The Grocery Store Rebellion: Here’s What We Ate During Week 2

We had some setbacks this week, but we’re hanging in there with our Grocery Store Rebellion.

At the end of Week 2, we ran out of milk. After choking down coffee without fresh cream, I finally broke down and went to our local co-op and purchased milk. Yuck. I really hope that our dairy farmer gets another cow soon, because this pasteurized stuff is for the birds. According to the sign at the co-op, it’s from a dairy that is not a factory farm type of place, so I went with the best option I could find.

In other news, a sudden heat wave one afternoon may have wiped out my fall garden. My transplanted seedlings were looking awesome, but now they are sad, wilted, and limp. I’m hoping to revive them, but it doesn’t look good. I might be back to square one with my garden, so I’m sprouting new seedlings in my utility room.

Aside from these two episodes, all systems are still “go”. This is the time of year when fresh produce is at its most abundant. I’m spending a lot of hours each day preserving food so that we can maintain this Rebellion throughout the cold months. So when you see what I’m spending, it’s important to remember that this is not all food to be consumed right now.

The chicken area is nearly ready for its new occupants. I have to pee- and poo-proof the bottom of the coop and grab some hay. I have a feeder and waterer on order. Tomorrow, we are attending a foraging class, then hitting the feed store. This is so exciting!

This week, I traded some of my home-canned vanilla peaches and a jar of jam for 15 pounds of fresh organic pears. (I love the barter system, and as I get to know local farmers, more opportunities for this are arising.) As well, I made the rounds to my favorite farms and orchards, and made a stop at the co-op.

Here’s 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.

Breakfasts

Yogurt* with blackberries*
Omelettes* with onion*, bell pepper*, cheddar*, and tomato*
Toast (F) with peanut butter (P) and blueberry jam *
Eggs* with bacon (F), peach*

Lunches

Bacon (F), lettuce*, and tomato* salad
Creamy* tomato* soup with dill*
Green bean salad* with leftover chicken*
Fruit salad (blackberries*, peaches*, pears*, watermelon*) with yogurt* and walnuts(P)

Dinners

Roasted chicken*, potatoes*, carrots*, green beans*
Ground beef (F), home canned refried beans (P), salsa*, and corn*
Taco Salad with lettuce* , tomato*, bell pepper*, jalapenos*, and ground beef (F), topped with crumbled tortilla chips (P)
Pancakes (P)with blueberry syrup*, bacon (F)
Leftover chicken*, sauteed zucchini* with yogurt* dip, corn on the cob*

Snacks

Peach peel candy*
Veggies (bell pepper*, zucchini*, cherry tomatoes) with yogurt* dip seasoned with minced garlic* and dill*
Fruit: peaches*, blackberries*, watermelon*
Homemade haystack cookies (P)

Here’s what I preserved this week

You know how a break-up goes sometimes. You split, you get back together, you split, and then get back together again.

I don’t want to get back together with the grocery store. I want this to be a permanent break-up. A divorce.

So, I am preserving lots of goodies right now, while they are inexpensive and plentiful, and this way we can enjoy them in the winter.

Here’s what I preserved this week:

Here’s what we learned.

This week, we started getting local meat. It’s pricier but a kabillion times better than storebought. One of the biggest differences, preparation-wise, is that you may not be able to get the cuts that you get from the grocery stores. Sometimes farmers don’t just slice off the chicken breast and hand it to you – you get the whole chicken.

I also had to really hustle to get some stuff canned before it spoiled. I keep reminding myself that it’s a fair bit of work now, but meals later will be as easy as popping the lids off of jars. (If you are new to canning, start here for water bath canning and here for pressure canning.)

I’m saving up for my next purchase: a chest freezer. We are planning to buy a quarter of a cow and possibly half a pig.

We are also networking with some people locally, and we’ll be bartering our home-canned goods for other things. So, I have lots of access to peaches, and someone else has meat rabbits – then we trade. It’s win-win for everyone.

Because I am processing so much food, I’m splurging and getting a really nice blender/food processor combo. I just ordered this beautiful creation:

With next week being marinara sauce week, I’ll be thrilled to have that huge 8 cup food processor!

As I mentioned above, we are attending a foraging class tomorrow. I’m hoping that this will be a good way to supplement our food without increasing the bill. I’ll be sure to let you know!

How was your week?

Even if you aren’t jumping into the rebellion with both feet, did you use some things you harvested from your garden this week? If you ARE participating in the rebellion, how did it go? Share the details in the comments below.

Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor who lives in a small village in the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. She is the author of The Pantry Primer: How to Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months. On her website, The Organic Prepper, Daisy writes about healthy prepping, homesteading adventures, and the pursuit of liberty and food freedom. Daisy is a co-founder of the website Nutritional Anarchy, where this first appeared, which focuses on resistance through food self-sufficiency. Daisy’s articles are widely republished throughout alternative media. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and you can email her at [email protected]

2 Comments on "The Grocery Store Rebellion: Here’s What We Ate During Week 2"

blueyes48 | August 23, 2014 at 9:15 pm | Log in to Reply

In the morning we will have fresh local eggs and sliced home-grown tomatoes, on slices from a loaf of white wheat from the breadmaker. The wheat isn’t local, but we are working on it. For years, we have relied on local sources for almost all of our food. And we never waste anything. Tonight we had some shrimp we were given (a rare treat, as we live in the Midwest). I saved the shells in the freezer to make a lovely shrimp stock later. I make the leftovers from one meal merge into the next, or they get frozen for later use.
anna miller | August 25, 2014 at 11:24 am | Log in to Reply

I think the most important thing to remember is to start wherever you can, as so much of this self-sufficiency attitude has been lost in our country. We had great success with making pear cider this year. Given the cost of beer and wine, it is easy to make your own. (hard work but easy process). I have decided to sadly take out and replace ornamental camellias, in order to plant more fruit trees. We didn’t make enough vegetables to can, but perhaps next year. Now it is getting time for fall garden.Each time I buy groceries, I buy extra canned goods and water, for our “just in case” pantry.