I still haven't signed up for my CSA share. I know, I know.
I would complain that life is too hard and how the fuck are you supposed to remember all the little things that adults are supposed to do every day, but now I sound like every other whiny 20-some year old in NY.
Anyways, I suck and all my reminders and notes on scraps of paper and in my notebooks and on my phone and scribbled in the margins of random earnings releases are clearly not doing the job. So maybe venting about my own inability to remember to do one small thing on a blog would help? Yes, not logical. Sometimes the illogical solution is actually what ends up working. Couldn't hurt right?
Unrelated note: I am so obsessed with Ailee's OST for Yawang (Ice Flower, roughly translated). I do really hope she becomes the first KA to make it big as a singer (Psy does NOT count).
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
FRIENDS! and chickens and eggs
I can now claim to have convinced not one, but TWO people to sign up for a CSA because of me! One in California and one here in New York. I am so pleased, I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat.
I'm worried, of course, that they won't like it. That I've been hyping it up to everyone. But honestly, I'll just let the produce do the talking, and I'm sure it'll be fine.
I was hoping to pull my roommate into sharing my CSA with me this year, but it looks like my roommate may or may not be with us this summer. So...I've decided that instead of being overly ambitious, I'm going to sign up for just one partial share ($375 for 22 weeks of a larger-than-half-of-a-regular-share) of vegetables. I wanted to try the eggs, fruit, or chicken because it looks so good and I want to support Free Bird Farms. But I didn't know what the best option would be and I was scared being overwhelmed by Foodmageddon again.
I can polish off fruit quite happily and easily on my own, but I like the idea of free range, organic (not certified, but raised organically) chickens and eggs, and I wanted to give it a go at home, rather than relying on super duper expensive fancy places that I like to think about eating at because heaven knows I'd never be able to take myself there without feeling awfully guilty about how I'm prioritizing my spending. T_T
I digress. I ended up deciding on the chicken share. Why? Eggs are perishable but these chickens are frozen. Plus, they seemed like a slightly better deal. $90 for a dozen eggs a week comes out to a whopping $4.09 per dozen eggs. That's a lot and I am not quite sure the difference in taste and quality would be worth it. I snooped around and the prices for free range, organic eggs are anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50 per dozen in NYC. Regular eggs are $$2.00 - $3.00 a dozen. While it would be nice to have eggs with beautiful, rich, nutritious orange yolks, I just don't want to commit to a full season right now. I guess the humane treatment of chickens is another factor, but on this point, I'm indifferent, since chickens raised for meat also face the same issue of humane treatment. The deciding factor for me was just that I don't eat a lot of eggs to begin with and they are fairly perishable.
On the other hand, I can get 12 chickens for $180, which comes out to about $15 a chicken, or $3.75 a pound. Although pricey, I did some investigating online and in stores, and this is actually fairly reasonable for a free-range, organic chicken. Normal chickens go for a lot less - something like $4 to $8 per whole 4lb chicken. The price markup for free range and organic chicken is a lot higher than it is for eggs. Why do I bother buying free range and organic then? It freaks me out that I'm eating chicken meat laced with antibiotics and hormones. I don't know. I don't like it. Plus, I've seen the chickens being raised for meat and eggs at Free Bird Farm and I can definitively say these chickens were raised happily. I can't say the same for the chickens I buy at the store, free range and organic or not. Finally, chickens can be frozen. They will keep for up to a year in my freezer. This gives them a significant advantage over eggs.
And I know $15 per chicken is a lot, but I know how to stretch my chickens. I can easily, easily, make at least 5 or 6 meals out of one chicken. Roast chicken for two meals with a side of veg, chicken over rice or chicken with pasta or even chicken salad sandwiches can make another two meals, and the leftover chicken bits and bones makes for at least two meals of chicken soup. I can add noodles, rice, or potatoes to the soup to instantly make it more filling. The price breakdown comes to about $2 to $3 per meal for the chicken. Rice, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, and pasta are super cheap, so the total cost of a full meal would break down to less than $5. That's a price I'm willing to live with, especially since I don't actually eat meat that much anymore, meaning my other meals are much cheaper than that. And I can rest easy, knowing what I'm putting into my body, how the chickens were raised, and who I'm supporting with my $. This makes me happy.
*Caveat: I don't know how "green" or local my chicken is, since I presume Free Bird Farm had to take the birds to be processed and frozen at a butcher plant, and I have no idea how far away that plant is, but I'm okay with that. This is a better option to me than what I can find in my supermarkets.
Why didn't I opt for both chickens and eggs? Quite simply: I can't eat that much. I think it's better to buy only what you need than to oversupply and waste food. Less food, more quality. In fact, I think 12 chickens is more than I can handle, so I convinced my friend to share some of the chickens with me. In exchange for buying 3-6 chickens off of me, I've agreed to teach him how to cook the chickens and pass along any excess produce, which I'm more than happy to do. Community building with CSA food! :)
All this thinking about local, organic, free-range, etc. made me wonder about all the other food I eat. I want to live better and I am considering kicking off a month of clean eating, where I restrict myself to only eating sustainably produced/harvested food, with an emphasis on organic produce, free range and hormone/antibiotic free meats, and wild-caught fish. And, of course, trying to support local farmers where and when I can.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of restaurants and grocery stores that are quietly (or not so quietly) sourcing local, free-range, sustainable foods. I think it would be fairly easy to pull off a month of clean eating in the city. I'll chew on this idea a little longer, but it's definitely something I want to pursue.
