time to work on that grocery bill y'all

Now that I'm not going back to work, we're on a quest to save a bit of cash here and there. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, our biggest bill after our mortgage is our grocery bill and I'm determined to get it under control. Mark and I sat down on the weekend to look at our budget and I told him I don't want to spend any more than $200 a week. This still may seem like a lot for some, but our current grocery bill is way more than that I'm telling you! Small steps at a time people!

So, every week I get a veggie box delivered to my house which is about $50, but I wanted to take a trip to the Liberty Village Farmer's Market to see what I could get for the $20 I had in my wallet. I LOVE farmers' markets, however many of them in the city don't offer organic fruits and veggies. Liberty Village does. In fact, the majority of the vendors on site this past Sunday were offering pesticide-free and organic food. Bliss!

The pic above shows what I got for $20.50: kale, beets, peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini. I really wanted some of the fries they were making on site - they were peeling the potatoes right there! - but I didn't have any money left. Oh well.

So the haul I brought home is about the same amount of veggies I get in my box. Mind you, the box also comes with fruit and eggs however I pretty sure I can get those at the store for less than $30!

Here are a few snaps of the market. I'll definitely be making a weekly trip for the rest of the summer.

So tell me: How do you save a buck?

a little story about local food

This post is pretty local to Toronto so I apologize to anyone reading elsewhere, but I received an email last week telling me about FoodStory, a new food delivery service that allows people who want to eat locally in Toronto, but are too busy to make it to the farmers’ market each week, to purchase their fresh fruits and vegetables (meat and dairy are coming in the next few weeks) online. The fruits and vegetables are delivered straight from the farmers’ market to your front door. 

So far, FoodStory has been joined by the Leslieville Farmers’ Market, the SickKids Farmers’ Market and the Regent Park Farmers’ Market, but the company hopes to one day work with every farmers’ market in the city.

I think this is an excellent idea especially if you don't have time to get out to the various markets. Weekdays are usually out of the question for me to get out and weekends are typically packed with other activities to make it out to the local markets.

Even though I was sold on the idea, mainly because of this cute video, I still wanted to know how this was any different from getting a typically fruit and veggie box.

My contact Damian had the answer: "We source directly from the farmers' market. Along with the small profiles we will have on the ordering page, we are currently building more in depth profiles of each farmer/vendor/producer at the market (which you will soon be able to refer to on our site) so you know exactly who and where your food is coming from. 

"Also, because we source from the markets, we are not mostly local (typically veggie boxes turn to food from other countries in the off-seasons), but rather entirely local. The food is also as fresh as it possibly could be. We don't keep an inventory, so the food we deliver comes directly from the market. It literally couldn't be fresher.

"Lastly, and most importantly for our consumers is the level of customization you receive. Firstly, we will not charge you to customize your box. We will suggest a box for you at the beginning of the week with what is seasonal, but you then have the ability to pick and choose from the wide array of selection at a market. Assume only 10 vendors attend a market, and each brings only five products, you then have the option to choose from 50 different products. Because we don't keep inventory, we can advertise everything from the market for sale."

FoodStory started delivering this past weekend so they're up and ready to go. Check out the Website and let me know what you think of the idea. As an added bonus, the organization is offering a free delivery with your first order. Just plug in LEALOU to your order when you check out.