Fresh Food

[Kestra]

I was visiting the grandparents-in-law this weekend and spent some time on their farm in Michigan. We ate dinner with them every night and I can't remember the last time I had such delicious food. All the meat, eggs, veggies, etc were all fresh and wonderful.

I never knew that sort of thing could make such a big difference. We brought back some sweet corn with us and I have found myself choosing that over chocolate! What is this magic?

Where do the rest of you buy your food from? Have you found it to make much of a difference? I was just thinking, if all the ingredients I used tasted this good, I would probably be eating a lot healthier in general. I'm going to be so sad once I use up all the food we brought back and I have to go the local stores here again.

 

[Canadave]

Is there a farmer's market in your town? You can always buy food there, if there is.

 

[RoJoHen]

Fresh fruits and veggies can be really awesome. There's nowhere around here (that I know of) that sells them, but I've also never really looked.

I love me some sweet corn, though I have absolutely no idea how to cook it properly. My mom usually boils it, but from what I'm told you lose a lot of the flavor that way.

 

[JuanBolio]

I'm not listening to you. I just ate a frozen family-sized General Tao's Chicken and some imported German candy bars, and I'm feeling pretty good about life without freshness.

 

[SmoothieX]

Where do the rest of you buy your food from?

I just go to the Stop & Shop by me. They've got pretty good produce.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yeah, fresh vegetables and fruits can be almost intoxicating when you are addicted to processed food. I find that a salad made up of wholly fresh vegetables can more than energizing than an energy drink.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I grow some of my own vegetables - mainly tomatoes, pak choi, lettuce and some herbs. All are much nicer than what i can buy in the supermarket.

 

[SmoothieX]

Yeah, fresh vegetables and fruits can be almost intoxicating when you are addicted to processed food. I find that a salad made up of wholly fresh vegetables can more than energizing than an energy drink.

I agree, the closest thing I get to processed veggies is a bag of frozen peas or a can of beans. We get all fresh stuff and basically nothing processed or prepackaged.

As my wife puts it: "You only really need to shop the perimeter of the supermarket."

Which if you think about it is generally produce, meats, dairy, and bakery. Beyond that we really only hit the canned aisle and baking goods aisle.

 

[Triskelion]

Yeah, fresh vegetables and fruits can be almost intoxicating when you are addicted to processed food. I find that a salad made up of wholly fresh vegetables can more than energizing than an energy drink.

I agree, the closest thing I get to processed veggies is a bag of frozen peas or a can of beans. We get all fresh stuff and basically nothing processed or prepackaged.

As my wife puts it: "You only really need to shop the perimeter of the supermarket."

Which if you think about it is generally produce, meats, dairy, and bakery. Beyond that we really only hit the canned aisle and baking goods aisle.

Oh! I thought she was talking about dumpster diving

 

[SmoothieX]

That too! We found some sauerkraut in there last week that was once fresh cabbage!

 

[WillsBabe]

I've been trying to get around to making a friut and veg patch in my garden because I know that fresh veggies are just scrumptious! For a couple of years now I've been trying to get raised beds in. Maybe next year...

 

[Cakes488]

I was visiting the grandparents-in-law this weekend and spent some time on their farm in Michigan. We ate dinner with them every night and I can't remember the last time I had such delicious food. All the meat, eggs, veggies, etc were all fresh and wonderful.

I never knew that sort of thing could make such a big difference. We brought back some sweet corn with us and I have found myself choosing that over chocolate! What is this magic?

Where do the rest of you buy your food from? Have you found it to make much of a difference? I was just thinking, if all the ingredients I used tasted this good, I would probably be eating a lot healthier in general. I'm going to be so sad once I use up all the food we brought back and I have to go the local stores here again.

Oh it does and there is nothing like fresh from the farm. There are plenty upstate -- they even butcher their own meat and my friend got some dead lamb recenlty...ugh. I stuck with the veggies and I bought some delicious homemade drinkable yogurt. The ingredients are: Pasteurized whole cows milk, maple syrup, blueberries and yogurt. Period and amen.

 

[judge alba]

grow our own veggies like spud, runner beans cabbage onions and the like. they taste a dam sight better then the supermarket ones.
though my 'boss has said a definite no to having chickens in the garden appaerantly the neighbours wouldn't be happy. mind you they werent happy when i kept a donkey in the garden for a few days.

 

[Kestra]

Is there a farmer's market in your town? You can always buy food there, if there is.

Unfortunately, not very often. I've tried it a few times and the produce is better, but still nothing compared to what we had from the farm this weekend.

 

[Naira]

Fresh stuff is the best. I know lots of people here that grow their vegetables themselves. They taste so much better than the ones you get from the market. As for the chickens mentioned above, if you are lucky enough like my mom to have a friend send over a "home-grown" one once in a while, then you can make great food!

Try to find a local fruit market. I think that is your best shot. And try to buy seasonal stuff that are grown naturally and not by injecting into them god-knows-what. Tomatoes are naturally grown during the summer, grapes at early Autumn etc. Seasonal stuff are more likely to be naturally grown.

The food I have eaten while traveling to other countries usually does not taste as good as it does here. I think the worst of all was in the USA. Sadly, there was nothing that tasted "fresh" or "natural".

 

[SeerSGB]

Fresh veggies superior, can veggies inferior.


I love it when I get the chance to hit the farmer's market or the produce warehouses-- don't get much chance to do that these days. If I can't get fresh, I'll go for frozen. And only use can as an absolute last resort, and then only if it's going into something that's going to be seasoned.

 

[JustKate]

Fresh fruits and veggies can be really awesome. There's nowhere around here (that I know of) that sells them, but I've also never really looked.

I love me some sweet corn, though I have absolutely no idea how to cook it properly. My mom usually boils it, but from what I'm told you lose a lot of the flavor that way.

No, no, no - not true. The secret is to not cook it very long. Really fresh, in-season sweet corn is so fabulous that it only needs about two, maybe three minutes, and it's done. Basically you're just getting it hot enough to melt the butter.

But actually, I don't boil it exactly. I bring the water to a boil, put the shucked and silked corn in the water, turn the heat off, put the lid on and let it sit. Just a couple of minutes.

But back to the OP, I buy fresh and local every chance I get. I confess that I don't do it for environmental reasons (besides, if I did that, how am I supposed to get oranges...and tea? Those are not Midwestern crops) - I do it for culinary reasons. It's just sooooooooo goooooooood!

 

[Timby]

There is absolutely nothing that beats fresh ingredients. Every so often, my wife brings home a box of Hamburger Helper or "Rice Sides" or some other pre-packaged garbage, and I'm tempted to divorce her on the spot. Luckily, where I am in eastern Iowa, we not only have a weekly Saturday farmers' market, but when the weather turns cold, we have a Winter Farmers' Market that runs from October until April. It's pretty great.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I enjoy my "farm dinners" while they last. Good corn, good vegetables, and yes, I eat the corn silk. I'm surprised people throw it out.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I enjoy my "farm dinners" while they last. Good corn, good vegetables, and yes, I eat the corn silk. I'm surprised people throw it out.

Aren't you picking it out of your teeth all night?