Eating Ethically on a Shoestring Budget

There are eight of us living at the Ranch right now, and only one full time day job among the eight of us. This is not a flaw, but rather by design: we hope that our residents, beyond the time spent helping with projects that are related to stewarding the land, are able to spend their time doing the things that help them move towards being able to fulfill their Purpose in a greater sense. Long term, we hope that we can shift wholely to funding this project with land-produced goods, services, or voluntary contributions, so that we may all spend our time this way. What this means both now and in the future, though, is that our priority is the land and our residents, not the accumulation of money. And ultimately, until we can produce most (or ideally all, though we know this is a lofty goal) of our food ourselves, we must find ways to feed ourselves with the money that we do bring in. Stretching a budget to feed eight people takes a little work, but there's one more catch:

We refuse to eat just anything. Ultimately, we seek to only eat what is local and ethically produced. Usually, such products command a fairly high market price, and I've heard countless times from friends and family members "I'd eat local/organic/more sustainably if only I could afford it". Well, it takes a little bit of relationship building and creative problem solving, but what if I told you you probably can consume more ethically, even on a tight budget?

First things first: a bit about our food philosophy

We are familiar with the popular axiom "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" and all of its derivatives. While I think that generally this is mostly true, I am discouraged by how much it is used as an excuse for someone to consume something they know is high-impact or to chronically make poor choices rather than as a starting point to critical examination of one's place in a global ecosystem and trade network. Lots of conversations feel a bit along these lines: "I'm going to go get some Chick-fil-a. I know, but it's a craving! And anyway, there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, shouldn't I get to just live my life?"

Honestly, it seems obvious to me that there are certainly choices that are clearly better than others. Our particular ethical framework around the consumption of food has developed greatly over the years, and it may not look exactly like yours. However, know that it is based on lots of research and careful consideration of how the production of different items impact humans, ecology (including water use and the use of other crucial resources), local economies, animal welfare, and shipping "cost" (cost here not just being in terms of monetary cost to a company or to us, the consumer, but also in terms of the kinds of resources required to ship something somewhere else, including fossil fuels and human labor).

With those considerations outlined, our decision making process around buying food (or making any purchase, really) looks something like this:

1. Is it something we can produce ourselves? If yes, we take steps to do so. For example, with the land we have available, eggs were an easy thing to stop buying from the store, and something we were fairly quickly able to support with the state the land was in because chickens can eat our food scraps, too. They in turn need feed, at least until we can produce more ourselves, so we found a semi-local organic mill and began to order in bulk (to avoid excess shipping resource costs incurred) once a year while striving to supplement the chickens as much as possible with self-produced foods and never scaling beyond a set amount of birds at one time. If the answer is "not right now", we consider what would be needed in order for us to be able to produce it, and take steps in that direction while moving to the next point for sourcing in the meantime. If the answer is "no", we consider whether or not this is something we actually need or if there is a substitution that we could either self-produce or access in a more ethical way.
2. Is there a local, small-scale option available? We purchase, for example, all of our produce that is not self-produced (which is most of it as of this point in our land's development) we purchase from the local farmer's market. However, we've also developed relationships and directly discussed with all of the produce vendors their methods of production, where they're based, if they're producing in an organic way, and so on. From these discussions we've cherry picked the best, smallest scale, most regenerative vendors to purchase from. More on this later.
3. Is there a local, larger scale option available, or a semi-local option? Not a lot of dairy is produced in Southern California, though there is some. For a while, for example, we were only using goat milk that we sourced from a woman in Riverside who had a small two-acre farmstead and was happy to share some excess. However, since her goats are in their off season, we find that there aren't a lot of local sources. We will likely taper off our dairy consumption in the near-ish future until we can produce our own, but for now we are sourcing dairy from farms located in Northern California that vend out of a health foods store that's in the low desert. This is kind of both a semi-local and larger scale option, and unlike with the local, small-scale option, we cannot control for things like "are the farmers taking the baby animals away from their mothers or producing milk in a more ethical, natural way?" though there are some things we make sure of, like that it is milk from pastured cows and that they meet standards for organic and humane certifications.
4. Is there a semi-local or at least national option available from a farm that utilizes regenerative methods? There are a lot of issues with organic certifications, though when purchasing things from stores we will choose certified organic when regenerative or syntropically produced goods aren't available (or we cannot verify these claims). We know that very large scale so-called "regenerative" farms are often also engaged in problematic practices, but the regenerative farms we source things like whole wheat berries and chickpeas from seem to be utilizing genuinely researched and practiced regenerative methods without chemicals, large-scale burning, or other problematic practices that are still allowed for certified organic goods. Most of the grains we source come from the Pacific Northwest, where plentiful rain means they're less likely to be draining their communities' water sources (though this isn't a total guarantee), and where they don't need to be shipped across the country or across oceans.
5. If none of the above can be true, is there an international or national but family-owned and operated company that uses land-honoring practices to produce the item that we can source from once in a while? We rarely get to this point, but sometimes we do. Most of the time, if 1-4 cannot be true, we decide that we no longer need to eat or purchase the thing. We've cut out coconut products, cashews, and other items that were simply luxuries that had to be internationally sourced. Some items we do still purchase that fall under number 5 include cinnamon, tamari, and coffee, though eventually we hope to cut these out as well.

