5 Tips for CSA Cooking

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are getting more and more common. Rather than head to the grocery store for your weekly produce fix, you sign on to support a local farmer for the season and in return you get a fresh box of local, often organic produce each week! CSAs are a great way to reduce your food miles and support the local economy while filling your veggie drawer with healthy eats.

Our CSA basket arrives on Wednesdays, which can make it a little tricky to plan for. Weekends are traditionally when we head to the grocery store to stock our kitchen, so this mid-week arrival sort of throws things off. Some other folks have mentioned a similar challenge with CSA deliveries. Since you don’t know what you’re going to get, it’s tough to plan menus and keep the kitchen stocked properly.

With a little bit of planning and a few key staples, though, it’s easy as pie to get your pantry CSA ready!

Whole Grains and Breads

Keep a variety of grains around the house, so you’ll be able to toss a quick meal together when you need to. Whether your basket is full of summer squash and onions or bunches of celery and carrots, you can saute those harder veggies, toss them with whole grains and sauce, and have a quick, filling meal!

It’s also a good idea to have at least one sort of bread on hand for making sandwiches or wraps. This is a great way to get the most out of lettuces, sprouts, leafy greens, and tomatoes.

Some good grains to keep on hand: quinoa, brown rice, bulgur, Israeli couscous, barley, whole grain bread or tortillas

Protein

Most CSA baskets don’t contain much in the way of protein, so having a few options in the pantry can go a long way toward putting meals together. Top off a wrap or salad with something protein-rich to make meals that are nutritious and filling.

Handy proteins: dried or canned beans, tofu, tempeh, hummus, nuts

Up next: Spices and condiments to keep your kitchen CSA ready!

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

KS G.

4:48AM PST on Mar 7, 2012

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

Micheal M.

4:14PM PST on Jan 31, 2012

"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food." Hippocrates
we must light up the darkness for knowledge is not power its empowering lets all be empowered to change. life has value beyond measure
Peace and Love

Robert O.

2:17PM PDT on Aug 18, 2011

Thanks.

2:16PM PDT on Aug 18, 2011

Elizabeth P.

10:25AM PST on Mar 10, 2011

Very Good ideas. I will check it out.

Linda J.

3:26PM PST on Mar 4, 2011

thanks, bookmarked this

Carole L.

10:15AM PST on Mar 4, 2011

Thank you.

Derek W.

7:04PM PDT on Sep 21, 2010

I pay about 40 dollars to keep my share of CSM veggies roughly every month. I am a college student and I have to make due with limited kitchen resources. But I always stock garlic, onion, and scallions as necessity. They add wonderful flavors to any dish and they have important nutritional values.

Past Member .

1:52AM PDT on Sep 20, 2010

Intersting

Green G.

10:27AM PDT on Sep 12, 2010

I'm a vegetarian, and have been so for the past nine years (no "breaks") so getting a lot of protein has been really important, especially because fish is a big source of protein. I live off tofu, vegetables, beans, rice and soy. People think you can't get enough of necessary vitamins as a vegetarian, but they are wrong. Thank you for the informative article.