Local April: Week 3
We’re already more than halfway through my little local April challenge. So far I can say the thing I miss most = citrus. But overall, this is honestly quite doable and fun! I once again 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. This week, I once again supplemented with a regional farm online order system known as Veggie Go through the Three River Farmers Alliance. They source exclusively from farms in New England - everything from greens to meat. The order window opens each Monday and closes on Wednesday. The goodies arrived on Monday since Sunday was a holiday (Easter).
Here’s what we got in the CSA box (Veggie Go info below):
Apples (Brookdale Farm, NH; 7 total)
White Russian Kale Tops (Siena Farms, MA; 1 bunch)
Sweet Potatoes (Schartner Farms, RI; 5 total)
Carrots (Siena Farms, MA; 7 total)
White + Purple Daikon (Siena Farms, MA; 10 total)
Peter Wilcox Potatoes (Sparrow Arc Farm, VT; 15 total)
Shiitake Mushrooms (Siena Farms, MA; 1 box)
Corn Tortillas (Mi Tierra, MA; 1 package)
Onions (Hepworth Farms, NY; 3 total)
Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf (Iggy’s Bread, MA)
Maine Yellow Eye Beans (Osborne Family Farm, ME; 1 pound bag )
Scroll down for what else I ended up buying and to see what we made!
For this week, I supplemented with some local meat, eggs and produce from Three River Farmers Alliance. Here’s what we got:
Heiwa Tofu (From Maine, 2 1-pound block)
Spinach from Queen’s Greens (8 ounce bag)
Spring Mix (Governor Dale Farm, 5 ounce bag)
Pea Shoots (Stout Oak Farm, 4 ounce clamshell)
Cilantro (Stout Oak Farm, 2 ounces)
Ground Turkey (Lilac Hedge Farm, 1-2lb. package)
Chicken Eggs (Julie’s Happy Hens, 1 dozen)
Tomatillo Salsa (Kitchen Garden Farm, 11 ounces)
Basil Pesto with Sunflower Seeds (Terra Cotta Pasta, 7 ounce tub)
Red Beets (Pete’s Greens, 2 pound bag)
Breakfasts for the week (varied by day):
Scrambled or hard boiled egg with an apple.
Oats with milk and applesauce.
Lunches for the week:
Remaining chicken soup from last week with crusty bread (used this recipe - delicious).
Turkey and spinach burgers (From “It’s All Good” cookbook - this recipe is the closest I could find online).
Snack: homemade apple sauce with all those apples! Used this recipe as a guide. I also had popcorn as a snack - which was super fun (who knew popping corn on the cob was so easy?!).
Dinners for the week:
Sunday: Easter dinner at my parents house (cheat meal).
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: tacos with sweet potatoes, onions, beans, kale, salsa, cheese. I soaked and cooked the entire 1 pound bag of beans - the rest we’ll use next week! No formal recipe for this one. The filling lasted 3 nights.
Thursday: we went out to dinner before a show. Another little cheat meal.
Friday-Saturday: weekend away with family (I mentioned at the beginning of the month that there would be 1 weekend this month when we would not be able to do this - and that time has come!).
Curious how much all this cost? See below! (I neglected to take any additional photos this week, but promise to do better next week!).
GRAND TOTAL for the week (on a per person basis) — $73.81, which comes out to about $5.67 per meal (got about 13 meal plates out of this). This week’s price breakdown is not entirely accurate because we did not use nearly all the food listed above — much of it will carryover into next week! So maybe shave $1.50 - $1.75 off each meal?
Anyway, still so far, so good! On to the 4th and final week!