And Does Your Shopping List Look Anything Like Mine?



I have been conducting a study for a while of how much I spend on food ingredients. It is #2 on my list of Food Resolutions for 2007. Every week since February 10th I have been keeping track of how much I spend on my weekly shop. Below is a copy of my latest shopping list for last Saturday. I am wondering how it compares to yours? Perhaps you think I am not eating locally enough (Yes, I have an insatiable weakness for Gruyere cheese)? Here in San Francisco we think of anything within 100 miles as local, but when I lived in London I would never have considered my home town of Bristol, 100 miles from London, to be local which raises an interesting point about what local actually is. Perhaps you think I spend too much money on food? Perhaps you think I am cheap? Perhaps you wonder how I get by without any processed foods in my basket? (It's easy, I like to cook.) Perhaps you wonder about staples - my pantry is always well stocked with flours, sugars, spices, grains, vinegars and oils which I will use to complement the fresh produce. If you care to share, I would be interested in your thoughts or comments about how your own shopping lists compare to mine.

The Eat Local Challenge have just announced their Penny Wise Challenge for April which encourages participants to try and eat locally on an average American food budget. (For us that would apparently be $144 per week which seems a reasonable amount to me.) For more details of how to join in check here.

My Shopping List Saturday March 24th, 2007
$03.50 LOCAL 70 Miles 2 bunches green onions | Everything Under the Sun
$03.00 LOCAL 80 Miles bunch asparagus | Zuckerman
$06.50 LOCAL 90 Miles 1 lb of walnuts | Alfieri
$12.00 LOCAL ARTISAN 0.2 Miles bacon and tolouse sausages | Fatted Calf
$08.00 LOCAL 40 Miles 1 dozen eggs | Marin Sun Farms
$06.00 LOCAL 70 Miles 3 x Plain Yogurt | St Benoit
$03.75 LOCAL 60 Miles mixed arugula rapini, green garlic, pea shoots | Knoll
$03.00 SEMI-LOCAL 125+ MILES bag of four Wills Avocados
$05.00 LOCAL 40 Miles Freshly Churned Jersey Butter | Spring Hill
$01.00 LOCAL 100 Miles bag of pepper cress | Heirloom Organics
$03.00 LOCAL 25 Miles three romaine hearts | Star Route
$01.50 LOCAL 90 Miles bunch of slender leeks | Dirty Girl
$06.00 LOCAL 60 Miles | Straus Butter
$06.87 NOT LOCAL Swiss Cave Aged Gruyere
$04.25 LOCAL 40 MILES Fromage Blanc | CowGirl
$02.50 LOCAL ARTISAN 2.3 Miles Plain Chocolate ClairesSquare | La Cocina
$18.50 LOCAL 100 Miles Olive Oil | Bariani
$02.90 LOCAL ARTISAN 2.7 Miles Pain Au Levain | Acme
$01.90 LOCAL ARTISAN 2.7 Miles Epi | Acme
$05.00 LOCAL ARTISAN 2.7 Miles *NEW* from Acme - Fra'mani Salami sandwich with butter and cornichons to take home for Fred's lunch. He was raving about this sandwich! He didn't even let me try it. He told me it far surpasses their croissant which until today was the weekly treat he was more than happy with. Darn it, the sandwich costs $3 more than the croissant. Oh well..

$104.17 TOTAL SPENDS



PS For further reference, prior shopping lists can be viewed on my food calendar here. (Check under 'Food Spends', generally posted on Saturdays)