Farmers Markets Archives

Monday, January 3. Is anybody else having a difficult time focusing? I imagine you are, too, and I pity (and envy) those of you in corporate America who are sitting through post-break meetings with visions of Christmas trees, parties, skiing trips, late mornings snuggled in flannel and all the rest of the nice things from the holidays still fresh in your feverish minds.

A quick word about New Year’s resolutions: they usually don’t work. At least for me, with one very major exception.

Instead, I think it makes more sense to keep working on those things in life you wanted to change, where you had already made a decent start and were beginning to get some traction.

You get to a certain point in life and it’s pretty much the same stuff year after year – yeah, we’d like to exercise more or differently, we’d like to lose a few pounds, we’d like to finally get that right employment or better our economic circumstances.

For me, today, a couple things come to mind that I’d like more of: fresh, local food, and stretching.

Farmers Market

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Farmers Market

After reading much of Michael Pollan, I’ve seen the benefits of buying fresh, organic, locally grown produce. I started by going to the Hollywood and Los Feliz farmers markets in LA, and continued with our local versions in Palm Springs after I moved here. One of the local farms I usually buy from is Sage Mountain Farm in Aguanga, CA.

Since I get stuff in season only, it’s a challenge to figure out how to eat it or cook it. So, my facility in culinary skill also benefits from farmers market shopping. I mean, really, how does it make sense to buy and apple or grapes from Chile or New Zealand when they’re grown on a mountainside I can see from my back yard (thank you, S. “The Quitter” Palin).

Stretching

all wrapped up (not me)

More precisely, yoga. I’ve made a number of forays into the world of yoga over the years, and am just currently waiting for a shoulder impingement syndrome to either end or be intervened on before I start back. Also, a New Year’s plug for Yummy Yoga in L.A. I started going there because I could walk from my place there, always a plus. But I loved their classes and teachers. It’s also owned by an insanely beautiful Irishwoman by the name of Ducky Punch.

Link to: Eating On $20 For One Week – Houston Restaurants and Dining – Eating Our Words.

OK, so I’m not excoriating Republican candidates today. I’m building my arsenal, it’s going to be like hitting the side of a barn.

Gimme some black beans

In the meantime, I’m back on frugality, especially regarding one of my favorite subjects, food. I happened upon Katharine Shilcutt’s piece in the Houston Press blog. She figured out how to Eat on $20 a week. I found it interesting (and helpful!) in particular because it focused on her own household of one.

My grocery bills normally run probably around $50 – $60 a week if I’m honest, and that doesn’t include meals out – which in Palm Springs comes to only one or two a week. Large parts of my food budget go to things I’m always trying to get off of: diet rootbeer soda, for instance – I buy 6-packs for around $2.50 at Fresh ‘n Easy or TJ’s and they go in a day or so depending on how hot it is.

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Lately, I’ve been trying to eat more locally and sustainably so haunt the Farmer’s Markets in Palm Springs – one at the Thursday night Street Fair (Villagefest), the other on Saturdays outside the Camelot Theater. Typically, I will buy greens for salads at those and whatever fresh vegetable they have in season that I can figure out how to cook. Some things fare better with me: yams, for instance, are much easier to deal with than leeks, which I didn’t really know what to do with.

The best value I see in Katharine’s weekly haul is the oatmeal. It is amazingly cheap, and I’m lucky because I like it a lot. I wouldn’t buy the chicken, as I really don’t like meat or poultry all that much. Instead, I add black beans to lots of things, getting my protein there. I also make batches of brown rice and freeze individual portions since it goes bad so fast.

But one thing I have noticed is that Farmers Market fresh vegetables last longer. Maybe because they don’t have to travel from New Zealand or Chile to reach us?

I’d love to hear other stories on how people save on food.