Survive Local: Days 5 & 6

Jan 18, 2008 at 9:48 AM
17 comments

As my survive local experiment winds down out of project mode and eases into reality mode I'm realizing that this wasn't much of a challenge to me. I live fairly simply to begin with. I don't have children, I don't eat out a lot, I don't care much for shopping, I enjoy spending time at home, I'm tight with my money and Mr. Val is the same. I'm also a planner and I try to foresee my needs in advance. There was never once in the week when I felt torn about making a purchase - because I haven't made any (a far better outcome - and something I should strive for all the time). Obviously that won't always be the case, so when it's not in the future I will be thinking a lot more about the origins of my purchases and asking these questions:

Do I *really* need it?
Can I get it used?
Can I get it locally?
If I have to buy it new, who made it? What were their working conditions? Is it worth it to me to save X dollars if the person who made it is getting screwed?
Do I *really* need it? (Because I really can't ask this question enough)

As for food progress: Wednesday I had leftovers for dinner and snacked on cheese and apples. Thursday I had a chicken sandwich for lunch and made homemade soup out of the roast chicken leftovers (and used store-bought egg noodles). I snacked on whole wheat bread and honey. Friday the plan is soup leftovers for lunch and breakfast for dinner.

Food wasn't a struggle at all. It was enjoyable to say the least. I thought snacking would be my downfall, but I was so good with meal planning that I never felt hungry once. I think I'm going to start buying all of my meat from the farmer's market and local butchers. Even though it's more expensive, cutting out junk food is going to save a ton of cash. I'm going try harder to make do with local, in-season produce (because who really needs a tasty tasty kiwi in January?). I'm going to start shopping more at the Coop. I'm going start snacking with nutrition in mind. I won't turn down a piece of chocolate, but there are plenty of yummy snacks that have more nutritional value than Swiss Rolls. It's all about changing my perception...and really, once I've been doing this for a few weeks it will become routine.

Thanks for all of your support and really fantastic ideas this week, it's given me a lot to ponder.

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[this is good]

You've done a great job! I'm sure everyone has mentioned this but I saw you on the homepage misspelled "Valarae."

Thanks!!

RE: Spelling - Yeah, I saw that. At least the link is correct. :-)

Re: Chocolate-

I find that if I allow myself a few really GREAT things (like dark chocolate truffles) a week, I'm less likely to eat have a package of Cosmic Brownies or two pounds of M&M's. It's really about making what you do worthwhile and enjoying it. Eat for health and eat for pleasure, don't eat to eat.

[this is good]

good job. As far as snacking goes, I had to rethink all that with cholesterol & quit buying stuff like packaged cupcakes and all that, and will allow myself better junk food. I still eat less than healthy food but at least it's not all overprocessed crap. Inspired by your posts this week I did call my sister to find out about the local farmer's market they do once a week up the street from me, she said it's from maybe May till Thanksgiving and it's in a parking lot. She said it started out kind of lame but once it got going they had tons of good stuff on Wednesdays so when the time comes I will make the effort. There is also a farmers market next to Trader Joe's (lot of Amish in there) so I suppose I should make more of an effort to get my ass in there. The good & bad about that is, it's always crowded.

This is great, Val!

Very inspirational to me, too! It's making me think and be more careful what I buy and where I buy it!

Omg, your banner is making me laugh SO hard. Now that's creative!! Snerk!

You nailed it right there. What's great is, it even gets me to a point where Hershey's tastes nasty in comparison with good stuff, so I'm not grazing at work or anything either. :-D

Valerae replied to crankypants’ comment:
Jan 18, 2008
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My market has gotten better and better each season. I also have to be patient, because as it's grown so have the number of people there. It's nice to have it on a Saturday morning, it's easy to be relaxed then so I don't mind waiting in lines, walking behind slow people, etc.

The Amish market would probably be pretty good...I'd love to see pictures and a report from you too! It's always cool to meet people from different walks of life to see how they do things.

You travel to such neat places you could probably stock up on neat-o local goodies from all over the planet!!

On the chocolate front, that's how I cured myself of junk snacking. I just always have some of my fave chocolate on hand and I don't feel the urge at all.

Meal planning is huge help to avoiding snacking for whatever reason you want to avoid it. I actually have planned snacks, too, although they're not local. Every day I get an apple and an orange.

I usually try to be good about meal planning as it not only saves time but money. My meal planning/grocery list is in an Excel spreadsheet. It makes it easy to organize and print a list that's in order of the way I wend my way through the grocery store. Pathetic, but it works. :-)

Ooh, an orange...I haven't put it in the posts, but I've been craving citrus in the worst way this week. Oranges seem to always taste better in the winter. I rarely eat them in the summer, but do almost daily in the winter. Someone at work was peeling one the other day, I hung around her just so I could smell it.

[this is good]

Gee, I thought I commented on this post early this morning, Val. Too early to know what I was doing, I guess... Let's see. I meant to say, I love your experiment. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I love the idea of rethinking our consumption/spending habits and living more simply whenever possible. I admit I have some trouble with the idea of "local." I shudder at the thought of never consuming the foods and products of my homeland for the entire duration of my exile here. It seems like a high price to pay. But I'd like the concept just fine if I lived someplace else... :-)

I would think that in your area of the country you would have a great stock of summer fruits and veggies (isn't gravy a vegetable of some sort?). Have you sought out any local farms for meat? There's a farm just south of here that will roast an entire pig for you - and that sounds right up your ally! :-D If we ever have a Vox meet-up at my place you can expect me to hire these guys to come out to my backyard.

There's a farm just south of here that will roast an entire pig for you... If we ever have a Vox meet-up at my place you can expect me to hire these guys to come out to my backyard.

Let's start planning it now. The logistics may be complicated but this thing needs to happen. Are you thinking around fall? :-D

Sorry, it has to be summer - Kevin and Myke are coming to town! (squee!)

[this is good]

Val, I flaked and just now enjoyed your trip through your local week. I think you did a terrific and conscientious job of keeping to your corner of the world. Just another reason to hope for those (locally grown) cabbage patch adoption papers to come through! :)

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[this is good]

I've really enjoyed this. Maybe we can start a trend. (I go to just the type of progressive grad school that would go bonkers for this.)

Survive Local: Days 5 & 6

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