Using Local food

Local Foods, how do you use them?
I try to use local food as much as possible. What I grow and what I purchase from the farmers market. I also buy all my meat locally. As far as cheese is concerned I buy Organic Valley because our local organic milk producers sell to them, but I am about to embark on making my own cheese.
Personally, I like the challenge that comes with cooking with local food. This summer I had great tomatoes, but for some reason my green peppers were less than spectacular. So I would pick some up at the farmers market and freeze a bunch. I should not have to buy a pepper until next year's garden produces them.
Right now I am out of town, but I brought a lot of local food with me. Ham hocks for bean soup. A smoked ham (that bone will get used too), a chicken, eggs, frozen veggies and milk.

I roasted the chicken and yesterday i took the meat off the bones and boiled it up with veggies and a little vinegar for broth. I also made gravy from the drippings. Someone brought over cheesy bread and there was some left, so I broke it into pieces and put it in a buttered casserole dish. Then I put in some of the chunked chicken and covered it with a cream gravy and baked it in the oven for about 20 minutes. It was a hit when served with salad. Local ingredients used: Chicken and milk. If I had been home, i might have put a little pepper in half of it.
So what do you do with local food?
If everyone spent $10 a week on local food, our local economy would soar.

I could not agree with you more. Almost every weekend for vendors selling local farm products.

Many areas have developed economic development with local products. A small community in central South Dakota marketed "local honey".

We nust be creative and look for these new markets.

By the way, I was not disappointed with one purchase I bought locally.

Understand the impact of buying locally. For every dollar spent locally it returns:

A 2002 Economic Impact Analysis in Austin, Texas was one of the first major studies to look at the difference between shopping at local stores versus big chains. The study found that for every $100 spent at a locally-owned store, $45 stayed in the local economy. For every $100 spent at a chain like Borders or Home Depot, however, the local economic impact was only $13.

http://www.austincc.edu/techcert/TXP%20Gaming%2009-26-06.pdf[/

see also


http://www.civiceconomics.com/Andersonville/AndersonvilleStudy.pdf