Leftovers...Kinda Sorta, But Not Really

I find it amusing that the food supply system we've created has gone to such great lengths to make sure that nothing is "seasonal" anymore, only to turn around and make various items artificially seasonal to suit the industry's own purposes (and pocketbooks).

For example, why is soda, a completely manufactured product, half price during the summer months?  Why is it that turkey and ham are more than 75% off during the winter holidays?

The answer lies in marketing, of course.  Products like these are known in the business as "loss leaders."  A store will choose a product, in this case one you'll need for your holiday or seasonal gathering, and sell it at cost or even at a loss.  They know that once you get into the store, you're going to round out the meal or the weekly grocery list with items that still have high mark-ups.

And all this brings me to the subject of corned beef.  I confess, I did not make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day.  It's not that I wasn't feeling festive.  It's that I'm the only one in the house that will eat it.  So instead, we went to a restaurant where my wife could chow-down on a nice grilled chicken breast and sip green beer while I enjoyed my corned-beef.  Win-win, except for the leftovers.  Oh, but there WILL be leftovers.

You see, I'm not shy about still taking advantage of these loss leader deals.  The next day, I marched right into the store, snatched-up two good-sized pieces of corned beef, headed home and stuck them in the slow cooker.  I then broke it up into pieces and froze it for months worth of breakfast meat, tasty sandwiches, and delicious home-made corned beef hash.  Mmmm...

(Tonight's dinner...a corned beef sandwich)

And I don't just do this in honor of St. Paddy.  Around Christmas and Thanksgiving, I stock-up on Turkey or Ham (who can beat 19 to 25 cents a pound?!?).  Sometimes, I keep it frozen whole and other times I roast them up, slice or de-bone, and re-freeze to be used in other meals like soups, stews, stir-fries, brunch--you name it.  You can really get some great deals this way.

Is "Made in China" Always Bad?

If you've been reading my blog for awhile or you know me personally, you know that I fully support the "locavore" movement. I truly believe that it's important not only to source your food from local sources, but it's important to support and buy from locally owned businesses, use local tradesman, and in general, be a good steward of your community.

I'm not exactly Anti-Walmart or Anti-Target, but I do know that if you don't spread your purchasing generosity around, eventually all we'll have is Walmart and Target and having choices, particularly healthy ones, is what being American is all about.

That said, I was reading a blog post over at Not Dabbling in Normal the other day and one of the commenters was on her soapbox about the whole "Buy American" movement and basically making it sound like Asian countries were nothing blocks and blocks of big 'ole sweatshops filled with poorly-treated people who are overworked and paid very little for the sole purpose of supplying goods to us rich Americans. Okay, I'm paraphrasing heavily--no disrespect to the commenter intended. Her argument was actually excellent.

Her excellent point got me thinking about the two months I spent living in Thailand while doing a school-related project. During my time there, I met a lot of really wonderful, hardworking folks who were making a living growing, manufacturing, or packaging products bound for America and they weren't all being treated poorly. In fact, many were what we'd call, "small business owners," and they'd be lost if they didn't have the American market to sell to. The reason is that many of these underdeveloped Asian countries don't have a middle-class. When you don't have a middle class, you don't have a market for mid-range cost items. It's really just that simple.

For example, each day I would walk home after work and I'd pass by a building where the family lived upstairs and worked downstairs, essentially out of their garage, cutting, sewing, and screen-printing t-shirts. The entire family helped-out when they could--even the little ones. If we suddenly stopped buying all of our T-shirts from Thailand, families like this all over the country would be out of the job.

Another example was a family in the hill villages who had a small sawmill as part of their home. They had this big blue tarp out in front with small slivers of sticks in it that I couldn't immediately identify.
If you guessed chopsticks, you're right! This family home in a very rural area of the country where they often have no indoor plumbing and in some cases, no electricity, is a chopstick factory.

Not far from the chopstick factory was a small family farm that grew rice.
While they were probably primarily "subsistence farmers," meaning that they mostly grow food that they need in order to eat, many sell the excess product when they have an exceptionally good harvest and use that money to supplement their food supply or pay for gas for the family motor cycle. That's right...no mini-vans. If these families had vehicles at all, they might have a small motorcycle.

