Benjamin Gardening: A Year Of Eating Locally-Meal Plan + Food Costs: Week of July 15, 2018

If you’re just tuning in, this is our 1 year challenge in which I share our weekly meal plan as we try to eat primarily locally grown food. You will see that I often I make 2 different meals because I am primarily plant-based and my husband is not. Most of what we eat is made from scratch and any boxed, canned and/or frozen products follow the Real Food guidelines. Meal planning is my way of controlling the grocery budget (read as a LOT of dollars saved), ensuring there is no food waste for the week, as well as saving time. You can read more about meal planning here.

Read the entire series here.

Hooray for blueberries, raspberries, green beans, corn and TOMATOES!!!!! Yes, tomatoes. I can't tell you how happy I am to see them on the vines. Ours are still mostly green, so I did purchase some this week, but we will be swimming in them in the next week or two. And I can't wait!

Our theme for this week is super simple meals. It's very hot and humid right now. We should be getting relief by Wednesday, at least temporarily. It will also be a very busy week for us, which means the less time spent cooking the better. Plus, with all of the veggies in season, it's the perfect time to enjoy them in simple recipes where they remain the star.

We went blueberry picking at a wonderful field not too far from our home. They have large blueberries on tons of bushes. We were able to pick 19 pounds in 1 hour. Although apparently that wasn't too impressive, because the couple ahead of us in line to pay, who had also been there an hour, and were at least 25 years older than us, picked 29 pounds in the hour. They were trying to pick 30 pounds each time they went so they could get all of their baking, canning and freezing complete for the year. The husband told us this was their 4th time picking this year (the field has only been open for 4 days) and they would be coming at least one more time in order to complete their checklist of blueberry items. My goodness! And J and I had joked that I may have to make 1 more trip to the field to pick, I can't imagine using 120+ pounds of blueberries!!! Maybe they were also canning for gifts? Do any of you process that many blueberries? If so, I would love for you to share what you make with them.

Have you ever grilled slices of zucchini? Oh my - it's sooooo good! Actually, it's now J's very favorite way to eat it. And the best part? You don't have to use any oil or butter. You can, but you don't have to, so I don't. I do sprinkle his with a touch of parmesan when it's done, but that's it! And have you grilled russet potato wedges? Another "oh my". You do need to coat them with a little olive oil, but that's it and they are absolutely yummy.

On to the menu!

Weekly Meal Plan:

Sunday

Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos

Lunch - PB&J Sandwiches, Salad

Dinner - Gazpacho, Homemade Bread (J) Grilled Chicken

Monday