90% Food Evaluation

So the goal is to eat as much locally produced food as possible, with a target of 70%. Bulk goods come in at 25%, and you have 5% for other foods.

I can't do a really great analysis of how we've eaten over the past year. We have been eating more local. I thought this week I'd try to list what I bought and figure out percentages.

Local and organic:
eggs
onion
peaches
apricots
tomatoes
zucchini
butter
milk
cream
grapes (we're in so cal so Mexican grapes are local)
lettuce (hg)
Swiss chard (hg)
organic California olive oil
apples
carrots
dates
raisins
walnuts
lemons
blackberries
green onions


Bulk:
organic, pastured cheese
rolled oats
popcorn
white hard wheat
tapioca pearls
dried cherries
tortillas
salsa

Other:
frozen organic corn
grassfed beef from Australia
pear sauce

This has been an odd week for us, as we received a co-order, which is most of our bulk purchasing for the month. It seems to me that we'll do best tracking for a month at a time.

Now, it occurs to me that there are many ways to figure out the percentages. Some people are going by number of items. You could go by weight. I think the easiest thing for us to do as a family is to figure that we'll be able to get at least 70 different local items, and to choose 25 bulk items we will buy, and to choose our 5 conventional/convenience foods. So here is a stab at what we might buy in bulk, and what 5 conventional items we might choose.

Bulk staples:

salt (Redmond Real Salt)
Rapadura sugar (but actually in small amounts)
pinto beans
quinoa
brown rice
rolled oats
split peas
lentils
chick peas
popcorn
white wheat berries
dried fruit (if not local and organic)
organic corn tortillas
salsa (local but not organic)
frozen organic corn
maple syrup
pasta
peanut butter
vinegar
olives
tapioca pearls
peanuts
vital wheat gluten
vanilla
corn meal

Looking at that list I see some thing that could change. We may never want tapioca again after I go through the 2 pound bag I bought, and we may decide that it can't stay on the list due to it's non-nutritive status, especially since it adds neither sweetness nor flavor. If I could get one child to give up peanuts in the shell I could simply buy shelled peanuts and make our own peanut butter. It's very possible we could make our own apple cider vinegar. If push came to shove we could give up Rapadura and maple syrup and just make due with local honey.

The final 5 (convenient and/or conventional; these would possibly rotate from month to month or season to season, in order to accommodate various family members):

tea
canned wild salmon
Virgil's soda
burger buns

Now there are a few things that we buy right now that I know I can make myself, so I won't bother listing them. As far as things like pear sauce and ventresca tuna go, I've given them up, and I didn't stock up first. I'll make pear sauce when local pears are in season, and I simply won't eat the tuna.

This is a year long challenge, and one goal is to prevent perfection from being the enemy of striving. I might buy mayonnaise this month and give a try at making it next month. I may convert the guys to eating patty melts on grilled bread instead of traditional hamburgers. It's just nice to take stock now and think about a plan.