On Going Organic

[Country Kids]

Just finished up with the food program. Seems like they are making things way to complicated for providers, but whatever.

So for those that do organic, how do you do the milk? My person said 1% or skim. The only alternative was soy-would that be considered organic. After someone posted that their milk was $6 a gallon I don't think we will necessarily go that route.

Then they have humus down as a fruit/vegetable! Wouldn't that be a meat/meat alternative as in protein? This is why I'm not sure on this it just sounds soooooo confusing.

I think I might just use their menus they stick in the book and then I won't have to think to much about what goes with what.

[Sprouts]

The food program doesn't have anything to do with organics that I know of. The check I get now comes close to covering the hard cost of the food I buy. I used to make a nice profit off of the food program (about 2.50 per child per day). I got two meals and a snack down to a dollar a day per kid. That was with a ton of labor. Now it's about five dollars per day per kid. That is with a super ton of labor and hard cost of the food.

The only way to explain it is that you have to source EVERY food item one by one. It's very expensive to do that at a one stop shop. If you buy thru the grocery stores it will be VERY expensive. If you buy one by one... every thing or nearly everything... directly from the farmer you have to do a ton of research and buy in bulk. You have to put up the food in season and store.

There's a ton of cheatery in organics. In order to make sure everything is clean you have to put the work in it to learn about food and question the farmers and go to them to get the food.

Sourcing the food, doing the research, storing for the future, and paying for it are the cost of the switch. It's a never ending journey and you make a lot of mistakes along the way. My biggest one has been overestimating how quickly we would go thru the food. I way overbought my first year of doing it.

One of the big unintended plusses has been that by the end of October I have our food stored for a full year. From now until the end of next summer the only thing I have to buy is milk, eggs, coffee for me, and soymilk for me. I only have to go to the market once a month or so and it's not much money. I can get by with a hundred a month or less once I have everything stored for the winter.

I'll see if I can put together a switch to organic blog if I don't have one up now. I can't remember if I have written one or not

Here is a blog I did on my site a while back

http://www.nanshouse.com/organicgoodeats.htm

Nan I have to tell you u have inspired me to go all organic as well. When i have mentioned it before a lot of people said is wasnt worth the cost.
But in the long run it def is!

I just need to Learn ur recipes now! Seriously so do u mostly store soups and such??? How do u freeze it? I am thirsty for knowledge

I have also found some local organic growers and organic animal farms in the area so I am excited about that

[nannyde]

Nan I have to tell you u have inspired me to go all organic as well. When i have mentioned it before a lot of people said is wasnt worth the cost.
But in the long run it def is!

I just need to Learn ur recipes now! Seriously so do u mostly store soups and such??? How do u freeze it? I am thirsty for knowledge

I have also found some local organic growers and organic animal farms in the area so I am excited about that

Yes mostly stews, broth, and sauce.

Good for you sprout. happyface

[littlemommy]

About a year ago, I advertised as a "cloth diaper, eco friendly, organic eating daycare" to see if there was interest in my town. I had people I knew mention they saw the ad, but no inquiries from parents. In my town, people just aren't interested in it, and if they are the type of family that do, they aren't the type of parents that work outside of the home and need daycare. It's sad, because I would LOVE to go that route for my family and daycare kids, but just can't afford it. None of my families care what their kids eat, they'd feed them McD's every day if they didn't eat here.

I still try my best with what I can afford. For meat, we eat hormone and antibiotic free, free range local eggs, and I grow a lot of our veggies. I go off the "Dirty Dozen" list when I buy from the store. I wish we had a Trader Joe's around here!! Most milk in stores now doesn't have added hormones, but the cow's are still fed GMO's. It's what we can afford, so we do it that way.

I still profit a little off our food program check. If you meal plan, buy in bulk, and portion according to Food Program suggestions you should do okay.