After watching Food, Inc. RJ and I made a commitment to choose locally grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible (we also have big plans for locally raised, range-free meat -but more on that later). It's been about 6 weeks since our family pledge and I am happy to report not only have been been extremely successful but I feel as though we're eating better than ever. I would say that we're probably getting 85% of our fruits/veggies from either the Farmer's Market or our backyard garden. The remaining 15% include the blueberries and bananas I buy for Landon at Trader Joes, and a few miscellaneous items needed for last minute recipes.
However, while the payoffs are huge, there are a few costs. We've had to learn how to eat seasonally. No peaches or goat cheese and heirloom tomato sandwiches for now. And, until a few weeks ago, we were also sacrificing one of our favorite fruits: apples.
Apples are currently in season, but at $3 a pound at the Farmer's Market more than one or two was out of our budget. Every week I would take my apple slice sample and then hurry on to pick-up some more cost friendly grapefruits. Until the other week - when I noticed a big box tucked behind the apple stand. A small sign read: Visually Distressed Apples/$1 a pound.
At $1 a pound I was able to pick up 4 pounds of organically grown apples in a wide array of varieties. And "visually distressed" translates to a maybe a bruise or two or a tiny worm hole. How spoiled are we in this country that we won't cut a bruise off of an apple before eating it? I can guarantee that 100 years ago people we not eating shiny Granny Smiths the size of baseballs.
Not only have we been eating the least damaged of the "visually distressed" fruits, but the reject apples are fantastic for baking. I've been making homemade applesauce (applesauce is terrible unless it's homemade), apple pie and apple crisp. Since we entertain quite often apple crisp has been a fantastic dessert. It's quick and easy to make, inexpensive if you choose visually distressed fruit, and everyone likes it.
Do you have any great Farmer's Market tips?
I love this idea! We've been conditioned to buy perfect looking food, and have forgotten that hardly anything "real" actually looks like that! We get a CSA box every week, and I love noticing the unique imperfections of our treasures. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, cheers to baking with ugly fruit - hello, banana bread?
That's awesome! Oh, and the apples in Scotland are the tiniest I have seen...there haven't been baseball sized apples in my mouth in a while. Ian and I usually eat them 2 at a time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one way to save money is local farms usually allow you to buy boxes of seasonal fruits and veggies to be delivered once a week. You never know what you are going to get, but its part of the adventure!