Buy MI now! No, really. I mean it.

This is a follow-up to the lovely, and comprehensive, post by Lindsay below, about the environmental merits of buying locally. Now, to be certain, you can make a great impact by getting your food from nearby, and in light of the terrible economy, you can also make a really positive impact on the state economy.

In some ways, I was actually motivated to buy local products and services because I wanted my dollars to matter to my community, more than I was motivated by the need for it to be close to my home for environmental reasons. I mention that so that if you commit yourself to buying MI made products (and if you're a friend of Kim's who doesn't live in MI, you might think that you should by products from your home state. I say you should still buy MI products whenever possible...have you SEEN our economy lately? Sheesh. I'm pretty sure we need those bucks more than your state does so start buying some Faygo and Keebler crackers on your way home from grabbing a coffee at Biggby and treating your baby to a new toy from Sassy and some Gerber green beans). So while Lindsay's and Kim's and Renae's posts are all great and inspiring and healthy, mine is more, well...let's put it this way. I'm going to buy chips, I love chips, and I am going to drive my car to go buy some chips. That's not really going to change: but I can support my economy and environment buy buying Better Made chips because they're made and packaged in Detroit with MI potatoes and MI-made oil. So people, my chips are going to happen. I just try to make sure they haven't logged more miles than I have, and limit their impact to my cholesterol instead of the ozone.

Anyway, a few years ago I started this list on my own largely-neglected blog, and asked folks to write in with names of products that were MI-made. Now let me say this: when I first started to focus my efforts on buying MI products, it took a lot of time, much like when you decide you want to cut out foods with HFCS or trans-fats: you have to look at every label, and it can take forever to figure out which ones satisfy the criteria. However, it's so much easier now since I have identified the brands that are local and they've become my go-to brands, so much so that I look at this list now and know that there are other items I buy all the time that should be on there, but I'd have to go all the way to my pantry and fridge and find a pen and paper and write it all down and frankly, I'm way too lazy for that.

I am also too lazy to update the list. I will post that list below, but should warn you that this idea has finally really taken off in great ways, and I have since found some wonderful resources online that help make it easier for you to purchase homegrown commercial products.

Here is a fabulous website that has great info on MI made products: Buy Michigan Now. It's not fully comprehensive, but this site allows you to take a pledge to put MI products first and sign a pledge of support. That's all fine and good, but money talks, right? The site also includes a database where you can search for products and businesses broken down by their impact: operates entirely within MI; headquartered in MI with operations elsewhere; MI-owned franchise or affiliate that sends some money elsewhere. Gerber, for example, uses MI growers for their food and packages it in Fremont, but the company is owned by Nestle, so...you get the idea.

Better yet, though it's a bit dated and not comprehensive, you can go here and download a grocery guide, that breaks down products by theme...so when you're in the pasta aisle, you can more easily find pastas and sauces that are locally produced. It's a good start. The Buy MI Now Experiment, also on the site, is also a good read, as it captures one woman's attempt to buy MI stuff.

So here's the list we started a while back. Add products and ideas as you wish, though I really do encourage us to help the Buy MI Now site build up their database, to expand and build on their efforts and readership.

Garden Fresh ~ salsa, hummus, tortilla chips, etc. (Ferndale)
Gerber baby food (Fremont)

Paramount Coffee (Lansing)
Biggby Coffee (E. Lansing)

Germack Nuts (Detroit)
Flat Out Bread (Saline)
Drake’s Crispy Fry Mix (Marshall)

Jiffy Mix (Chelsea)

Vernor’s (Detroit)

Better Made Potato Chips /Snack food (Detroit)
Uncle Ray's Potato Chips (Detroit)

Zingerman’s (Ann Arbor)

Cole’s Garlic Bread (Muskegon)

American Spoon Foods (Petoskey)

Kellogg’s and Post Cereals (Battle Creek)
Faygo (Detroit)
Vruit juice / juice boxes (Saline)
Soy Fusion Beverages (Saline)
Everfresh Juices (Warren)
Old Orchard Juice (Sparta)
Eden Organic Foods (Clinton)
McDonalds Apples - east of the Mississippi (Michigan grown)
Guernsey dairy products (Northville)
Hudsonville Ice Cream (Hudsonville)
Koegel Meats (Flint)
Big Chief / Pioneer sugar (Bay City)
Achatz Pies (Detroit Area)
Grand Traverse Pie Company (Traverse City)
Awry baked goods (Livonia)
Billy Bones BBQ Sauce (Sanford)
Keebler (including Pop Tarts, for example)
Carson City Pickels (Carson)
Magic Pop Porcorn (Colon)
Archway Cookies (Battle Creek)
Sander's Chocolates, Ice Cream, Dessert Toppings (Clinton)
El Matador Tortilla Chips (Grand Rapids)
Indian Summer Juices (Traverse City; all US apples, which is not altogether common)
Brown's Bun Baking Company (Detriot)
Purity Foods – cerals, snacks, pasta (Okemos)
Calder Dairy – milk, chocolate (Carleton)
Country Fresh Dairy Products (Livonia, subsidiary of Dean Foods, uses a lot of MI growers)
Spartan Foods (somewhere in west MI)
Kar's Nuts