A fourth example is a woman who was sitting in a store front, minding the store. In-between helping customers, I noticed that she was wrapping small plastic toys in plastic bags and getting them ready for shipping. They were the types of trinkets you might find in the Oriental Traders catalog or inside of a Happy Meal. She probably gets a few pennies for each one she packs and uses that to supplement the income from the store.

I don't have a photo of her, but she was a very sweet lady and by no means did she look unhappy with life. She even helped me out with my Thai language skills a bit, getting a kick out of how bad I was.

Now I'm not saying that sweat shops don't exist. I'm quite sure they do and I'm quite positive that the likes of Walmart buy from them on a regular basis--even own some of them. However, the sweatshops are giving all of these independent folks a bad name. These people are working as hard, if not harder, than your local farmer or your local craftsmen, and they need our market to sell to just as badly. If we all stopped buying foreign-made things, these families would be out on the street.

So next time you hear someone ranting away about a "Made in China" label, remind them that China, or Thailand, or Indonesia, or anywhere else, all have hardworking small family businesses too and that they rely on us as much as we rely on them. Maybe one day, we'll be able to distinguish between cheap factory-made products and products made by overseas artisans and small businesses. In the mean time, don't be afraid to grab one or two items from the big box stores. You may be helping out someone like this.

Social Responsibility: What's the Real Benefit to Shopping Locally?

This post is one of a series I've been writing tagged as "Social Responsibility" The series focuses on eating and shopping locally, choosing healthier food sources, supporting your local economy and merchants, and learning to do all these things without hurting your budget. I hope you enjoy the posts.

One of the things I've been trying to do more lately is shop locally. In his book, Food Matters, Mark Bittman says something to the effect that, if you have a choice, choose locally grown organic food first, non-organic locally grown food second, organic non-local food third, and conventional food when you can't get the other three.

Why? A few reasons, actually...

Environmental Impact
Moving our food around the country can actually have a larger impact on the environment than chemical fertilizers. Think about it. Huge factory-owned farms, even organic ones, produce our food in the warmer regions of the country (or even outside of the country). These huge farms have enormous machines pumping diesel fuel into the atmosphere to grow, pick, and then process the crops. Once they're processed, they have to be shipped somewhere via train, truck, or plane, burning even more fossil fuels. Then, they enter the "megamart," big grocery stores that also have high carbon footprints and lots of waste because of the sheer volume of product that moves through the stores. In the end, when you buy from a local source, be it a farmstand, farmer's market, or even a locally-owned grocery store, you're cutting out all that transportation and carbon overhead.

Quality and Traceability
When you buy locally, you may even get to know the farmer who grew your product. Even if you don't, you know the product probably wasn't picked before it was ripe and that it probably is fresher, will last longer, and will taste a lot better.

Supporting the Local Economy
In today's economic mess, we need to support not only our little local stores, but that "Made in America," stamp that you see oh so rarely these days. We've gotten so involved in the "global economy," that it seems we've forgotten how to make stuff ourselves. By buying locally, or even American-made products over foreign or long-distance products, you help create demand within that industry and it will ultimately end-up in job creation and prices more comparable to the nationally or globally produced items.

So next time you're out shopping for groceries, head on over to the locally owned grocer or the farm stand instead. Even if you can only afford to pick-up a few items there or go every third shopping trip, you're still doing something good for your community, the country, and the planet.

Product Review: Jif Natural Peanut Butter

We all know that you can buy all-natural peanut butter in a tub at the health food store or "Teddy" brand peanutbutter in the megamart. However, most of us grew-up with the sweetened, creamy store brands that don't separate into oil and peanuts when left standing.

Jif recently came out with a "Natural" peanut butter product that I find as-good as regular Jif if not better.

Taste & Appearance: The taste, as I mentioned, is as good if not better than regular Jif. If your kid's palate is good enough to tell the difference, I'll be very surprised. It won't separate like other natural peanut butter but it will get a little glossy on top when left sitting at room temperature. A quick stir of the knife helps before spreading it.

Ingredients: The ingredients are all readable and reasonably healthy. In order to keep it from separating, they use some trans-fat free relatively healthy oils in the blend. The first ingredient is peanuts and it's sweetened with cane sugar and molasses instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

I highly recommend adding this product to your pantry.

Product Review: Heinz Organic Ketchup

I think I mentioned awhile back that I bought a bottle of Heinz Organic Ketchup, a new product the manufacturer has come out with to feed the organic and anti-high-fructose-corn-syrup movement. We've now been eating that ketchup for a couple of months and I'm happy to say the product exceeded my expectations.