I'm worried, of course, that they won't like it. That I've been hyping it up to everyone. But honestly, I'll just let the produce do the talking, and I'm sure it'll be fine.
I was hoping to pull my roommate into sharing my CSA with me this year, but it looks like my roommate may or may not be with us this summer. So...I've decided that instead of being overly ambitious, I'm going to sign up for just one partial share ($375 for 22 weeks of a larger-than-half-of-a-regular-share) of vegetables. I wanted to try the eggs, fruit, or chicken because it looks so good and I want to support Free Bird Farms. But I didn't know what the best option would be and I was scared being overwhelmed by Foodmageddon again.
I can polish off fruit quite happily and easily on my own, but I like the idea of free range, organic (not certified, but raised organically) chickens and eggs, and I wanted to give it a go at home, rather than relying on super duper expensive fancy places that I like to think about eating at because heaven knows I'd never be able to take myself there without feeling awfully guilty about how I'm prioritizing my spending. T_T
I digress. I ended up deciding on the chicken share. Why? Eggs are perishable but these chickens are frozen. Plus, they seemed like a slightly better deal. $90 for a dozen eggs a week comes out to a whopping $4.09 per dozen eggs. That's a lot and I am not quite sure the difference in taste and quality would be worth it. I snooped around and the prices for free range, organic eggs are anywhere from $3.50 to $5.50 per dozen in NYC. Regular eggs are $$2.00 - $3.00 a dozen. While it would be nice to have eggs with beautiful, rich, nutritious orange yolks, I just don't want to commit to a full season right now. I guess the humane treatment of chickens is another factor, but on this point, I'm indifferent, since chickens raised for meat also face the same issue of humane treatment. The deciding factor for me was just that I don't eat a lot of eggs to begin with and they are fairly perishable.
On the other hand, I can get 12 chickens for $180, which comes out to about $15 a chicken, or $3.75 a pound. Although pricey, I did some investigating online and in stores, and this is actually fairly reasonable for a free-range, organic chicken. Normal chickens go for a lot less - something like $4 to $8 per whole 4lb chicken. The price markup for free range and organic chicken is a lot higher than it is for eggs. Why do I bother buying free range and organic then? It freaks me out that I'm eating chicken meat laced with antibiotics and hormones. I don't know. I don't like it. Plus, I've seen the chickens being raised for meat and eggs at Free Bird Farm and I can definitively say these chickens were raised happily. I can't say the same for the chickens I buy at the store, free range and organic or not. Finally, chickens can be frozen. They will keep for up to a year in my freezer. This gives them a significant advantage over eggs.
And I know $15 per chicken is a lot, but I know how to stretch my chickens. I can easily, easily, make at least 5 or 6 meals out of one chicken. Roast chicken for two meals with a side of veg, chicken over rice or chicken with pasta or even chicken salad sandwiches can make another two meals, and the leftover chicken bits and bones makes for at least two meals of chicken soup. I can add noodles, rice, or potatoes to the soup to instantly make it more filling. The price breakdown comes to about $2 to $3 per meal for the chicken. Rice, vegetables, noodles, potatoes, and pasta are super cheap, so the total cost of a full meal would break down to less than $5. That's a price I'm willing to live with, especially since I don't actually eat meat that much anymore, meaning my other meals are much cheaper than that. And I can rest easy, knowing what I'm putting into my body, how the chickens were raised, and who I'm supporting with my $. This makes me happy.
*Caveat: I don't know how "green" or local my chicken is, since I presume Free Bird Farm had to take the birds to be processed and frozen at a butcher plant, and I have no idea how far away that plant is, but I'm okay with that. This is a better option to me than what I can find in my supermarkets.
Why didn't I opt for both chickens and eggs? Quite simply: I can't eat that much. I think it's better to buy only what you need than to oversupply and waste food. Less food, more quality. In fact, I think 12 chickens is more than I can handle, so I convinced my friend to share some of the chickens with me. In exchange for buying 3-6 chickens off of me, I've agreed to teach him how to cook the chickens and pass along any excess produce, which I'm more than happy to do. Community building with CSA food! :)
All this thinking about local, organic, free-range, etc. made me wonder about all the other food I eat. I want to live better and I am considering kicking off a month of clean eating, where I restrict myself to only eating sustainably produced/harvested food, with an emphasis on organic produce, free range and hormone/antibiotic free meats, and wild-caught fish. And, of course, trying to support local farmers where and when I can.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of restaurants and grocery stores that are quietly (or not so quietly) sourcing local, free-range, sustainable foods. I think it would be fairly easy to pull off a month of clean eating in the city. I'll chew on this idea a little longer, but it's definitely something I want to pursue.
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