Buying organic, local, and fair trade etc

[peregrinus_WA]

If you’re ok with online shopping, check out MountainRoseHerbs for teas…and LOTS of other stuff…it’s an amazing site:thumbsup:

Food and spices are things I like to inspect personally. Besides, I already have a spice place near me (although they are national) that I can use if I need to.

 

[peregrinus_WA]

I did a search for farms in Wisconsin since we’re moving there soon. I came up with a lot within a few hours drive that seem to have some good stuff for a pretty good price. One has that cooperative thing where you pay a certain amount and get a bag full of veggies and fruits every week. However, they also do it where if you work for them for four hours a week you get it for free. I think dh will be pushing up his sleeves. That one isn’t as far away, so it wouldn’t be a huge thing to get there. One has bison. I’ve always wanted to try that, and it isn’t much more than beef I’ve seen. These are all farms that are family owned, and the meat is all grass fed I believe.

One thing about bison, it is very lean. Do not cook it as long as you do beef if you like your beef cooked beyond medium.

 

[psr13]

Well, I don’t exactly know how to cook beef anyway, so I’ll just learn for the first time with bison.

 

[peregrinus_WA]

My advisor loves Hiller’s- especially the special British food section (advisor is from the UK). I’ve never shopped in one myself as there isn’t one convenient for me, but everyone I know who has shopped at a Hiller’s says very good things about the experience.

I need another pound of unsalted butter if I’m going to finish my Christmas cookie baking. We’re also almost out of cottage cheese, and I wouldn’t say no to some good eggnog and peppermint ice cream. Looks like it’s time to make a trip to the Calder Dairy store.

Did check out the Hiller’s at Orchard Lake and Maple. It was a smaller store, but I liked what I saw. No prepackaged meats. Produce looked fresh and the oranges I saw were about the size of grapefruits.

One note, looked like the old Farmer Jack is being renovated across Maple from them. I am wondering if they are moving there or some other grocery store (i.e. Harvest Fresh or Heartland) is going in there.

 

[SeekerJen]

Did check out the Hiller’s at Orchard Lake and Maple. It was a smaller store, but I liked what I saw. No prepackaged meats. Produce looked fresh and the oranges I saw were about the size of grapefruits.

One note, looked like the old Farmer Jack is being renovated across Maple from them. I am wondering if they are moving there or some other grocery store (i.e. Harvest Fresh or Heartland) is going in there.

Shoot, there’s a Hiller’s on Washtenaw in Ann Arbor. That’s on my way home. I can’t believe I’ve driven by it hundreds of times.

Guess I know where I’m stopping for groceries next week. It’s less out of the way even than Busch’s.

 

[peregrinus_WA]

One thing that has not been mentioned is banking locally. What I am talking about is Credit Unions. A couple of months ago, I moved all my checking out of BOA to Michigan Catholic Credit Union (Jen, they have one in Ann Arbor at Domino Farms near Ave Maria Radio and the Catholic book store).

Here is something interesting I heard a couple of days ago:

Midwest credit unions pledge $10B in car loans

Midwest credit unions pledge $10B in loans, offer supplier discount to help members buy cars

NEW YORK (AP) – A consortium of credit unions in four Midwestern states is pledging $10 billion in loans to car buyers and teaming with General Motors Corp. to offer special discounts to boost flagging car sales.

The group, made up of 1,200 credit unions in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, said Wednesday it will offer its members a “supplier discount” plus $250 off the purchase price of GM vehicles.

Right now, it is regional but think what could happen if they go national on this. The only problem is I already get the “supplier discount”

 

[psr13]

We also switched a credit union a few days ago. It’s because we were fed up with our bank.

 

[SeekerJen]

One thing that has not been mentioned is banking locally. What I am talking about is Credit Unions. A couple of months ago, I moved all my checking out of BOA to Michigan Catholic Credit Union (Jen, they have one in Ann Arbor at Domino Farms near Ave Maria Radio and the Catholic book store).

Thanks for the heads up about the location. Right now I’m trying to choose between the Mich. Catholic, U of M, United Churches (Dearborn-based) or Dearborn Federal credit unions. I’m leaning toward the latter two only because of accessibility of locations near our home. DH likes to pay in cash as much as possible, so having a convenient ATM for him is a big plus. The nearest general credit union service center to us is a couple of cities over, and out of the way for both of us.

There’s also the Dearborn Federal Savings Bank, which has a branch location about six blocks from our house. I need to keep researching.

 

[peregrinus_WA]

Thanks for the heads up about the location. Right now I’m trying to choose between the Mich. Catholic, U of M, United Churches (Dearborn-based) or Dearborn Federal credit unions. I’m leaning toward the latter two only because of accessibility of locations near our home. DH likes to pay in cash as much as possible, so having a convenient ATM for him is a big plus. The nearest general credit union service center to us is a couple of cities over, and out of the way for both of us.

There’s also the Dearborn Federal Savings Bank, which has a branch location about six blocks from our house. I need to keep researching.

Note: MCCU belongs to a network of CU’s who allow members to use each other’s ATMS. This include some ATM’s in 7-Elevens. Manu CU’s belong to it.