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Fresh and Frugal Feast: Seasonal and Local Eating on a Budget · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  I'm your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  If I stopped 10 people on the street and asked them what eating local meant
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  to them, I would probably get 10 different answers.
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  How one defines eating local might
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  influence how one perceives the cost-effectiveness of that eating pattern.
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  Today, my guest, LaToya Drake, Extension Specialist for Food Access and Equity,
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  is going to share about Fresh and Frugal Feast.
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  She's going to give us strategies for seasonal and local eating on a budget. Welcome, LaToya.
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  Hey, Mindy. I am excited to talk about eating local because it's that time of year.
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  It is that time of year, and local food always tastes better,
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  especially a good local tomato, right?
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  Oh, goodness. You hit on my very favorite one. I just had some tomato steaks
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  roasted under the broiler the other night, and I thought it was divine.
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  How do we define eating locally, and what does it mean to eat seasonally?
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  So, you know, most foods take about 1,500 miles to get to us,
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  and so that is definitely not local.
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  They're traveling a long way to get to us. So the common definition for eating
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  locally is something that travels within 150 miles or so.
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  And some people say eating local is eating within your state.
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  So eating something that is Kentucky proud or within 400 miles.
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  But we often consider in our state eating local to be Kentucky,
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  Kentucky proud produce, Kentucky proud beef, Kentucky proud chicken,
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  whatever that is. We want it to be grown in Kentucky.
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  And if we're going to eat seasonally, that means eating with the calendar. Right.
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  Seasonal foods are sometimes local, but local food is always seasonal.
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  And seasonal means eating or acquiring and consuming foods that are picked or
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  harvested at the same time of the year that they come to market.
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  So there's something seasonal every four months or so. We have a new season in Kentucky.
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  And that kind of helps us to have a varied diet so that we aren't eating the
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  same thing every day of the week, every night of the week, and finding some
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  new flavors to add to our palate.
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  It does help us have a varied diet, and it helps us to know what we're going
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  to eat. Sometimes I'm like, what am I going to eat?
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  But when we eat seasonally, we know that there's zucchini in season, so we can eat that.
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  And it's really a good idea, Mindy, to have a menu plan for each season.
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  You can throw in your spring recipes into a folder or throw in your fall recipes.
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  And it keeps you eating something different all the time and just keeps you
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  knowing what you're going to eat.
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  Exactly. And I guess that in addition to the benefits of having a varied menu,
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  there are some probably some benefits to our local producers as well.
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  Right, because they're going to make that money. And often some of us don't
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  realize that you can use your EBT benefits to spend money on local foods at
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  your local farmers markets and sometimes your local roadside stands.
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  And sometimes those markets double those funds.
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  So those farmers are able to get that money from EBT benefits.
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  And so that strengthens our local economy and also gives the farmers money and
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  also gives us healthy local foods.
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  And if they double those dollars, that means you've got twice as much buying
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  power to really put more produce on your table. Right.
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  I really appreciate the Double Dollars programs because it does give folks twice
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  the buying power for local fruits and vegetables and some programs offer for
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  twice the buying power for proteins as well.
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  Most of the Double Dollars programs focus on fruits and vegetables.
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  So what are some available Extension and Kentucky Nutrition Education Program
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  resources for growing your own food?
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  Yeah, so part of eating local is growing your own. And you might be intimidated to grow your own food.
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  So you don't have to start with a whole garden. You can start with a single plant.
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  So maybe you grow a tomato plant and encourage your neighbor to grow an eggplant.
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  Or you grow zucchini and they grow tomato.
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  And then you can trade in abundance. And you can learn how to do that by reaching
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  out to your local extension office.
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  They're going to have a variety of free resources for growing your own food.
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  And you can also check out planeatmove.com.
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  There's a link there that says grow on your own. And it has several resources,
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  publications related to growing fruits and vegetables.
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  Some of those are one pagers, Mindy. So they're really easy to read.
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  And you can see how to grow whatever you'd like to grow.
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  And grow that even in a container if you don't have a lot of space.
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  I was going to say, if you don't have a whole acre to grow, you know,
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  you might just need a really good sturdy pot.
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  Yeah, or a sturdy bucket. You can get a bucket from your local hardware store
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  and screw a hole in the bottom and you can grow a whole tomato plant.
