Local April: Week 1
Week 1 in the books! I planned out our meals for the week taking into consideration three things: what came in our CSA box; what we had left in the fridge; and what we had in the pantry. Then, I’ll figured out what else we needed to supplement.
Here’s what we got in the box:
Apples (Brookdale Farm, NH; 7 total)
Curly Kale Tops (Siena Farms, MA; 1 bunch)
Sweet Potatoes (Schartner Farms, RI; 3 total)
Carrots (Siena Farms, MA; 7 total)
Rainbow Daikon (Siena Farms, MA; 5 total)
Purple Potatoes (Sparrow Arc Farm, VT; 6 total)
Shiitake + Black Oyster Mushrooms (Siena Farms, MA; 1 box)
Celeriac (Siena Farms, MA; 1 root)
Green Garlic (Siena Farms, MA; 6 total)
Onions (Hepworth Farms, NY; 3 total)
Ancient Grains Loaf (Iggy’s Bread, MA)
Local Honey (Boston Honey Co, MA)
As mentioned in the entry post, we paid up front for 12 weeks of the Spring CSA. On a per week basis, this box cost $31.25 per person (2 of us). This box will feed us for at least 7 nights, several lunches and possibly some breakfasts, breaking down to about $2.08 per meal per person for this week. Scroll down for what else I ended up buying and to see what we made!
For this week, we did not need to supplement as much, simply based on what we had left in the fridge and in the pantry. I went to a local farm and supplemented our box with 1 dozen eggs, a butternut squash, milk from the farm, 4 more apples, local yogurt ($25 total). For lunches, we try to make those in bulk for the whole week. For dinners, the goal is usually to have something that will last 2 nights so that we’re not cooking every single night.
Breakfasts for the week (varied by day):
Scrambled or hard boiled egg with an apple.
Local yogurt with homemade granola and apple.
Leftover frozen smoothies from the depths of the freezer.
Lunches for the week:
Cabbage-bean soup with crusty bread (inspo from this recipe).
Kale, apple, cheddar, chicken-apple sausage, + roasted sweet potato salads (making this one up!).
Dinners for the week:
Sunday: Harissa roasted carrots with local honey and local yogurt; pantry leftovers - pasta with red sauce + field roast Italian veggie sausages.
Monday + Tuesday: Frittata using potatoes, kale, 6 eggs, cheddar and some crusty bread (also making this one up). We added some leftover caramelized onions and ricotta that were in the fridge. This was delish!
Wednesday + Thursday: It was tricky to figure out what to do with the celeriac, but we ended going with this root mash recipe and it was DELICIOUS! I used some of the onions to make the braised “shallot” element. I also had some frozen local bacon, so cooked that and sprinkled it on top. Absolutely delicious and unexpected. A cheap meal and great way to use a lot of winter veg all at once.
Friday dinner + weekend lunch: Stir fry with tofu, spring onions, carrots, daikon; bean thread noodles; peanut sauce; and fried egg on top (also making this up, except for the peanut sauce recipe which is here). For Saturday dinner we’re going to our friends’ house so we won’t count that meal ;)
Curious how much all this cost? See below! (Pictured from left to right: honey-harissa roasted carrots; lunch salad ingredients; giant tray of sweet potatoes to roast.)
GRAND TOTAL for the week (on a per person basis) — $56.28, which comes out to about $3.12 per meal (got about 18 meals out of this). I will note Jared supplemented with his own foods for lunch and dinner. So the calculation above is my portion (but he shared all dinners with me). This week was admittedly easier because of what was already in the fridge and in the pantry. As those things start to run out, things will look a little different!
Assessment of what was already in the fridge (black = not local; orange = local):
Eggs
Chicken-apple sausages
Tofu
Various condiments (some local)
Cabbage
Apples (some local)
Cheddar cheese
Nuts + seeds
Butter
Oat milk
Maple Syrup
Tamari
Sriracha
Assessment of what already in the pantry:
Great northern beans
Bean thread noodles
Various shelf stable condiments (i.e. peanut butter)
Oats
Rice, quinoa, lentils
Spices
Chicken stock
Apple cider vinegar
Olive oil
Sugar