Locavore Menu Plan for Southern Ontario Oct. 28 – Nov. 3

Meal-planning is an important part of our week.  It allows us to be more prepared and relaxed with regards to our nightly meals and reduces stress.  As locavores, it also makes eating locally much easier because we take the time to figure out what seasonal foods are available and how we can use them.  If you live in a similar climate (we’re in Southern Ontario, which is a pretty classic upper-midwest climate) then you should sign up for email updates or check out the facebook page or twitter feed and compare what you’re eating with us!

I’m switching up how I do my meal plan posts because I didn’t have a chance to share this meal plan a week ago.  Normally the plan shared here is what we’re going to eat.  Usually we stay pretty close to the plan with maybe a few modifications here and there.  In this case we really did stick to this plan and it’s nice to look back at the week and realize that it was a good week of eating meals that were simple, seasonal, and sourced locally.

Speaking of sourcing food locally, one of our favorite ways to buy local foods easily and know that they are sourced from sustainable growers and producers is Bailey’s Local Foods.  I’ve written about Bailey’s before and still love them.  They are not the cheapest option for local food but they are definitely the easiest.  You order your food in advance, knowing who the producer is and how much of each product is available and then pick it up at the scheduled pickup date.  In this case today is the pickup and we’ll be receiving locally grown organic kale, endive, and cabbage (yes, kind of a greens theme), shallots, Spanish onions, and peanut butter.  In the summer there are weekly pickups but now that the growing season is slowing down pickups are every 2-4 weeks, depending on availability.  One thing that we always order all year long is flour from Oak Manor.  They provide incredible stone-ground, organic flours and the mill is just 30 minutes from here!  I know not everyone can live close to a local flour mill but if you live in the Waterloo Region and are not using Oak Manor flours then I’d like to know why not!

Anyways, that’s all about Bailey’s for now because I need to get breakfast ready for my family who will soon be stirring!  Happy Halloween if I don’t post again before then.

It’s so great having helpful friends as next door neighbors!

Oh, and for the record, we do have a meal plan for this week and I didn’t make it!  Madame surprised me by making a meal plan on Saturday morning while I was working in the basement on shelves for our canned foods and she even went to the market with our young assistants to shop for the ingredients.  I haven’t even looked at the whole plan so it’s like a fun surprise waiting for me to make every day of the week (okay, so I looked at it just now and it looks great!).

The Plan (linking up at Menu Plan Monday):