Getting Away from the Grocery Store Mentality

I definitely have the grocery store mentality - whatever food I want should be available for purchase all the time.  Now that I've written that out, it sounds so completely self-absorbed and irrational.  Yet, I think most Americans are in the same boat.  Who doesn't get irritated to find that some food item that they want is sold out?

Now that we are trying to eat more seasonally and locally, I'm getting frustrated with the inconsistent supply of things I want, specifically milk.  Most weekends we go to the farmer's market on Friday (produce/eggs), grocery shopping on Saturday (produce/most other things), and then I hit the indoor farmer's market as I have time (eggs/meat/milk), usually on Sunday.  The indoor farmer's market is the only somewhat convenient source of local milk I have right now.  If they are out, as they were this week, I have to go back to the grocery store to buy conventional milk or drive all the way across the city to go to Whole Foods -- not the most efficient use of time or gas. 

What's the solution?  I'm still trying to figure that out, but first I think I need to take a deep breath.  It's not the end of the world that I made yogurt with conventional milk this week.  I suppose that the next time the indoor farmer's market is out of milk, I could simply accept it as a part of supporting small farms and co-ops and do without for the week.  I also need to consider whether I could buy local milk in bulk and freeze it.  That's what I plan to do with bacon as soon as it's available next month.  Freezer space is an ongoing issue here, so that will take some consideration.

Food Budget

I've always considered myself to be frugal.  I still do, but my family might disagree.  "You pay how much for eggs?!?!"  However, I think being frugal means making thoughtful financial decisions and also not being afraid to spend when necessary.  J and I think high quality food is necessary.  I go out of my way to purchase grass-fed beef almost exclusively and pastured chicken as much as possible.  I also splurge on free range eggs from the farmer's market and local, mostly-grass fed milk in glass bottles.  These purchases are important for our health and for environmental reasons.  Because these items are so expensive, we don't use a lot of them, i.e. we eat quite a few meatless meals each week.

We are at the point now where we need to trim our budget a bit.  Actually, the problem is that we need to keep our budget where it is but get our expenditures in line with our budget.  Common problem, right?  We have identified several areas where we can cut back, most notably eating at restaurants.  We both agreed, however, that while we need to be more cognizant of how we spend our food money, we don't want to sacrifice quality.  As a compromise I plan to get back into couponing.  As much as we try to avoid processed and packaged food, there are certain items that we can't seem to get away from like ketchup and taco shells.  We might as well use coupons and shop the sales to reduce costs a bit.  We also need to be less wasteful -- not buying too much and eating everything that we buy.  I'm hoping these small changes as well as a heightened awareness of where our money goes will make enough of a dent in our expenses that we won't have to feel guilty about spending money on good food.

I've been wondering how some of our homemade items compare cost-wise to similar prepared items from the store.  I think I may do some research while grocery shopping this weekend.