The New Year's resolution of Okanagan newlyweds, Darrell and Lindsay Eason,transformed into a year long committment to sustainable living. Follow their journey as they transform from a green couple to a sustainable couple over the next year. And, get ideas and tips that can inspire you as well.
It was a slow start but we are finally getting the hang of focusing on purchasing only local and organic food. We've already been receiving Urban Harvest Organic Delivery for nearly two years at our current address. Urban Harvest is a local organic produce delivery service that delivers certified organic goods in reusable containers to your door. Urban Harvest offers many local and BC options, but also includes organic produce from the USA and Mexico. To find out what produce is in season in which province, visit the Canadian Local Eating website to get an idea of the type of produce you can eat if you want to eat local and seasonal. This week, we made sure we ordered only BC produce from Urban Harvest, and will stick with 100% BC produce for the entire year.
We've been using up our left over food over the past week, and finally went shopping to start our year off properly. Because Nature's Fair was closed, we ended up at Save On Foods, where we questioned and read the labels on absolutely everything we bought. We spent about two hours in the grocery store deciding what was acceptable in our program and what wasn't. At least for the produce, Save On labels where it came from, so we could choose only BC goods. Many of the packaged products trick you, because they could be packaged for a company in BC, but actually made in the USA or overseas. Spices and grains are hard, because many of them are not grown in BC or Canada. We stocked up on as many organic choices as possible, and will use them sparingly.
We have also been making more of our own food, such as casseroles, perogies, bread, soup and chutney, and freezing or canning them to eat throughout the week. This way, we don't spend money eating out during the week, and won't make impulse choices of where and what we eat. Plus, we know exactly where the food is coming from. For some great recipes, visit Urban Harvest.
Our next step is to research local restaurants to see which ones carry the most local food and have sustainability policies already in place. For suggestions, please email dazandlindz@shaw.ca.
