Day one was pretty good. Since I work all day on Sundays as a waitress and don't have much time to eat, it was pretty easy.
So I got up pretty late so all I really had time for was toast for breakfast. Kind of had a thought about toast today though. Since making toast takes energy and all. I think I'm going to have to give up toast. Settle on just bread.
Had some broccoli and rice for lunch. I'm not actually sure where the rice comes from though. I work at a Japanese restaurant so I'm thinking it was probably imported. I have a broccoli story later... :)
No dinner. Crazy dinner shift. We always get some food to go at the end of Sunday dinner shift but I had to give it up because of all the packaging. Heard it was yummy :(
DAY 2 Monday, April 5th 2010
So, bought groceries today. Drove to the nearest supermarket. I REALLY didn't want to walk, but next time I think it'll be wise to do so.
My adventure at the grocery store was interesting. At first it was easy to find Michigan products. I found granola with dried blueberries and some guacamole. But then I came home and thought about it and I decided that I was fooled by the food industry. Why? Well because things can be made in Michigan but where the hell are they grown HMM? Avocados for the "Michigan" guac is not from Michigan... I'm not sure about the granola though... I'm not even sure what granola is made of... I was hoping at least the blueberries were from Michigan.
The produce section was a HUGE disappointment. All I found was a beefsteak tomato from Canada and broccoli that I thought was from Michigan that was actually grown in California. Major fail.
The reason why I thought the broccoli was grown in MI though was because I've been searching for Michigan grown produce and I read for April it's primarily broccoli and asparagus and greens. AND written on the packaging was a Michigan address. Thus, THAT'S WHY I ATE ONLY BROCCOLI FOR LUNCH YESTERDAY + some rice. Turns out, Michigan supermarkets only sell broccoli grown in California. I asked the checkout lady and she confirmed. I bought it though. Although I'm an environmentalist, I'm still a human being living in a social world and didn't want to look like a complete nut...
So I came home with guacamole and granola grown in who knows where but made in Michigan, broccoli grown in California, and a tomato from Canada but no plastic bag :). I mean, I still have food to eat from before but damn. I never realized how much carbon just our food intake releases. And compared to all the other foods in that store, I did extremely well. Almost all of the produce was from Mexico and California. crazycrazycrazy
Anyways, I'm heading to the farmer's market on Saturday so hopefully they'll have some real local foods!
So to finish this post I'll just include some tips for environmentally sustainable grocery shopping/eating and some info about the Ann Arbor farmer's market wheeeee
SUSTAINABLE FOOD/GROCERIES
1. Look at where your food is from. Most produce will have this information on those little stickers they have on them and all other packaged foods will have that information on the boxes/bag. However, packaged foods only say where their product was made, so keep that in mind. Think about what goes into that product and you'll have a better idea of how sustainable it is.
2. Buy more produce. The problem with packaged foods is that... it's packaged. Packaging produces SO MUCH WASTE!!! So if you do go for packaged foods, make sure you buy stuff that isn't individually packaged. I'm going to put pre-washed greens with the packaged foods too. Just buy the regular stuff! It's cheaper anyways.
3. Stay away from the frozen section. Frozen foods are shipped in a huge freezer that uses a lot of energy. If you do buy frozen, go for things that don't have to travel long to get to your store. International frozen foods are a big nono!
4. Stay away from animal products. Animals eat a ton but they don't give as much calories as they consume (only 10%). They also produce a lot of methane, a 25X stronger greenhouse gas than CO2, from their poo. Cows also produce methane from farting.
5. Eat local! Try to find a farmer's market or a local farm around your town. Chances are, there is one around you. And summer is coming up! That means a variety of local foods everywhere! whee get excited! I am... hee
ANN ARBOR FARMERS MARKET
http://www.a2gov.org/government/communityservices/ParksandRecreation/FarmersMarket/Pages/Farmers'%20Market.aspx
In April, the farmers market is open 7am t0 3pm on saturdays.
Well, good night!
PS... no pictures as of now.. I'm hoping to buy a SLR soon. Soon meaning before Saturday. Maybe I'll go for low quality pictures for now.
