Today I’m re-posting and updating an article I wrote back in December. It’s a topic that’s been on my mind in preparation for this Saturday’s post on the Food & Faith Challenge–the topic is Money! Check back on Saturday for a great guest post and the chance to win Real Food on a Real Budget.

OK, it wasn’t really $10 for the lamb chop. I looked at the “per pound” price on the package instead of the price for the package. I had been seeing a “30% off lamb” flyer at the farm where I have my milk share, and thought now might be a good time to make the lamb recipes in Simply in Season. On my list: 1 leg of lamb, 3 lbs of stew meat, 8 loin lamb chops, and 1 lb ground. I’m ashamed to say that when I saw the price, I had a bit of sticker shock.

Follow up note: I ended up substituting beef for the lamb in many of the recipes. However, I also discovered that there are two lamb chops in each package, so it cost less than I originally thought it would.

See, I normally try not to think too much about how much I spend on food. Since DH and I are DINKs (double income, no kids) cooking from scratch is way less than eating out like we used to do before I started this project, so I figure “hey, it’s for the cause, eating locally, it’s healthy, and supporting ‘my’ farmer.” Except today.

Last December, the economy left me wondering if my husband and/or I were secure in our jobs, or if we, like many Americans, would be facing unemployment or pay cuts.  Suddenly the price of food seemed a lot more real. In fact, when I emailed my husband to tell him how I was feeling, his first reaction was to not sign up for the winter CSA. Why is food the first thing to cut? I don’t know. What about the project? What about buying locally? Sure, I can *probably* find turnips and rutabagas at Meijer’s but are they local? Organic? What would I be getting in my $25 per biweekly box, anyway? Thinking about the 99 cent packages of carrots, onions, etc. I thought that better be a pretty damn big box.

As I was standing there looking into the depths of the freezer, calculating 30% off lamb prices, it suddenly hit me. Am I willing to put my money where my mouth is? I’ve been poor before. When my first husband started going off the deep end there were weeks of eating ramen noodles and egg sandwiches, supplemented by the doughnuts at staff meetings at work. Funny, I weighed a lot less then. When money is tight, do I buy the $12 chicken or the $5 one that’s already cooked via rotisserie (and injected with God knows what) at Meijer’s? (not to pick on Meijer’s, it’s just the closest grocery store).

That day, I decided to just pick up the $3 dozen of eggs and a scrawny 3 pound $4.54 stewing chicken. The lamb could wait. Then proceeded to get my weekly 3 gallons of raw milk for which I’m paying $50 a month.

In the end I DID end up doing the winter CSA. I decided that there were other places we could cut our budget. For me, it’s worth paying a little extra now so that we can enjoy health and peace of mind later.

Since beginning this project, I’ve discovered that our overall food budget is lower, despite spending more on quality ingredients. We eat a lot less meat than we used to given the nature of the recipes in Simply in Season, focusing instead on vegetables. Which is kind of backwards from the way we–and I daresay most Americans–eat.

Come back on Saturday to share YOUR money-saving tips, and a look at how we define the true cost of food (you might want to subscribe to my RSS feed or bookmark this site so you remember

For more frugal ideas and recipes, check out Pennywise Platter Thursday.

In honor of Big Binder’s celebration of Michigan week, this week’s Top 10 List is Reasons I Love Michigan. And since this is a food blog, I made the top 5 food-related.

1. Our Wineries.

There actually a few different areas that are known for their wines. In the Southwest is St. Julian, which is probably the best known winery outside of Michigan. They have a wine festival in Paw Paw every fall, which is how I got started on my wine loving journey. And then there is beautiful Traverse City, with Leelanau Peninsula and Old Mission Peninsula. DH and I spent our honeymoon at Black Star Farms. It was awesome! You can learn more at http://michiganwines.com

2. Our microbreweries.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you also know that DH and I love beer, too. In fact DH is a home brewer. Our favorite local brewpubs are The Hideout and New Holland. Read all about them at http://michiganbeerguide.com

3. Michigan is the cherry capital of the U.S.

4. It’s also the blueberry capital!

5. It has a budding artisinal cheese movement. http://www.greatlakesgreatcheese.com/

OK, for the non-food related items:

6. We gave the world Motown, Tim Allen, Madonna, Ted Nugent, Eminem, and Kid Rock.

7. We have TWO peninsulas. So there.

8. You can show people where you live by pointing on your hand.

9. We’re close enough to Canada that you can go across the border between the ages of 18-21. ‘Nuff said.

10. Beautiful beaches, sand dunes, lakes, and waterfalls.

This post also linked to Top 10 Tuesday

and Things I Love Thursday

The last couple of days I went to way too many drive thrus. I had to drive four hours to do a church presentation, spent the night, then got up the next morning to drive four hours back home. I feel awful. That will teach me to eat so much junk. Funny how one’s tastes can change, eh?  Used to be that wouldn’t even phase me.

