As many of you know, there are a plethora of reasons to shop and eat local in your community. In addition to better health effects, shopping local also supports your local economy.
Shopping local does indeed seem like a win-win situation. You eat healthier and get the satisfaction of helping out your community while also decreasing your carbon footprint.
However, the hiccup with shopping local as a college student is time and money. The process of seeking out local food and then paying what we assume will be the higher cost of local production sometimes stops us from ever making the jump.
As it turns out, shopping and eating local is extremely accessible and within a college student’s budget — if they know where to look.
The first place to look on the journey to shopping local is the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition’s Locally Grown Guide.@@checked@@ This works as sort of a beginner’s guide to shopping local and subsequently shows average college students what they can and can’t expect to buy locally.
The second and most obvious place is at farmers’ markets. There are two interesting aspects to the local farmers’ market scene that might make shopping there slightly more accessible.
First, there are nine different farmer’s markets in Eugene and Springfield, four of which are extremely close to campus. These are:
– The Lane County Farmers Market at East 8th Avenue and Oak Street
– The Lane County Farmers Market at 2800 Hilyard St.
– The Fairmount Neighborhood Market at East 19th Avenue and Agate Street
– The Springfield Farmers’ Market at 5th and A Streets
You might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t have time to spend my weekends sifting through different booths, looking at produce, and I have no idea how the price compares to what I normally buy.” Wrong!
If you are a busy bee and would like to know how much your total would be, check out eugenelocalfoods.com. This is a year-round, online farmers’ market. You can search by food to see options and prices for your favorite veggies, fruits, dairy, eggs and meats. It’s actually easier than going to a grocery store because there, you are distanced from intimidating impulse buys, and you know how much you will spend beforehand.
You can also compare the prices online to previous Trader Joe’s@@checked@@ shopping lists and discover that peppers and lettuce are the same price, and local bread and cucumbers are only one dollar more. This way you can mix and match your shopping list online to make it within your budget.
How ordering online works at this website is you order online starting Tuesdays at 6 p.m. You can order throughout the week until the shopping period closes, and you pick up your groceries Tuesday evenings either at Hideaway Bakery behind Mazzi’s Restaurant on Amazon Drive or the Ninkasi Brewery Company patio in the Whiteaker neighborhood.
Another easy way to shop local (and very well might already be unknown to you) is to look for local brands carried in stores — from Capella’s, The Kiva, Market of Choice, Albertsons to Safeway. These local brands include Nancy’s Yogurt, Lochmead Dairy, Umpqua Dairy, Vanilla Jill’s and The Bread Stop — the stores also carry local food items.@@all checked@@
Lastly, as is the case for most college students, it is always someone’s birthday, or there is some reason to spend money at one of Eugene’s fine restaurants. Why not aim for dinner destinations that aim to buy their ingredients locally? The list is shockingly long: Agate Alley Bistro, Beppe and Gianni’s, Café Yumm, The Glenwood, Holy Cow, Humble Beagle Pub, Hideaway Bakery, Sweet Life, Vanilla Jill’s, Marche, Mazzi’s, Excelsior Inn and more.
“Most of our produce and selected proteins as are available,” Agate Alley Bistro chef Pierce Kieffer said. “Sometimes it’s easier to buy local, and sometimes it’s not.”
At this point in the season, Agate Alley can claim about 50 percent of their menu as local.
With enough preparation, knowledge and the careful selection of a restaurant, you can support your local economy, eat healthier and decrease your damage to the environment.
Look at you go, busy college student on a budget. You rock.