Eating Locally on $40 a Week

In a single week in April 2009, Robin Mather lost her job as a food writer for the Chicago Tribune, and her husband told her he wanted a divorce. Reeling from the losses, Mather retreated to a tiny cottage in western Michigan. As she began the process of rebuilding her life, she was forced to keep a strict budget, but as an avowed locavore, she was determined to continue eating 85 percent of her foods from within a 50-mile radius.

Thus was born: The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on 40 dollars a week).

In an interview with SecondAct, Mather -- who is now an editor at Mother Earth News -- discusses the art of eating locally on a budget.

SA: Many people think eating locally is more expensive, but you managed to eat locally for $40 a week?
RM: During my last days at the Tribune, I was becoming aware of people's notion that eating locally is just for foodie elitists. I wanted to put that notion to rest. I wanted my book to be accessible for people who don't know how to get started eating locally, and I wanted the recipes to reflect that. That's where the idea came from.

SA: How does someone get started eating locally?
RM: The key thing is to select one ingredient that you and your family really like and try to find a local source for it. That ingredient might be chicken or tomatoes or peaches -- whatever it is, try to find a local source. Sometimes it's very easy to find, as almost everyone has a farmers market within reach. Meat and milk are often more complicated.

SA: So how do you find items like meat and milk locally?
RM: There are wonderful websites like localharvest.org and localdirt.com. They can connect you with local producers in your area. There are other ways to connect with local producers: Visit your local tractor supply store or farm and fleet store. They often have bulletin boards about who's selling beef cattle by the quarter or half and people selling pigs by the half or whole. A small meatpacking house can also put you in touch with meat producers. The underlying thing is you've got to talk to people and really plug into your community, get to know your neighbors. Most people who drive by rural farms on their way to work see cows in pastures, but most of them have never talked to the farmer. Those people are our neighbors. Eating locally builds a community of people who care about each other.

SA: So eating locally is about relationships between people and their food?
RM: Absolutely. One thing about local food is it is 100 percent transparent. Industrial food is 100 percent opaque. The big guys don't want you to talk to the farmer whose beef you're eating; that's not how that system wants you involved. With local eating, the farmer says, "Come to the farm, meet my chickens, see how I'm growing them out."

SA: What about other benefits?
RM: Food that doesn't travel really far doesn't lose its nutrients, and it doesn't waste fuel. That five pounds of tomatoes I purchased at the farmers market, I know the guy who's selling it to me, and the guy is getting a livable wage. We're talking about economics, social justice, building community and our own health and nutrition, not to mention our own sense of self-reliance. Those are all important things to come out of local food.

SA: Some of the things you do to eat locally -- like preserving your vegetables and fruits -- seems daunting.
RM: That's one thing people always tell me: "You must have spent all your time canning." No, actually I didn't. I might buy an extra five pounds of tomatoes and then I'd just spend an hour or two canning. Besides squeezing in time for food preservation, there's another option: Get together with your church group, your book club or your friends for a canning bee where everybody pitches in. It doesn't have to be lonely work, and it can actually be very pleasurable.

SA: That still seems a bit daunting.
RM: See, part of the reason that preserving food and eating locally seems revolutionary is because we've been schooled away from thinking about ourselves and taking care of ourselves. We've been schooled to not think of ourselves as self-reliant. We all have the same 24 hours a day, but we've been persuaded that we don't have time to cook.

SA: What about people who say they can't cook?
RM: One of my best friends, a very successful photographer, recently pointed out that at age 56 he still doesn't know how to cook and he thinks it's pretty funny. Why is it funny to not be able to take care of yourself? The thing is, as you see in my book, the dishes I make are pretty simple; they don't require a great deal of cooking. I know how to do very high-end cooking, but that's not the way I normally cook. My best advice for people is to figure out five dishes you'd really love to know how to make, and make sure you have all those ingredients for those dishes on hand at all times.

SA: But what about the cost?
RM: It's not more expensive to eat locally, but you do have to plan. It seems to me that people approach every meal as if it's the first and last time they'll be eating. It never occurs to them that in about 12 hours, I'm going to get hungry again. If you know you're going to make spaghetti, then make a big batch of sauce and freeze some so you have it on hand for those nights that you're too tired to do anything but boil pasta.

SA: Any last thoughts?
RM: The thing I would like people to know is that they too can do it. If you're familiar with eating locally, be more aggressive about it. If you're new to it, make a small change. By no means do I think my experiences were unusual. The thing is, no matter what the disaster is, if you can care for yourself and are confident, you have the ability to care for other people, as well. I want people to walk away from my book feeling empowered.

Mather shares one of her favorite summertime treat recipes: