Who: Cid Able, Produce Manager
My name is Cid, I am the current Produce manger at PFC. I am exposed to all different ways of living due to my work. Food is such a big part of how our bodies experience the world, and having the right fuel can really make or break my day. Paleo as a concept is pretty silly if you ask me, it not so much about eating what cave man eat but more about eating a diverse plate of food and eating more like an omnivore and scavenger. The key to take away from this diet is don’t eat too much of any one thing. Stay away from grains, artificial sweeteners, most dairy, legumes, sugars and high fructose corn syrup. So much of the modern persons plate of food is overly processed and filled with salt and sugar. There are a few items on my food list that are not paleo friendly, but let be real- it’s fall, it’s Michigan, and there is no way I am passing up on having fresh potatoes in my veggie stew this week.
Eat real food. Eat food from your neighbor. Be apart of a community as old as human culture.
Diet: Paleo
Cheats:
Coffee
Grass Fed Butter
Avocados
Paleo Thin Bread
Black Rice
Noodles
Cashews
Nut Mix
Salt
Pepper
Grocery Haul:
Apples, plums, red bell pepper, yukon & purple potatoes, zucchini, garlic, eggs, two whole chickens, carrots, jalapeños, cilantro, parsley, butternut squash.
The peaches I picked myself off a tree near my favorite coffee shop and they were free. I had rice noodles and cashews already in my pantry because they are staples in my diet.
Not in photo: local red wine from Lawton Ridge, one of the two whole chickens, paleo bread, salad mix, a small portion of bacon, and 3 avocados
Cost: $35-40
I normally spend a little less than this, but this week I will be going to a out doors event in Ohio so I need to buy a few extra things. Most of my meals are going to be cooked, then frozen and heated up on site.
Basic Meal Plan:
Breakfast is not part of my daily routine, and if I do eat in the morning it is normally water and some some nuts or part of an avocado. Some times I just eat cooked butternut squash and butter.
Lunch this week is home made zucchini noodles with cashew sauce (soaked cashews, blend them and add jalapeños to spice it up). Every so often I will also cut up carrots and tosses those in. I’ll also cook rice noodles in bone broth and add chopped red pepper for a great noodle soup.
Snacks are carrots, peaches, and plums. Sometimes I mash the plums up, add some soaked cashews and make a think paste that I put on toast. I am really into sauces, dips and spreads.
For dinner, I debone the chickens, and use the bones and left over bits to make a bone stock for my soups. I will use that as a base for my soups and for cooking my rice noodles in so they have some of the flavor. I tend to freeze most of the meat it and take it out as needed. I made a few quarts of bone broth, an avocado chicken salad, chicken soup, and tossed some in my butternut soup.
Favorite Recipe: Chicken Salad
What I learned:
How we Paleo as it’s currently defined makes it really hard to eat within this local challenge. Michigan grows so many things and from what I found beans, legumes, and root veggies are among the most popular. It is an abundant time of year in Michigan and going to the farmers market and shopping at PFC more often to keep my food fresh really opened me to having a better relationship with food and the people in my community. I found that so much of the food I was buying before was taking my money out of my community, and let me tell you there is nothing like seeing the same person multiple times a week and handing them cash for something they care for all season and hand raised just for me to eat. I have always thought about getting a CSA and now I think I have no other choice next season. Doing this challenge I felt more like my weeks had a flow to them, a rhythm that lead me to feeling heather and way more pumped about my food.
My take away from this is food is a direct link to culture, community, and survival