FoodConnect and Clean Eating

A bit about clean eating....

One of my goals this year, and for about the last three years, has been to eat 'clean', whole foods. What started out as an experiment has well and truly become a lifestyle change for the better. There are no rules with this kind of eating except that the aim is for the produce I buy and eat to have undergone as little processing as possible. This means I rarely buy stuff in packets, when I eat meat it's always free-range, I make my own sauces, grow my own herbs and only buy artisan chemical-free bread. Yes it sounds wanky, it's generally more expensive but the benefits for me far outweigh any of those factors. When you think about the environmental impacts of large-scale food production coupled with the health implications of too many chemicals and saturated fats and our ever-growing culture of getting our vitamins out of bottles it makes sense to me to spend my hard-earned dollars on eating fresh healthy food. I have to say that since I've been eating like this I've been thinner, healthier and just generally more on the ball; my genetically gifted high cholesterol has also returned to 'normal' levels - no drugs required!

The magic of FoodConnect

For the past few months I have subscribed to a fantastic new venture known as FoodConnect. FoodConnect is a small, community based enterprise focussed on providing sustainable, locally grown, organic produce that is in season and has been bought at a fair price.

To begin I selected the size of my food box and how regularly I would receive it. There is a handy guide to help with this decision over at the website; at the moment I am getting a medium box every two weeks which is enough to feed myself and my partner for about a fortnight. Anything I don't get in my box such as eggs, milk, bread and cheese, I pick up from my local farmers markets or the Independent Grocers.

Unlike the weekly excursion to the supermarket, FoodConnect select the contents of the box for me and it generally only contains produce that is in season and organic. Every Wednesday (or Thursday depending on your location) I pop over to visit my 'city cousin' to collect my food box. Inside the box is a range of wonderfully fresh and organic produce that has all been locally sourced within a 5 hour radius of the city. This is, what I think to be, the most rewarding aspect of the FoodConnect program; encouraging local, organic farming and paying farmers a decent price for their produce. You can read more about why these types of ventures are so important over at the FoodConnect website, it is certainly an eye-opener and, mind the pun, definitely food for thought.

So what am I eating this fortnight?

Contents of the food box this week included:

• Kale - I've never used this before, have read lots about it and am looking forward to giving it a try


• Fat Goose Oranges - an old fave. I love these oranges so much I buy a bag almost every week at the farmers market to supplement my box order. Nothing beats freshly squeezed OJ.


• Pomegranate - I have a couple of cool recipes up my sleeve for this unusual fruit, one of which I will aim to share on here


• Cauliflower - Another winter staple, stay tuned for Turkey Meatballs!


• Bok Choi


• Carrots


• Apples - Pink Ladies!


• Mandarins - so many that I think I will have enough to make some fantastic mandarin polenta cakes


• Beetroot


• and much more! For the full detail on what's in the boxes each week check out the website.
  

Thanks and happy fooding!

:)