The Grocery Store Rebellion: Heres What We Ate During Week 1Daisy Luther The week began with two major upheavals. Our SUV went into the shop, and the cow in which we have milk shares died. Luckily, we had some extra milk on hand, frozen, while our dairy farmer works on getting a new cow. We have about a 2 week supply of milk left, so were either going to have to wait, find a new source, spend a whopping $18 per gallon at the local co-op, or go without. The repair facility gave us a loaner so we were able to make the rounds to some farms in our area. All of the food we purchased this week is from within 5 miles of our home. When we pick up our milk, we go farther afield the dairy farmer we deal with lives about 10 miles away. Due to the fact that we began the week without wheels, we depended on food growing in our garden or items we already had. Also, my next door neighbor gave me some gigantic clubs of zucchini and a couple of crookneck squashes. My garden this year is very small. We moved at the beginning of July so we were off to a late start. Still, we have some stuff for salads and lots of my favorite jalapeno peppers. This produce came in very handy over the week of being carless. We live in a very small village that only has a small corner store type of market, so even if we had wanted to buy food, there would have been little to purchase within walking distance. This situation really motivated me to get my fall garden going, and we are halfway to chickendom with the arrival of our new coop. Well finish fencing off the chicken area this weekend, grab some barley for fodder, and well be well on our way to egg independence. Heres what we ate this week. Local items, including stuff from my garden, are marked with a star *. Freezer items are marked with an (F). Pantry items are marked with a (P). We are using up the items lingering in our refrigerator, like cheese, because even though these things dont fall within our local parameters, I refuse to waste food. Some items have more than one designation, like the fruit leather. It was made from Apple cinnamon pie filling I canned last fall, which I made from apples we picked at a local orchard. We went out to dinner one night, and some meals were repeated because we ate leftovers. Lunches Dinners Snacks Heres what we bought this week. Once I finally got something to drive, we took a drive yesterday to some local farms. One place has a farm stand that is run on the honor system. The lovely little farm has a garden shed with produce, a scale and a box. You are allowed to help yourself to change if needed, or you may leave a check. I got some seconds of peaches at a local orchard, and some seconds of jalapenos at another farm stand. We spent $89 yesterday. Heres what we bought. It may seem like were spending a huge amount of money, especially considering that we havent yet purchased meat, but a great deal of this will be canned or dehydrated for use later in the year. I feel like were well within the normal range of what many people spend on groceries, and those groceries are only to last through the week. We could have gotten by on a whole let less money but much of this is earmarked for the canning pot and will be consumed later, so the money we spent this week will actually cover us for a longer period of time than just a week. I tend to spend more money on food in the summer, when its fresh and ripe, and then preserve it for the winter, when everything is outrageously expensive. This evens out over the course of the year and I believe that by using this method we spend far less per person than many people do. Heres what we learned. This week was, of course, the easiest week because we still have grocery store stuff left over. Were still eating the items that are open, like some gluten-free crackers, organic peanut butter, some cheese, and some organic cereal because I have no intention of letting it go to waste. The crackers are gone now (which rules out my previous go-to breakfast of peanut butter and crackers with fruit). Well have to make some scratch items if we want any instant gratification snacks that arent fruit or veggies from this point on. I found an orchard that I hadnt seen before that had amazing prices on seconds. If you arent familiar with this, seconds are fruits that arent quite as uniform and pretty as what most people are looking for. They might be bruised or have a funky shape. Sometimes the skin has a dry patch that is unattractive. When youre canning or making jam, pretty fruit is far less important than it is when its eaten fresh from a bowl on the counter. That being said, much of the fruit we purchased was perfectly fine for fresh snacking. The seconds were not out on display with the other fruits, so always be sure to ask farmers if they have seconds for canning. Some of the best bargains Ive gotten have been when I ask this question of a vendor at a farmers market. Sometimes you have to set up a time to go to the farm and pick these items up. ALWAYS ASK! Some good quality kitchen tools will make your life far easier when cooking farm-fresh goodies. It isnt impossible to make these foods without the tools Im recommending but when you have them, the work goes a lot faster. Here are the things I swear by: As we began to run out of open packets of things like cereal and crackers, we had to adjust to reaching for a different type of quickie in between meals. I love seeing my daughter and her friends walk around with a handful of cherries as a snack. At mealtimes, the food were eating is so fresh and flavorful that it really doesnt need much to dress it up just a quick steam and some butter. My daughter raves about everything put in front of her and I certainly dont have to ask her twice to finish whats on her plate. How was your week? Even if you arent jumping into the rebellion with both feet, did you use some things you harvested from your garden this week? If you ARE participatingin the rebellion, how did it go? Share the details in the comments below! Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, where this first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca If you enjoyed this article, please Vote for The Organic Prepper as a top prepping web site. 