Food Woes

So, here's the earth.  Well, at least our little chunk of earth.

One of the things that has been making me kind of stressed out this week is food.  The closest food store to us is Whole Foods which lies about 1.3 miles north of us.  My opinion of Whole Foods is that it's an even snootier Safeway.  The produce isn't particularly local or fresh.  They make a show when a product is "local" (from Oregon), but I read in a book that they pretty much sell all of the same things at each store, and in each store they brag about what's local to that particular store.  They do sell a lot of organic food, though, and I try to remind myself that it's not the worst place to go when needing to get some groceries once or twice a week.

Another food option is New Seasons Market which is local to the Portland area.  The closest market is about 2.5 miles away which is kind of far when one considers hauling groceries.  Perhaps if we get set up to be able to bike and carry things on a bike, this will be more of a regular consideration... However, the market that we went to on Saturday was near to the Beaverton library and Farmers' Market.  It had a slightly more local, co-op feel.  However, I just felt like my trust in their product choices could go only so far when they had Betty Crocker cake mixes and the like.  Truly a relationship breaker, let me tell you.  However, this store has some options that Whole Foods doesn't have (like taring my reused containers so that I can use them in the bulk section), and some of the products tend to be more local since New Seasons is local to the area.  (*EDIT* 10/2/2011:  I had a moment of bravery and asked a cashier at Whole Foods if we could bring in our own containers and get them tared.  It turns out that you can, and he was even super nice and showed me how to do it at any register even if no cashier is there.)

However, the desperation didn't dissipate after visiting these two stores.  For one thing, I use a LOT of wheat flour in my weekly baking escapades.  Whole Foods didn't have whole wheat flour in bulk.  New Seasons did, but it wasn't organic, and it was still $1 per pound which is a lot for non-organic flour.  Neither of these stores had good options for buying non-bulk flour.  Ideally, I'd buy a 25 pound bag of flour.  The stores carried 5 pound bags, and most of the flour has traveled halfway across the country to get here.  Bob's Red Mill is a local option, but it makes my head hurt to think about all of the plastic packaging that they use.  (WHY, Bob's Red Mill, WHY??? Nobody else wraps EVERY product that they create in PLASTIC!!)  I also couldn't figure out a way to buy masa harina without getting it in a plastic bag.

So, today I started considering the option of visiting an actual co-op.  The reason that I wasn't before is because the nearest co-op is about twelve miles away.  Fortunately, I guess, the library is halfway between, so it would actually "only" be an extra twelve mile round trip on the one day every three to four weeks that we would make this journey.  Perhaps that would be worth it to find a place that values buying local, organic food?  We also could become owners and support their cause.  Meanwhile, we could get 10% off discounts on case orders (which I'm hoping would include large bags of flour).  So, that's my current hope, and we'll probably head that way in a couple of weeks.

I also miss having an easily accessible Farmers' Market.  There is one near Whole Foods (about 1.3 miles from us) that runs a short season and ends at the end of August, so we missed it.  The next nearest one is 2.5 miles away right near New Seasons, and it runs Sundays 10am-2pm.  We can go to the Beaverton one when we go to the library, but that'll probably be about every three weeks, and I can't stock up on most types of produce, of course!

Finally, I have been going through "packaging panic" where I can't make seemingly simple decisions because I'm trying to minimize packaging issues.  Here's one example.  I can't figure out what type of milk to buy.  Since we are employed now, I'm trying to switch to buying organic milk products.  I have a few options.  I can buy a plastic gallon milk jug, half gallon paper cartons, or half gallon glass merlons.  The milk in the merlons is from California (while the other two are from Coos County, Oregon), so it has to travel farther and in a heavier (glass) container to get here.  They also have a plastic top that I'd have to throw away, and they are significantly more expensive than the other brands.  The milk jugs and paper cartons are not from as far away, and they are both recyclable.  I am leaning toward getting the paper carton, but I'd happily take advice if you think I'm weighing the factors incorrectly.

Anyway, this has been one of my woes this past week.  Really, my woes have boiled down to food, transportation, and friends/church.  I'll probably blog about the latter two in the near future, too.

Also, thanks for listening to the woes.  I want you to know that I realize I really have nothing to complain about because I am fully blessed just to have the food that I need to sustain me.  However, if you know me very well at all, you probably know that if I choose to address a problem, I can't help but to throw myself at it and give it everything I have, and that's simply what I'm doing here.  I'll figure out a system in the end, but it's very different from the system I created in Corvallis, and it's just taking me time because I'm just that picky!  : )