The berries that went moldy too quickly. The cheese that went bad hiding behind other ingredients. The leftovers you didn’t want to eat a third day in a row.
The average American household wastes several pounds of food each week — a trend that hurts consumers’ pocketbooks as well as the environment. In fact, an estimated 30-40% of the country’s food supply is wasted.
“I think there are ways to budget for local stuff.
Courtney Bourasaw, The Skagit Table
Maybe you don’t get everything locally,
but you do what you can.”
One solution? Start using more locally-grown food, say local food and sustainability proponents in Skagit County.
“It seems defeating to start on a household level because these are such large issues, but it really can make a difference,” said Morgan Curry, executive director of Skagit Gleaners.
For Courtney Bourasaw, local food is an investment in not only an individual consumer’s personal health but in the broader community’s well-being. She owns The Skagit Table, which offers ready-to-go meals made with local ingredients.
“I believe that food is meant to be eaten in season, and it’s healthier for us. When you eat local, you’re also eating seasonal,” Bourasaw said. “It’s also supporting our local economy.”
Eating locally offers a number of personal benefits, including fresher food that’s often tastier and less likely to have lost nutrients during transportation or been exposed to harmful additives to make it last longer. Thanks to the shorter supply chain with local food, it also tends to last longer and emit less greenhouse gases during transportation.
Behind the door to Skagit Gleaners is a trove of products that won’t go into the landfill thanks to the organization. From fresh bread, vegetables, fruits, and other useful products, shoppers who join Gleaners for $39/month get a wide variety of perfectly useful products that have been rejected by big chain stores for reasons like dented packaging. Photos by Nancy K. Crowell/La Conner Community News
Incorporating local food does, however, require a degree of flexibility. That can be a big reframing for most Americans, said Rachael Sobczak, a food educator and owner of Water Tank Bakery. The bakery exclusively uses locally milled grains, which Sobczak says requires adapting recipes almost constantly.
“A lot of American consumption habits include just kind of like eating what you want to eat because it’s convenient, you’re craving it, but then you may not necessarily be wanting it the next day, and there it goes in the garbage,” Sobczak said.
Washington State University Professor Diane Smith, whose work has focused on reducing food waste, said consumers can start changing their mindset to see food as a ”precious resource” by thinking through what it takes to get something to the store shelf.
“All of the water, the fertilizer, the labor, the transportation — all of those components that make sure that we get the food,” she said.
Local resources
Skagit Valley residents are particularly poised to tap into local food, thanks to the area’s vibrant agricultural industry.
“It is true that organic and local is more expensive if you’re just going and buying it from the food Co Op, but there are tons of farm stands and there are tons of opportunities in this area to just sidestep that,” Sobczak said.
Bourasaw also stressed the importance of relationships and community building when it comes to local food.
“It could be as simple as just buying your grains from a farmer, or buying your carrots and taking baby steps and connecting with farmers, going to a farmers market. ”
Genuine Skagit Valley is one way to tap into the valley’s agricultural resources. The organization offers a map with dozens of farm stands, farm-to-table restaurants, farmers’ markets, and more. The La Conner Sunrise Food Bank also distributes food from local farms.
Another resource is Skagit Gleaners, a community co-op that saves food that would be wasted from farms and grocery stores. Skagit Gleaners members can access the nonprofit’s free food and household item market as well as a food preservation library that includes items like dehydrators, canning supplies and juicers. Members must contribute $39 and 3.5 volunteer hours a month, but the organization also offers a free public food distribution every Saturday evening from 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.
The Skagit Valley Washington State University Extension offers a food safety advice-line, food waste recipes and resources, and community classes on cooking, growing your own groceries, and food preservation.
Finding balance
Incorporating local food and anti-waste practices can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor.
“Just be mindful and say, ‘Okay, well, this is the world that I live in, and just really appreciate the fact that you have that awareness,” Smith said. “As that awareness increases, then we start seeing, ‘Oh, this is where I’m wasting and then this is where I can make change.’”
Curry added that a good first step is taking inventory of your fridge and pantry and then keeping it clean so you know what you have. Meanwhile, Sobczak challenged people to incorporate local ingredients into base recipes that they’re already comfortable making (like a soup, pasta, or pizza).
She said that’s an easy way to use up in-season items you might not otherwise use. She pointed to kale raab, which is in season in Skagit Valley during the Spring, as an example.
“That’s not something that people really generally would know what to do with or enjoy because it’s kind of strong flavored and hearty,” she said. “But if you made a pasta, and then wilt the kale, it’s really easy to bulk out your meal with something nutritious without having to just sit down and eat like a kale caesar salad.”
Bourasaw said it’s also important to acknowledge that not everything can be bought locally and to take a look at whether items that may seem more expensive to buy locally are actually a better investment in the long run.
“I think there are ways to budget for local stuff,” she said. “Maybe you don’t get everything locally, but you do what you can. Maybe you reach out and connect with small farmers and get a 10-pound box of broccoli and process that yourself, or find ways to buy in bulk.”
Sydnee Chapman: Sydnee is a freelance and investigative reporter. Her work has appeared in various news outlets in the PNW and Intermountain West.
