Karen Hutchinson, Food Box Challenge Participant

Summarizing her notes from the beginning...

Well it has started.  I went to the two grocery stores nearest to me – a Sobey’s and a Food Basics to get all the food I needed for the week.  My big twist on the challenge is that I am going to try to eat all Ontario Food.  But due to LABELLING issues and the need to buy at a grocery store, it is hard to tell where food is grown – what does produced really mean?  (Note to self…send-off letter again to government about food labeling).  So my food is all from Ontario or Canada, except my COFFEE – my Marco Polo exception as we say in the local food world.

I decided to eat local through this challenge because I believe that we can’t fix the food system without fixing the farm system.  It makes absolutely no sense to me that we as a society we have a cheap food policy, when it is the one thing that nourishes our bodies.  Why would we not hold those who grow and make the food that nourishes us in the highest regard?  Who has thanked a farmer recently?  Why can we fix food accessibility and the farm income crisis at the same time? 

I firmly believe that in Ontario and Canada, we produce the healthiest and safest food in the world.  Why would we not support self-sufficiency and as a society, when we support it in individuals.  We need to support our farms, producers and processors and the shops and restaurants that support them.  Food Patriotism 101!

But the story doesn’t stop there.

The irony in this equation is that diabetes, childhood obesity and heart disease don’t care how much money you make or what food you have access to.  I always go back to the slow food mantra of “good, clean, fair food for all”.  Food is a right and knowing what to eat, how to prepare food, how to grow and how to buy food are essential life skills in my world.  Food literacy 101!

So what you really want to hear about is my food:

From the list, here is what I did:

-Primo brand pasta and sauce, because it is made in Ontario. 

-Dry garbonzo beans and canned.  The dried are Canadian, so I am going to use them.   

-Rice, but I won’t use it and I am substituting Ontario oatmeal (I will try a couple of local brands, but my favourite is K2 Milling in Tottenham).

-Can of beets (Canadian)

-Can of Maple Leaf Turkey (Canadian produced).   

-2 cans of soup (tomato and mushroom – Canadian produced)

-Macaroni and Cheese (not Canadian and using as a trade)

Everything I don’t use (meat, soup and mac and cheese) will go to the foodbank, with regret.  Maybe I should return it and donate what I think is better to eat?  Not sure yet.

For my $8.00, I bought:

1 cucumber – Ontario greenhouse                           $1.00

1 bag carrots – Ontario and LFP Certified               $2.49

16 discount Ontario apples (2 packages @ .99)    $1.98

1 bag of pita bread – Haddad Bakery -Ontario     $0.99

1 bag mixed frozen vegetables – Canada              $2.29

Total                                                                                      $8.75

I will trade the mac and cheese for my $0.75 over!

For my pantry ingredients (6-7 and will trade some of my other ingredients for extra):

-Frozen blueberries - picked in Sudbury

-Frozen cranberries – bought from the Bala cranberry bog

-Milk – dairy is all Ontario

-Eggs – from our own chickens

-Canola oil – Canadian – hard to say where it is from

-Cider Vinegar – Filsingers – Ontario

- Maple Syrup – Putney Heath - Caledon – meant to use honey because it is cheaper and more available, but forgot and used maple syrup first on my oatmeal.

Coffee – Sumatra – my Marco Polo exception and my specialty item!

I will also wild forage dandelion greens and maybe something else if it works out.  Some wild leeks would be great with my pasta!