"Write a food journal for a month to observe more closely your eating habits. Do you know where your food was grown? Read labels." -Farm Kitchen, 1. Know Your Food, Beginner Level
This is the most challenging beginner level badge I've attempted so far.
I wish labels were more specific. Living in Southern California, a product of Mexico might have traveled less distance than an American grown one. This grocer is headquartered in Arizona, so I also wasn't sure if food grown in California was first routed to Arizona and back. I also discovered that Mexico and USA have different "organic" labeling agencies and rules, but it was unclear whether one was consistently more rigorous than the other and it also was vague which agency had endorsed a given product as organic (i.e. a Mexican avocado could be certified organic by either the USA or Mexico).
But here are 8 improvements that this adventure sparked:
1. Planting market staples: I realized every week organic cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, and avocados are on our shopping list. While there is no way our lot will achieve self-sufficiency this season, and that we should probably scale back on these in the off season, at least some plants are in the ground in our yard. Fewer food miles, fresher more nutritious food, less plastic packaging, and another excuse to get outside in the sunlight. win-win-win-win.
2. Farmer's Market reboot: In the spirit of less plastic packaging and better food mile visibility, I insisted on a stop at the closest weekly market on the way to a kid activity. I scored cheaper and more flavorful tomatoes and a copy of the "chef's sampler" of mushrooms (grocery store is currently out of stock) both without the plastic packaging and from less than 100 miles away. I also added to my weekly to-do lists reminders about several other markets in the area and hope to explore the vendor selection and pricing there as well in the coming weeks. Hopefully my kid will again relish the ritual of carrying a reusable bag and some cash into the market to make her berry selection all by herself in the market, but at this point, she would rather crawl around in the parked car trying to figure out how to honk the horn.
3. Husband's Beef: Generally, when hubby shops the grocery store, the "deal" to be had with deep discounted meats sparks the most joy for him. When I online shop for him, I try to get grass-fed versions of his favorite quick-cooking cuts, regardless of price. Through this project, we discovered he actually prefers the hyperlocal grass fed version of these cuts (sourced mail-order or pickup from a ranch which grazes cattle in our foothills to help as a firebreak) to anything available at the grocery store. I discovered that the chuck from the same supplier which is supposed to be super good when left in the sous vide for a century stayed gum-tough (maybe I should have seasoned it more?) so I have better intel on what cuts to stock up on and what to avoid.
4. Hummus lunch box envy: One of those backseat drive discussions we got to talking about how healthy my kid feels her lunch is compared to peers. Middle of the road, not a Lunchable, but not as healthy as X's. What does X bring? Hummus and bread. I had no idea my kid was willing to eat hummus. Now it is a snack time staple.
5. Sustainable milk research: I had waffled so much on dairy and alternatives. Is it better to just get plant-based milks? Their ingredient lists look so much more processed and many have lower quantities of protein. I may one day dabble in homemade soy milk, but in this season of life, it is an appliance I am unlikely to actually use. So I spent time closely studying the milk brands my grocery carries and settling on a favorite for its regenerative practices (organic, all/80% grass fed) and vat pasteurization technique which might enable me to more easily make things like yogurt or cheese in the future.
6. Food-borne illness avoidance/cultural education: We spent some of this month at a resort on a Caribbean Island with an all you can eat buffet. While it would have been hard to pull of this trip as a strict vegan, I found that identifying as a vegetarian had its benefits. My plate was less calorically dense, so less weight was gained. I could also order "the Typical Honduran" vegetarian plate of rice, beans and veggies, which was delicious and I imagined to be more consistent what the locals ate. And I did not come home with the souvenir of traveler's GI problems as experienced by poor hubby.
7. Cut backs on eating out: In part, because they were so hard to track in the food log. We found a recipe for pizza dough that is better than most budget pizzerias and we can dial up the number of organic ingredients and dial back the preservatives and sugar. We also started a "tacos Tuesday" tradition of home-fried tortilla chips, guac, and tacos and are starting to eat at least a few dinners a week at approximately the same time and in the same room as each other which was the historic benefit of going out somewhere to eat. I am now aware of the love-hate relationship I have with our local coffee shop. When I am there, it is so tempting to order a sugary signature beverage (bad!) but their fairly sourced and roasted on premises coffee beans are such an upgrade to mass produced options at the grocery store, I have become a coffee snob.
8. Convenience food swaps: these still count as processed, but I feel like we're moving in the right direction when we swap organic corn tortillas for generic and then fry them at home in our own canola oil rather than buying them bagged as chips, opt for plant-based "chicken" nuggets shaped like dinosaurs, and resupply plant-based protein powder with an eye to which has the most disciplined testing and controls for contaminants.
There is still a lot about our diet that I'm not proud of -- my daughter's breakfast staple is a pop-can biscuit slathered in Nutella; a nontrivial amount of my monthly fruit/veggie intake is eating the "garnish" she abandons on her plate; I discovered in trying to make a copy-cat recipe for my favorite beet chip that these are basically deep-fried potato chips. But I think we are moving in a healthier direction!
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