“Sustainable” and “Shop Local” are big buzz words among the food-savvy these days. But what exactly does it mean to shop and eat sustainably and locally, should we be doing more of it, and is it going to make my grocery bill higher than my rent check?

Let’s take a look at the concept of sustainability first. Everyone knows what a budget is, at least in theory. We budget because we have limited financial resources, and we need to balance spending with income in order to come out even or, if we plan well, with a little in the bank for a rainy day. Sustainable practices are the budget for the planet. We need to manage the use of resources so that in the end, we break even or, better yet, put something away for future generations.

Let’s put things into a food perspective: keeping overfarmed land fertile by spreading on tons of fertilizer that contaminate ground water and local river systems or growing tomatoes in energy-expensive hothouses and shipping them thousands of miles so you can have a BLT in January are two examples of what not to do if you want to practice sustainable agriculture. I guarantee you that Grandma’s amazing homemade tomato sauce was originally made from an abundance of tomatoes in season, and not from tomatoes that have travelled farther than most Kansans.

When put that way, eating sustainably starts to sound pretty appealing. It can make us feel all environmentally warm and fuzzy inside. It can also make us confused, overwhelmed and maybe a little bit paranoid. A visit to the local grocery store will show us that nothing is actually labeled “sustainable,” so how do we know what to buy, or what not to buy, in our quest to live as one with the earth while still making a killer tomato sauce?

Here are 7 simple tips you can pick and choose from to come up with a plan for living the sustainable life that you can afford, is comfortable for your lifestyle, and won’t break your budget:

1. Shop Local: This is the easiest and most delicious tip. We have some great farmers’ markets in Wichita: the Kansas Grown Market and the Old Town Farmers’ Market are two examples, and there are markets in surrounding areas like Andover and Maize as well. These markets operate from around May through later October, and offer fresh local produce and meats from local farmers at very reasonable prices. There are also a number of family farms that are open seasonally to the public, such as Cox Farm in Wichita and Beck’s Farm in Newton. If you haven’t tried a summer peach from Beck’s Farm, your life is not yet complete and you must rectify the situation as soon as possible.
2. Buy Seasonal: Buying produce in season means that it was most likely grown somewhere nearby, it hasn’t been stored or grown in an expensive-to-maintain hothouse, and (bonus!) it’s the cheapest thing at the grocery store. The National Resources Defense Council has a handy-dandy little application that lets us search for food that is in season nearby.
3. Avoid Processed Food: Didn’t your Mama ever tell you to shop the perimeter of the grocery store? Processed, packaged foods pack a much more energy- and resource-intensive punch than does a carrot grown on a farm 10 miles from Wichita. The perimeter of the grocery store is where you will find the meat, dairy, seafood and produce sections. The inside isles are where you will find the Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs. And guess which is better for you anyway? It’s a two-for-one deal.
4. Grow Your Food: If you have the space, the time, and a hoe (that’s hoe, with an “e” at the end), growing your own food can be fun and rewarding. At the very least you can plant some herbs in a pot or two that will live and produce for you happily from a windowsill perch. For the spatially challenged among us, Oh My Apartment has a comprehensive article with tips to get you started on your very own apartment garden.
5. Make Your Meals From Scratch: If you are already being a good sustainable-ist and are shopping at the farmers market and the perimeter of your grocery store, this should be pretty easy for you. If you can name (and pronounce) every single ingredient that goes in to the meals that you make, chances are you will not only have a tasty dish in your pot, but you will be cooking more sustainably than when you buy a package of taco mix, a can of cream of mushroom soup and some canned tuna to make your tuna noodle surprise casserole. Oh, and guess what? It costs less too!
6. Make Food You Usually Buy: This takes things a step further, but it’s still doable. Bake some bread (it’s easier than you think!), or make yogurt, ricotta cheese, cereals and even barbeque sauce at home.
7. Buy in Bulk, Can and Freeze: Buy your foods in bulk when in season, and freeze or can them for use in out-of-season months. That way you won’t be buying “fresh” strawberries that were transported a few thousand miles in the middle of January. Canning Across America is a grassroots effort that began this summer when people from all walks of life and all corners of the United States banned together, took up their cans, and started a canvolution. The goal of the organization is to bring the almost-lost art of food preservation back into the mainstream.

At the end of the day, the best thing you can do is be conscious of your food and where it comes from, make informed choices, and know that even the little things can have a big impact on your health and the health of the planet.

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Related posts:

1. [eat] Home Grown Kansas: Wichita’s CSA
2. [eat] Seasonally: Spring Edition
3. [eat] Eating with Ethics
4. [nest] Budgeting for Dummies
5. [nest] Seed Searching While it Snows Outside