Tightening My Belt -- My Personal Challenge for One Month in 2010

[DrakeMaiden]

Thanks, Occamstazer. I've always wanted to try cattail. I do have plenty of potatoes that need to be eaten, though. :/

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I found a weird recipe for smoked duck . Smoked duck and candied ginger does sound like a good combination though. Hmmmm . . . .

 

[Occamstazer]

http://www.honest-food.net/blog1/

This guy is cool! I want to make his acorn flour breads.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

You're right, that is a cool blog, Occamstazer! I notice that he mentioned making pasta out of chestnut flour. I had previously found a recipe for smoked duck with chestnut pasta . . . that sounds good!

 

[big brown horse]

I love that blog Occam!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I am drooling over his game bird sauces . I'm going to have to try some of those when I am back to buying groceries.

 

[FarmerDenise]

We have been living on very little for quite a while. Neither of us has jobs, but our expenses (unavoidable bills) are pretty low too. SO's father also keeps buying and bringing us groceries, so we are cheating in a way. I think we could do quite well without FIL's help tough. Especially since he tends to bring us stuff we don't really care for and then he brings us so much, that we cannot possibly use it. We have enough boxes of mac & cheese and cereal and peanut butter to last us for 2 years. there is only the 2 of us most of the time and he brings us not one, but 3 flats of muffins at a time. Not a box or a small bag of muffins, but a flat of them.

We try and trade the stuff, but we don't know too many people who eat any of it in quantity. Most of our friends and family are also trying to eat healthier, similar to us and they don't want the stuff either.
We have grown our own popcorn and really like it. FIL will bring us a huge box of microwave popcorn, which we don't care to use, because of the crap in it and the corn is not organic! We won't even feed it to our chickens!

We give as much of it away as we can. We have tried to tell FIL what we like and what we don't use, but he doesn't hear us.

We take a great deal of pride in surviving with what we grow and barter. Milk, cheese and coffee are the items we always have to buy also.

I am sure you will get plenty of ideas here. SO is a selective eater and I have to get pretty creative with meals sometimes. At least he is a lot better about trying new foods these days.

I bet you'll do just fine.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Wait a minute . . . I could make the wild berry glaze with frozen berries I have. I could also add candied ginger to it for fun!

 

[FarmerDenise]

Yeah! This is a great excuse (reason) to go through all your food stores and see just what you have. Then you can get creative using what you have, substituting at times and thus creating new recipes.
Also, once you have a good inventory, you would be able to post your list here and we could help you figure out some meals.

Hey, I should do that. Except it is raining here today and though it is a perfect day to do a food inventory, I don't feel like it and would rather while may time away on this forum.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

LOL FarmerDenise, I don't blame you. Doing a food inventory is work!

I will probably check in and ask for help with recipes as I go along. For instance . . . I don't have many potato recipes.

I don't blame you for not even feeding the microwave popcorn to the chickens. I wouldn't either.

Yes, I agree. I notice I am most creative when my resources are limited . . . I think it brings out the problem-solving part of my brain that enjoys a challenge.