Balance of Food

Make the switch from grocery store eggs to eggs from local farmers

We've seen the memes about how expensive eggs have become of late. Supply chain issues, grocery store greed. You don't care why the price is going up; you just want the price increases to stop and maybe, perhaps go down in price.

You could say eggs are eggs-pensive. (ha ha)

I don't buy eggs that often. Then again, the price of the eggs I buy isn't being jacked up by supply chain issues and grocery store greed.

I buy my eggs at farmers markets: local, great quality eggs not affected by supply chain issues. Hens that are treated well and lay beautiful eggs. The price I generally pay may be shocking to some readers: $6-$7 per dozen. The price of a single egg — at $6/dozen — is 50¢ per egg.

If you buy grocery store eggs, you never thought about paying 50¢ per egg. Your argument before the huge price increases could be that people were idiotic to pay 50¢ per egg. They might pay $6 for a fancy coffee drink yet $6 is too much for a dozen eggs.

Simplifying dinner could start from breaking a couple of eggs

Is the cost of fresh produce worth the price?

Years ago, I wrote for Marketing News about a politician complaining about the cost of breakfast cereal. This was so long ago that Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was a representative in Congress before becoming a senator and the current Senate majority leader.

I joked about the Roseanne TV show suggestion of buying generic cereal and putting it into the brand name box. I broke down the cost of a 1 oz. serving to show the relative insignificant cost of a bowl of cereal.

An individual egg supplies fat and protein that is versatile and boosts nutrition whether the egg is a supporting player or the star of the dish. Good quality eggs are worth 50¢ per egg to you and the farmer.

Egg prices are up 60%. That’s absurd. People are paying up upwards of $6 and $7 for a dozen eggs.

Why? Corporate greed.

Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, is raking record profits — $198 million in its latest quarter.

That’s a 65% increase from a year ago.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 20, 2023

I have a vegan friend who posts a lot of vegan information on Facebook. She would gladly offer that you don't have to use chicken eggs as in the above examples. Avocadoes are a lot more expensive than bananas, if price is your primary objective.

Some of these methods require more time, such as the flaxseed and chia seed. If you live in a snowy, cold climate, a substitute can help if traveling to the store is uncertain. Flaxseed (4:1) and chia seed (3:1) are good Omega-3 sources.

You can still eat eggs and use these suggestions. My friend wants people to ideally go vegan while I suggest that omnivores come up with a nice balance. Baking is a great way to use a substitute while still having scrambled eggs. If you wonder why the blog is named BalanceofFood, this is part of our philosophy.

Egg recall proves food producers are 'too big to fail'

Food review: Just Crack an Egg

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Food inflation is a real factor in the United States and all over the world. Some products can be bought purely on cost while other products are worth more by paying more. Eggs would certainly qualify in the latter category. If you have a choice between paying $7.25 for a dozen regular eggs at a grocery store vs. $6 for local, better-grown farmers eggs, the latter choice is the ideal one on multiple levels.

meme credit: @carnivorecabal/Instagram/Gizmodo
Twitter capture: @RBReich
photo credit: Nana's Recipe Picks/Facebook

Shopping for vegetables is a reality, not a political stunt

Home-Ec was Episode 16 in Season 3 of Roseanne back in 1991. Roseanne ends up taking the home economics class Darlene is in to the Buy 'n Bag supermarket. Her tips are surprisingly sharp, including buying the generic cereal and putting the cereal into the name brand box.

The opposite end of that scale was watching Mehmet Oz shop for crudité in a video designed to show his "regular side" in his run to be the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania to replace Pat Toomey (R-PA).

Oz picks out store brand salsa and guacamole among his purchases, lambastes the price of said purchases, and blames the high food prices on President Joe Biden. Oz, as you may have guessed, is from the Republican Party, so he blames the current president, who is from the Democratic Party.

As we've learned in the 1970s, the president is not responsible for inflation, regardless of party. The companies who are making record profits off of inflation are much more likely to donate to the elephants (GOP) than donkeys (Dems).

"Guys, that's $20 for crudité and that doesn’t even include the tequila."

In the video, the vegetables add up to $10. Not all of that would go into a crudité. The guacamole was $4 and the salsa was $6.

If Oz really wanted to save money, he could make homemade salsa and guacamole. The taste would improve and you save money. Buying from local farmers markets ensure that the money would stay in Pennsylvania instead of buying a salsa from New York City.

