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Finding and using local food sources is a great way to improve your diet and make sure your produce and meat comes from nearby farms and producers. Online strategies and word of mouth are two ways to find local foods. How to eat local foods will give you a head start on ways to find the freshest veggies, fruits and other produce.
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Tips for Eating Locally
- Support local growers for fresher foods and a green world.
- Find local food sources online, or ask about local farms at your market.
- Visit local farms, U-Picks and roadside stands for local foods.
- CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms will deliver to you.
- Get your school (or your children's) to serve local foods.
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Related Mahalo Pages
How to Cook Corn on the Cob | How to Harvest and Store Carrots | How to Grow Tomatoes | How to Grow Potatoes | How to Grow Pumpkins | How to Go Green in Your Kitchen | How to Shop Locally | How to Save Money on Food | How to Save Money on Groceries | Carbon Footprint | How to Stockpile Food | How to Start an Urban Garden | How to Care for a Lawn
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Introduction
- Eating right is all the rage. So is greening your life. So what's more green than greening your greens? Eating local foods is a good idea, now more than ever. Not only does it bolster the local economy by supporting small, local farms,Food Routes: Why Care the local foods movement reduces the carbon footprint of your meals and ensures that what you're eating is as fresh as possible.Boston: Reducing Food's Carbon Footprint (April 16, 2008) But despite its many benefits, joining the local foods movement isn't as hard as you might think!
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Ask Your Grocer
- Determine whether your market gets their food from local growers - Sustainable Table provides question for your grocer about the farm or location where their products come from.
- Special offers. Some stores may offer local foods only during certain times of year. Kroger: Home Grown Find out if and when your neighborhood store is highlighting local growers.
- Sustainability. Ask about the sustainability of such products as their beef, chicken and dairy products. The Meatrix: Sustainability The quality of what you eat depends on a variety of factors, so ask what the beef, turkey or chicken was fed, and whether they were given antibiotics.
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Find Local Producers Online
- Farms. Whole Foods Market can get you in touch with regional producers offering a variety of foods within driving distance.
- Food co-ops. Food co-ops and health food stores with local foods are another good source that can be found online. Green People: Food Coops
- Farmers markets Local Harvest: Farmers Markets offer the wares of local producers. Green People: Farmers Market Growers bring their foods to your neighborhood, and you'll find a complete variety of produce.
- Community Supported Agriculture. Find out if there are any Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in your area. You can subscribe to a CSA and receive local foods every season. USDA: Community Supported Agriculture
- Widget. In your quest to search out and patronize local growers, you can even get a widget to put on your homepage or social networking site. Eat Well Guide: Widgets
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Step 2: Go to the Source
- Hit the road to visit those local producers you've found. National Resources Defense Council: Food Miles You'll probably discover you have many more eating choices when you can choose your own growers.
- Visit local farmers. Find producers of everything from meat and poultry to vegetables and fruit within driving distance of home. Eat Well Guide: Find Sustainable Food
- Check out a Pick Your Own for a fun way to eat local. Pick Your Own: Locator Also known as U Picks, there's a u pick for just about any kind of produce you're looking for. Virtual Farmgirl: U Pick Strawberries
- - How much to pick depends on what you're picking and what you want to do Pick Your Own: How Much to Pick - for instance, if you're picking apples in order to make applesauce, canning and freezing will yield different amounts.
- Keep an eye out for roadside stands, a great source of locally grown foods. Ice Cream Journal: The Roadside Stand
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Step 3: Grow Your Own Food
- More labor intensive than buying from a grower, a garden gives the do-it-yourselfer more than just vegetables, you'll get a sense of fulfillment.
- Plan your garden. Preliminary ideas on how big to make your garden and other considerations will maximize your success. Garden: Planning 101
- Consider the amount of shade you'll need for your produce. Hopkins Technology: Shade Some vegetables such as lettuce only need partial shade; tomatoes, on the other hand, need direct sunlight.
- When seeding, You Grow Girl: Vegetable Seed Starting keep in mind what grows well in your area and how much of everything you want to grow. Almanac: Gardening
- Drainage is also important for your plants. One advantage of gardening in containers is easy drainage. Virginia Cooperative Extension: Vegetables Gardening in Containers
- - If you're a novice green thumb, make sure to visit Mahalo's page on how to start a vegetable garden for a complete gardening guide.
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Eat Seasonal
- Locavores have no choice - what you see is what you get when it comes to eating local. If you live in California and tomatoes are not in season, no tomatoes. If you find tomatoes in your supermarket out of season, they have come from far away. While a little more planning is involved in eating local foods, one of the pluses is discovery - you'll find plenty of foods you may not have tried.
- - Sustainable Table provides more tips for eating seasonally.
- Locavores have no choice - what you see is what you get when it comes to eating local. If you live in California and tomatoes are not in season, no tomatoes. If you find tomatoes in your supermarket out of season, they have come from far away. While a little more planning is involved in eating local foods, one of the pluses is discovery - you'll find plenty of foods you may not have tried.
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Experiment
- Because eating locally may introduce you to some new ingredients, you may have to adapt your traditional recipes, or even experiment with entirely new ones.
