Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: common house meals

[Rowenahc (rowenahc]

IMO stipulating that those who want to eat should
cook or clean makes sense.

At Cambridge Cohousing there is an "understanding" that if you eat meals you
should participate in preparation or clean up three times during the 10 week
cycles we  have (we have three meals a week) but as far as I know noone ever
checks this.  I don't particularly care although I suppose if some people
were always eating and never working it might get annoying if you happened
to check it out!

Another question concerning meals: Are there any communities
who have tried to encourage use of organic stuff?
If so, how much does it add to the cost charged to individuals?

Yes, we do.  Veggies are no problem in summer.  We have some from the garden
but more donated from the shares of those who are members of some of the
local CSA farms, which are generally in excess of the families' needs.
Organic adds a little bit to the cost.  However, even in winter, if you stay
away from things like skinless chicken breasts from free-range chickies and
use the legs instead (which are always cheap around here) the additional
amounts are minimal.  You can also substitute stuff like textured soy
protein for hamburger and have a pretty inexpensive meal.  Some of us here
are a bit rabid on the issues of Slow and Local food (as opposed to fast,
imported and processed), so there is some encouragement to attempt to go
organic.  We also buy coffee and tea for the common house and individuals
from Equal Exchange, which is a small growers' cooperative; the coffee is
shade grown, organically, and the growers are paid direct - no middlemen.
Since we buy in bulk its actually cheaper than supermarket coffee!

Rowenahc [at] cs.com

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