Today marks two successful months of us not purchasing food in any way shape or form since January 1st. 59 days exactly. Also, with the passing of another month, another $20.00 finds its way into our emergency grocery allowance kitty--if need be. Again, the only thing that we have used out of the kitty funds was a five dollar bill for a pound of breakfast sausage while we had house guests during Jay's dad's funeral weekend-- invariably, neither Jay nor I ate a bite of that sausage, so I'm still at odds whether or not to actually count it, but we spent it, so I calculated it into our total.
Some co-workers have predicted that we can make it to spring break without "breaking" our challenge. That's only a month away. I think this is attainable. While month three would be our next actual milestone, I'm now setting my sights on a double digit number-- 100 days maybe? I don't know. It seems more worthy of a goal to shoot for anyway.
Last month, I wrote about some of the things we kept track of over the course of the first thirty days. Today, after two months, I have a few different statistics to share:
- Since January 1st, we have made 153 total meals at home (three meals "out"--paid for by gracious friends, four "no meals" where we didn't have a breakfast or dinner for various reasons, and then leftovers account for the remainder)
- Since January 1st, we have done 33 loads of dishes by hand
- Since January 1st, we have also run the dishwasher 45 times
- Since January 1st, we have bartered: five quarts of apple pie filling, six pounds of venison (hind quarter steaks and summer sausage), five half pints of strawberry jam, and two half pints of blackberry jam for: three gallons of milk, a bunch of bananas, five tomatoes, a half peck of fresh apples, a head of romaine, a package of celery hearts, two heads of broccoli, two heads of iceberg lettuce, a head of cauliflower, a cabbage, a pound of carrots, and a pomegranate.
- Since January 1st, we were given the following "gifted" food from friends (out of kindness, the spirit of "cleaning out the fridge," birthday gifts, bereavement food items, etc.: three cucumbers, a bunch of green grapes, a partial bag of clementines, a bag and a half of fresh cranberries, a bunch of bananas, a bag of baby carrots, some more broccoli, a wrinkled top tomato, two big fresh tomatoes, two heads of iceberg lettuce, two grapefruits, a bag of spinach, two slightly wilted heads of romaine, sour cream, canned beans, dry beans, cashews, crackers, and a bag of Butter Rum Lifesavers candy, three pounds of bacon, a loaf of white bread, a pound of margarine, a loaf of wheat bread, two pounds of butter, three fresh bell peppers, a few dozen cookies, two frozen casseroles, three whole frozen chickens, three pounds of assorted deli meats and cheeses, two bags of chips, and two twelve packs of soda pop.
--Since January 1st, we have bartered labor for groceries too: We fed and checked on some chickens for our friends for a few days, and were graciously gifted 32 beautiful farm-fresh eggs, a quiche, and a five pound bag of all purpose flour. Yum!
--Since January 1st, I have made two big batches of homemade yogurt, homemade flour tortillas, homemade pita bread, and two loaves of sandwich bread from scratch. Also, I'm getting pretty good at making homemade thick, fluffy, buttery biscuits baked in a cast iron skillet.
--Since January 1st, we have legally harvested five large cottontail rabbits from the Michigan woods for our freezer (oh boy, what a cold day that was!). We have also attempted to ice fish, but to no avail. We will certainly keep trying as long as the ice is safe.
Others have asked, "What have you run out of, exactly?" We are currently out of the following things:
bananas, cucumbers, zucchini, limes, American cheese, Provolone cheese, Colby jack cheese, fresh mushrooms, croutons, pomegranates, cabbage, tortilla chips, potato chips, many types of breakfast cereal, beef hamburger, scalloped potato box mix (ick, anyway), pheasant, celery, store bough bread of any sort--sandwich bread, anything resembling a bun, tortilla, bagel, or English muffin, pre-bottled Ranch dressing and Italian dressing, fresh tomatoes, fresh oranges, fresh pears, fresh asparagus, and fresh broccoli.
No big whoop. We are still more blessed than we deserve.
Interesting recipes continue. I found a jar of Korean BBQ sauce hiding in the nether regions of the cupboard tonight, and that marinaded some sirloin strips from the freezer along with some freezer slaw and canned pears for Korean tacos on homemade tortillas. No complaints. If I were to make it again, and was able, I'd add fresh pear and cilantro to the slaw:
That's where things currently sit. We are starting to see a noticeable "dent" in our freezer stores, and pantry. Ironically, when some of Jay's family came to stay with us over the funeral weekend, one of them remarked, "I've never seen a fridge so full!" It almost hurt my feelings. Then Jay told me that the particular person that made the comment doesn't cook for themselves much, and they had no idea that we're doing the no-grocery thing.
No harm, no foul, I guess.
Still, we are overly blessed with riches. Never before have I shared so many things food-wise, and had so much more shared back with us in return. It's overwhelming the good grace we have been shown by so many. Thank you all for continuing to follow along on our story.
Five weeks until backyard asparagus is a "thing" again, by the way.
Aren't you excited? I AM.
--SH