- New recipes and meal ideas are widely available for the new, seasonal foods you have discovered. Sustainable Table: Recipes
- You can also try out seasonal food cookbooks can provide plenty of inspiration if you have a taste for culinary exploration. Sustainable Table: Cookbooks
- Because eating locally may introduce you to some new ingredients, you may have to adapt your traditional recipes, or even experiment with entirely new ones.
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Subscribe to CSA Farms
- Community Supported Agriculture farms, or CSAs, depend on a network of subscribers for support. In return for subscribing, locavores benefit from the convenience of having food come to them instead of having to seek out growers in the area.
- Local Harvest is a good source of information on CSAs.
- Keep in mind that subscribing in advance to a CSA also means taking your chances - if there's a bad harvest in your region, your CSA basket for that season might not be all that you dreamed of.
- Community Supported Agriculture farms, or CSAs, depend on a network of subscribers for support. In return for subscribing, locavores benefit from the convenience of having food come to them instead of having to seek out growers in the area.
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Eat Out Locally
- Discover locavore restaurants in your area. Chefs Collaborative: Locavore Restaurants
- Ask the manager at your favorite restaurant if they use local ingredients.
- According to the Washington Post, chain restaurants are even getting on the localtarian bandwagon.WashingtonPost.com: In Trial Run, Chipotle Heads to the Farm (March 26, 2008)
- Discover locavore restaurants in your area. Chefs Collaborative: Locavore Restaurants
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Step 5: Get Involved, Get Educated
- Eating locally requires a certain amount of research and leg work. While the local foods movement is steadily growing in popularity, it's still somewhat of a new concept. Helping to make local foods more mainstream will also make it more convenient.
- - Sustainable Table has some great ideas on how to get local foods in your children's cafeteria to make sure your kids can eat green for lunch.
- Eating locally requires a certain amount of research and leg work. While the local foods movement is steadily growing in popularity, it's still somewhat of a new concept. Helping to make local foods more mainstream will also make it more convenient.
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Conclusion
- Eating locally is more than just doing your research, it's also a lifestyle choice. It's a way to improve your health by eating better, and also a way to contribute to the greater good by minimizing the all-important carbon footprint. And if you work it right, helping to save the planet can taste really good.
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Online Resources for How To Eat Local Foods | Add a Link
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How to Eat Local Foods Links Powered by Google
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Life Begins at 30: 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food
Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves...fogcity.blogs.com -
Eat Local Food - About Eat Local Food
Eat Local Food is a merchandising and art design company. Services include fine art design and advertising concepts for food retailers, farmers markets, restaurants and specialty stores. Through fine art imagery, Eat Local Food markets locally produced food to your retail customers. We provide marketing materials that connect local food producer...eatlocalfood.com -
www.eatlocalchallenge.com: 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food
by Jennifer Maiser Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned...lifebeginsat30.com -
Locavores
Join the Locavores in a celebration of our local food cornucopia -- eat locally this August!locavores.com -
100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change
When the average North American sits down to eat, each ingredient has typically traveled at least 1,500 miles from farm to plate.100milediet.org
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Questions and Answers About How to Eat Local Foods | View All | Ask a Question
View All How to Eat Local Foods Questions (2042) | Ask a QuestionWhat is the most environmentally friendly food to eat? (5 Answers)The most environmentally friendly food to eat is the food that you grow locally in your back yard or purchase from your local farmer's market. *(I know that not all ... read moreWhat's the best food to eat while watching a big game? (24 Answers)We are MAJOR football fans in my house. We have our "rules" of eating stuff lol. 1- Popcorn: Its easy, quick, and.. yummy! 2- Nachos and beer: This is nice ... read moreWhen eating spicy food, why does it burn when it "comes out" of your body? (3 Answers)Capsaicin, the active ingredients in hot peppers, is contained in the membranes and seeds of the "hot" food. After you eat the food, your body doesn't absorb large amounts of ... read moreWhat is causing urban food prices to remain high in Ethiopia? (1 Answer)"One reason for the urban food crisis is the huge gap between demand and supply," said a lecturer from Addis Ababa University, who requested anonymity. "The demand is increasing beyond ... read more
Ask a Question about How to Eat Local Foods 140 characters
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How to Eat Local Foods Blogs
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Eat Local (and sustainable!) | Sustainable Table
Eat Local (and sustainable!) November 6th, 2009 Posted by diane No Comments. 22_locallyraisedsign One of the most popular food trends in the past year or two has been local food. So why is eating local all the rage, and what can you do ...sustainabletable.org (November 06, 2009) -
Pull Up Your Socks: Challenge yourself to eat local
The 100-mile challenge encourages people to buy and eat local produce. It's amazing how far the food in our grocery stores travel simply to end up on our plate, and if you think about that think about the insane amount of energy that ...pullupyoursocks-wpg.blogspot.com (November 06, 2009) -
6 Reasons Why It's Fun to Eat Local | Simple, Good and Tasty
Fun later when I eat what I bought with my paycheck. Shoveling the walk? Ensures that when I haul my groceries into the house, I don't slip, fall, and ruin the fun of eating them. So, obviously, the main reason why I'd buy local food is ...simplegoodandtasty.com (November 06, 2009) -
Eat Local (and Sustainable!) | TakePart Social Action Network™
But it's always wise to find out exactly how your food was produced before you make the decision to buy and eat it. Why buy local? There are many reasons to buy local, including –. - Taste. Local sustainable food is most often picked ...takepart.com (November 06, 2009)
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