebees, chilis, and olive garden so you wouldn't be helping the cause by going to those joints or their lower brow cousins. It's loose loose my friend. We are caught in a trap.
the cheese is cheap so we have to continue buying it because our means are continually growing less. It goes for every other thing we buy too. I hate to admit it but I shop wal-mart. I hate the thought of it, but what am I gonna do. Go pay more at another bullshit store for the same shitty product or put the extra in my pocket. The only other option is to buy Overpriced goods that aren't made in America anyway. So this is where were at....

[Roo]

Applebees and Chilis have lower brow cousins? Yeesh. Screw those places, that shit is disgusting. I hear you Blue, times are tough. I try not to be a store snob either, but I admit to making the occasional purchase at uber-yuppy stores a la Whole Foods. Shit for special occasions, like some hard-to-find cheese or beer. And I can't do Safeway anymore, every person in the store asks you "hey how are you today buddy?" even when I have headphones on. Don't talk to me just be there if I need you and let me get my shit and get out of here. More than that though the produce at Safeway is fckng wilted refuse.

Don't beat yourself up over Walmart, they prey on suburbia and rural America and now housing project areas in some cities and turn their grotesque megalith into the only viable option. And yeah its all the same shit, the only difference is Wally's system of forcing manufacturers into pigeon holes wherein they must lower costs drastically, and at the expense of what cheap-ass quality they might have had to begin with, and increase output to the point where they can only keep up with Wally's demands by cutting off all other clients and the whole mess is a race to the bottom, without even mentioning how they gobble up all the mom-and-pops and devastate local economies... But like you said what are you going to do without other reasonable options? Fack.

[Bigblue1]

Also, I forgot that I do a 1/3 of my shopping at a local grocer. The Amazing part about that is they are located within walking distance of the Jewel (albertsons) yet manage to carry pretty good produce, really good deli meats for 1/2 the price, and ground chuck at a $1.79/lb at all times. I can't for the life of me figure out how they do it, but can attest to the quality of the product and feel good knowing I am supporting a family business which Whole Foods as far as I can tell is not........

[Roo]

Whole Foods is completely silly. I'm glad to hear that you have a good family-run market nearby, those are a bit hard to come by around here with a million big distributors all over the place. For other shit there's plenty to support but not so much for groceries.

[Bigblue1]

good night roo

[justintempler]

You just have to watch out, some of those roadside stands and farmer's markets aren't sourcing their food locally. The Farmer's Market in Nashville is actually run by Kroger. I also saw a news story about shrimp stands in Hawaii that import their shrimp from Asia.

One of the future trends that is working its way into the mainstream is aquaponics. A combination of hydroponics and fish farming. There's even a move to do urban farming right in the middle our old run down cities. Local food, local jobs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZPwBPAqks

[WickedKitchen]

I think it's the economy of scale, Roo. If you have a company that is willing to purchase X tons of something they'll get it at a lower price. I don't understand why they can't get a better price w/ Pacific Northwest apples though, and you're right...they rock. We often get apples from there in Boston and I do prefer them to NZ or SA. I really enjoy the wines from WA, OR too and to me the pinot noirs are better than CA ones. Cooler growing season is what I chalk it up to, but I digress. We certainly could be self-sufficient but it's cheaper not to be. It's sad, really. That cooky Jimmy McMillan has some stuff to say to that self-sufficiency too and he does have a point even if he is the "rent is too damned high" party.

The initial setup costs for the aquaponics is what's hindering it. I think that's a wise idea for our government to invest in but alas our fearless leaders have other ideas. Though it might not be a good idea to be 100% self sufficient I think we can go much better. The pendulum swings the other way sometimes though. I read an article about US chicken EXports to China being taxed up the wazoo 'cos we were undermining their local market prices.

http://www.economyincrisis.org/conte...hicken-exports

We live not too far from several produce farms and livestock farms. My brother purchased a veg program from them this year and I think I'll do it too, next year. It works out to be about $25/week and you have to go there to get the goods, but it's all grown there. It's a pretty good deal for a family. We also bought a half cow last year...still have some of that. We ordered a pig and are working on a deal for a shit-ton of chickens. I think in a few years I'm going to raise my own chickens, thanks to Snuffy's thread and meeting some people that do it around here. I do try to use the local fishmonger, but their stuff isn't of any better or more local than my nearby Stop-n-Shop. I guess they get deliveries more frequently so the quality is better and a bigger selection but it's not all caught off the coast of Glocester or anything.

