Then Again, Maybe I Won't

In the previous post we selected a default diet and procured the foodstuffs for it enough to do us for an extended period of time, a year ideally but at least a few months.

Thus provisioned we have mystically transformed our economy in a drastic way. Now, suddenly, all our food budget (in money or resources) is discretionary. All of it. Whereas before we agonized over what we could buy, and would there be enough, and how much to spend on what, and wring our hands over how much food costs; now we forget all that. If we want to, we've got supper in the larder and we'll eat that.

And Ohhhh don't provoke us or we'll do just that, yes sir, see if we don't! Prices up in the Mart, well, forget it! I'm not buying, we'll have another pot of what's in the sacks. Money delayed, emergency expenses, no time to shop ... not a problem, another pot of itself will do fine. Oh, yes, I might buy some more things for the table this week, but then again, maybe I won't!

But we aren't going to leave it there. We are going to press our advantage. Now take the case of my default menu of beans and cornbread. I've bought a year's worth of those staple for what would scarcely be two weeks of groceries for a family the size of mine. In two weeks I've got that much money again budgeted for food [I don't really, we grow almost all our own food, but the same principles apply]. So I am going to buy a 50lb bag of steel cut oats, REAL oatmeal, not the steamed and mashed stuff Quaker sells. I'll get a 50 lb bag of rice or two, one of buckwheat, and four of five of wheat. I still haven't spent two weeks food money, all that doesn't come to $200. So I will buy a 50 lb sack of potatoes or two. WalMart carries those for about $8 a sack, but our local produce stand has them for $4. Yes, $4 for 50 lbs of potatoes because they are irregular shaped but otherwise perfect. At this point one might say, "But that many potatoes will go bad before I can use them." No they won't. Properly stored they will last for months. I think I'll be bad and buy a big bag of sugar (preferable brown) for making syrup.

Then second month begins and again my food budget money comes available (as it were), but I've got my default diet, plus the materials for oatmeal, pancakes, bread, baked potatoes, beans and rice.

I'm more audacious than ever now. I may or may not spend this food money. Well, let' hedge our bets. I'm going to buy a box of apples, a box of sweet potatoes, two cases of cabbage heads, three flats of eggs, a gallon of olive oil, another of cooking oil, a 25 lb sack of lentils and another of peas. A case of canned tomatoes and/or tomato paste.

Now with skill and experience I can make noodles and spaghetti, tortillas, apple pies, and a great wide variety of things. But, wait, maybe potatoes will keep, but what about apples, and cabbages, ... and eggs for goodnses sake! Yes, eggs. If you get fresh eggs that have not been washed they will keep for 30 days AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, even longer if refirgerated. You can't get these in the grocery store, only from a farmer. Fresh vegetables kept in a vegetable crisper can last six weeks and a cabbage properly stored will last three months or longer.

The second half of the first month I will get a 50 lb sack of soybeans (for tofu and tempeh), a sack of oranges, a few cases of canned vegetables, and a number of other things I'll go over later.

Now two months into this setting of my table, I've spent no more than if I went weekly to the grocerystore and shopped and yet I have a wide variety of food that will last for weeks and in some cases for months.

NOW! My food money really is discretionary. If I want, I can buy meat, perishable vegetables, dairy, or even eat out. I might do that, but then again, maybe I won't.