When shopping for produce, there are many things I evaluate before putting it into the cart, such as whether it’s organic, the freshness and use-by date and the cost of the product. But one thing I have trouble with is determining whether the produce is locally grown. And if so, how local is it?
Being on a budget, I’d rather spend my money on local produce than organic produce. Right off the bat, locally grown produce uses less pesticides, has fresher tastes and supports farming communities. Plus, there are more diverse selections when buying local.
While it’s hard to determine exactly where the food is coming from, I’ve done some research to find the stores that concentrate on locally grown produce -for real.
Safeway (Dominick’s, Von’s, Randall’s and more) – If the produce spends more than eight hours on a truck to get to the store, it isn’t considered local.
Walmart – If the produce is grown and sold in the same state, it’s considered local.
Supervalu (Jewel, Albertson’s, Acme and more) – The term local is a bit more vague and will vary across store sites. However, the store chain says that it gets 25-40% of its produce from locally grown sources.
Kroger (Fry’s, Fred Meyer and more) – Again, Kroger is a bit vague on their definition of local, but generally speaking, it means their products come from the same state or region.
Source: The Consumerist
Image: corefitnessptc.com
With #7 in mind, consider that an average tree in the metropolitan area only survives for eight years.
