Analysis: Eating Locally

In the week of eating local food, it was found that with a little bit of planning in advance, I could definitely eat purely local meals for around the same cost as my usual meals. In groceries at the beginning of the week, I got enough food from Whole Foods to last me most of the week for around 50-60 dollars. Though this is a little bit more than the average cost of groceries, it was not a significant amount more. The only major issue that arose in local foods was the variety found at this time of the year. Though this was not the only cost during the week, I found that I could definitely have lived on this cost alone. Other than this cost for groceries, I had about another 20 dollars in expenditures. These expenditures were for food from the Fine Arts Café and from Revolutionary Soup. Overall, my bill for the week came out to be around 80 dollars, give or take 10 dollars. However, I did not use all the food that I bought for the week, and could have used it for a little bit more time. With a little bit of advance planning at a different part of the season, a college student could definitely eat purely local food during the year.
Though a college student could definitely eat purely local food during most of the year for a reasonable cost, it would probably not be convenient. One would also find it difficult to eat sustainably local food during the winter months, for there are barely any produce products available. However, after my week of eating purely sustainably, I investigated how to eat a few local meals a day. Since I had a lot of produce left over from my week of eating purely local food, I had a few local apples for several of my meals during the week. Whenever I would eat out, I would try to eat at Revolutionary Soup or restaurants that served local food. Though the price was slightly more, the net benefit overrode the cost. I was eating healthier food than before, while also living with the knowledge that I was helping farmers and companies in the area. When you account for this in the long run, the food that I eat is well worth the extra 1 dollar that I paid for it.
Avik Dayal