bulk buying and backyard: conclusions

we closed our bulk buying and backyard challenge a bit ago, and thus also ended the revolting and gnashing of teeth from my household.  we farmers missed our cheese!  but we survived, lost a few pounds, and felt much healthier as a result of our mostly plant-based diet.  here’s a sample of one of our days of eating:

breakfast: granola, milk (rehydrated), dried cranberries & raisins

snack:  popcorn with nutritional yeast, cashews

lunch:  brown rice (with illicit soy sauce), raisins, dates, green peppers, peanuts

snack:  rice pudding, more nuts and dried fruit

dinner:  frittata with peppers, tomato, onions, & swiss chard, salad with cranberries, almonds, sunflower seeds, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, bread machine bread

dessert:  chocolate covered pretzels

i did cheat in a few places, such as the soy sauce.  i used a bottled asian sauce in stir-fry and pre-packaged yeast for bread.  and the toddler still drank organic whole milk from a carton.

a few thoughts on the advantages of eating in such a way:

-          health – we undoubtedly increased our nutrition level.  we ate predominately whole foods, and mostly plant-based.  this decreased our cholesterol intake and bad fats.  protein stayed high through nuts and peanut butter.  our sugar intake decreased because who has time to make cookies every day?  and oh my sweet ice cream….it was good to have her back.

-          quality of food – fresh?  whole?  homemade and home-grown?  what’s not to love!  everything did taste quite good.

-          time – i noticed a distinct decrease in my disposable time during the week.  i spent much more time on meals, due in large part to the picking, gathering, washing, spinning, chopping of vegetables.

-          money – this was a swing gain.  your savings from bulk purchasing depends on what kind of food you buy normally.  we saved oodles on produce.  i usually buy conventional grains and ingredients at aldi, a discount grocery store; i bought organic and, often local ingredients from bulk.  i probably spent about the same amount, but got a much higher quality product.  but i spent significantly more on processed/prepared foods, like snack crackers, gummy bears, etc.  all in all, I spent about 40% more on groceries for the week.

-          packaging – no comparison.  we hardly threw away anything for the week.  waste was negligible, and energy used to deliver it to the store decreased.  this was by far the greatest advantage.

so i’ve been thinking about how to incorporate some of these principles as standards in our grocery habits.  here are a few:

-          continue to purchase locally-grown goods from bulk bins.  for us, these include popcorn, flour, cornmeal, honey, and a few others.

-          try to make my own prepared foods, like granola, snacks, and bread.  

-          subsist from our garden in the summer.  preserve foods by freezing and canning for the rest of the year.

-          be conscious of eating foods produced near me, if possible.  even if not locally, i’m trying to be aware of distance.  for example, we chose to stop buying mangoes because of the distance they have to travel to indiana.  (this should probably apply to bananas, too, but i’m just not there yet!)

-          view all containers as potential for bulk food storage.  anyone know a pattern to make bulk flour bags?

let me hear from you…  what do you buy in bulk?  any simple things you make at home? 

our next challenge to tackle – milk fresh from the cow.  stay tuned for more…..

backyard and bulk

we've returned from a delightful vacation and i'm eager to tackle our next challenge.  backyard produce and bulk bin buys.  come monday july 8th, we'll spend five days eating only what has grown in our own garden (plus eggs from our lovely hens) and offerings from the bulk buying section of our neighborhood grocery co-op - bloomingfoods.

today our garden offers us some early tomatoes, green peppers, salad greens, swiss chard, and an occasional blueberry or two that escapes our toddler's quick grasp off the bush. bloomingfoods provides an abundance of bulk options.  you know, those bins of food with the scoops/tongs, little twisty ties, and golf pencils?  shopping these bins offers a number of advantages.  first, your cost is much less because the store can buy them in bulk.  this savings is passed along to you.  also, the decreased packaging means less volume, and thus, less fossil fuels for shipping.  additionally, the decreased packaging leads to less waste (even recycling) created.  check out this L.A. Times article for more discussion on bulk bin shopping.  here are some of the delicious items available:
- flour
- sugar
- dried fruit
- oats
- pasta
- vinegars
- oils
- peanut butter
- pasta
- tea/coffee
even animal crackers and m&ms!  i can buy powdered cow milk as well as soy milk for some of our dairy desires.  right now old spaghetti sauce and pickle jars litter my counter top, filled with ingredients awaiting our recipes next week.

but i'm already jonesing for the cheese we'll be missing.  and ice cream.

do you have any favorite recipes made from few ingredients you could pass our way?

many of you have offered quite reasonable barriers keeping you from participating in this challenge.  i applaud your desire!  here are a few iterations that might be more do-able, if you're interested:

- purchase your week's produce from a local farmers' market
- buy 5 items from bulk bins that you usually buy prepackaged (examples: pasta, flour, dried fruit, candy)
- make something from scratch that you normally buy (examples: bread, granola, salad dressing)
- make 1 meal without any processed foods

be sure to tell me how it goes!
and enjoy.