Groceries and COVID: How we learned to shop local and eat better at the same time.
Title
Groceries and COVID: How we learned to shop local and eat better at the same time.
Creator
Katie Silberman
Text
My husband is immunocompromised following a kidney transplant, so it was clear to me from the very beginning that I wasn't going to any grocery stores, ever. I had to find ways to get all the food for my family of four delivered or ordered online.
At the beginning, I struggled through waiting long weeks for Instacart deliveries, and hours searching websites of big box stores that seemed to be out of everything we needed (no pasta? no rice? no flour?). At some point a neighbor told me about Munroe Dairy, a local milk & grocery delivery service, but they were not accepting new customers and only had an option to join their waitlist.
Through hours of searching, I discovered the life-saving WhatsGood app. This service compiles several local farms, lets you place one order, and delivers the food directly to your doorstep. I couldn't believe it! After waiting weeks for Instacart or online orders to arrive (often with incorrect contents), WhatsGood literally came the next day and brought delicious local food. In addition to produce from local farms (bags of apples from the orchard! beautiful fresh kale!), I've ordered local beef, chicken, seafood and regional products like Cabot cheese through WhatsGood as well - reasonably priced, trustworthy and delicious.
We had already been receiving Misfits Market produce, but now it became a vital resource: opening the box like a wondrous treasure chest. Misfits sources organic produce that has been rejected from grocery stores for cosmetic reasons, so consumers get a big discount, there's nothing wrong with the produce (sometimes a carrot is too big or too small?), and you're preventing food waste since otherwise, the products would be thrown away. We ended up doubling our order.
For staples like tuna, beans and peanut butter (and okay, chocolate), we turned to Thrive Market, an online wholesaler of discount, Whole Food-ish healthy brands. And then, heaven-sent, I received a call from Munroe Dairy: they were accepting us as a customer! Since then, we've received a weekly delivery from Munroe. Not only their luscious fresh milk in gorgeous, heavy glass bottles, but butter, cheese, eggs, produce, meat and, yes, ice cream. My kids so look forward to the Munroe delivery (we've yet to find a gender-neutral alternative for the milkman) that they literally cheer when the "cow truck" pulls up.
So now we're in a pretty good sourcing groove with WhatsGood, Munroe Dairy, Misfits Market and Thrive Market. We've even managed home delivery of beautiful fresh fish from RI commercial fishing boats, like the Narragansett Lobster Co, who are now delivering straight to consumers (try their clam chowder!).
Before the lockdown, having enough food in the house was challenging enough, with a husband and two boys who tended to eat dinner before soccer practice AND dinner after soccer practice. We generally managed to squeeze in a trip to Trader Joe's on a weekend, with frequent desperate after-work dashes into our local Dave's Market (which my husband maintained would cost $80 even if you were determined to only get three things). Truth be told, most "where is this field?" soccer games in random Massachusetts suburbs ended with the cure for all starving children, Dunkin egg and cheese bagels (and you know Mommy deserves an iced coffee).
Whenever this moment ends and we can grocery shop again without terror, I will continue our new focus on hyper-local sources of food. The Rhode Island farms, fishing boats and dairies have been more reliable, more delicious, and more ethically gratifying than any chain store. When I mentioned to my 87-year-old dad that I now have a milkman, he told me a story about his younger brother hopping in a milk truck and driving down the street in the 1940s, and laughed and laughed. I can't imagine a story about Walmart would have been as funny, or as touching.
At the beginning, I struggled through waiting long weeks for Instacart deliveries, and hours searching websites of big box stores that seemed to be out of everything we needed (no pasta? no rice? no flour?). At some point a neighbor told me about Munroe Dairy, a local milk & grocery delivery service, but they were not accepting new customers and only had an option to join their waitlist.
Through hours of searching, I discovered the life-saving WhatsGood app. This service compiles several local farms, lets you place one order, and delivers the food directly to your doorstep. I couldn't believe it! After waiting weeks for Instacart or online orders to arrive (often with incorrect contents), WhatsGood literally came the next day and brought delicious local food. In addition to produce from local farms (bags of apples from the orchard! beautiful fresh kale!), I've ordered local beef, chicken, seafood and regional products like Cabot cheese through WhatsGood as well - reasonably priced, trustworthy and delicious.
We had already been receiving Misfits Market produce, but now it became a vital resource: opening the box like a wondrous treasure chest. Misfits sources organic produce that has been rejected from grocery stores for cosmetic reasons, so consumers get a big discount, there's nothing wrong with the produce (sometimes a carrot is too big or too small?), and you're preventing food waste since otherwise, the products would be thrown away. We ended up doubling our order.
For staples like tuna, beans and peanut butter (and okay, chocolate), we turned to Thrive Market, an online wholesaler of discount, Whole Food-ish healthy brands. And then, heaven-sent, I received a call from Munroe Dairy: they were accepting us as a customer! Since then, we've received a weekly delivery from Munroe. Not only their luscious fresh milk in gorgeous, heavy glass bottles, but butter, cheese, eggs, produce, meat and, yes, ice cream. My kids so look forward to the Munroe delivery (we've yet to find a gender-neutral alternative for the milkman) that they literally cheer when the "cow truck" pulls up.
So now we're in a pretty good sourcing groove with WhatsGood, Munroe Dairy, Misfits Market and Thrive Market. We've even managed home delivery of beautiful fresh fish from RI commercial fishing boats, like the Narragansett Lobster Co, who are now delivering straight to consumers (try their clam chowder!).
Before the lockdown, having enough food in the house was challenging enough, with a husband and two boys who tended to eat dinner before soccer practice AND dinner after soccer practice. We generally managed to squeeze in a trip to Trader Joe's on a weekend, with frequent desperate after-work dashes into our local Dave's Market (which my husband maintained would cost $80 even if you were determined to only get three things). Truth be told, most "where is this field?" soccer games in random Massachusetts suburbs ended with the cure for all starving children, Dunkin egg and cheese bagels (and you know Mommy deserves an iced coffee).
Whenever this moment ends and we can grocery shop again without terror, I will continue our new focus on hyper-local sources of food. The Rhode Island farms, fishing boats and dairies have been more reliable, more delicious, and more ethically gratifying than any chain store. When I mentioned to my 87-year-old dad that I now have a milkman, he told me a story about his younger brother hopping in a milk truck and driving down the street in the 1940s, and laughed and laughed. I can't imagine a story about Walmart would have been as funny, or as touching.
Language
English
Location
East Greenwich, RI
Description
Our family's food shopping habits shifted from chain stores to hyper-local farms, dairies and other sources, opening up a delightful RI food world along the way.
Collection
Citation
Katie Silberman, “Groceries and COVID: How we learned to shop local and eat better at the same time.,” Rhode Island COVID-19 Archive, accessed December 20, 2024, https://ricovidarchive.org/items/show/269.
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