Something I am still struggling with is avoiding waste of all that good food. I’m not very organized when it comes to planning out meals ahead of time (plus you never quite know what you will and won’t find at the farmer’s market). I’ve thought of keeping some kind of list on the fridge of what food I’ve got in there that I need to use up, so I don’t forget about what’s in the back, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Another great thing to reduce costs on ingredients like spices that you might not use a lot of: bulk containers from which shoppers can buy as much or as little as they please. If your local store doesn’t do this, encourage them to. (This might be easier with co-ops than supermarkets!) You’d be surprised how little a couple teaspoons of a spice can cost, even when it’s something like $35 per pound. Plus you can re-use containers and avoid the waste there.

As the only online directory for our community to connect to their farmers, it has become apparent that the first step to eating healthy and locally is to provide this information.

Think how powerful our food system would be if we all come together in our own small communities and neighborhoods to meet this challenge!

Point 8 you made I think is the most important. We can’t continue to buy cheap food, it is too costly in too many other areas of our communities- but we can save money in our overall budgets by making practical changes. And of course there are ways to pay more for some food (meats, cheeses, products where quality counts for many players), save on others (bulk dried beans, seasonal veggies from farmer’s markets), and grow our own- and still keep our food spending manageable.

This approach to eating well given the reality of tight budgets is extremely important. Props to you for putting it so clearly.