We spend nearly $200/week on food but everything is fresh and rarely do we buy packaged stuff, but it's wicked expensive. The budget could easily be cut in half but then it wouldn't be as healthy. Now I've got to go whip up some pancakes for the little angels and I think every ingredient is from the US...even the GE griddle but it's from the 50's. I don't think they're made in the US anymore but this one was my grandfathers...still works and better than anything I could buy today.

[Monkey]

I but a good amount of my food from a local wholesale company. A lot of their stuff is sourced from other countries but they are also growers who sell mostly local produce.
It is incredibly hard to find Florida seafood or beef (number two in the US for beef production) on a local shelf and for convenience Iskip humping around to every place I know to get local. If I could spend a whole day and tank of gas driving all over the region I could buy 100% local but I do not have the resources (time, money, time, money) and the wherewith all to drag my kids around the state once a week to fill the pantry.

I have at least not been buying crap that comes in a box (processed foods) for years and my canned goods awe emergency hurricane (and occasionally emergency lazy food) so I buy fresh. Local is an entirely different beast.

[Ainkor]

An observation I've had for MANY years is that if your poor, it is unrealistic to think that you can eat well. You just can't afford it.

When I was 21, it was my wife, my three kids and myself. We lived on less than 25k a year and there is no way that we could afford fresh foods when we shopped. We bought only processed foods and I even developed a "Calorie to $$" ratio that I used to maximize our food purchases. I knew we were putting shit in our bodies but when given the choice of eating a bounty of processed foods or a meager serving of natural foods, you pick what you need to.

The greatest crime of all is that most people can't afford to eat well. Good food that is good for you is reserved for middle class and higher people. Try feeding a family of 5 on $350 a month without resorting to ramen noodles or the like.

Now that we are much more secure in our finances, we eat much better but the damage is already done. My wife and I are overweight and it's a struggle to get that weight off. We raised our kids with some pretty bad habits that we are having to help them break and hoping that we didn't screw ourselves over in the long run.

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

I've been slowly changing my shopping and eating routines for years now. I've done pretty good if you compare the difference. I live in a small suburb of SF (40,000 people) so it can be hard to not go to one of the two Safeway's for everything. There are two other local grocery stores in town and I support them, but the food in these shops doesn't turn over nearly as fast as Safeway. So you have to be careful about buying things like raw meats unless you are going to cook or freeze them right away. Also have to be more prudent about checking dates on dry goods and such. I will buy things from abroad but it's mostly canned stuff like dolmas and what not. Like Roo I'll usually go with buffalo over beef as well. I'm constantly reading ingredients and always go with the simplest and most local. I drive around SF everyday for work so I'm pretty spoiled on food selection. Plus Cali does produce a lot of great food. I'm not a nazi about it by any means but I do take notice of where stuff comes from and how it's made. I do spend way more money than I could, but I've made that decision consciously. I probably should be eating ramen and putting the difference in my retirement accounts but I'm really spoiled on great food. I also put a lot of effort into growing as much as my own food as possible. Once you start eating homegrown stuff it really makes it hard to enjoy store bought. I'm also looking forward to getting some chickens soon. Also I am a fisherman and the Pacific Ocean is less than a mile from my house and the SF Bay is just over the hill so I can really close the loop on fish if I put some effort into it. Dungeness crab season opens Nov 6th and I can't wait I can catch those right from the beach here without having to hang out on the pier. People really need to understand where their food comes from and what the total costs are with all the shipping and trucking. I'm optimistic about seeing more changes in the future as more and more people get involved more directly with the process. Of course their are a lot of people around here that are involved already. I don't feel like an alien while I'm reading my labels. I hope some day I can get some land and do some farming and raise some livestock on a larger scale, but I'm also thankful that I can do what I'm already doing.

[Premium Parrots]

I wonder where Hitler shopped?