How Do I Eat Local?

By Cherilyn DeVries

Local food fans, rejoice!

It’s the time of year when farmers’ markets in our area are bursting with a huge variety of fresh produce that was grown within an hour of the Gallatin Valley. Through September, it doesn’t get much better than this for local flavor. If you’re looking to make local meals a habit, now’s the time.

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but choosing local food makes such a huge difference. It’s healthier for your family, uses less oil, produces less waste, and supports working families rather than big industry. Every little change makes a big impact. Here are some ideas to help you eat local.

But where to start?

It’s one thing to see a pile of greens and another to know how to cook them in a way the satisfies your family. Don’t panic. Take it one step at a time. My own transition from industrial grocery store fare to fresh, locally-produced food came one decision at a time. I chose one item that my family ate frequently and bought that instead of another processed product in a brightly-colored package. That led me to another local option, and another, and another. Now I’m a local food geek, and I love it!

Don’t be a perfectionist

All of the localvores I know, even the hard-core ones, make exceptions in their diets for some favorite foods or have a few lovely compromises. Every year about this time, I look for sales on Washington or Oregon blueberries, buy a couple of cases, and pack them in quart-size plastic bags and freeze them. They’re such a treat in smoothies during the winter, and I’m not tempted to buy fruit from South America. In other words, local doesn’t have to fall into a tightly constrained definition. Produce from two states away is far better than stuff from across the ocean.

Keep it simple

I’ve found that using some rule of thumb, like shifting $10 or $20 a week from my food budget to local choices helped me make better food choices. Another idea might be the Co-op’s initiative to eat 5 locally-grown items each day. While goals like this might sound daunting at first, they help focus the options, and after a few weeks, become very manageable.

Five-A-Day Options

Here are a few suggestions for simple meals using local ingredients that you can eat every day.

Breakfast

• Smoothies with Flathead cherries. I make mine with homemade yogurt, which is pretty simple to do.
• Farm eggs, scrambled, sunny-side or hard-boiled
• Local bacon and sausage
• Toast with local bread and jam
• French toast with local eggs and bread
• Waffles or pancakes with Montana-grown flour

Lunch

• Sandwich with local bread (Co-op bread is organic, baked locally with local ingredients and affordable!)
• Chicken salad with local chicken and greens
• Dal made with Montana-grown lentils from Timeless Natural Food
• Quesadillas with Lifeline cheese, Billings-made Trevino’s Tortillas and local beef, topped with locally-made salsa (The Co-op has Senorita’s or Hot Mama’s).
• Hummus with chickpeas

Snacks

• Local cherries
• Peas
• Carrots
• Cookies made with local honey and flour
• Crackers with local goat cheese (try Amaltheia Goat Cheese from Belgrade)
• Smoothies (local raspberries are a great ingredient)

Supper

Rather than rattling off a series of recipes, leaving you and me overwhelmed, let me offer this suggestion: look at your family’s favorite recipes and look for local options for the main ingredients. I’ve even made pizza a mostly local meal with Montana-grown flour, basil, mozzarella and sausage. If you eat meat, Montana has many, many excellent local products. For vegetarians, look for Montana grains and an abundance of veggies from local growers.