Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in houston, TX

going green on a budget: buying fresh, local produce at a farmer's market

April 13, 2009

Earth Day is just 10 days away! So this week I'll continue my series about ways your family can incorporate earth-friendly activities into your lifestyle.

Today, I asked a fantastic lady and lovely friend, Tiffany Tyler, who is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Central City Co-op, for her best ideas and suggestions about "going green on a budget."

She had some great ideas about how you can eat green and be frugal:

Green doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, a gradual adaptation of a green lifestyle can be both relatively painless and cost-saving. Here are a few ways being green saves you money:

• Buy in season. Most of us have grown up being able to get grapes and apples year round. Our kids love them, and it's easy to put them in the basket every week without thinking about whether it's the best produce for the money that week. Re-learn what seasonality means, and you'll make your produce dollar go further. I learned this year that both my kids love asparagus and sugar snap peas, and it's been cheaper than grapes.

• If you are worried your kids might not like an in-season food, take them to the farmer's market and let them meet the farmer and taste the different fruits and vegetables. Let them meet the egg vendor and see pictures of his chickens. Let the kids ask questions! If they are curious about new food even before they taste it, it makes the eating so much more fun!

• Be positive and encouraging, and be ready to be surprised. From my summer running the market last year, I can tell you from direct observation that your child does model your behavior. If you say, "Well, I don't know...you probably won't like that..." Then they won't, even if it's the sweetest blueberry.  If you say, "Wow. I don't know if you'll like that. You've never had it before. Want to try it together and see what it's like?" Kids will often surprise you. Mine will eat kale, and I learned that by tasting with them. (Hint- Dinosaur Kale is awesome to look at and talk about. Bake it in the oven and call it homemade Veggie Booty.)

• Buy local where you can. This is important for so many reasons. Food that travels less is fresher and in better condition. It tastes better. From a carbon perspective, food that travels less is also significantly greener. Think about how far those Chilean grapes come, and how much fossil fuel it takes to get them here.

  Then think about the blueberries at the local farmer's market this June...that farmer lives in our community. He buys things here. He sends his kids to school here. He employs not only farm labor, but a bookkeeper, an accountant, a mechanic for his truck, and a vet for his farm animals (if he keeps any). Your grocery dollar supports him and a bunch of other people, not a corporate bottom line.

Tiffany had some other great suggestions of things to consider when trying to balance green living and your checkbook:

• Remember that here in Texas, produce from Mexico travels less distance than food from California or Florida. Bananas from Honduras are closer than apples from Washington State. That helps with your carbon footprint.

• Buy only what you will actually consume. That warehouse pack of cantaloupe really looks good, and per melon it's cheap, but it's not cheap if the last melon rots before you can eat it.

• Processed food is convenient, but it's expensive, and it's teaching your kids that food comes in a box, not fresh. And all that packaging isn't Green at all, even if you recycle it.

• Serve smaller portions of meat. Being a vegetarian is the greenest thing to do, but it's not for everyone. And kids know naturally that they don't need as much meat as you might be giving them. Give them lots of veggies and fruit they like at every meal and make the meat an accent. Yes, fresh veggies are expensive, but not as expensive as meat.

• Go organic where you can. It's better for the earth, cutting all those synthetic fertilizers that run off into streams and pesticides that kill butterflies and other beneficial insects. Organics in season, especially at your farmer's market, don't have to be expensive. Organic local fruit in season is cheaper than imported conventional fruit out of season.

So many of us dread grocery store trips with kids because it can be stressful, especially with kids begging for food we don't want to buy. Not to mention, I'm sure we've all had to deal with those tantrums.

But a Farmer's Market is a interesting and entertaining place. You can have an enjoyable and fun---even educational!---time with your kids, experimenting with food and supplying your family with what you need to eat. Buying in season will help you be green, healthy and save money.

Many thanks to Tiffany for her great ideas and tips! Her group manages Green Market, the Farmer's Market at Discovery Green in Downtown Houston on Sundays from noon to 4 pm. 

In conclusion, she said, "We invite you to come see what Green can mean in your life! We also run a co-op storefront in Montrose on Wednesdays featuring both local and nationally distributed organic produce. We are volunteer run (a great way to get involved with your kids!  Come work with us!) to help keep prices as low as possible. Each market day, we donate remainder produce to kitchens supporting Houston's homeless, because we believe that everyone in the community should have access to fresh, organic produce."