Shopping Locally

One way we live simply & frugally at our house is to shop locally.  We LOOOVE our Farmers Markets & Local Coops. We shop at the Historic Valley Junction Farmers Market on Thursdays and the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market on Saturday Mornings.  We also fill out our Monthly shopping with goods from the Iowa Food Coop, Wheatsfield Coop and soon the Tallgrass Grocery store.

By shopping locally, you first return all your money to the local community.  I’ve heard it said that the $1 you spend locally, circulates $7 in your local community.  Where if you spend it at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, all your money goes back to California.

Plus when you shop locally from real farmers & ranchers, you get great deals!!!  For example I get great greens each week for a steal of a price from BlueGateFarms at the Downtown Farmers Market.  On Thursday’s I get my bread from MyDailyBread and pick up other veggies that are fresh.  Last week I found Turnips, radishes & Strawberries!!  And I spent 12 dollars!!  For a whole grocery bag full of greens & veggies!!

When you shop the Farmers Markets, ask your farmer what is fresh!  You’ll get the best produce, and usually the best price of the season.  When you can, purchase extra produce to preserve!  We’re headed out to the Berry Patch this week to pick strawberries and make lots of Yummy Jam!!

Also, when you get to know your farmer or rancher, you can purchase in bulk.  Especially your meats!  By purchasing your beef and pork in bulk, you can save lots of money & always have meat in your freezer for the weeks your grocery budget needs a little squeezing!

Great places to find your local meats:

Ebersole Cattle Co – Beef (yep thats us & its a great time to reserve your half beef)

Crooked Gap Farm – Pork & Eggs

Foxhollow Farms – Chicken & Turkeys

Blue Gate Farms – Veggies at the farmers Market & a great CSA!  Try their Tapestry Salad Mix

Reicherts Dairy Air - Goat Cheeses!!  I love the Cranberry Pecan Chevre with our Beef Jerky

Remember to be frugal, but shop local!

Tags: coops, local, local farms, local food

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.