Taste: In a side-by-side comparison, it tastes incredibly similar to the original product. I doubt any ketchup-loving kid would notice if you swapped it out. The color of it is a bit darker and the texture is a little less glossy, but not in a bad way. I personally thing it tastes better.

Ingredients: Heinz didn't just cheat here and use organic tomatoes with their regular recipe. Every ingredient on the label is a vegetable and it's sweetened with organic sugar rather than corn-based sweeteners. They get extra points for this.

Recommendation: I highly recommend this product. It's about 50 cents to a dollar more than their regular ketchup but it's well worth the price. Pairs just as well with tater tots and chicken fingers as the original recipe.

Popcorn Update

In my post the other day about the Locally Grown Popcorn, I promised a update once I popped it...



As you can see, it popped-up quite normally. And, with a little butter and some salt, it tasted great! Maybe a little more flavor than store-bought.

It strikes me odd that we've let something even as simple as popcorn go by the wayside in terms of flavor and quality. The stuff in the microwavable bags just tastes awful. I've never been able to get used to the chemical after-taste of whatever it is they put on it. Perhaps I should share my recipe for old-fashioned stovetop popcorn. It's cheaper, healthier, and requires no special equipment.

Stovetop Popcorn

A heavy-bottomed sauce pan with a lid and a long handle
About 1/2 cup of popping corn
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
table salt
2-3 tablespoons real butter

1) Add just enough oil to the pan to coat the bottom. Place three popcorn kernels in the pan, cover, and place it over high heat.
2) As soon as all three kernels pop, remove the pan from the heat. Add enough kernels to form about a single layer on the bottom of the pan. Quickly replace the lid and place it back on the burner.
3) Gently shake the pan to toss the kernels every few seconds. Once kernels start to pop, reduce the heat to medium-high and toss vigorously over the burner to prevent burning.
4) Once the popping begins to slow-down, remove the pan from the heat and crack the lid open slightly to allow steam to escape (but not popping corn!). Let the popping subside.
5) Pour hot popcorn into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt.
6) Place butter in the hot pan and swirl to melt it without turning it brown. Place pan over still-warm burner if needed. Once melted, pour the butter over the popcorn and toss well with your hands.
7) Serve, preferably while watching a great movie.

An Interesting Find: Locally Grown Popcorn

Last week, I was prowling about the farmer's market and I happened upon a table that was selling stalks of locally grown popcorn. I remembered reading a post over at the Chiot's Run about growing popcorn I'd been intrigued. I'd never put much thought into how the dried little kernels made it from a stalk into the package. So, I snatched-up a few stalks.

As I paid the woman, I asked if there was anything special I needed to know about popping them.

"Oh, you just scrape them off," she said as she mimed a scraping motion, "and pop them in a pot with some oil like usual."

As it turns out, popcorn starts its life much like sweet corn. The farmer then pulls the husks back at the end of the season and allows them to air-dry on the stalk, hoping birds don't start treating the field like their own personal buffet.

As it also turns out, the scraping of the kernels is not quite so easy as the woman made it sound. Well, not all that easy in a condo, at least. As you scrape, either with your fingers or something like a knife, the kernels pop out and probably a quarter of them land everywhere but in the bowl. I'm still finding them all over the dining room. :-)

I now have a small container of tiny kernels sitting in the pantry, waiting for a a good movie to arrive from Netflix. I'll be sure to post some photos of the popped corn when we get around to making it and let you know how it tasted.

An Online Farmer's Market?

This morning, my wife found the site www.VeggieTraders.com. The basic premise behind the site is that if you have a backyard garden, you can sell, trade, or give away your excess produce (within the limits of local tax and agriculture laws). Think of it as FreeCycle mixed with eBay mixed with a Farmer's Market, but for home gardeners.

I signed-up and checked it out. Unfortunately, there's nothing within 100 miles of my home, which is probably due to the facts that it's not really harvest season in the Northeast and that the site appears to be very new (copyrighted in 2009). In fact, there was only one entry within 40 miles of my parents' winter home in Florida either, so I'll bet it's the newness more than anything.

Nevertheless, I encourage you all to check it out and pass word onto your friends. It looks like a really good idea if it takes off. I'd personally love to find some good local produce for better prices than the Farmer's markets.