In PA we call this a... veggie tray https://t.co/nDp0Uw27zd

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) August 15, 2022

Food prices were a concern even before the pandemic. Wages have been stagnant in terms of buying power for 40 years. Will Oz do anything about that? No.

Cheap, processed foods are often inexpensive compared to fresh produce in the supermarket. Will Oz do anything about that? No.

Food ads are dominated with relatively, unhealthy foods, while we, especially kids, don't see ads for fresh produce. Will Oz do anything about that? No.

You can reduce food costs despite inflation

Leaving avocados and oranges whole encourages learning about produce

Vending machines in France show new way to get produce from farmers

Showing kids that fruits and vegetables have merit through watching ads

"If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke and wouldn't be in the position of having to lie about it constantly," Rachel Tripp, Oz's senior communications adviser, said in a statement.

You would think someone working for a person who is an actual doctor would not be so inaccurate about health. Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor, is running against Oz on the Democratic side of the ballot.

Fetterman responded in a tweet. "I had a stroke. I survived it. I'm truly so grateful to still be here today. I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could *never* imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges."

Dine in restaurants when you feel safe, not because of a political stunt

Erin O'Toole, then leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has his own cheap, food-related political stunt last year. Half off food but only Mondays and Wednesdays for a month. Paying the full amount to find a safer place to eat vs. a risk with a small savings. 

O'Toole lost that election and was soon booted out as the party leader, not because of this political stunt. This notion of needing to pull cheap, political stunts generally comes from conservative parties. O'Toole stole this idea from the UK Conservatives. 

If John Fetterman was pulling a similar stunt, we would crack down just as tough. Democratic and liberal politicians generally want to help people through government action. The other side is the dominant force behind cheap political stunts.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Politicians of all stripes would benefit from a grocery store experience like what Roseanne gave in that episode. They should know how poor people actually shop. They aren't building crudité or even a veggie tray. They know their kids need nutritious food but aren't sure how to make that work, given the discrepancies at the grocery store. No political stunt will help them feed themselves and their kids.

photo credit: @DrOz
Twitter capture: @JohnFetterman

Summer 2022 notebook: Cracker Barrel outrage proves choice is always a good thing

MAGA on Cracker Barrel's racist & homophobic history: "Eh, that's ok. We like their food."

MAGA on Cracker Barrel serving Plant-based Vegan Meat: "Once you go woke, you go broke. I'll never eat there again."

I'm sorry, who are the snowflakes again? pic.twitter.com/gdLQrzupAr

— The Jewish Ginger Resister (@JewishResister) August 8, 2022

Your humble narrator is the one who goes down the grocery store aisle and says "we need more choices." Having few choices works only if what you want is among those choices.

Cracker Barrel decided to help those looking to eat less meat or no meat at all by serving "fake meat" options. The backlash from conservatives, who aren't known for their support of choice, was stupendous.

I grew up loving Bill Knapp's, a regional family restaurant. The menu had tons of choices. People love the au gratin potatoes. I never ordered them. I would tell people that they were good based on other people's perceptions, not mine.

Never got upset that this food item was on the same menu as whatever I ordered. Kind of sorry I didn't try them now that the chain no longer exists.

The conservatives who love Cracker Barrel aren't literally upset about the "fake meat" options. This is a political firestorm of people who feel this is a conspiracy against them and their beliefs. Their beliefs: meaning going against "liberal food."

I have generally avoided Cracker Barrel for its conservative values. I did find myself there in 2021 under unusual circumstances. The food (yes, I ordered meat) was pretty good and extremely bland.

I am a champion of not having food touch other food on a plate. Items on a menu don't touch each other.

Old enough to remember when some menus had a diet selection (cottage cheese, fruit). Never ordered from them. Never mocked anyone from ordering from the diet selection.

These conservatives could be afraid that if items are on the menu, they might be compelled to try them and becomes, brace yourself, liberals. Your humble narrator has tried them. They taste like bad fast food meat, which would fit in well at Cracker Barrel.

Eating plant-based burgers falls well within the spirit of Lent

Beyond Burger has a lot of ingredients but doesn't qualify as ultra-processed

Review: The Beyond Burger

We have poked fun at Americans who can't handle the simple concept of poutine, a Quebecois dish with French fries, squeaky white cheese curds, and gravy. They try different concepts, most of which are terrible. You can find "poutine" on some American menus but they have little resemblance to the actual dish.

