Keep it fresh, keep it local

I haven't posted in quite some time... and my goal with this blog was to post at least once a week! It's been a busy couple of days!!

Lately,  there has been a lot going on in regard to ground meat and contamination. First, ground turkey from a major food company, including the brand I buy, issued a major recall due to people dying of Salmonella found in their products. And now this week, it's the same thing, different company, but now ground beef. Who knows, maybe next week it'll be bacon.

This really drives home the point that you can't always trust what you read/buy at the grocery store. I bought a package of the ground turkey that was recalled (thankfully I hadn't eaten it already), but what irked me was that it was labelled "All Natural". I know this term is used loosely in the food market, so it's partially my fault believing that it would not be subject to large meat houses and the like.

It's instances like these that make me wish our food system wasn't so flawed. Don't get me wrong, I understand how it used to be and how we have improved immensely in the past century or so. But, consumers now are looking for convenience, they want to get in and get out and not spend 2 hours at the store reading every ingredient in every product they buy. Unfortunately, if you want to make sure you're eating healthy, real food, you have to. Labels are misleading. A company can technically put "no trans fat!" on their product even if it has up to 0.49 grams. Canned pineapples can have a certain percentage of mold in them and still be sold legally. Read the "10 Scariest Food Facts" here. Pretty crazy stuff.

It feels like every day is a battle to eat well. The foods that are cheapest are the foods that are the worst for you, and vise versa. Why? People wonder why America is as obese as it is... take a walk through Hannaford, Shaws, even Walmart. With the economy the way it is, people have less money in their pockets and are forced to buy cheaper alternatives to food. It's a vicious cycle. If I had my way, local organic food would be cheap and a box of oreos would cost about $50. Try and tell me America would still be obese if that change were to happen. And we'd be a lot healthier too. Anyways *steps off soap box*

I can't change the world, but I can change myself and my eating habits. First step - Farmer's Markets. Luckily up here in New England, we have lots of local farms and orchards providing the freshest foods for pretty cheap. I bought a bunch of fruit and veggies all for about $11! Granted the bananas, oranges, and grapefruit aren't local, but they were really cheap!

Next thing on my agenda to change: meat purchasing. A friend suggested going to local farms, which I've never thought of. You can talk with the farmers, see what diet the animals were fed (grass fed is best), and how they were raised (free range!!). I'm planning on taking a trip soon and posting the results on here!

Oh, that green stuff? That's kale! I'll be posting a recipe for kale smoothies next!