Cooking From a Box

I’m a married 30 something paralegal in Washington, DC. who is always looking for ways to include the freshest produce into our diet. I grew up going to farmer’s markets with my parents and have continued the trend now that I’m out in the real world and buying my own food.

This year I wanted to try something different than just going to one or two of my local markets every week.   I had heard about Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, from friends else where and really wanted to try one for the summer. I figured that I could make it worth the commitment and started searching for one. 

For those not familiar, the easiest way to describe a CSA is that you purchase a share of a farm, or group of farms, crops for the growing season.  The goal of the CSA is to support local, small farmers, allowing them to maintain their business, while providing yourself with healthy food.  Beyond that CSA programs vary.  Some deliver to homes, some to pick up locations, and others require you to come to the farm.  Some do produce only, others do produce and dairy.  Some have certain crops that aren’t part of the delivery or box, but that the shareholders are allowed to come out to the farm and pick themselves. 

My best friend and I decided to split one this year because while we were both interested, we were both concerned about getting too much food and having to deal with spoilage.  After much research we found a single farm CSA, Great Country Farms, that not only delivered, but a whole share would be delivered in two boxes so we could easily split everything down the middle.  Our farm also has a u-pick option which we are both very excited to utilize. 

The point of this blog is to track what I get in the box every week and how we make use of it.   Because we don’t get choices on what comes in the box I know we will have to get creative from time to time.  One of my goals is to use EVERYTHING that comes, regardless of whether or not it is a vegetable we are used to.

While we prefer to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, I also try to make at least one batch of frozen meals every week because my husband currently works full time and attends school part time and I often work late.  I would much rather have frozen meals that I made then have to depend on take out.

 Lastly, while not vegetarians, my husband and I try to limit our intake of meat to a few times a week.  When we do buy animal products we try to buy locally from the farmer’s market when ever possible.