Food awareness.

I'm all for a good deal, I get so excited at finding a good price on something, its like a game to me, the hunt and capture. Sets off all sorts of primal images doesn't it?

Just as important to me as the price of a deal is the quality of the purchase.

I've had more then one conversation with my sister, mother, husband about how tomatoes don't taste the same as they did when we were kids, same with strawberries and other fruits and veggies.

Some of the food network shows, and cooks on there have started to raise the whole where is our food coming from issue, what is happening to it before it finds itself on our table. Slowly it is sinking into our collective minds that price isn't the only factor when buying food.

A good eye opening documentary to watch about our food is food.inc.

Its a quietly disturbing film, and before you shake it off as being just American, think about the fact that lots of Canadian food is imported from the states. My Mom told me, don't know where she heard it from, that if the food is packaged in Canada and the packaging is more or equal to the cost of the food then, it gets labeled as Canadian. I read packages and lots just say packaged in Canada, not that the food comes from Canadian growers.

This time of the year Farmers markets are opening up all across Canada, sure you might pay a bit more for your eggs or your produce but... just TASTE the difference, and you are putting money back into your community.

I don't and can't buy all my food locally, don't know anyone who grows coffee or chocolate two necessary things for life, also there are a lot of connivance foods that make life a little easier or a little tastier that I wouldn't want to do without.

Still get out of bed early on a Saturday, browse your farmers market get to know the people in your area that grow the food near you. Buy a coffee, and a muffin make a morning of it and you never know you might find a good deal.

Sti

Getting started, week one.

Recently I found a website called smartcanucks.ca, until I went onto that site I always thought I was a savvy shopper. I looked out for sales, picked up things at second hand shops but I never used coupons, unless they fell into my hand exactly when I needed them.

Spend some time on that site just reading the deals and brags section of the forums, some of those people are amazing in their ability to make their pennies scream from being squeezed so hard, and face it we all could stand to keep our pennies in our pockets a little longer.

I've set up a challenge for myself and my hubby, he has agreed to it in theory, we will see if it lasts into reality. We are only going to use 460 dollars a month for everything from entertainment (excluding cable) food, clothes, household items, gifts, cleaning supplies, and day to day spending like Tim Hortons coffees, which is as everyone knows the best coffee in the world, newspapers, vending machines, and anything else that we normally reach into our pockets for.

To add to that challenge, we also want to purchase a freezer, go out to the Keg on our 10 year Anniversary, see at least one concert this year, go camping with my daughter and her boyfriend this summer, and go see my family at Christmas time, all this also has to come out of the 460 a month.

So starting this week we each have 30 dollars in our pockets every month to buy day to day things, and we have to keep the rest of the spending down to 100 dollars a week. With a little creativity I'm sure we can do this, we just have to stay focused on the big picture right?