www.eatlocalchallenge.com

my personal penny-wise thoughts

by Jen Maiser

Can a single woman in San Francisco eat local foods on a budget of $68 a week?

Yes and no.  Yes, if she's willing to eat every meal at home and forgo a social life that revolves around eating out.

During my Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge week, I spent $153.10.  That included a couple of splurge meals -- most notably $42 at Hog Island Oyster Company one night.  Given my target budget, to say that I was way over is an understatement.

While I was committed to the idea of the challenge and kept scrupulous notes during the week on the amount I spent, when a close friend who I hadn't seen for months was in town for about an hour one night, I had a bit of a dilemma: do I opt not to see her?  Go somewhere less expensive that kept me in my budget but threw ethical eating out the window?  Or go to a restaurant that, if pricey, made me feel good about where my money was going, and was a nice place to take an out-of-towner to boot?

Day 6

By Cookiecrumb
This was the big day. A newspaper reporter was coming over to see what we were up to, and to share a meal of food we had procured from within a 100-mile radius.
The plan was to feed two adults for a week on this diet for $144. And we dared ourselves to include a dedicated eater as our guest, within that budget.
Of course, we had to show off.

More Penny-Wise Notes from the Bay Area

(editor note: we are pleased to welcome guest blogger, Allie, who is taking the challenge here in San Francisco.  Allie adjusted her budget for the week to $125 because she was going to be cooking for two large groups.  We can't wait to hear how that goes!)

I'm so happy that I signed up for this.

So far, I've learned that we have it so easy here in the Bay Area -- there are so many farms and dairies to choose from! I've found myself exploring more grocery stores that carry local goods, spent more time at farmer's markets and eaten less processed crap! I'm not a junk food person but I've found that some things I was used to eating were still really processed. It's nice to feel a stronger connection to my food and really value it rather than just "picking something up at the store" and not having a clue as to where it was made or how many miles it had traveled.

Penny-Wise Challenge Notes from the Bay Area

(editor note: we are pleased to welcome guest blogger, Kiran, who lives in the Bay Area and is taking the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge with her family.)

by Kiran

Our ELC got off to a rocky start due to the fact that I missed the Sunday Farmer's Market.  Sunday was my son's 2nd birthday party so I wasn't able to make it out to shop for the week.  Luckily I had quite a few local things already in my fridge and left over from the part.  On Monday morning I took all of the leftover and spoiling strawberries we had and made a big pot of jam for the week.  I also had a whole pint of cream from a local dairy, but no local butter, so I threw it in the Kitchenaid and made butter.  So far this week for breakfast we've been having toast with jam everyday.  I decided to take bread and coffee and some sugar/seasonings as exemptions.  But I bought locally roasted fair trade coffee beans and locally made bread.

Penny-Wise Challenge Notes from Ohio

(editor note: we are pleased to welcome guest blogger, Baklava Queen today who hails from Ohio and maintains a blog at Rolling in the Dough.  She's a first-time challenge participant, and we're pleased to read about her experience)

by Baklava Queen

As a little girl, I was surrounded by the joy of local foods.  My family had a sizable garden, as did my grandparents, and what we didn't grow, we could supplement from local farms.  My mother, the Chef Mother, learned food preservation skills from her mother and passed them along to me, and though I sometimes balked at helping out in the kitchen, I always enjoyed helping to make and can jam and other treats for the winter.

Now, years later, having read several books and tapped into the local foods blog scene, I've come back full circle to a passionate support of local foods for so many reasons: environmental concerns, economic support of my community, and -- as always -- the wonderful taste.  This past year I went absolutely wild at the local farmers' market, doubling my weekly budget in order to have plenty of fruits and vegetables to preserve until this year's market started, and I froze, dried, and canned so many good foods that I'm still working my way through them all!

PELC: An Administrative Note

An email went out to all PELC participants last night.  If you are participating and did not receive it, you may not be on our master list of participants.  Please email us right away.  Thanks!

PELC: The Blogging Participants

We have over 50 participants in this week's Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge.  The largest contingent is the bloggers who are participating around the country.  Check out their blogs and see how they're doing!

(click through to extended version to view excerpts from the blogger statements of participation)

10 signs like this | A day in the life of a kitchen bitch | an ent knits | artesanato antropologico | Banana Herds | Burnt Lumpia | Cookin in the Cuse | Habitat Make-Under | I'm Mad and I Eat | Life Begins at 30 | Married with Dinner | Paige the Snacker | Perpetual Carouse | Plants & Animals: All Sorts of Yumminess | Pocket Farm | Rolling in the Dough | Science Sketches | Sin Noticias de Stew | Vanilla Mist

Eating a Local Breakfast

by Jasmine

It is 5:30 a.m. and the alarm has just gone off but you are tempted to push the snooze button and catch a couple more minutes in bed. Just as you reach over to shut off the news the announcer mentions another study about the perils of missing breakfast. People who skip breakfast are likely to be heavier, less alert, and miss out on essential nutrients. Children and teens who skip breakfast do not preform as well in school or on tests and have more hunger induced stomach aches and are more likely to be overweight.*

The standard quick breakfast of cereal isn't as easy when trying to eat locally, so what should we have for breakfast?  No matter where you live, you are likely able to get eggs, milk, and cheese locally.

I, personally, have been known to push the snooze button a little more often than not so a breakfast that comes together quickly is important, too. My answer to this workday morning dilemma is a few standard recipes that have a million possibilities depending on what is available at the market and can be made ahead.

I  make a variation on this goat cheese tart many weekends and eat the leftovers as I am running out the door on my way to work.

Groups taking the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge

We here at the Eat Local Challenge blog are excited to welcome a couple groups of people who are taking the Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge with us this week.

The folks at Sustainable Table, who are the amazing creators of the Eat Well Guide and The Meatrix have joined together to take the challenge this week.  At least four staff are taking the challenge with us from New York City.  Head on over to their blog to see how they're doing.  And while you're at it, check out the Eat Well Guide, which is a nationwide database that will help you find stores, restaurants, and markets near you that support family farmers.  It's a useful tool to have when you're trying to eat local.

Another group taking the challenge is The Greenleaf Market, an online marketplace for agricultural producers and buyers.  They're going all the way, including giving up coffee.  You can read more about their week on the Greenleaf Community blog.

A modest menu

by Jamie S.

We've just finished day two of our Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge effort, and I’m feeling pretty confident. You see, the way we eat every day lends itself easily to this experiment. I almost always cook more than we need for a single meal. It’s my usual practice to eat the leftovers from dinner for the next day’s lunch. It's nice--I get to have a nice hot (okay, reheated) meal without interrupting the flow of my workday or having to buy something extra.