That dream is still very much alive.
To actually do this, though, we would have to learn to not go "to town" often, as bigger towns up there are few and far between. Depending on where you live up there, you can't just run to a store for a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk, and running to a restaurant to satisfy a craving is simply unheard of.
That's where this challenge comes in.
Initially, we wanted to do the no-grocery challenge to see how far we could get on what we already had. The other side of the coin, was that we wanted to see if we could do a "trial run" of off-the grid living if, in fact, we would ever be able to move away from civilization and follow our dreams.
Invariably, there are a few things that we have missed that I mentioned in previous blogs. We don't go out a whole lot, but when we do, we tend to be people that always order the same thing wherever we go, because well... it's good! I have a thing for these wet burritos that they make locally. Jay has a thing for Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwiches.
I'm not a fast food fan. In fact, so very much of it scares me, we try to avoid it altogether. However, a few years ago, Wendy's aired a commercial about a guy that ordered his favorite sandwich--a spicy chicken sandwich over the course of different stages in his life-- his tastes did not change over the decades. That is Jay. He loves their spicy chicken sandwiches.
With our challenge, I've learned to clone some of our restaurant favorite recipes. I'll be happy to share some of those recipes in future posts, but tonight is all about the Spicy Chicken. It would even be good outside of a sandwich, on its own. I've linked the recipe on the Poultry section of my recipe page, here.
Sorry, not sorry. They were certainly tasty, though.
Also with today being February 1st, our "allowance" total has rolled over into another $20.00. We now have $40.00 in our emergency spending kitty, but we still aren't planning on spending a dime. Lots of time left to go!
--SH