To Market, To Market ...

I have really loved the market season this year!

My local organic farmers' market has been running for 3 seasons now and this year has been it's best yet with more vegetable vendors, and now local grass fed beef and buffalo, and pastured eggs.

I'm certainly not a gourmet cook but have discovered that cooking with local fresh organic produce just has so much more flavour! With simple traditional cooking methods - it just tastes SO GOOD!

I've kind of come full circle with my shopping habits. I used to just go to the supermarket and buy - whatever - to stock my pantry and fridge and kind of made it up as I went along. You know, get some meat out of the freezer in the evening for dinner the next day, and then decide exactly what to do with it when I got home from work the following day. And I certainly didn't think I had time to be going to different places to buy things!

Then a time came when I was on a really strict budget so I started to plan every meal in detail and make a list so that I would only buy what I needed. There would be no overspending and no waste. And I didn't care too much about the brands I bought. Well . . . there were some products I was a bit fussy about but for the most part I was ok with buying the cheaper plain labeled stuff. I mean, I thought, flour is flour right? Does it really matter?

Then I began my journey and started to learn about the importance of what I put in my body - where it comes from, how far it's had to travel, how it has been grown or raised and ripened, and discovered first hand how all this can effect my health and quality of life. I began to invest time in seeking out better quality ingredients.

Now I prioritise buying fresh and locally grown, and organic as much as possible, grow a little food myself, and only buy at the supermarket what I have to. The introduction of the 'shop online and pick up' concept at my local supermarket has been great to save me time so I can focus more on my market 'foraging'!

I still do a bit of a menu plan every week but it's more like what you would call an "outline" as I'm learning again to be flexible, working with what is available and in season and adapting meals around that.

So is it more expensive? Well, in my experience it certainly is when you have to buy organic produce at the supermarket, but surprisingly I have found I've been saving quite a bit buying most of my produce from the local markets. Plus I've enjoyed getting to know my local farmers.

Related posts:
Flavour, Toxins and Nutritional Wisdom
Food for Thought on Food Choices

~ take every opportunity to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.