Frugal Kitchens 101 - The $10 Challenge

One sure fire way to save on your food dollar is to eat local, in season produce.  The Ontario Table has a $10 Challenge: a year of eating local, an incentive by Lynn Ogryzlo, author of The Ontario Table Cookbook.  I highly recommend this wonderful cookbook!  The $10 Challenge ezine is available on her website and you can download the $10 Challenge magazine in pdf format for reading off line.   Her premise is that if every household in Ontario spent $10 a week on local food, we would have an additional $2.4 billion in our local economy at the end of the year.  Keeping our money circulating in Ontario raised those dollars to $3.6 billion and creates 10,000 new jobs.  Now this is a win/win for everyone in Ontario.

This challenge helps the average household save money by buying local.  Why buy imported apples when Ontario apples are available?  They are higher in nutrition and fresher because they have not had to travel the long distances of imported.  Buying local supports our local growers and producers, helping them stay in business and providing a good life for their families.  This in turn results in a stronger community.  Buying local means you get to meet the local growers and producers providing a stronger appreciation from where your food comes from.  It makes us less dependent on imported foods as well.

We have taken the $10 Challenge, have you?