The caramel popcorn (WTF) does come separately. This version contains red potatoes, cheese curds, pork lard, fried onions, pulled pork, and a signature maple and Amaretto sauce. Did we mention that the poutine is 1.2 kilograms (about 2.5 pounds)?

That description leaves out the word "gravy."

Montréal is the unofficial home of poutine. You can go to lots of places after the CFL (Canadian football) game and get a better poutine for a lot cheaper. You would not get a souvenir helmet.

The Montréal Alouettes got enough publicity for the $90 poutine, including this article. Go to Quebec and get the real thing. You can eat poutine for a week for less than $90.

2022 CFL Week 9 preview

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

We are at the tailend of National Farmers Market Week running through Saturday. Can't leave a notebook without a word on farmers markets. Like grocery stores, farmers markets are better suited for families than single people. Smaller fruits, such as berries, works well for a single person. Peaches, very much in season, can be intimidating in buying a whole box.

Know your farmer. We know our local farmer. They will sell you an individual peach for a smaller price. Peaches are a great summer fruit. If all you can handle is a peach at a time, you are better off than ignoring them because the box is too intimidating.

Be nice and polite. Know they won't pick one of the boxes on display. They weigh the boxes so they don't want to mess with that setup.

Farmers markets in 2022: Back to some sense of normal

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Summer lasts at least until the end of September in a lot of places. Enjoy food in the context of summer. Be more adventurous.

Twitter capture: @JewishResister
photo credit: @MTLAlouettes

Farmers markets in 2022: Back to some sense of normal

Your humble narrator still wears a mask at farmers markets. Just to be on the safe side. Plenty of vendors people wear masks. Some don't.

Farmers market veterans, those who have gone to farmers markets for years, maybe decades. They know prices can go up each year but only at the beginning of the season. Your local farmer is using more gas to bring you produce. Given the increase in the price at grocery stores, farmers markets are more of a bargain.

The asparagus may look similar to what you see in the grocery store. The food channels cry out about how good food should look. That doesn't apply to produce. You don't want the prettiest produce; you want the best tasting produce. Your local farmer has this.

One relic from the before time made its debut: the cooking demonstration. A scramble with duck eggs, mushrooms, and asparagus. The whole dish on toast points with a mini salad on top. Not normally a fan of food piled upon food, yet the combo worked and was delicious.

I learned some things, such as a scramble over high heat, cutting asparagus stems on the bias, and the pros and cons to adding liquid to your eggs before you start the scramble.

Buying produce is more fun when you have some idea what you will do with that food.

Make the move to bring containers to farmers markets

We wrote about this discovery in 2019. Bring your own container to the farmers market and save their container, reducing the clutter in your home. Weren't able to do this in 2020 and 2021. Back to doing this in 2022, especially helpful for strawberry season.

If you have pandemic brain, you might forget about your newly acquired fruit. One fewer task can make your day.

How sampling might look in a post-pandemic world

Haven't seen too much sampling at farmers markets in 2022. The local spiced nuts vendor has samples. Produce sampling is a trickier proposition.

As we've seen, some elements of life before the pandemic won't come back. Produce sampling may be one of those elements.

Tomato trust at a farmers market is a cherished responsibility

Touching tomatoes in 2021 was more accepted than in 2020. I've seen a sign or two about grabbing what you want to buy. We'll get a better idea once tomatoes are a regular part of the farmers market landscape.

The cruel irony of being able to touch inferior tomatoes in the grocery store was infuriating.

Respect vendors that restrict touching. For tomatoes, you might try a vendor who is more accommodating.

Add summer local fruit to your lemonade

The argument for freezing blueberries is that you can have summer fruit in the winter. The drawback is, once thawed, the fruit can be mushy.

A local store carried frozen fruit from my top fruit vendor well before the farmers market schedule kicked into gear. I was experimenting with a reduced sugar lemonade and used the frozen strawberries. To clarify, reduced sugar in our world means using less sugar with no substitutes.

The fruit freshness, even in frozen form, brings a vitality to the mixture. The idea is just enough sugar combined with the natural fruit sugars as a nice alternative to soft drinks.

Farmers markets in Year 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 farmers market update: What to do without winter markets

Use food education to help kids learn outdoors during a pandemic

Inside a farmers market in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Farmers markets in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

Buying honey in the grocery store is a crapshoot since you aren't always sure of getting 100% honey. Farmers markets have plenty of local honey that is actual honey. The cost may throw you off but the stuff is real and lasts forever. I started experimenting with tahini and honey as a sandwich filling, both of them from farmers markets. You can taste the difference.

