The Grocery Store Rebellion: Heres What We Ate During Week 3Daisy Luther This week, we didnt buy much in the way of weekly food. Instead, I invested my money and time in prepping tomatoes for the year ahead. We learned several things this week, one of which is the vast importance of networking. Very few of us can self-sufficiently provide every bite of food we eat. There are a variety of reasons for this. Perhaps you dont have enough (or any) land for growing produce and raising meat. Maybe there are restrictions from your HOA regarding what you are allowed to do in your own yard. You could be living through a drought or just having a bad gardening year. But if you know others who have a surplus, this can help you on your way to breaking up with the grocery store. By getting to know your local growers, sometimes the stiff regulations laid out by the government can be circumvented legally, without risk to either party. By using your skills to turn other peoples goods into delicious edibles, you can still provide valuable commodities, even if your own garden lies wilting behind fence. (Find local farmers HERE) Wheres the beef? Wheres the beef? Oh yeahthe USDA has it and they are holding it hostage. The hardest thing to find outside of the grocery store is meat. I did find a fellow at the local farmers market selling meat that he raises. Ipurchased a few items to try them out. This way, before making a huge bulk purchase I can be assured we like the items. I bought ground lamb, grass-fed beef (which we know we love), pork tenderloin, and the most delicious bacon weve ever had. I still have a few whole chickens in my fridge, and next week we intend to try rabbit. The biggest issue with finding local meat is that to be sold, it must be approved by a USDA inspector. This is quite costly and it rules out the sale from most small farmers, unless they dedicate themselves specifically to raising meat animals and sell them in enough quantity to allow for the inspection of a great deal of meat all at once. Some believe this is for our own safety, while others believe that it is a way to regulate the small organic farmer right out of business. The added cost is passed on to the consumer, making the purchase of local, grass-fed meat out of reach for most people. Were talking about $9 and up per pound, and that is simply unsustainable on a tight budget. It blows my mind that CAFO-raised meat, which is far riskier for things like mad cow disease (triggered when cows consume other cows in their feed) and e coli, is perfectly acceptable to the USDA but a cow that grazes in a pasture raises all sorts of concerns for our safety. Personally, Ill take my chances with the cow that eats grass over the confined, tortured animals in vile factory-farmed conditions any day of the week. Here are the ways around it that I have found (and just so the USDA doesnt hunt me down, Im not suggesting that others throw caution to the wind, don dark sunglasses, and make a stealth visit totheir local beef farmer): 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 went out to dinner one night, and some meals were repeated because we ate leftovers. Lunches Dinners Snacks Heres what I preserved this week A local friends father gardens on a scale thatI can only dream of. Every few days she calls me and I go to her home and pick up another 20-30 pounds of tomatoes for a bargain price, particularly since these are colorful, juicy heirloom varieties. This is what 52 pounds of tomatoes turns into (not including the stuff we ate): Thus far Ive put back 7 quarts of plain sauce, 14 quarts of soup base, 8 quarts of marinara sauce, and 4 pints of salsa. I have plans for more marinara, more salsa, pizza sauce, enchilada sauce, and homemade ketchup. If Im lucky enough to get all of that made before the windfall runs out, Ill start drying them in the dehydrator. I was excited to use my fancy new Ninja food processor it made the job go far faster. I never thought I would love another kitchen appliance as much as my Vitamix, but I actually prefer the Ninja. Sorry, Vitamix, I dont mean to hurt your feelings, but Ive grown and you stayed stuck in your ways since we got together 14 years ago. I have to confess that I promptly sliced open my thumb on the blades of the food processor when taking it out of the box, despite numerous brightly-colored warnings throughout the box. The warnings were right the blades are indeed quite sharp. Injuries aside, another very real plus to the Ninja is that it is less than half the price of the Vitamix. Id strongly recommend either unit if you do a lot of scratch cooking and food preparation. This week was a little bit frustrating. We ended up grabbing food out several times this week because of a lack of time. There was nothing close at hand for a fast meal. Also, I felt like our protein selections were lacking, and putting together a school lunch, a task I usually enjoy, was much more difficult than normal. This makes me aware that we were relying on processed food far more than I had thought we were. I need to do more food prep so that we have things that we can grab more quickly for a meal. So, this long weekend, Ive made (and am still working on) some goodies for the week ahead: We also learned that Swiss chard tastes like lawn clippings at least to our palates. We tried it uncooked in a salad with a flavorful vinaigrette and sauteed with meat and garlic. This discovery is particularly unfortunate since it is the only thing in my entire garden that is thriving with weed-like abandon. No nurturing required we will soon have chard running out our ears. So the search is on for a way to make it that is, at the very least, acceptable. Im not a very good gardener. I never thought I had particularly green thumb but in the past Ive been able to provide a decent amount of food at least enough to keep us from needing to buy produce in the summer. This year, what I produced in my raised beds might be enough to keep us in veggies for a week, if you added all of it together from planting time until right now. The broccoli isnt looking very promising, and the carrots and cauliflower didnt sprout at all. But the good news is, Im continuing to try. Im making adjustments, starting replacement seeds, and moving raised beds to optimal locations. My herbs are finally taking off, and my poor, sad wilted lettuce is rallying. So, theres the update for our 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 websites,The Organic Prepper, and Nutritional Anarchy wherethis article first appeared, offer information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy onFacebookandTwitter, and you can email her atdaisy@theorganicprepper.ca 