The Dill Pickle Food Co-op

January in northern Illinois is a tough time to eat locally. The natives have been a little restless (yes, teenagers are not as excited about local, organic, non-processed food as you would think), and I have succumbed to actually purchasing some fresh produce recently that's clearly not local. A Costco opening a celeriac root's throw away has not helped. But, I'm still committed to searching out local sources to fill my pantry; yes, even in February.

In doing so, I found something pretty interesting. Popping up around are the newest "co-ops". I did belong to a co-op years (20??) ago. About a dozen families grouped together so we could buy in bulk from a distributor. This was before Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and the only real way to get natural and organic food in the quantities we wanted.

But, this is a little different. These new co-ops are more like grocery stores. They try to be as full service as possible; meat, produce, dairy, grains, bread, etc. They do offer a lot of the same food you might buy at a Whole Foods. However, the emphasis on local production is much greater.

Over the weekend, Eva and I traveled to one of these co-ops in Chicago. On a Sunday, the drive was pretty quick, and we could park right outside the door. The door to the...

This is the Dill Pick Food Co-op, at 3039 Fullerton. It's open 9-9 everyday. While members get a discount, even non-members can shop here.

First stop....produce. (Eva is clearly overwhelmed with the selection of anise and bok choy.) Produce is a big interest of mine. And I was not disappointed.

I was not disappointed because I was not expecting a wide variety of locally grown produce in February. But, there were plenty of root vegetables and squashes available, with the location and miles traveled clearly labeled. Yay! An educated choice!  Among other things I bought a big three pound bag of Rainbow carrots from Harmony Valley Farms in Wisconsin (this was about $10). Eva lobbyed for fuji apples, and won. Not local. But, here is a pic of the clear labeling that let me know where things came from.

Moving on to meat and dairy. Here, we get a little more info about the producers. Info about how the animals are raised, in addition to location and distance the product has traveled.

Here is a label enlarged for your viewing pleasure. Good info, right? I bought a gallon of milk.

Just like in a big grocery store, canned things were in the center. I tried to keep my eye out for locally grown. Here are some tomatoes produced by Tomato Mountain Farm in Brooklyn Wisconsin. I was a little scared off by the $5 price tag (this is a 16 oz. jar). I know a lot of tomatoes go into a jar, but I still had to pause. Balancing budget with local can be a struggle.

Finally, here is conscious consumer we spotted in the bulk aisle. (yes that's me.) The producers and locations were not labeled as well in this aisle.  I was a little bummed about that. Maybe someday...

As I said, these co-ops are popping up more and more, and I have a lead on one opening even closer to me! More info coming soon!