Sunday
Frittata with rabbit sausage, onions, zucchni and peppers from the garden.
Monday
Rabbit braised in Red Roasted Tomatillo Sauce with carrots, onions, peppers and zucchini from the garden.
Tuesday
Another Frittata with rabbit sausage, onions and peppers from the garden.
Wednesday
We were at the East Bay Urban Ag Alliance's meeting so Jeanette made us some spaghetti.
Thursday
Tom had scrambled eggs with veggies. I just had some brown rice because I wasn't very hungry.
Friday - The Last Day
We roasted a duck on the barbecue with quince and rose hips along with zucchini from the garden and brown rice.
Reflections
I can't believe the year is done. It seemed to go by so fast. I'm a little sad that it's over but I'm really excited to get back to the farmers' market. We got asked a lot what we were going to first go out and buy at the grocery store when were were done with our year. Nothing. We're not going to buy anything at the grocery store. The reasons for why we were doing this are still there, so we're going to continue being grocery store free. If you've noticed, the name of the blog has changed to "Another Year Without Groceries." Let's see how long this goes on. For now though I'm going to no longer be doing a run down of our menu. However, I am going to focus more on the food issues our nation faces. I'm going to still do reflections as well. And if you haven't joined our Facebook page, please do so. The link is on the left.
I kind of feel like I'm saying goodbye, but I'm not. We're not going anywhere and we'll still be here to discuss living without a grocery store.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Week 51 - Less than a week left!
Sunday
Pork chops with sauteed zucchini, onions, carrots and parsnips from the garden.
Monday
Chicken stew with red roasted tomatillo sauce, carrots, onions and zucchini from the garden (see a theme here?).
Tuesday
Frittata with rabbit sausage, onions and bell peppers from the garden with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden.
Wednesday
Homemade spaghetti sauce over brown rice because we didn't have time to make pasta. Served with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden.
Thursday
Poacher's pie with rabbit
Friday
Leftover poacher's pie with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden
Saturday
Veggie stir fry with zucchini, carrots, onions, eggplant, and peppers from the garden. Served with brown rice.
Reflections
Wow, I can't believe how fast this year had gone by. We only have 5 more days! We've learned a lot about our food system and most of it is horrifying. So with that, we're going to be continuing our year without groceries. So now we'll be 2 years without groceries! I don't think we'll try going three months without buying any food again unless we absolutely have to.
Pork chops with sauteed zucchini, onions, carrots and parsnips from the garden.
Monday
Chicken stew with red roasted tomatillo sauce, carrots, onions and zucchini from the garden (see a theme here?).
Tuesday
Frittata with rabbit sausage, onions and bell peppers from the garden with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden.
Wednesday
Homemade spaghetti sauce over brown rice because we didn't have time to make pasta. Served with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden.
Thursday
Poacher's pie with rabbit
Friday
Leftover poacher's pie with a cucumber and onion salad from the garden
Saturday
Veggie stir fry with zucchini, carrots, onions, eggplant, and peppers from the garden. Served with brown rice.
Reflections
Wow, I can't believe how fast this year had gone by. We only have 5 more days! We've learned a lot about our food system and most of it is horrifying. So with that, we're going to be continuing our year without groceries. So now we'll be 2 years without groceries! I don't think we'll try going three months without buying any food again unless we absolutely have to.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Week 50 - The Trip
We just got back from Ohio where we were vising my mom. We did pretty good with not buying any food except for the trip out there and two other instances where we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to try meat from Polyface Farms and then we went to the farmers' market to purchase food for our flight back (which ended up taking 24 hours instead of the slated 8 hours as planned) I didn't feel bad though about that purchase because we bought the meat directly from the farmer.
I'm not really going to go over the menu this week though because we didn't really cook anything other than the meat from Polyface and the sides for that meal. I did make some Green Pesto Bruschetta for my mom's BBQ on Sunday, but other than that my mom, thankfully took care of all of our food.
I did a lot of soul searching while we were in Ohio. Ohio is prime farm land, which unfortunately, is used for soy and corn almost exclusively. My mom's next door neighbors, though, run an organic farm. My mom's garden was awesome even though their growing season is so much shorter than our own. The difference is they get more heat than we do.
I want to farm. I want to be a farmer. But California pretty much bars us from doing that because of the cost of the land. So here I am wondering if I could move out of California. I love living here but at the same time I want to live a certain lifestyle. I want a farmhouse that's older than my grandparents. I want rich topsoil to bury my hands in. The Midwest offers that affordably. But here we've got family and friends (some which are also family). It's a tough thing to have to work through. I think if our city allowed us to sell the produce we grow my feelings would definitely change, but right now I'm torn.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Week 49 - Holy Crap! Just 3 more weeks!
