In August my financial/thrifty experiment was to go the entire month without a trip to the grocery store.
It was EASY. The farmers markets are going strong and I'm at one per week minimum. Small local ones. My garden has greens and zucchini and potatoes. Zucchini are "fruit" and the berries were pickable, as were some plums. Friends were handing around tomatoes, summer squash, and potatoes.
I had a few jars of duck still on hand (who eats so much pekin duck that they get sick of it? Me.).
My chickens are laying 0-7 eggs a day, usually 3 or 5. Plenty to eat and share.
I'm making and selling mustard at a farmers market so I'm at one each week for 2 purposes which encourages me to go ahead and focus on the food that is there.
I've also managed to go through a few things in my pantry supply. The "pantry" being various metal boxes, tins, and jars on shelves with some back stock in the dead fridge down in the crap camper/bee-shed.
It was actually EASY to not go to a grocery store. I ate my cracked wheat up which is good because I was getting bored with it. Makes a fine breakfast base.
I had, and still have, some black beans and sunflower seeds for veg based, long storage freeze-ok protein. Ate some of those but the solar cooker is hard to use on work days. The beans are tough to make in a thermos, I think they are old. Lentils would have been a better option. They cook faster and are easier to cook in a variety of ways.
The month of not going to a store also encouraged me to eat from the garden! I know. Stupid to have it and not eat much from it. Some things were small or I was sick of greens. Well, too bad. Eat them anyway. It's a habit I hadn't had before and now I can look at the garden the same way I look at pantry stock PLUS it's fresh. Got a few tomatoes, several zucchini, plenty of potatoes. Harvested camelina seed (works like flax seed) which will last into winter for me and the chickens if needed and may have enough to plant too! Some garlic and walking onions with the various herbs helped with the flavor options along with the spices in the pantry stock.
Since I'm making and selling mustard, I eat plenty of that as well.
There is good bread at the market so I buy that for a change and to support the market. Egg sandwiches, duck sandwiches, tomato sandwiches.
I got bacon at a different market one Saturday and used the grease for a week to keep the eggs tasting a bit different than the usual random veg oil.
I learned to make the sticky rice that I'd gotten as a 'rona stock up. I'm keeping 2 weeks of healthy and easy on the stomach food around. The only rice I could find was 5lbs of sticky rice like you get in sushi. Most people here were clearing their usual shelves and they don't shop the "ethnic" aisle. So I went there and sure enough, big bags of reasonably priced rice. It cooks up sticky but delicious. I do rinse it and the chickens like the starchy water.
TP...I took one of the roll ends from work that usually end up getting tossed and got a 4 pack at a drug store when I was down to the last scrap. Yes, other things wipe, but sometimes you just want the old reliable familiar turlet paper. So, now I have plenty.
I went ahead and went to a Second Harvest distribution in the community as well. Got corn, onion, bananas, bananas so far gone they were for the chickens (really were bags of mush), and a few other veggies. There were also "farm to family" boxes which are a 'rona thing. But those had ham, milk, cheese and a few other things that a) need a fridge and b) I didn't need and c) I don't usually eat. I don't do the dairy. The ham would be too salty and the size is beyond what I can eat without fridging or freezing it. I left that for someone else. I went late in the day after those in true need had mostly already been, and asked for the stuff that others would tend to leave behind.
Another day I was helping butcher chickens at the food distribution center (learned a new trick or two that I will share later) and was told they had 10lb bags of white flour that they were having trouble passing out to people. I said if they had spares, I would use it. So, I have 10lbs of flour in the camper back stock now. I will get it in jars or something so I can bring it to the shed slowly.
Being mindful of my stock made me kind of ration out the delicious things. I do still have the garlic olive oil sent from a friendly non-local aunt as a future treat. I'm wondering if I could use my banty eggs, which are small, to make manageable amounts of garlic mayonnaise...winter time experiments to do. Full size eggs make too much mayonnaise for me to eat in a day and I'm not keeping that stuff at room temp.
Anyway, the upshot is that during august and with a reasonable stock of stuff, a garden, and non-grocery store options, I was able to do it pretty easily.
I saved a bucket ton on my grocery budget. BUT (there's always a big but), did spend more going out to eat. Partly this had to do with hanging out with people and partly it had to do with treating a birthday person. I need to be more clear about when people come to the market with me, then we bring food or eat at the market. Though one time, I traded mustard for a meal at a restaurant and that went well. Might try it one more time when I really need a change.
I had plenty of coffee but by the end of the month was down to the coffee I buy because it is cheap and because the can it comes in makes a really nice berry picking tin, nail/screw container, tool-belt accessory, chicken feed scoop, etc...and less because it is good. It is CRAP. The other coffee I had was from a different friendly non-local aunt and was stunningly delicious in my travel french press, my stove top percolator, as a cold brew and probably as just a pinch between the cheek and gum. I managed NOT to go out for coffee through August but the first of September found me at a drive through pouring out the crap coffee and paying 2$ for something drinkable. Damn...need to spend a bit more on the beans/grounds and maybe just drink 1 fewer cups per day.
I have so much tea stock thanks to 2020 and 2019 gifts that I'm SET and I made a point to enjoy it. I will continue to make a point to enjoy it daily which will help cut back on the coffee.
The month also taught me to be more creative with what I have. Eggs boiled up (which is hard because they are so fresh...I had to save some for a week at room temp and they STILL had the shells clinging on to the white after boiling) and put in the left over juice from a jar of pickled beets I got at a farmers market make a nice flavory topping to a salad from the garden I hauled in to work.
As I do most years now, I picked berries (so far service, huckleberries, oregon grape, chokecherries, and blueberries) and fill a jar and cover with apple cider vinegar. I've taken some of the huckleberry vinegar to make dressings for the salads when I remember to pick greens and pack them into work. One day I ALSO remembered to throw in some of my sunflower seed stock and the salad was a pretty decent lunch! I can put boiled eggs in the fridge at work whether in beet juice or a carton, and add those to the lunch tiffin if I have a field trip. Saves $$, contact with random folks in different towns, and is healthier. So, trying to remember to do that more.
At the end of the month, I took stock of the back stock and made a new list of foods to re-stock or that would be better choices. The list is now split into stuff that would be useful sooner, and that which is good to buy if on super sale for long term stockage. All while keeping and eye on my revised lower food budget.
Long term stock up items are things like dried fruit, nuts, lentils, and canned fish. Maybe canned tomatoes too because it makes for easy soup in the winter. Possibly also canned beans in case I get sick and want easy meals...can of tomatoes, some dried onions and things, and a can of black beans makes a really decent soup.
All in all this was a really good exercise. I've done pantry challenges in the past. That's also a good exercise. This one stretched my imagination a bit more and cut the grocery budget as much. I'll do it again.
I'm also looking at doing a 10 day local challenge in Sept. More anon if I do it.
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