Today I’m going to show you what I’ve been growing. I wasn’t going to, in case it was a huge FAIL, but I figure we’re all friends here. The first photo is of DH’s hops. He has been growing these for a couple of years now.

DH's hops--nine different varieties!

It’s pretty much the only sunny spot in our yard. But then, it occurred to me that the area by our deck gets a fair amount of sun. So I went out and bought some herbs and set them in pots on our picnic table.

Herbs and lettuce. So far I've only been able to kill the lemon thyme.

I really need to harvest some of that lettuce. Oops.

Then, I read about a neat “garden in a bag” technique in Mother Earth News. Basically you plant in bags of soil. So I have three bags that I’ve planted with peas, beets, and carrots.

I was going to do some more bags with tomatoes and peppers, but I’m leaning towards doing them in containers instead. That way I can move them around if I need to. It’s only been a couple of weeks, and things are sprouting in the bags already, which is a good sign.

Garden in a Bag

I plan to purchase the rest of my plants when the CSA starts in a couple of weeks. They always have great deals!

Last but not least, here are this week’s winners:

Julie L. won Saving the Seasons. She’s a subscriber to The Local Cook and has been wanting to try canning. Well Julie, this will be a great book for you! Congratulations!

The winner of this week’s Food & Faith Challenge is the blogger from Thy Hand Hath Provided. She writes, “I think Amy did a great job above. Her family’s guidelines are very similar to ours. I would add that we try to grow/raise most of our food. There is something about the connection between seed to table that instills a respect for food and our Creator. We, too, try to keep special occasions special. Easter is the only time of year we serve ham and other specialty foods. It makes preparing that food and partaking such a celebration because it really is special and uncommon. Cutting out processed sugar for myself and decreasing it for my family has also made birthdays a true celebration because we then have cake! I think so much of it boils down to self-control. It’s a fruit of the Spirit that our country could stand to work on:-).”

I totally agree!

This week I started to feel the joy of eating locally. There were a number of great responses to the Food & Faith Challenge and The Locavore’s Handbook giveaway, which are very encouraging. Sometimes I feel caught between two worlds. On the one hand, are my friends and family who think I am completely nuts and insist there is no difference between canned asparagus and fresh homegrown Michigan asparagus. On the other hand are my friends who are horrified that I don’t eat 100% organic and grind my own flour.

So when you comment, I feel like I’m doing OK. I’m doing the best I can, and that’s all anyone can do. No one else shares the joy of my two super finds this week, and that’s OK too.

What are my finds? First, I posted on FaceBook that I was going to the farmer’s market. My cousin Jessica replied that she has some rhubarb plants – that she transplanted from our Grandma’s garden! And that I was welcome to take as much as I needed. The photo on the left is of me in her backyard. It was so fun picking it knowing it was from the very same plant I chewed on as a child.

Secondly, I have been on the hunt for sorrel ever since rhubarb came into season so that I could make the Rhubarb Sorrel Crisp in Simply in Season. After telling Jessica about it, I went to the farmer’s market and lo and behold–there was lemon sorrel for sale! I purchased enough for the recipe and the gentleman asked what I was going to do with it. I told him about the recipe and he said he’d never heard of that combination but that it would probably be good. He totally made my day by having the sorrel there that day.

How about you? Any farmer’s market finds you’d like to share?

OK, now on to the winners.

The winner of the apron from the Food & Faith Challenge is Stephanie! She writes, “The seasons definitely dictate what we eat. Strawberry-rhubarb, asparagus, and eggs are plentiful “easter” foods. The ordinary time of summer is full of fresh produce from our garden and grilling out. We harvest and preserve to sustain us through the winter, and lent is a time of necessary fasting until spring arrives.”

I was encouraged to see how many people do try to eat with the seasons. Even if you don’t eat ALL of your food in season, it’s good to start with some of the things that bring back good memories and establish new ones with your family.

The winner of The Locavore’s Handbook was Jessica. She writes, “I would love to win this book! My husband and I were talking just the other day about buying locally and this book would get us headed in the right direction.”

Good luck, Jessica, it’s a tasty journey!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Are you a food renegade? Do you use real butter and whole eggs? Worry more about the junk in processed food than the fat in grassfed beef? Then you might like this carnival!

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