It's taking some time to catch on, but this is another something to think about when you're out shopping: If you live in LA, and it comes to a choice between local oranges, Mexico oranges and oranges from Florida, choose local.

Not only does it save you money (theoretically), it's fresher and it's better for the environment. Because it was grown locally, it didn't have to travel, and thus didn't pollute its way all the way from the other side of the world. Because it is more likely to have come off the tree more recently, it didn't have to be refrigerated for the past day/week/month, and is also fresher and more delicious.

Now, naturally (no pun intended), this works better for some areas of the country than others, and for some foods better than others. Walnuts for example are almost exclusively grown in California; pineapples and sugar from Hawai'i. So this brings us to another aspect of the food buying game: switch to foods that are local, like honey as opposed to sugar, and avoid those that come from distant places, like Hawai'i.

The final piece of this tip is to buy seasonally. Not only will the food taste better, but it won't have been in the freezer for the past six months, which is nice.

The best thing to do, if you have the ability to do so is, of course, to plant some seeds and grow your own.