Thursday, April 18, 2013

Food Co-ops



Does anyone here belong to a food co-op? How does that all work? I am thinking about joining one and they are including low income prices though I probably will have to pay even that in installments. The grocery store isn't quite doing it for me anymore though I'lll still need to get some things there and going 30 miles round trip to the closest health food store is too tough. Sunday, I go to get the paperwork and talk to the folks who are starting one. Please tell me if you have been in one, good or bad. The volunteer work for one may be limited with me but it seems like they are open to it. Sometimes I want to write to those CSA farmers, stop selling everything to urban yuppies and only to the rich who have 500 bucks to pay up front. I know they want to make money but there is the classist set-up per usual in the obtainment of decent food.  Well at least we do have good fruit and veggie stands here when its the right time of the season!

With the uric acid kidney stones, if I want to have a liver left, I don't want to be on allpurinol the rest of my life, I am going to be forced to go more vegan and with the food allergies it's kind of a scary overwhelming proposition, but if I can obtain more organic food and choices in the vegetable and alternative market, it will help me a lot more. This is the reason for the food co-op. The trap I got myself in, is I kept my diabetes scores far lower then anyone my weight usually does. In fact being a controlled diabetic on meds, is RARE I have heard for someone my weight. I did do the high protein and complex carbs thing, only problem is all the meat, even the lean kind, I have to kick it down and lower the amount for the sake of the kidneys and keeping the uric acid lower. I still want to find out why this is happening.

I'm cutting meat down in every recipe, used mostly as a flavoring but need to figure out how to make sandwiches without it. Even beans make more uric acid so this is a tough all around. I need to find a tofu I am NOT allergic too as well. A cheaper source of vegetables and fruit is necessary. I have a ton of produce at the beginning of every month and then run out before the month is over.

Anyhow tell me what your food co-op experience was like. I shopped at co-ops before that had stores that were open to the public.

4 comments:

  1. HI,
    Years ago I lived in very small town (150 POP)the only way we could get good food was through a food co-op. We got together once a month put together an order and called it in and then We met a semi-truck about 75 miles from our town and picked up our food. We then had to weigh, measure and package it all ourselves. It was a lot of work, but worth it to us. Now I find the internet the best way for me to get the supplies I need. I also bought a Tempeh culture and made my own. It is a wonderful fermented soy product. I realize you have significant mobility and health issues so the DIY may not work for you, but if you can get and try tempeh I think it may work well for you, lots of protein and calcium with a lovely nutty flavor that works well in almost any dish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am hoping I can afford the food-co-op I am not sure how the volunteer thing would work, I'd be willing to do some small amounts of paperwork for them but obviously not going to haul boxes around and/or man the store. I am not sure if they are planning a store. Yeah they get together and order off the truck. I have thought about trying to order food offline but don't have any credit cards, do these people take debits? This would be dry goods even like some seaweed etc. I do have a problem with soy where it swells up my neck-the thyroid but would be willing to try tempeh in small amounts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If what they are doing is like what we did, having someone do the paper work would be a blessing! I always got stuck with that and hated it! We didn't have a store, just put in personal orders, these were compiled-- I can't remember what the minimums were, but we did have to meet that.
    I think most online venders accept debit--never hurts to ask.

    ReplyDelete