I've seen bone marrow from one vendor; CBD oil from other vendors in 2022. If you have ancient visions of what a farmers market is all about, get thee to a farmers market in 2022.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Depending on where you live, your farmers market options can be rather different. Maybe you can get strawberries in late January or your farmers market has dates and figs. Maybe asparagus is the first sign of spring where you live.

Summer is the best time to check out a farmers market. Think of farmers market as value, not cost. Cutting out the middle person is what we think we are all about; farmers market do that and so much more.

photos credit: me

How sampling might look in a post-pandemic world

Saturdays used to be the worst time to be in a grocery store. The crowds challenged a claustrophobic person and a basket was a smarter choice than trying to navigate the aisles with a cart.

Saturday shoppers did get a bonus: free samples. Grocery store managers had good timing. Weary shoppers would be thrilled to set aside a few minutes to stand still and try a product.

Trader Joe's understood this concept: give samples of your products every day so a Tuesday afternoon trip was as relevant as a late Saturday morning visit. Some locations had a schedule outside so customers knew what was being sampled that day.

Grocery stores have now gone over a year without free samples. Trader Joe's has blocked off that area in their stores. The spaces feel like they belong in a museum.

Sampling has also disappeared from farmers markets. Sampling local produce is a joy. Trying something new can help you expand your food options.

The return to "normal" is gradual, depending on your definition. A return to sampling would be a canary in the coal mine as we get closer to the end.

Will sampling be the same for those handing out the samples and those taking them?

Farmers markets in Year 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

BalanceofFood.com temptations coverage

The people giving out the samples wear gloves. Some consumers may also wear gloves to take a sample. The pandemic shined a lot on germophobes.

You aren't likely to take a sample if you are wearing a mask. Some stores are already relaxed, provided you are full immunized. A less crowded store allows you more space to eat the sample.

Samplers might not return until they think the return will be worthwhile. We forget that while we love sampling, there is a science and profit to offering samples in the grocery store. They may find fewer people willing to give out samples.

Trader Joe's has a different perspective and set of numbers. They have a space within the store for the practice. They may being back sampling before individual grocery stores resume the practice. Grocery stores rent out space for companies to provide samples where Trader Joe's runs the samples.

Farmers market vendors used to have sampling. The return of sampling at farmers markets will arrive well after sampling returns to grocery stores. Sampling is more of a luxury for vendors with less financial incentive to return to that format.

Sampling will still have to wait when lots of "normal" things come back to society. You may not be a germophobe, but they will wait until some of the germophobes will be comfortable.

No one would have removed sampling without a pandemic. The law of humanity is the speed at which something is taken away is light years faster than the speed of its return to society.

photo credit: Instagram/traderjoesampleking

Farmers markets in Year 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic

This was the longest winter in terms of farmers markets since I have become a fan. The primary market didn't have an indoor winter version. The supplemental winter version of a farmers market moved around. Their last space was closer and prettier than a parking garage (first site) but didn't visit that as often for other reasons.

My local produce store became the catch-all where I bought food from local farmers, the de facto farmers market. In the winter of 2019-2020, I ran out of eggs. I went online to my favorite eggs vendor, ordered a dozen. She actually delivered them to my door but I could have walked less than a mile to the pickup spot.

When I ran out of eggs in the winter of 2020-2021, I didn't have that option since she went out of business during the pandemic. I bought eggs at my local produce store.

Last spring, the mad scramble was to find farmers markets. We were tracking individual farmers who made the 100-mile (each way) trek to deliver in a different manner than we were used to doing. Chicago has put in a delay that didn't make any sense since Evanston (suburb immediately to the north) started on time.

This year, the markets started at or near the original time. Farmers markets are not back to pre-pandemic form, even with vaccines.

Still have nightmares of the local farmers market where they insisted on spraying everyone with an unmarked bottle reportedly carrying hand sanitizer. The fake safety practice had long been reputed but the sudden change meant finding different markets. Here's hoping common sense kicks in for 2021 but not holding my breath.

Opening Day of the farmers market season had replaced the ritual of Opening Day for baseball. Baseball has hot dogs and apple pie but farmers markets have asparagus (definitely) and strawberries (sometimes).

