In college, I always had a freezer bursting at the seams with homemade bean soups and sauces. And, for awhile, cubes and I had a fully stocked freezer. Then, pregnancy happened and I had no energy after a full day to cook. Now, a year after Gates was born, I feel like we're getting the hang of things. How do I know? Our freezer is almost full.
Little did my husband or I know how last month's theme, Local Eating, would impact our lives. Now, in all fairness, my mindful eating kick started last month when I challenged myself to a Spring HaveNotWant Challenge and realized the majority of our unnecessary expenditures were from ordering delivery multiple times a week.
Once we ran the numbers of a CSA box, we realized we'd be getting higher quality produce for less than we were spending at our local Safeway. We immediately decided it made sense both for the Local Eating theme and our budget cutting to sign up through Farmigo at cubes' office. At the same time, I mentally committed to wanting nothing to go to waste. My thinking was that we're not really saving money if we're composting the majority of our purchases each week. (Later in the month we switched to a CSA box from LolaBee's Harvest.)
Have you committed to a CSA box?
Did it change your life?
Did it change your life?
Committing to eat everything that arrives to your door is a tall order. We made it to week three without wasting anything from the first three boxes. This was tough the first week; accomplished only with a marathon session of stock making and vegetable braising. The second week required no heroics. The third week involved three afternoons of stock and soup making and we now have an almost full freezer full of stocks and soups. The fourth week we were traveling so some of the items spoiled before we returned from New York.
As I'm getting ready to share stocks and soups with friends and family (in exchange for watching Gates), it was time to create labels that identified what was in the container and when it was made. To save supplies, I created a label inspired by the Whopper burger boxes from Burger King that I could use for different types of stocks. If you'd like to use the labels in your kitchen, you can download them here.
Bon Appetit!
Eden!
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Get the Fonts: Silhouettes of Rooster and Hen: Birds of a Feather from Dafont.com (personal use only). Silhouettes of Sheep, Cow, Rooster, and Hen: Farm and Wild Animals from Dafont.com (personal use only); Various Fruit and Vegetable Outlines: FOOD! from FontSpace (commercial use permitted); Mushroom and Carrot Dingbat: Tombats Four from FontSpace (commercial use permitted). Outline of Fish: Efon from FontSpace (commercial use permitted).
