This week’s farm share was a bit anticlimactic, I must admit. Over the last two weeks, we’ve had quite the assortment of random new meals, and this week, the lettuce, cabbage, kale, turnips, potatoes, and onions aren’t sparking any great inspiration. I just threw away part of my first onion from the first food box (I gave away the rest the past two weeks because onions and my 3rd trimester tummy don’t mix well), but I’m determined not to waste any more this week. Up on the menu: Runzas, Potato Soup with kale and ham (because we still have leftover ham from Easter, and I stupidly bought 6 lbs of potatoes last weekend that have barely been touched), French onion soup (Derek’s request–I’ll be eating leftovers that night), Golden Potato and Turnip Casserole (gotta love More With Less when you’re looking to use up potatoes…), Ham and Kale Quiche (see a trend?), and Pasties (to celebrate our Michigan heritage and hopefully use up the end of the onions, turnips, and potatoes before next week’s box). It’s quite the hearty meal/soup week, but the hope is that several of these things will freeze well for easy meals after the baby comes!
On a related note, I don’t see us saving much money yet with this farm share. I’m still having to buy milk, eggs, cheese, meat, and fruit, and we haven’t had any bean-based dishes since the veggies started coming. I feel like we’re eating more meals that are vegetable-heavier than normal, but it seems like I’m still spending as much as I did before on my weekly grocery trips. Probably this is because my normal meal repertoire consists of a lot of the same inexpensive ingredients (beans, chicken broth, pasta, diced tomatoes, chicken, etc) that I buy on sale or in bulk and always have on hand. This week, though, we’re having two meals that call for ground beef (used quite sparingly in my kitchen), and last week, I got several random extra items like sour cream and ricotta cheese that we don’t usually have sitting around in our fridge. We love the variety, but it’s not cheaper yet. I do think that as summer approaches and we start getting more items that we’re used to eating in-season (tomatoes, zucchini, and any fruit, for starters), I’ll find myself making more familiar meals again and shopping less frequently to round out our farm share delivery. Stay tuned as the 2009 Grocery Experiment continues!
Yum. I hope that someday we can do a farmshare. It looks awesome! And way to go on the Pasties!!! Do you have a good recipe? I have one if you need it. It is broken down by the number of pasties you want to make, which is awesome. And the rutabagas will last forever. Have you ever just cooked and mashed them? That’s a staple for the Childs clan for Thanksgiving and Christmas. SO YUMMY. And have you looked at the Simply in Season cookbook for ideas? we have a used bookstore here. I will check next time I am in there. Maybe they have it. 🙂
Let’s talk soon.
Kristen–I requested Simply in Season from the library a month ago, but whoever has it must love it and hasn’t returned it! I didn’t see any super-cheap used copies on half or amazon, so I’m still waiting for the library copy. If you do see it at a used book store, let me know! And I’d love to get your authentic UP pasty recipe, too!
Would you rather I email you the recipe? I will send it, too, because having real recipes for the recipe box is always cool. In fact, I am going to go do that right now. Bye.
I was all set to do our farm share before we left Denver, but the choice here is much more limited. 🙁 We’ll see if it happens this year or not. It’s interesting for me to see you live through it first, esp. this post about the money. My fear is that we really won’t save money, and on top of that be stuck with the same veggies on repeat for 7 months. hm..I’ll look forward to your keeping me posted. 🙂 In other news, I’ve become addicted to kale recently. I’ve taken to eating it for my own breakfast or lunch once or twice a week. My favorite thing to do, and most recent craving, is to take a bunch of kale, tear it up into roughly bite sized pieces, soak in cold water. Meanwhile, heat up 2tsp of olive oil in a non stick skillet. Throw in a big pinch of sea salt, and then the drained kale (the pan should be hot and the it should sizzle when you toss in the kale). Constantly “stir/tong” the kale in the skillet, about 2 minutes. Then when it’s almost cooked all the way down add about 4-5 cloves of minced or pressed garlic. Stir it all around, saute it a little. You can add 1/4C fresh parm if you want, but its not necessary. Serve it immediately on toast with a poached or fried egg on top. Seriously, I’m addicted. It’s my favorite thing. I can’t stop. 🙂 and it’s cheap, and my whole family is a fan. Maybe try it out next Saturday brunch or something. 🙂 love!
Hmmm, we’ll definitely have to try it, as we have kale coming out of our ears!