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  You can grow a zucchini plant in a bucket. That sounds perfect.
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  So how are some ways that we can save money on foods that we can purchase locally?
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  So we did mention that many farmer's markets and roadside stands accept EBT,
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  so you can save money that way.
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  You can save money by going to your farmer's market later in the day to see
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  if there's any seconds or leftovers that the farmers want to sell for a discount
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  because they might not want to take it home.
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  And there's so many other ways to save money.
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  Another strategy that I appreciate with saving money on food and supporting
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  local farmers is a community-supported agriculture or CSA. And I'm doing a CSA
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  currently, Mindy, and I'm having more than enough food.
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  Like I've given food away to my mother. I'm giving food away to my grandmother
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  because there's just an abundance.
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  So what community supported agriculture is, is when you buy a share into a local farm.
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  So you pay a monthly share and they provide the produce that's available for that month.
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  They know that that money is getting to them so they can depend on that money
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  to pay their bills. And I know that I'm going to have whatever's in season come
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  to me so I can depend on that food to feed my family, right?
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  Exactly. So we might be a little late in the season to get a CSA.
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  But next spring, our listeners can look for CSA shares that are going to be
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  offered from their local farmers.
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  And they'll be able to buy into that CSA and know that, you know,
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  once the produce starts coming in, then they will be reaping the benefits of that service.
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  Yeah, and it's coming all seasons long. You're getting it from spring until
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  fall. So you're getting a variety of produce starting in the spring.
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  So what we're getting now in the summer is a little bit different than what
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  we were getting in the spring.
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  In the spring, we started with a lot of leafy greens.
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  We started with some herbs. We had some asparagus. And now in the summer,
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  I'm getting zucchini and I'm getting other kinds of squash, patty pan squash, tomatoes.
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  I'm getting some herbs still too, but I'm getting more of those summertime vegetables.
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  And I look forward to seeing what will come in the fall as well.
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  Well, and that also helps to make your choices a little bit more varied.
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  And so you're not having to try to figure out, I wonder what I should pick up
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  at the market this week. It comes directly to you then, right?
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  I'm only thinking about what kind of protein I'm going to put with that vegetable,
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  like how I'm going to pair that with some pork chops or chicken or whatever
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  I'm going to use or beans to make that a full meal for myself and my family. That's perfect.
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  Can you share with me about the resources that are available from Extension
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  to help make some delicious recipes from local foods?
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  Yeah, we have a variety of resources to help make gourmet foods with these local
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  fresh produce and foods.
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  And we have our famous, our greatest Plate it up! Kentucky Proud recipes.
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  There are so many of those recipes that focus on local foods.
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  And I really appreciate the Plate it up! Kentucky Proud website because you can
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  go to that and click the specific produce that you're interested in.
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  And it talks about nutrition facts, storage, selection, and preparation.
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  So it can give you ideas on how to use fresh local foods.
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  And then not only does it have that, it has several recipes for different food types.
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  And we're always expanding those recipes and sharing those recipes.
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  And in addition to those Plated at Kentucky Proud recipes, there's almost 400
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  recipes at planeatmove.com.
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  And that's the Nutrition Education Program's public-facing website.
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  And those recipes are going to be registered dietitian approved.
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  They're going to meet certain nutrition standards. And many of those feature
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  our local produce and different types of meats, different types of vegetables.
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  You can search by category and check those out too at planeatmove.com.
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  In addition to those online resources, you can reach out to your extension office
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  and many of those are going to have free classes and programs where you can
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  learn how to use the foods that you have on hand, whether they're local, canned, whatever.
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  You can go and you can learn how to use foods at your local extension offices in those programs.
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  I love all of these resources that you have shared. And for the online resources,
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  we will link those in the show notes so that people will be able to click and find them.
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  If you need to find your local extension office, we will also link that in the show notes.
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  So as we wrap up, Latoya, any last thoughts on securing and using local foods?
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  Yeah, so remember that seasonal food is not always local, but local food is
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  always seasonal. So we should always be supporting our local farmers and eating
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  what we have on hand and use the Extension Office to make that happen for you and your family.
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  If you are just tuning in, you're listening to Talking FACS,
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  and we're available wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local Extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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  Music.