Got Milk?

At first, I was a little disappointed in myself as I sat down to a dinner of cereal and milk. Nothing worth blogging about, right? Boy, how wrong I was. Recently, I've learned more than I want to about milk. You thought Skim, 1%,2% and whole were the only choices facing you in the grocery store? No way! There's pasteurized, ultra-pasteurized, organic, raw, milk with/without rBST (an artificial growth hormone), and the list goes on. Whew! It's a lot to even understand what the different options are, let alone to decide from among them (there is a lot of disagreement and debate in the field). Mapping the Mustache has a helpful glossary, although their own taste test is hardly scientific.

What all these articles don't say is that some of these other types of milk are EXPENSIVE! We're talking two to three times the cost of regular milk, and buying organic milk is not quite like buying organic rice or eggs. Milk doesn't last too long.

Or does it? We have recently made a small change in our milk buying practices that costs nothing, tastes better, and is likely saving big on our carbon footprint. What is this seemingly magical change? We check our milk cartons for a label that says UHT (the law requires UHT milk to be labeled as such), and if it has it, we don't buy that milk. Why is that? UHT means that the milk is ultra pastuerized, or heated briefly to 280 degrees, giving it a shelf life of 30-90 days. That means if you see milk with this label on it, it can sit in your grocery store for up to 3 months before its expiration date. The catch with UHT milk is that it can come from anywhere that is convenient for your local grocery store, and likely comes from much farther away than pasteurized milk.

Pasteurized milk, on the other hand, is heated to either 161 degrees for 15 seconds or 145 degrees for 30 minutes. (You can get this info from Cornell, although this is a word document you need to open). It has a shelf life of only 12-21 days, and thus is likely to come from nearer by if possible (such as in New England).

You also save on your carbon footprint because ultra-pasteurized milk needs to be stored and transported at no more than 38 degrees or it loses shelf life. Pasteurized milk can be stored and transported at up to 45 degrees (although the ideal is still lower). This difference in a few degrees in your milk truck adds up over time!

So look for the UHT, and if you see it, walk away! Unless you're one of those wealthy grad students who is already buying local organic milk from the grocery store. They often ultra-pasteurize their milk in order to help their bottom line as the market is still emerging. However, this grad student is on a budget, and so this hungry grad student is taking baby steps...baby steps away from the UHT.

Over-Indulgence with a Little More Dignity

Most grad students I know (and let's face it, most students/teenagers/young people in general) will on occasion sleep in on the weekend. For a morning person such as myself, this means 10 AM. For others, this could mean 3, 4 in the afternoon. Such occasions call for grad student "brunch food."

Brunch can be an extremely dignified meal, with eggs benedict, bagels and lox, pancakes, and other items that restaurants charge way too much to order. This is why this morning, I confess, I ate a "grad student brunch." This is pure (over) indulgence on the cheap. It could be multiple slices of cold leftover pizza, potato chips, ice cream, etc. The recipe is as follows. Eat one thing that you happen to be craving at a time inappropriate for such food, and repeat until you've had too much of it.

This blog may be about responsible eating practices, but that doesn't always mean I eat responsible foods!

This is how I found myself eating double chocolate chunk cookies and milk as my brunch. They were delicious! Just because I found myself mindlessly enjoying my Saturday morning didn't mean I couldn't do it a little more ethically than I have in the past!

I used a baking mix, which requires that I add an egg. I have begun buying cage free, vegetarian feed, eggs. Look for eggs that are American Certified Humane. There are more of these options available than ever in your local grocery store now! You can also pick up eggs from your local farmer's market, and ask the farmer under what conditions he keeps his laying hens! Yes, these eggs are expensive (they run 5 or 6 bucks a dozen), but I normally use only an egg or two for baking. So we're talking a difference of .25 to .30 an egg. It's a quick swap to make your (over)indulgence a bit more ethical!

So what's your overindulgence food? Chips, ice cream, pizza? What might you be able to switch out to make that irresponsible decision just a little more responsible?

Ethical Entertaining on the Cheap

With my husband out of town, I decided to play hostess to my friend Kelly. Together we walked to the Boston Copley Square Farmer's Market. If you're in MA, you can find farmer's markets near you at the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets. For other areas, I highly recommend Local Harvest. You can use their interactive map feature to find farmer's markets near where you live!

Now, just because I was going to a farmer's market didn't mean that I was able to completely avoid sticker shock. At one of the stalls there were these beautiful lettuces, spinach, and other greens lying in beautiful bunches on lightly colored baskets. They looked perfect, and they better have tasted that way... they were $5 for a QUARTER POUND. Ouch! None of that for this hungry grad student! Instead, with a little walking around, I came upon Silverbrook Farm's stand. Now, another couple has signed up with my husband and I to split a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture subscription, with Silverbrook Farms for later in the season. So after chatting for a little while with the gentleman at the stand, I settled upon a box of pea tendrils, for $4. I had a little sticker shock, but as you'll soon hear, I think I got an excellent deal! I also picked up a large bunch of rainbow chard for later in the week from another stand fr $2.50. $6.50 for plenty of veggies for awhile for me was a pretty good deal in my book!

