The Plan:
Day 1: Spaghetti squash “noodles” with homemade pasta sauce, Frozen fruit smoothie
Day 2: Mushroom and leek quiche, Cranberry orange muffins (using this lemon blueberry muffin recipe)
Day 3: Homemade pizza
Day 4: Vegan Shepherd’s pie
Day 5: Black bean enchiladas
Day 6: Boiled brats, Sauerkraut, Herb potato salad (this is whole meal is Wisconsin cuisine!)
Day 7: Tuna patties, Orange slices
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Spaghetti squash (cellar)
- Pasta sauce (pre-made and frozen in zip top bags)
- Strawberries (frozen from summer picking)
- Peaches (frozen from summer)
- Pie crust (pre-made and frozen in aluminum pan)
- Potatoes (cellar)
- Enchiladas (pre-made and frozen in aluminum pan)
- Cranberries (frozen from fall)
- Brats from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share
Into Storage:
- Nothing this week!
Notes: Eat local, save money
After I put together my meal plan for the week, I took a look at my grocery shopping list. I literally only had four items to purchase this week!
This is the life of eating local. You preserve your food in the growing season and eat it in the winter. Practically all of my ingredients are already in my home. I simply head to my freezer or cellar and find all of the foods needed to whip up a meal. The only things I still buy are pantry staples and this is a major way that I am able to save money.
I also save money in the warmer months by buying foods when they are abundantly available. Did you ever notice that local cucumbers in July are super cheap compared to cucumbers from across the world in December? Even if you spend a little bit more than usual over the summer and fall to stock up on fresh, local, organic foods and preserve them, it still pays off in the end since my winter grocery bill is only 1/3 of what it was in the summer. Eating local and in season does indeed save you money!
I’ve spent January focusing on local eating and how to manage this even when the ground is frozen. If you want to do this too, now is the time to get started. Sign up for a CSA, start planning a garden, and figure out where and how you can store food so you are prepared before summer. Time really does sneak up on you!
