It's About Time

Figuring out how I want our family to live and eat is confusing. There are so many options. There's vegetarian, vegan, raw, traditional, Feingold, no carb, low carb, whole foods, etc, etc, etc. On top of that you've got to consider the sources of your food, the ingredients in your food, any food sensitivities, and above all else the cost to maintain. Like many Americans in this economy we are trying to be smart with money. We'd like to one day be debt free so that translates to keeping costs to a minimum and trying to keep food from being wasted.

Not long before DD was born I decided to have a look into local grass-fed, grass-finished beef and pasture-raised chicken. I found a co-op and they recommended becoming a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation. I bought a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig. The traditional diets that they spoke of struck a chord in me. It just made *sense*. All of the suggestions are backed up by studies and data not to mention Dr. Price's findings when he went among the traditional peoples. I started talking to many people through these co-ops who had seen significant increases in their health and quality of life. I learned about the Raw Milk Revolution and we started drinking it at home.

Over the last three years I have wavered in following it completely. Some times we've had to budget out the good stuff for the cheaper alternative (pasteurized, homogenized, factory farm milk and Costco meat). It is easy to get into old routines, though thankfully we're not subsisting on Hamburger Helper and Mountain Dew which was the status quo when my husband and I met!

Last week we were able to finally sit down and watch Food, Inc. I knew what was going to be in it (though there were a few things that surprised me still!) but it was important to get my husband on board. He needed to watch it and really grasp it. I needed him to want to improve our diet if not for him then for our kids. Seeing Joel Salatin on his farm and talking about food and farm and life really brought out the urge to focus back on good, pure food again.

The next day I went over to my Polyface account (Joel Salatin's farm) and started perusing costs. I compared it to the other co-ops I am involved in and found Polyface to be the cheapest option. Deliveries happen every 5 weeks except a break in the winter. I looked up this chest freezer that is small enough to live in my dining room yet large enough to hold a few chickens and some ground beef, ground pork and sausage. I know in order to do this I will need to purchase that chest freezer and meal plan for 5 weeks at a time a week before the delivery dates in order to have the order placed in time.

My plan at this point:

1. Sundays are Roast Day. I will either rotisserie or roast in the oven one chicken.
   
2. Polyface is trying out a batch of Freedom Ranger chickens as an alternative to the Cornish Cross. I'll be buying one of each initially to compare them.
   
3. From Sunday's chicken: I will clean the meat from the bones and put the bones immediately into a crock pot and make stock. The meat will be used for at least one additional meal that week.
4. I will purchase 4 lbs of ground beef and ground pork. Each week will have one pound allotted of each ground meat for use in meatloaf, burgers, meatballs, Pork 'n Cabbage, chili, stuffed peppers/tomatoes, bolognese, etc.
5. I will purchase 4 lbs of bulk breakfast sausage for use in my mom's awesome sausage and bean soup (which I will post the recipe for at a later time) to be made with the stock from Sunday's chicken.
   

Now, this does not take into account the produce side of things. We only have a month and change left for harvesting a lot of good produce that could be frozen or canned. I am trying to be realistic and not too gung-ho, but I'd like to try to at least buy some bulk tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, and carrots (depending on what's in season as I don't have a photographic memory to remember!) and puree it into sofrito (the base I use for our Spanish foods like lentejas and arroz con gandules/pollo) to freeze in FoodSaver bags. I also like the idea of finding a farm selling not-very-pretty tomatoes at a discount in order to sauce them down and make pizza sauces and tomato sauce for use over the fall/winter for chili, bolognese and little pita pizzas. As apple season progresses I will try to do the same for apple sauce.

I will also strive to bake bread on Sundays as well. I will start with an all-purpose loaf and gradually work into a whole wheat loaf then into sourdough. I will also plan for a meatless day each week in order to use beans and incorporate more fiber into our diet.

In addition I am getting involved in my United Natural Foods buying club to purchase bulk grains, nuts and beans as well as vinegars/spices and personal care items (shampoo, conditioner). I'm trying to stay away from canned goods because of BPA in the lining (there is no current alternative).

The above is my starting goal. From here I want to get more into preparation of grains/beans, addition of organ meats to our ground meat (which I have a recipe for and will post at a later time), and learning the different cuts of meat, how to cook them and eating well on a tight budget. My goal for this blog is to have a place to be accountable and see progress in not only the learning process but our health overall.