I've been in the kitchen this morning taking inventory of what food I have. At the same time, I'm eliminating anything with artificial color or preservatives. We think our son is affected by them, so we're trying a couple of weeks of focused effort on not letting him have any to verify the suspicion.
It's a testament to our almost two year old journey towards real food. There's not much to toss or give away, and what's there just might be two years old or more. [sigh] Some chocolate graham crackers, old cereal bars, rancid macadamia nuts (the travesty!) and an assortment of cookie/cupckake sprinkles.
Our original goal in this journey was real milk, healthy fats and homegrown eggs. Then came the removal of all HFCS and any hydrogenated oils. Seems that taking those out took out a lot of the dyes and chemicals too. We're also trying to follow EWG's list of the most pesticide laden produce. Living in a small town whose population doesn't care too much about that (or simply can't afford it) the options are very limited.
Since the list has 49 items on it, we determined that the top 25 cleanest we would buy conventional and the rest had to be pesticide free. Potatoes are in the lower 24, so now that the farmers markets are closed, we don't have access to organic potatoes. I feel very restricted by this one alone, and there are 23 other items on that list! It makes me question-do we go without fresh produce or do we eat the pesticides?
I'm almost done with the inventory. I still need to go thru the fridge and freezer (mostly to list what we have for meal planning purposes) and one cabinet in my son's room that holds bulk items. Then it'll be time to create healthy meals using these items. Oh, and I want to plan carefully so that Monday's leftovers get used in Wednesday's soup (or whatever, you get the idea).
What's your feeling on chemicals in our food? Whether they be pesticide residues on produce or added to boxed items-how do you handle it?
Honestly, I try not to think about it. Until I am able to grow everything myself, or come close, I just have to do what I can and hope for the best. Questionable food has to be better than no food, right?
ReplyDeleteForgot to add, do any of the local farms still have organic potatoes? I know one of the farms here has a facebook page and they say they still have potatoes and a few other things. It's worth a shot, if you want potatoes.
ReplyDeleteSilly me-I failed to get contact info for any of the farmers I bought from over the summer! I've tried to find them on localharvest.com, but they aren't listed. I'm thinking the Phoenix area markets should be opening soon-and can try there.
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