Rural Problems

[bliggitt]

Hey y'all!  We live super in the middle of nowhere.  As in, the closest Walmart is 1.5 hours away.  Whole Foods?  Trader Joe's?  The closest are about 3.5 hours away.  My husband and I both work full time and have a sweet little we're taking care of, and the Whole30 seems a little daunting because our little local grocery store only has the basics.  Lettuce (Iceberg, sometimes Romaine), tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, apples, bananas...you get the idea.  Kale and spaghetti squash?  I asked for those and they looked at me like they had no idea what I was talking about.  I see that a lot of the great recipes offered have more "exotic" ingredients than we have easy access to.  We typically make a trip to a bigger grocery store about 1x/month, and stock up on things then, but usually buy frozen produce since it'll last a little longer.  I am looking for a place with a variety (we're getting tired of the same ole same ole) of recipes using simple ingredients that are more practical where we live.  I can order some staples (ghee, coconut oil..etc) from Amazon.  Thank the Lord for prime!  I really am passionate about changing our unhealthy lifestyle, but feel a little stuck with our location.  Do y'all have any suggestions?

 

Thanks so much!

Brittany

[Tom Denham]

Maybe you can find an organic farmer or gardener you can buy fresh produce from. Most farmers and gardeners grow kale as it is easy to grow and can survive in several seasons. 

 

Spaghetti squash and all squashes can last for weeks and sometimes months in your pantry. You can stock up on them when you find them. And things like rutabagas and turnips will last for a while too. It is only the leafy veggies that have to be fresh (or frozen). I like the taste of fresh greens best, but I keep cans of spinach, beets, and artichokes in my pantry for when I don't have fresh. Frozen food is not as tasty either, but you can make good stuff with it. You just need more creative use of spices and sauces. 

[Carlaccini]

you even might consider having a garden in the summer months.  

 

I grew up eating kale from our garden.  It grows easily enough, and when you get bunches of it you can always blanch it and freeze it yourself.  Other easy growers are potatoes, carrots, beans, tomatoes, and squash.  But if you grow squash make sure you have a trellis or fence that it grows on - They can get quite large and viney.

[MeadowLily]

I'm rural and we don't have a growing season.  I raised one zucchini.  The deer ate everything else.  My garden looks like a plucked chicken.  The deer ate everything down to a nub.  The bucks have destroyed it.

 

I don't have any of those upscale grocery stores either.   We have one gas pump with soda pops, candy bars and tobacco.  I travel long distances to an average grocery store.   You learn to buy in large quantities and freeze everything.  You eat all of your fresh vegetables first and survive on the frozen until the next shopping trip.  Frozen berries and vegetables, proteins.

Eggs keep for a long time, no problems there.  I've been living this way most of my lifetime, I grew up in a very remote location.   No cars in the wintertime and everything brought in by snowmobile.   You can do it.

 

[MrsStick]

You can do freezer prep for a lot of veggies, and there's nothing against using compliant frozen veggies in a Whole 30. It might get boring, but it'll work.

 

Some things I have done to preserve my veggies include shredding sweet potato and freezing it in a gallon ziploc bag and make a hash out of it later. I've also baked potatoes, mashed them up, and frozen them in patties to do 'hash browns' later. Both work extremely well!

[Ahavah]

I am also very rural, and our local grocery tends to carry half-rotted veggies and meats, so I try to avoid shopping there for anything non-canned unless it's a true emergency. I LIVE off price-matching. As much as I hate Walmart, that's the only way I can make it. They'll price match for any stores within 50 miles, I believe it is (I could be wrong). I'll make a list of sales at our local grocery (better quality at Wmart), Aldi (always has great veggie deals!), and Kroger, and then I load up on my one stop at Walmart. If I have to do a big cook over the weekend and freeze dishes, I will. But I tend to make extra trips out during Whole30, since I'm eating so many more vegetables.

 

Definitely connect with local farmers/gardeners, farm stands, farmers' markets, and see if there is a CSA anywhere near you. You can grow some of your own greens and sprouts indoors, even in winter, or outside with cover.

[83501Maria]

Hi Brittany,

 

You can do it, and you can start right now! I live in a rural community, too. We have one Whole Foods and one Trader Joe's in the state; the Trader Joe's nearest me is actually in a neighboring state. As rural as my little berg may be, this is the place where people from the really remote & frontier communities come to shop!

 

So far (I'm on Day4), my Whole30 has consisted of water, in-season fruit, cucumbers, squash, carrots, potatoes, chicken, pork, elk venison and clarified butter. And a macaroon on what was supposed to be Day1, so I got to do Day1 again. 

 

While we may not have a Whole Foods right around the corner, we rural folk do have food choices that our urban counterparts don't. Do you have neighbors who have gardens...and therefore produce they're trying to give away? Or a farmers market? How about feral apples, pears, plums and berries? Or harvesting wild game fish, fowl and ruminants?

 

Any leaf or head lettuce substitutes for any other lettuce; if romaine lettuce isn't available where you are, another variety such as red leaf (which is really more green than red) or butternut may be in stock instead. Same for cabbage; regular green cabbage will work, even if the recipe calls for napa, savoy or red cabbage. When making your own mayo, black pepper will work. Expand your options with frozen fruits and veggies. At rural grocery stories, frozen produce is a better bet a lot of times anyway. If you can't get ghee, clarified butter is compliant and it's easy to clarify butter. (I don't know if any of the local grocery stores even carry ghee in the "ethnic" section--I've never looked, the people I know who use it buy it in Spokane, Seattle or Portland.)

 

Do you have favorite recipes that are not comfort foods or triggers, just good food that could be healthier with the use of different ingredients & techniques? I know I do; now's the time to dig them out and make them Whole30-ified!

 

You can do it!

[Dem]

I'm going to chime in here with a few suggestions of my own in hopes that others will continue to post ideas. I am also 1.5 hrs from a decent grocery store and WalMart. One thing I have done recently and hope to continue doing is to wake up at 4 so I can get to the store by 6, get out of the store by 8, then home by 10 am. Hubby doesn't mind watching the kids for those 3 hours or so when everyone is awake.

I love Paleo Pad Thai from The Clothes Make the Girl because besides the squash, all the other ingredients are easy to keep around the house for a long time. I can use frozen pre-cut onions and sub frozen green beans, frozen bell pepper, or even spinach for the fresh snow peas. And maybe you can buy frozen snow peas, I don't know.

If you don't have a deep freezer, invest in one! Such a sanity saver.

In the past I have frozen fresh basil successfully, then pulled it out in the dead of winter to add to soups. The only herb I miss having constant access to is cilantro, but I bet you could grow it under a light.

Vitacost sells organic canned butternut squash and sweet potato. That is so exciting to me.

Looking forward to more tips.

[Dem]

Another tip I have is to check if you have Bountiful Baskets in your area. My neighbor (10 miles away) and I take turns picking up our orders at the site that is only 45 minutes away. They are very reasonably priced and the quality is much higher than the little grocery store in that town.