Fresh Fruits and Vegetables from the Garden or your area for freezing and canning.

     Hello, how’s your week been? It’s been a good one here. Today we had a warm day

with 80 degrees, that is, until a cool front came in. Now we are at 56 degrees. 

So it’s out with the shorts and in with the jackets.

     I like to buy fresh fruits and vegetables when I can find them. My better half planted

a garden just recently. I’m hoping that it does well as this will solve my problem of trying to find USA vegetables at the store. We also have an apple and pear tree plus a grape vine. I’m planning to freeze or can the vegetables and fruits this year. The red grapes will make good jelly and juice. The apples will be good for pies and jam.

      There are strawberry and blueberry farms in our area where you can go and pick 

your own berries for a price. I plan to do this and freeze the berries. They are good

to mix with oatmeal or to make fruit smoothies.

     Another place that I like to go is the farmer’s market. There’s a woman at our market that’s a beekeeper. She sells her honey every year and it’s very good. She has the dark and light honey.  I have heard that if you eat honey that has been produced in the area where you live, it can help your allergies. I don’t know if there is any truth to this but I love honey so I will be buying some.

     I have to remember to read every label of each product that I buy to make sure it is

from the USA. This makes for a longer shopping trip. I am finding out that I have been in

a rut with the products that I’ve bought in the past. Now I’m trying out different brands. For example, I bought some organic apples from Oregon State the last two weeks. They are delicious. It may be because organic fruits are always picked when they are ripe.

     Here is a list of some USA products that I’ve bought.

Era, for washing clothes

Glad Bags, Finish Gel Paks and Powder for dishwashers, Target Ultra Dishwashing

and Antibacterial Hand soap, Blue Diamond Almonds, and La Tiara Taco Shells.

     Have a good week.

          Carol Brown

It would be a good thing if all the food companies would specify exactly where their food products are from.

    Hello, how are you?  The weather is better this week. It’s 70 degrees here today.

I’m going to plant a couple of Begonia and Geranium plants tomorrow and finish

working on getting our taxes filed before the April 18th deadline. 

     I’m happy to report that today I bought USA tomatoes, lettuce, oranges, Washington State apples and California walnuts. I could have easily picked up tomatoes and lettuce from Mexico and Apples from New Zealand or another country except that I was looking for the USA label on each fruit and vegetable.

     This project of buying only USA foods and products is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. This is because some of the products aren’t clearly marked as to what country they come from. I found out yesterday that 3 Kraft products that I brought home aren’t exactly from the US. I called and talked to a person at Kraft Foods Global, Inc. and here’s what I learned.

  

     I asked about their Kraft Dry Roasted Peanuts and where they are produced. The answer surprised me as I thought these peanuts were from the US. I was told that some of the Peanuts are from North Africa, India, China, North Carolina, Virginia and elsewhere. I asked what elsewhere meant.  I was told this could be “anywhere.” 

     Two other Kraft Products, Planters Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts and Planters Trail Mix

Go-Paks, Berry Almond Daybreak Blend are also from different countries

   The Kraft Foods’ representative said that the nuts in the Planters Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts came from various countries. The cashews are from India, Africa, Brazil and Vietnam. The Pecans are from Africa, Brazil and India and any country. The almonds and walnuts are from California. The peanuts are from different countries as in the Kraft Dry Roasted Peanuts mentioned above.

     The Kraft Planters Trail Mix Go-Paks, Berry Almond Mix has this breakdown. The cranberries, raisins and granola clusters are from “other countries” and the US. I wasn’t told what “other countries” these ingredients are from, but the almonds are from the US. I may call Kraft Foods again to see if I can find out where the cranberries and raisins are from.

  The dry roasted Planters Pistachios produced by Kraft that I bought are from California. 

     I asked the Kraft representative how to tell if a Kraft product was from the US. I was told that if it said Kraft Foods Global then it could be from a combination of different countries. If the product was from just one foreign country, it would give the name of that country on the product. It would say Kraft Foods if it’s from the US.  I noticed that on these 4 Kraft Products that I bought it says, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Northfield, IL USA, and Kraft Foods.

