cook healthy organic meals for my family

Just stocked up this week on frozen entrees (healthy, though, from Trader Joes.) I need help on this one!

So I have almost completely stopped buying food that isn’t organic (or sustainably grown without chemicals/pesticides by local farmers). Basically, I want to make as many things as possible from local, fresh, raw ingredients.

To this end, I now shop at the local Farmers’ Market for fruits and veggies. I found a goat farmer there that does raw cheddar and some excellent feta, so I probably am going to start getting cheese from him.

From the raw milk I get weekly from my share in a local dairy herd, I churn my own butter (not as hard as it sounds—just requires 30 minutes in my KitchenAid mixer). I also make my own yogurt (incredibly easy with a yogurt maker), and I plan to learn how to make my own sour cream, feta and cream cheese soon. A friend is giving me his ice cream maker, so I’ll be doing ice cream too. I also get eggs from the same farmer and the occasional chicken. I’m hoping to find other local sources for poultry and other meats soon.

What I can’t get direct from farmers, I pick up at the local Wild Oats market, which is only a few minutes from my house. I hear that New Seasons in Portland is cheaper, so I probably will start going there to purchase the bulk of my groceries once a month and just use Wild Oats for small weekly purchases.

My goal is to make breakfast for myself 5 times per week and both lunches and dinners for myself and my husband 6 times per week. This means I can have two breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner out; otherwise, we’ll be eating in.

The only practical way to do this is through once-a-month cooking, so I’m going to start making a meal plan for next month shortly.