"How was your winter? How are the crops going so far?" Standard questions in a normal opening day. "Hey, you survived. Good for you. Have you had the vaccine?" New questions for 2021.

2020 farmers market update: What to do without winter markets

Use food education to help kids learn outdoors during a pandemic

Add summer local fruit to your lemonade

Tomato trust at a farmers market is a cherished responsibility

Inside a farmers market in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Farmers markets in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

Food safety is a subject where we have written about extensively, the dichotomy of being over safe on such things as medium rare burgers and raw milk and under safe about certain ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup.

Customers have to be patient with how close they get and what they can touch. The idea of having them put you fruit in a resealable container is a year away. The fact that we can touch tomatoes in a grocery store but not at a farmers market is baffling.

Farmers markets will be cautious because we live in a cautious society. Farmers and their workers might be thrilled if people in 2021 are actually wearing masks as intended. The stress that farmer market customers have had to endure does not compare to the stress of the farmers and their workers. Considered essential but not always respected by the customers.

We always recommend people be nice to the vendors at farmers markets. Go above and beyond to be nice.

As the population of the United States becomes more vaccinated, restrictions might lighten at farmers markets. Hoping September is better than May in that respect. There are likely people who love farmers markets and yet are also anti-vaxxers, even if they seem incompatible.

You may not have to wear a mask but you should consider the vendors and other customers in mind. In our situation, a lot of the farmers come in from other states and their vaccination rollouts may be different than in your state.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

If you are looking for 2019 style farmers markets, think 2022. The 2021 version should get better as the summer progresses. Still better than the 2020 version.

photo credit: me

CBC Marketplace in Canada breaks down the nutrition in conventional vs. organic eggs

Eggs provide amazing nutrition, versatility, and taste for a relatively low amount. Somehow, the cost ends up being a factor, especially when measured as "mainstream" versus organic or similarly grown eggs.

A $1.80 difference in cost for a dozen eggs comes out to 15¢ per egg.

We are on the side of Team Organic or similarly grown eggs. Taste, quality, and fresh are advantages. "Mainstream" eggs aren't that fresh by the time they get to the grocery store. We would also argue nutritional advantages, including Omega 3s. The chicken's health and sanity, which we believe leads to better eggs, is highly important.

CBC Marketplace took a look at the nutrition stats for "mainstream" vs. big organic sources. They also looked at farm eggs vs. larger organic outlets.

"In Marketplace's test, organic eggs produced on small farms had more nutrients than the big-brand organic eggs sold at Canada's largest grocers under private labels and by two of the largest egg brands in the country."

The general consensus was that the nutrition of "mainstream" eggs and big organic companies were comparable. The organic eggs had a nutritional edge but within 10%.

You can read more analysis from the program on specific brands and comparisons.

We are not generally surprised by the Marketplace results. They were comparable to what we would have concluded without doing any comparisons. If you are making your conclusions based solely on nutrition, and cost is a concern, you have the numbers to justify your decisions.

This winter, I had to find a new source of eggs since my winter source went out of business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I found a different local source that has worked out well.

I haven't bought any eggs from a conventional grocery store in years nor have I purchased organic eggs from a large company in a long time. That may sound like snobbery. Perhaps. My reality is that I don't eat that many eggs. The last eggs I used were for a lime curd.

I will gladly pick cheaper options for some products where I don't see a significant issue in quality. That saved money allows me to make smarter choices in certain categories. Eggs is one of those categories.

Wouldn't pay twice as much as I pay not for my eggs. Glad I don't pay what Canadians pay for eggs (according to the numbers posted by Marketplace). Would rather give the money to local farmers.

Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management

Peterborough Farmers Market loses perspective on the value of farmers markets

Subway Canada chicken comes up short on chicken, according to CBC Marketplace

Egg recall proves food producers are 'too big to fail'

Balanceoffood.com Canada food policy coverage

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

As we noted earlier, "taste, quality, and fresh are advantages." There are dishes you can do with fresh eggs that you would be less likely to try without fresh eggs. In making fresh pasta and aioli, color, fresh, and taste would be crucial. If you are coloring eggs for Easter, the "mainstream" eggs would be useful.

Select what foods are important to you, for whatever your reasons might be, and invest well in them. Maybe you can sacrifice the cost of a high-price, extravagant coffee drink. Buying direct from a farmers market eliminates a costly layer by getting the eggs faster and fresher from the source.