In addition to these considerations, there are a few other things that we bear in mind when we purchase anything:

• Animal welfare: for dairy products, is it a farm that allows dam/cow raised kids or calves? Beyond the egregious animal welfare violations of feed lots or so-called factory farms, we also feel that even on a pastured or semi-pastured operation it's unnecessarily stressful to both the baby animal and the mother if the former is removed before the time of natural weaning. For meat, is the animal's welfare being prioritized? Is it getting to be an animal and engage in its instinctive behaviors? Is its need for socialization, social play, and bonded hierarchy being honored? For pigs this looks like lots of other pigs and enough room to play, wallow (and not in their own feces - animals want to be clean), root, and eat wholesome varied foods. For goats this looks like terrain to climb around, lots of other goats, and stimulation. We will also prioritize products from pasture-raised animals over simply organically raised animals.
• Human cost: what are the labor practices in this industry? What is the cost of export in terms of impact on the local economy, cultural erasure, ecological destruction, or labor violations? The fact is that we don't have transparency on this in most cases, especially for internationally produced goods, which is why we are slowly decreasing the amount of these that we are willing to consume at all. We figure, if we are not based in a particular culture or ecosystem, even with some research, we will never know the real impact on that ecosystem or the people who live there.
• Ecological cost: some things, like almonds or pistachios, are incredibly water intensive and mostly grown here in California using groundwater that is not being replenished at anywhere near the rate that it's being used. Not only is this displacing communities that were historically built by people of color (lots of Central Valley communities are Black, Latino, or Armenian), but the resulting subsidence or sinking of the land, erosion, excessive salination of the soil, habitat destruction, and desertification makes these items seem like ridiculous luxuries we rarely if ever justify purchasing.

Doing all this cheaply

If the list above has given you heart palpitations, certain that our pantry and refrigerator[1] is stocked full of fancy packaging from Whole Foods and that we're about to tell you that if only you spend a measly $500 a week on food you can eat like this, too!, fear not. While I don't believe it's as easy to eat like this everywhere in the country (though it may be easier if you live in some other countries, based on what I've heard of their residents), especially not cheaply, and while I do believe that it will take some time and effort no matter where you are, I do believe that you can take at least some small steps towards greater intention and sustainability without breaking the bank. While I can't prescribe an entire plan for your life, without knowing where you live or how you need to eat to meet your own nutritional needs, I can share how we've done it and provide a few questions you can ask yourself or your community members to hopefully begin taking some steps in the right direction.

First, if you live somewhere with rain, the best thing you can possibly do for yourself is start a garden. Don't worry about buying soils, loads of fancy bags of minerals or fertilizers or manure, sprouting containers or fancy poo-smelling stuff to keep the rodents away. There are some great tips in our article on gardening you can check out. But what I'm saying is: plant some stuff. See how much you can grow without a lot of effort in your own locale. If you don't have land, plant road medians or local parks on the sly (or if it's legal in your state, do it boldly). Ask a friend if you can use part of their yard. Check with your town, city, or county and see if they'll fund you beautifying their streets with some fruit trees – and ask your neighbors, while you're at it. Get creative, save the seeds from the food you eat (as long as it's non-GMO), and just plant stuff. See what works! This is the absolute best way to save money on food, and also a great way to start creating collaboration in your community if you need to cut costs and eat better without starting out on a plot of land you own.

Second, if you are someone who can keep animals, start doing some research. For very small landholdings, look into chickens, rabbits, quail, and maybe even container aquaculture (if you can afford a used stock tank you could probably farm some tilapia or other easygoing fish). Quite frankly, raising some of your own animal products is likely to be more ethical by many benchmarks than buying things like store-bought synthetic vegan eggs or veganaise made with chemically extruded vegetable oils. This is also a great way to support your community or make a little money: rabbit pelts are a great way to make profit without needing to certify as a meat producer, and you could eat the meat yourself and share some with friends.

