5 Resolutions for 2014
1. Waste less food.
Plan meals around the food at home, especially if it will expire in the near future. Freeze, can, preserve and eat what is edible from my garden and fruit trees.
2. See More. Eat More.
Travel can be as simple as visiting that restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to, but never have, or hiking at one of our local state parks. It’s also a great way to get ideas for how to use foods in new and exciting ways – making them easier to use up. Either way, there is a lot of food to explore in the world, and I want to get a good head start in 2014!
3. Eat Seasonally.
Eat what produce is available, when it’s available. In other words, no potatoes and squash in April and May – make those months more about the leafy greens, morel mushrooms and asparagus.
4. Eat Locally.
Being more mindful of how far food has to travel to get where it is. Buying meat from the local butcher; purchasing produce at the farmer’s market, or the food co-ops; canning, freezing, dehydrating during garden season; and eating wild edibles/meats. Every year I work harder and harder at eating and purchasing local ingredients. It is extremely hard to do this in the long, cold winters in Minnesota; which leads me to my next one.
Along with 3 and 4 – make sure I blog about locally available produce in the season in which it’s available!
5. Pressure Canning.
I can pickle vegetables with the best of them, dehydrate fruits and freeze soups of just about anything, but canning with a pressure cooker has me so intimidated that I’ve never even dared to try.
Pressure Canning allows meats to be preserved, vegetables kept, and keeps freezer space open. Saving even more fresh veggies from the garden and farmer’s markets while they’re fresh so that winter can still be about eating locally- and healthy!
Extra Credit for peace of mind. Do a Daily Computer/Photo Back-up.
There is nothing worse than losing it all. I watched my friend Haley at CheapRecipeBlog go through that this past summer with a terrible virus. I’ve lost a few days’ worth of images before and it’s painful. As a photographer and blogger it is very important that I not lose any data or photos – that would be the end of the end.
Hey Greta! Despite how badly that experience sucked, you wouldn’t believe how many people have told me they now back up regularly. As a professional photographer, the stakes are even higher for you! Glad you could be reminded from my mistake :)
Ha! Talk about seeing the silver lining in something :-) I was definitely feeling the pain for you. You seem to have survived it very well though- I didn’t even notice a gap in your posting like you thought there would be! Cheers (and thanks for the reminder once again!)