Make your own best choices.

video and photos credit: Marketplace/CBC

Use your creativity to invent a new food during the pandemic

A topic of food conversation during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has been on recreating the foods you have missed. Most of my missing foods would be "cured" by an air fryer. I've also been missing fried clam strips. I swore those were in the frozen food section but haven't seen them.

Comfort foods reflect the past, the safety of the known. The unknown might be more fun where you can invent something new.

I learned about bagna cauda years ago from Nigella Lawson. Lawson didn't invent bagna cauda but she was reading my mind about something I hadn't contemplated.

Bagna cauda combines 4 of the best foods on earth: garlic, olive oil, anchovies, and butter. The recipe varies but you combine the first 3 ingredients, making sure the anchovies dissolve in the olive oil. Add the butter in last.

I was thinking about bagna cauda as I went searching for spaghetti in the pantry. Why not do bagna cauda spaghetti?

You could certainly have a lovely dish of spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, anchovies, and butter. That could be very tasty. A little bland, though, since spaghetti doesn't bring much to the party.

My variation of something I just invented was to add a little tomato puree, some red pepper flakes, and a little black pepper. Bagna cauda spaghetti with a bit of spice.

You might have had spaghetti with butter as a child. You might have had garlic, anchovies, and olive oil with spaghetti. You might have had tomatoes with red pepper flakes with spaghetti. This combines a bit from each of these categories.

The garlic is local; lost my local butter supply but good tasting butter and olive oil really helps this dish.

Supporting local restaurants during the pandemic is easier if you can get what you used to order

Add summer local fruit to your lemonade

Amy Schumer Learns to Cook but are we learning by watching the show?

Restaurants do certain foods better than most cooks. I have been craving onion rings, which they do better than I would do. No restaurant can do bagna cauda spaghetti better than I can because I invented the dish. I already know I can make it because I invented the recipe.

A friend of mine who has been staying away from pizza during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was talking about the pepperoni shortage. I replied that you could substitute chorizo for pepperoni and have a different approach to pizza.

Pizza is another good way to reinvent something more to your liking. You can put ingredients that pizzerias might not have such as chorizo or eggplant or a local farmers market sausage.

Experiment with foods such as your love of kalamata olives and use them in ways you might not have considered. Feeling the need to bake bread during the pandemic? Slip in a few kalamata olives for olive bread.

My local farmers market has homemade breads. I tried the zucchini bread this year. Not a huge fan of zucchini but the zucchini bread was rather good. Well, the bread had raisins and I am not a fan of the raisins. I might experiment with zucchini bread with no raisins.

Go through your pantry and look for foods you bought to experiment. Have a small can of chipotle peppers? You can make a spicy mayo with the peppers, adobo sauce (the one the peppers came in with the can), and regular mayonnaise. You can slip in roasted red pepper in a hummus for a different flavor profile.

You have the time to be creative and build a whole new dish that a restaurant would be jealous to have on its menu. The dish can be consumed at home while keeping socially distant for a lot cheaper price than you would find in a restaurant.

photo credit: me

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

Today is Election Day in the United States. A chance to get a conversation going on food policy. A chance to have a reasonable, likely useless Secretary of Agriculture. A chance to get food processing back into the United States instead of sending previously live animals to China for processing.

We discussed a lot of that last Tuesday between the presidential candidates. The pundits often say the vice presidential candidates are really important but isn't always so. Fair to say in 2020, for once, they might be right.

Age and/or COVID-19 risk make Mike Pence and Kamala Harris a lot more relevant.

The picture (above) and video (below) is from a September 22 campaign stop in Flint, MI where Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) were touring a farmers market. If there is any major politician on a major party ticket who gets the need for good food, Kamala Harris is that politician. 

Harris is from Oakland in the East Bay where they have access to some amazing food at markets in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. The area around the Bay Area has amazing soil and growing seasons. I know this from many visits and meals.

The farmers market visit in Flint is also more significant because of the fight to get access to poor communities and communities of color. Harris understands this plight.

Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump: Who will be better on food policy

We would love this to be a reasonably balanced battle. Republicans arguing for increased nutrition but asking how that gets paid for out of the budget. Dems responding with creative solutions to do both. We are not there.

We would like to get equal time with Mike Pence. Pence was a Congressman and Governor of Indiana, a state definitely into farms. The side of the political equation that is into babies being born aren't as concerned about their nutrition factors once they are in school.

