Lazy Local Eater

I've become a lazy local eater. I'm blaming it on winter. I did not make it to the farmers market today. But in fairness, when I went to Harris Teeter (HT) this evening, I did not buy any produce except their bananas from Costa Rica. (And I have come to terms with the fact that my child goes a bit bonkers without a morning banana and having honeymooned in Costa Rica and visiting Dole Banana plantations, I am comfortable supporting that economy).

I bought local ice cream today, and I was happy to finally find deli organic turkey breast at a reasonable price at HT, we bought a new Brita, b/c our old one had to go as we cleaned it and broke it and then it started spitting out white stuff and we had had it five years at least. Small victories today. But it seemed lazier to not even post about it.

Tonight's dinner

Was a little about eating locally, and a little about enjoying a meal with a friend.

I used up some veggies from my local farmers market, preparing to buy new stuff on Saturday morning, and some stuff that was not local but was healthy and comforting, and sometimes that is the best one can do, and sometimes, it is enough.

My local Farmers Market

So there are a lot of nice farmer markets in Montgomery County. I've visited a lot of them over the years. However, I like my routines, so I only go to one regularly. I always say I'll stop by somewhere else just to try something new, but this one market really carries all my produce needs.

The Hare Valley Growers

They are in town every Saturday morning from June through November and come once a month through the winter. They have wonderful eggs at the best price in town. They have a large variety of produce and some cheeses and sometimes flowers.

Where I Shop... and Don't Shop

So I am still looking for the perfect grocery store. The one I can go to weekly to fulfill all my families needs (and a couple wants). So for the meanwhile, I hit up all these stores with some regularity. (Produce is whole other story for another post)

The staples that I buy pretty much every week:
Pepridge Farm Honey Whole Wheat
Deli Turkey Breast, we try to find antibiotic free for our child, but we're not always willing to pay the price for ourselves.
Organic Milk, more on this in future posts
Skinless chicken breasts (sometimesI buy in bulk and freeze)
Organic ground beef (sometimes I buy in bulk and freeze)

Trader Joe's - When it comes down to it, they have the cheapest prices on some of our stand-by brands and products. I have not found the to be a wonderful resource for local products. They are located near the bestest Challah place in town. But I've started making our own Challah every few weeks and that is a huge cost savings, if not a time expense. So my TJ's shopping is decreasing, but I'm still going there once a month or so. They carry some organic meats but I think not chicken breasts. The prices on these are high.

Harris Teeter - OK, I know we're still in the honeymoon phase, (they opened here just a month ago) but I love this store. They work hard to carry local products. (Including ice cream). They have a huge Kosher and Israeli section. They don't have a lot of local produce, and they don't carry a lot of our favorite brands. They don't carry happy antibiotic free turkey breast. Or organic meat. The store has two levels, which is annoying when doing a large shopping, or shopping with a toddler. I love that they make some of their cheeses in the store, such as mozerella and ricotta.

MOMs - The first time I shopped here, I was in love, there were no bad choices here. Everything was a good choice, the time saved over shopping here versus HT or TJ was huge, but they are very small. They often don't have chicken breasts or roast chickens. They don't carry any fresh meat or fish. Their prices are on the high side.

And today, I found a new market to try. They are much further away than any of my other regular stores, but I think they might actually carry almost everything we want/ need. Welcome to my list:
Roots Market
I'm very excited to try them out. Today PJ and I went on a scouting trip and we were very happy.

If I can possibly avoid it, I don't shop here:
Giant or Safeway
Whole Foods (though when their new store opens next year I might eat my words)
Grosvener Market

The Grosvener Market is sad for me because they used to be my favorite place, but after three visits this summer when they had run out of organic whole milk, including after I spoke with the buyer over it, I can't waste my time there anymore. If you can't stock milk, I can't shop with you.

OK, I hate ending on a sad note. Although overwhelmed some weeks, generally I feel very blessed to have so many choices. While I sometimes struggle, or am not yet willing to fight to find certain local and or organic product choices, I'm enjoying the search for more options for my family.

Getting Started

About a month ago I read Animal Vegetable Miracle. I was head over heals inspired to try and eat locally as much as possible. I also started looking around online for other people who were inspired to eat locally. I found a lot of websites, but not as many blogs as I expected.

Things I hope people will see here:
stories of our experiences,
recipes and reviews using local and seasonal ingredients,
reviews of local stores, markets and maybe restaurants,
questions, maybe some answers, our successes and trials and tribulations.

Other things you will be sure to see:
words misspelled. I try my best to make what I write readable, but I am not very good at spelling and I mostly don't notice when I misspell things, please forgive me and keep reading, I know it can be frustrating to some folks.
Me getting frustrated about customer service. I'm happy to pay for my services, and I try to give props when I can, but I HATE, inattentive, unhelpful, and rude service. My mom says I sometimes bite off my nose to spite my face, but usually after a third problem visit somewhere, I talk with my money and take my business elsewhere.

Thank you for reading!