     It would be a good thing if all the food companies would specify exactly where their food products are from.  I believe this is important information for consumers.

     Have a good day,

     

     Later,

         Carol Brown

      

Frozen Vegetables and Garlic powder are not always produced in the USA.

     Hello, how’s it going?

     It’s been a rainy day in the 40’s today. Tomorrow the forecast is for spring weather with 60 degree temps.  I hope this isn’t an April Fool’s joke.

   

      I went shopping this week and It took me longer to grocery shop because I looked on every label of each product that I bought to check the country of origin. Also, I wanted Romaine lettuce and tomatoes from the US but instead what I found was from Mexico. Not until I went to another store did I find the US vegetables.

     I was surprised to discover that some frozen vegetables are produced in Mexico. Even some of the garlic powder on the grocery shelf comes from China.

     A label on a Quaker Oats box said, “Distributed by the Quaker Oats Company, Chicago, IL.” Since I didn’t understand exactly what “Distributed” meant, I called the Quaker Oats Company to find out.  I was told by one of their representatives that the Quaker Old Fashioned and Quick Oats are from the US but that some of their other products are from Canada. The person I talked to said If their product is from another country it would say so on the box, otherwise it is from the US. I was happy to hear that the Oats are from the US since I don’t want to give them up. I already miss bananas.

      I don’t know if all the food and product companies treat the word “Distributed” on their label the same as the Quaker Oats company but I plan to check this out later

      I went to a Department store to shop and some products caught my eye because the label displayed the word American as part of the name of the company or product. But when I checked where it was made, it was from another country. More on this next time.

     Have a pleasant day.

     

     Later,

           

         Carol Brown

Buying USA Made but what about Gas for the Car?

Burt's Bees are products
 made in the USA

     Hello, how's your weather today? We're having winter weather with temps in the 30’s, brrr. Really, I can’t complain as we didn’t get the snow or the tornadic weather like some of our neighbors to the North and South.  I hope it warms up next week. 

     I haven’t been shopping since I started the blog on March 23 so I don’t have any shopping experiences to share yet. I have though learned something that has somewhat blasted a hole in my thinking about only buying USA made products and food for a year.

     My oldest Grandson said I would not be buying USA made goods if I filled up my car with gas. I should have thought of this but I didn’t. Okay, I’ll admit that I’m not perfect, ha ha. This means I won’t be going to town since I live in a rural area. What will I do about this? I decided to stick with my original challenge of buying only USA made Products and Foods only I will need to change the rules and add a few exceptions.

I'll still buy gas as it is what I consider a necessity. If another necessity comes up I'll fess up to it. 

     I thought it was necessary to buy the brand of jeans that I always buy but

It isn’t, I 'll just miss having them. There's a company making USA jeans, It's Diamond Gusset Jeans,  http://www.gussetclothing.com/. I haven’t bought from them yet but plan to later.

     Have a nice day.

     Later,

   

        Carol Brown

This hat wasn't made in the USA
It cost 73 cents.

                                                                 

One Year of Buying Only USA Made Products.

     How are you doing? 

     Did you watch ABC news with Diane Sawyer the first week of March and the series called “Made in America”?  I loved the video where the ABC team took everything that wasn’t made in America out of the home of one family. It is really an eye-opener. That video is called “Made In America”: Meet the USRY Family. You can still view this video at http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

     I was inspired by this ABC series to challenge myself to buy only US made goods including foods for one year starting today which is the first day of this blog. You might think that I’m crazy to do this but I think it will be a challenge and fun. 

     I bet I will have to do more online shopping than I do now though. It could turn out that I will have to do without some things because I may not be able to find them. I guess I won’t be getting a new cell phone for a while. I hope mine keeps working because I don’t think they make them in the US. 

    I will give you details about my shopping experiences through this blog and let you know how it is going. Until then, take care and have a good day. 

     Later,

         Carol Brown