Our Locavore-ish Kitchen

To simplify our grocery shopping, we have come up with a list of items we need for the kitchen to be “stocked.”  Our goal, of course, is to buy whatever we can from local producers.  But items that were never, or are no longer, produced here that we think we've got to have (quite a few things, unfortunately) we’ll buy organic, preferably from a small producer, and only from our local grocer. Here’s our first list of “necessities.”  Asterisks indicate truly local (within 100 - 150 miles) food. 

Grains                                                

Oatmeal

Whole Wheat  Flour

White Flour

Cornmeal

Brown Rice

White Rice

Pasta – spaghetti and other

Beans

Black

Pinto

Lentils

Dairy and Eggs

*Milk

*Buttermilk

*Eggs

Butter - we would like to try churning our own, but are going to need a lot for the Breakfast Brigade

Cheese - local goat cheese when possible

Processed

Peanut Butter (not sure where those peanuts come from)

Canned Tomatoes

Other

*Sugar

Vegetable Oil

Olive Oil

Rice Vinegar

Soy Sauce

*Honey

Salt

Vegetables and Fruit in Season

August and September –

*Grapes

*Pears

*Mangos

*Peanuts

*Field Peas

*Sweet Potatoes

*Hard Squash

*Cherry Tomatoes

*Peppers

*Eggplant

*Watermelon

This is a first try at identifying our “staples” as a community, and I know we’ll probably need to make adjustments. As a family, we've been successful this year at serving at least one locavore-ish meal each day and one entire day of locavore-ish meals each week. Now that we've moved into the Catholic Worker  House and are living with others, the community here is striving to create simple meals from the ingredients above (we take turns cooking - yay!!), and are beginning to share the locavore-ish vision. Being a like-minded group of folks, they’re enthusiastic.  It may get somewhat monotonous before fall produce begins rolling in toward October, but our mouths should be watering for those delicious greens, salads, and citrus by then!

Comments

[Cydney]

I am a natve of G'ville for over 50 yrs and stumbled onto your site and have enjoyed reading it over the summer. Yesterday through learning of the Catholic Worker House, and being a Catholic myself, took some Farm Fresh Eggs over to Kelly for the Breakfast Brigade and whatever other uses ya'll find. Thanks for the tip and keep up the great work! Cydney