Third, look into your local farmer's markets or cooperative markets and start talking to the vendors. See if anyone knows about a local CSA program. We cut our food costs in half (while adding two new long term residents to the Ranch) by subscribing to a local CSA box and planning meals on the fly instead of planning meals up front and then purchasing the exact vegetables for those meals. You can then supplement with some other staple veggies from your farmer's market (if you have one) to fill in the gaps. Nearly all of our produce comes from two CSA shares that cost us $80 a week. We purchase a few extra odds and ends and not counting the meat we purchase from our local farm for our dog's food, we spend only about $150 a week feeding 8 people ethical, local food.

Finally, and this is my favorite hack: go to your market and start becoming friends with the vendors. You should do this anyway, I firmly believe we should not see other humans as just means to an end (i.e: objects that we purchase things from) and that we should have relations with the people who literally grow the things that sustain our life. However, do this and you'll find that the side effect is that you can probably get a lot of things for free. This isn't exploitative. We learned, for instance, that fruit farms often have to pay money to send their "seconds" (that is, poorly graded fruit that is bruised, ugly, has minor surface mold, or was in any way damaged) to dairy farms or the landfill. Even small-medium scale fruit farms usually are not composting this, though they should be! Our local fruit vendor gives us boxes and boxes (usually 10 pounds or more a week) of things like second-grade peaches, plums, jujubes, persimmons, apples, grapes, even ginger, cucumbers, and sweet potatoes. One of our produce vendors gives us half a truck bed full of lettuces, okra, tomatoes, whatever is seasonal and too ugly for them to put out at their stand. For free. All of it for free! And it saves them the work of hauling it back to their farm and then shipping it off somewhere else! We spend each Saturday canning whatever fruit is good enough to can, making pies with the fruit pretty enough to bake with, making fermentations of pickles, lemons, ginger, and whatever else we get, making homemade wine, jam, fruit butters, fruit syrups. If you get creative and build this into your schedule, you could be saving hundreds of dollars on goods you're buying at the store like jam and syrup and making it yourself for FREE. I cannot tell you how many pasta dishes I've made with free tomatoes, entire trays of free basil. Truly, there is no reason this food should go to waste.

If you have animals like pigs or chickens, you can do even better and feed them whatever of these scraps you cannot eat. Anything significantly molded we compost, and that's also wonderful. Not only are we doing a service by keeping methane-producing items out of landfills, but we're giving it back to the community and the land. We always bring our vendors little jars of salsa or jam as a thank you, and keep the relationship happily mutual.

If you don't have a local farmer's market, you may be able to strike a similar deal with your local grocery store (even if it's a chain, though that may take some more relationship building as usually big chains have strict rules against giving items away for litigious reasons, though many may be willing to cut you a deal on "old stuff" if you're a little persistent and extremely friendly) and get their throwaway produce and even some packaged foods. We tend to try to stay away from the latter, but if you're looking for ways to just cut costs, period, anything that you're taking home that was otherwise trash is more ethical than purchasing the same item.

Closing Thoughts

I've shared just a few ways we've cut our food costs and been able to make our diet much more ethical, but I hope that these are useful starting points for you to consider how to work into your own life more local food production, local support for small farms and grocery cooperatives, and a more ethical way of living that shifts away from direct consumption and towards re-use and cyclical relation.

As a stretch goal, once you've started building some relationships, growing some food, or even as you're thinking about how you'd like to make some of these ideas your reality, consider how your efforts could also benefit others in your community. If you know people who are housing insecure or homeless, if you have friends or family members who are chronically eating foods that are unsafe or toxic, or who are chronically stretching pennies just to eat, consider roping them into your schemes. Many elders would be happy to lend their yard to a garden, especially if it reduces their own grocery budget, as many are on a minuscule fixed income. If you can get a few urban neighbors to help steward a road median or abandoned lot, you can increase impact by sharing the food and also reduce the work you have to put in by sharing the load. If you start producing eggs or meat, see if you can offer this to those in your area that are otherwise reliant on grocery store alternatives so they may have a safer, more ethical option without needing to pay for it.

Ultimately the goal should be to not only improve the quality of our own lives and alleviate some of our conscience, but to do the same for others. An offering will always transmute your efforts into continued abundance.

Thank you for reading, more next time.

We appreciate your patience with our lateness this month. For paid subscribers I will soon be releasing a short guide to fermentation, including a recipe for preserved lemons that is absolutely divine. As always, we appreciate any and all support, including shares from our free subscribers. Any and all monetary and non-monetary support goes to supporting our growing community here on the land, and our land regeneration efforts.