On to dinner. I grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts from Whole Foods. Now, these are more expensive than your average chicken breasts (although not that much more so.) However, the meat is far more ethical; it's nice to look at a meat counter without worrying about what came from where and what was done to the animals who made that meat. Here's a trick I learned by accident at Whole Foods: buying over 3 lbs means a discount! So, when we stocked up on chicken breasts, we got the meat for about 5.99/lb, about a .40 discount per pound! I served a little less than a pound of meat, so while the meat makes up 3/4 of the cost of the meal per person, it's still less than $3 per person. I added some dried salt-free Italian spices, garlic, and lemon juice. They were great!

I also served the pea tendrils straight up. They were amazing! As Kelly said, even thought they were just tendrils, they tasted like peas. So true! They didn't need a thing on them, and I served them raw. They tasted great with the chicken! So fresh and green. Plus, we only had about a quarter of them...$1 of fresh pea tendrils for two people!

Lastly, I made spinach risotto. I enclose my recipe, although I don't really ever do things "exactly" according to recipe. Adjust for your needs!

Makes 8-10 side servings

2 cups arborio rice

1 can of chicken broth (organic low sodium fat free if possible)

1 tablespoon olive oil

frozen organic spinach

parmesan cheese.

Put the oil in a hot wok or other shallow pot. Toast the arborio rice at medium heat until it begins to brown just a little. While it browns, microwave the broth until hot. Pour appx. half of the broth into the wok, and stir. Add water to the remaining broth, microwave to reheat. Once the rice has absorbed most of the broth, add more and stir. Continue to do so until the risotto is cooked through (taste to make sure it isn't chewy). You should go through about 4 total cups of liquid in this process. Remove from the heat, and add as much spinach and cheese a you would like. Keep stirring, and the spinach will defrost and the cheese will melt. Serve immediately!

I couldn't quite figure out how much per person my risotto costs, because I didn't use all of any of the ingredients I used. Suffice it to say that it is a very affordable side dish, and I made enough that I am all set for lunch tomorrow!

In total, I think this fun, quick, yummy, and above all ethical dinner clocks in at about $4 per person! That's cheaper than a night out any day!

Yogurt: Or How I Get Through Breakfast Most Mornings.

I don't exactly cook a full breakfast every morning, and I seriously doubt most of you do either. It is, however, an important meal to start the day. It is also, I have recently learned, an enormous ethical pitfall that confronts you at every turn. Just what exactly is in your cereal? your milk? Yea, those eggs you liked so much? the chickens aren't exactly happy or healthy or even beak-having.

I'm sure I will get to all of those choices at some point, but I don't like to have to worry too much at 7 in the morning about whether I have already transgressed 6 times before I've even showered. I also like a routine.

So I reach for yogurt. Yogurt can also be difficult, but I've found an excellent (and relatively affordable) choice. I like Stoneyfield farms organic yogurt. It's available at most of the major grocery retailers in the Boston area (like Shaw's and Whole Foods). It is also organic and local (Londonderry, NH to be exact). They use cows from local farmers in the New England area to supply their milk. So your yogurt hasn't traveled very far at all. I highly recommend the Greek Yogurt, sold under the brand Oikos. Very healthy and delicious.

In case you're concerned about Stoneyfield farms being one of the "Big Organics," I went to the Cornucopia Institute, a not-for-profit family-scare farming advocacy group, which rates milk product companies. Stoneyfield Farms gets 4 cows out of 5, a pretty great rating.

Now, this does come at a price. When not on sale, the Oikos runs 1.99 a pop at Shaw's and 2.19 at Whole Foods. (See, Whole Foods is expensive, and not always for a good reason). However, that's my breakfast (occasionally I'll have some fruit with it). So, less than $2 for breakfast isn't a bad deal in my book. Especially when you consider the price difference. There are some pretty crappy Greek yogurt brands out there (yea you Shaw's brand, I mean you, you taste like bad sour cream). I like Chobani, but it's 1.69 not on sale, so for an extra .30 in the morning I can make an ethical decision about my food. That's .30 I'm willing to spend. Besides, if you like regular yogurt, they're even cheaper!

So, how to be a cheap Grad student? I got these beauties on sale at Whole Foods the other week for about 1.29 each. I bought a LOT of them. I'm watching the sales to see when they'll come on sale again. Also, Stoneyfield farms has a rewards programs. You enter codes on the lids on their website, and you earn free yogurt! I'm a sucker for rewards programs. But this is one I can feel good (and cheap) about.

Welcome!

My husband and I are graduate students living in Boston. This spring, I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma in rapid succession, and I was inspired to try to be more conscious about our food choices. We both resolved to try to buy more organic more often, and local products where possible. Why? What we eat matters.Please, read either or both of the books, but it matters for the environment, for the farmers, for the animals that produce the animal products we eat, for our local economies, and for our health. Why wouldn't someone want to eat more ethically?

My response was quick: have you been in a Whole Foods lately? Talk about sticker shock! For a couple on a shoestring student budget, is it possible to eat more ethically while still maintaining some semblance of financial responsibility? We're going to try. I'll share our successes and failures, and hopefully share some helpful ways to think about where your food comes from in the process!

Now, I also enjoy cooking, so I will also share recipes and photos as well. Eating well should mean it tastes good!

I won't always be perfect, or perfectly economical, but I'll be honest about our attempts to eat both responsibly and economically.