The Penny-Wise Eat Local Challenge
A busy week led me to eat at several fast food restaurants and now I’m evaluating my food consumption (and searching for some fruits and vegetables). Nowadays it is so convenient to go to the store and pick up whatever looks tasty and quick. Fortunately, the folks at EatLocalChallenge.com have a week-long challenge for anyone interested in eating local. It starts this coming Monday, April 23rd and goes through the week. Here are the rules for the Penny-wise Eat Local Challenge. I plan to follow this challenge as closely as I can while documenting the hardships and successes of trying to eat on a budget and to eat locally-grown and produced foods.
Of course, I have a few amendments/statements to make about this challenge (for my sanity!):
1.) I will eat foods that are grown or produced locally, but I will also consume anything already in my pantry (and this doesn’t cost a thing…well, anymore…). Okay, that prior statement made me sound like a big wimp. I revise my prior rambling and I will do my best to use only spices and absolute cooking necessities that are already in my pantry.
2.) I plan to use this challenge as an opportunity to develop some great dishes using local fruits and vegetables (this is also to counteract my unfortunate and recent fall into the fast food quagmire)
3.) This is slightly redundant, but I have to admit that if I get grumpy, I am gonna eat chocolate. Sorry, it’s just something that I might need to do (plus I already have chocolate in the pantry)
4.) I’m really determined to enjoy this challenge, even if it truly challenges me to choose local over convenience. In fact, I’m hoping it will teach me to choose local over convenience.
And that’s it. I’m really excited for this challenge. It will be a great way to test my commitment to local products and to adapt my eating habits to a (mostly) healthy diet. And I’m itching to get to the farmers’ market on Sunday.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:44 am
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