This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
Ground beef from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share (freezer)
Into Storage: nothing this week!
Notes: Foraging
Do you wish you could be more responsible for your own food supply? I think about this a lot. I’m on my 10th year of a home vegetable garden and last year I doubled its size. But I still think about all the foods that are out there just waiting to be sampled that I don’t have to plant, water, weed, or fertilize. Mother Nature already supplies a lot of food for us if we just take the time to look. I’m talking about foraging.
I began my foraging journey a few years ago and have slowly been adding more foods to the list. I eat dandelion greens and wild violets right out of my backyard (yeah for no mow May!). I go hunting for wild strawberries and black raspberries in the summer. And I pull garlic mustard, which is considered an invasive weed, but makes a lovely pesto.
There are so many foods to discover beyond the standard grocery store fare and I am all for it!
I haven’t been brave enough to tackle mushrooms yet. I can remember as a child, my dad would cook up huge puffball mushrooms. And I know there’s the “gold of the forest” (morels) out there. I may just head out to find them this Spring!
I have been pleasantly surprised that my spring CSA from Keewaydin Farms has included some foraged foods like watercress and wild ramps. They are respectful to the Earth when harvesting these foods and you should be too. Take only what you need and leave the rest to other animals and to propagate for another year.
If you are interested in learning how to forage, here an article to get you started:
Hi! I’m Jennifer Dedering, PharmD, BCACP. I am a registered pharmacist and very passionate about food as medicine – for both people and the environment. Every week I post a free meal plan with a focus on seasonal and local sourcing of food. Come back every week for tips to help the environment and check out what my family is eating. I promise it is delicious!
