Time vs. Convenience

Sometimes it can feel like living locally means driving more.

I venture out to so many different Farmer’s Markets during the week to get everything we want. Culver City has the trail mix Donny likes. La Cienega sells shrimp from Santa Barbara. Santa Monica sells blueberries I love to snack on. And Venice sells fresh squeezed organic orange juice in a ½ gallon that I’m drinking right now. I also end up having to shop around because vendors don’t show up or like today at the Santa Monica FM Lindner farms didn’t have Bison jerky and won’t have it for a few more weeks. It takes a lot of time and energy to go to all of those different places each week. It’s hard to manage all of that shopping, a full-time job and sustain a healthy relationship.

I’m worried about it because I haven’t been working for the last few weeks. I have had the time & luxury of going to 4 or 5 different markets in the week, plus additional excursions to the Whole Foods. How are we going to do this when I go back to work – tomorrow?!?

Donny is tired. He drives a lot for work – A LOT! I get it. He doesn’t want to drive to Beverly Hills on a Sunday just to see if they are selling whole chickens. He just doesn’t. And I understand that now, but there has to be a balance because we do need food.

When I go back to work Donny will just be finishing a job and then he will be in charge of this whole food debacle. But he wants it to be easy. He wants to just make one trip to one supermarket and not have to go anywhere else. Or he'll want to eat at California Chicken Cafe 6 nights a week. And if that happens we won’t really be eating locally. In my opinion the waste overload in landfills has come from the convenience of what happens when you one-stop shop. Convenience in packaging, in only buying from certain conglomerate companies and convenience in pre-made, instead of fresh.

In August we will have a Whole Foods market within walking distance from our home. We are both really looking forward to it opening, but that is still 2 months away. Until then only time will tell as to how we are able to keep up with local eating.