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

We've seen the divisive and petty squabbles over making kids eat for cheaper and with lesser nutrition standards in school lunch. They are the people who will lead our country in the future. They will be better people with school breakfasts and lunches.

Republicans are into large farms, corporate farms where cows are closer together than people piled into a Volkswagen in the late 1960s. Small farms are being bought out by larger farms since farmer debt has climbed in the last 4 years.

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

There is only a single VP debate as opposed to 3 (scheduled) presidential debates. We do have a good sense of how Pence and Harris approach food policy if they get a promotion. 

As we've noted, your job isn't done once you voted. Good that you voted but you have to continue the fight for a better food policy. Our future will be better shaped with an improved food policy.

photo and video credit: MLive

2020 farmers market update: What to do without winter markets

The 2020 farmers market season is just about done. The weather is getting colder. Normally, markets move indoors where weather is a concern.

Anecdotally, some of the local markets are staying longer outdoors as a transition. The concern is that some vendors won't have product and other vendors made plans that don't include a few more weeks outdoors.

The 3 extra weeks look good but the weather will determine their viability.

Our major indoor winter market ran great numbers in November and December. The transition from 6-7 indoor markets to 3 uncertain outdoor markets spells financial concerns. A lack of viable indoor spaces means lost income for months during the winter.

Farmers markets could continue indoors with a lot more space. We've seen basketball and hockey arenas offered up for voting access, a wonderful idea. These arenas would make for a great farmers market space in the winter. Well, maybe too much space. A monthly farmers market could help some vendors get through a rough winter.

I've been to farmers market inside small music clubs. Could be a way to make some money for the venues and vendors.

Creativity shouldn't be a victim in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Open up atypical spaces to create a new version of an indoor winter farmers market during a pandemic.

Use food education to help kids learn outdoors during a pandemic

Add summer local fruit to your lemonade

Tomato trust at a farmers market is a cherished responsibility

"Don't touch nothing. Don't touch anything." My impression of Sgt. Schultz (from Hogan's Heroes) if he was in charge of security at a farmers market. The 2020 general consensus is don't touch a thing at a farmers market.

A local farmers market changed its rules about halfway through the season where they required patrons to be sprayed down with what we hope was hand sanitizer. Almost every farmers market had hand sanitizer as an option; hand sanitizer being in an authorized container.

Hand sanitizer is important if you are potentially touching something in making a purchase. The local feminist bookstore wants people to use hand sanitizer in an official container. This is because you could easily touch one of the books.

When confronted with this new policy, the volunteer said hand sanitizer had always been required. That wasn't true. I asked if the policy was posted. She said yes, but didn't know where. (We learned later that the policy was outside the gates).

I walked away in frustration. I came back to that market a couple of weeks later. I was told that someone had to spray my hands to enter the market. I asked if that was required. That volunteer told me that it was a city ordinance (another lie). I reluctantly agreed to be sprayed. I asked another volunteer inside about the policy. She told me the hand sanitizer had been a requirement all summer (the original lie).

Safety can be taken to an extreme as we have learned in so many cases. Offering hand sanitizer, official hand sanitizer, is a smart action in a pandemic. Requiring "hand sanitizer" is rather extreme, especially when you aren't allowed to touch anything.

Volunteers shouldn't lie to the customers. All of this is bad enough without the lies, but the lying makes the situation much worse.

Inside a farmers market in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Farmers markets in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

Here are some creative ideas if the winter markets are not an option where you live.

— Bring extra reusable bags to the last few farmers markets and stock up for the winter. Buy extra pickles. More bread that you can freeze.

— Take some of those late summer and early fall veggies and do some pickling and canning to make them last through the winter.

— Find local stores that carry farmers products. You might already have this as one of your food options. I am thankful I have one less than a mile from where I live.

— Find out if your local farmer will make trips near where you live. This is really helpful for meat and egg suppliers. They sometimes will set up shop at or near the market location. This might be available 1-2 times a month but better than no market at all. Ask them if they will provide that service.

— If you are already getting deliveries from local farmers, such as CSAs (community supported agriculture), keep getting them.

I buy blueberries in July to have over the winter. I had doubts about whether we would make it to winter. I would have felt foolish to not them.

Preserving your pandemic harvest? Start slow with something you love, say experts (The Current from CBC Radio One)

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Did we miss a good suggestion or two on how to survive the winter without a farmers market? Let us know in the comments section. Thank you.

photo credit: me