Sunday
We went to a block party. We brought a cucumber and dry farmed tomato salad.
Monday
Roasted chicken with fried potatoes and sauteed zucchini with LOTS of garlic
Tuesday
Spicy gazpacho with homemade herb tortillas.
Wednesday
Pork stir fry with corn, peppers, onions, eggplant, and zucchini from the garden.
Thursday
Frittata with rabbit sausage, peppers and onions from the garden.
Friday
We went to our friends' home for dinner where we had rabbit, kale and cornbread. We brought Spice Honey Pear sorbet for dessert.
Saturday
See "Reflections" below.
Reflections
We had to get on a plane on Saturday. It was a day of complete riduculousness. First off, it was going to be an all day trip. It actually ended up being even longer than we anticipated thanks to mechanical problems on both planes. 8am-11:30pm. It was a really long day. It also meant we were in a bind in regards to food. Canned goods were obviously out of the question. Nothing with liquid was allowed either. And of course no way to keep anything cold. Well, stupid me thought that we could just get away with eating what they served on the flight. It just so happens the airline changed all of their food service right before our trip and they no longer served any food on any flight for free. Not even peanuts. What a freaking racket they've got going on. When we got our tickets we were allowed one checked bag per person for free. That also changed. So we ended up having to buy food. Crappy food at that.
We were supposed to get to our destination in plenty of time to eat dinner. It didn't happen so we ended up having to buy a couple of salads for dinner.
The whole situation pissed me off. We should have planned our travel day better. But we ran out of time and had to compromise ourselves.
We went to a block party. We brought a cucumber and dry farmed tomato salad.
Monday
Roasted chicken with fried potatoes and sauteed zucchini with LOTS of garlic
Tuesday
Spicy gazpacho with homemade herb tortillas.
Wednesday
Pork stir fry with corn, peppers, onions, eggplant, and zucchini from the garden.
Thursday
Frittata with rabbit sausage, peppers and onions from the garden.
Friday
We went to our friends' home for dinner where we had rabbit, kale and cornbread. We brought Spice Honey Pear sorbet for dessert.
Saturday
See "Reflections" below.
Reflections
We had to get on a plane on Saturday. It was a day of complete riduculousness. First off, it was going to be an all day trip. It actually ended up being even longer than we anticipated thanks to mechanical problems on both planes. 8am-11:30pm. It was a really long day. It also meant we were in a bind in regards to food. Canned goods were obviously out of the question. Nothing with liquid was allowed either. And of course no way to keep anything cold. Well, stupid me thought that we could just get away with eating what they served on the flight. It just so happens the airline changed all of their food service right before our trip and they no longer served any food on any flight for free. Not even peanuts. What a freaking racket they've got going on. When we got our tickets we were allowed one checked bag per person for free. That also changed. So we ended up having to buy food. Crappy food at that.
We were supposed to get to our destination in plenty of time to eat dinner. It didn't happen so we ended up having to buy a couple of salads for dinner.
The whole situation pissed me off. We should have planned our travel day better. But we ran out of time and had to compromise ourselves.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Facebook Page
I've gotten requests to have a facebook page for our year without groceries. Like us! You know you want to!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Getting a Little Bit of Media Coverage
We were featured in the San Francisco Chronicle because of our Year Without Groceries. They dedicated their Food & Wine section of the Sunday paper to people like us who are making super local food choices. You can read about it and see some awesome photos here.
Also in that issue is an article about Sunset Magazine's One Block Feast and one of the finalist groups called Found Fruit. My friend Kitty Sharkey, of Havenscourt Homestead, is one of the members. You can read about some of the awesome things they've done to create a truly local feast.
And then back in March we spent 2 days in the rain with a film crew from Whole Foods. The film just went up today and I'm excited to share it.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Week 48 - I'm So Over Not Buying Food
Sunday
Had leftovers from Saturday.
Monday
We fended for ourselves. Tom had more leftovers and I had french toast.
Tuesday
We went to our friends' house for dinner where we had chicken fajitas.
Wednesday
Pork stir fry with carrots, onions, beets, eggplant, green beans, corn and garlic from the garden. Served with brown rice.
Thursday
Jeanette bought us some Mexican food.
Friday
Pizza with rabbit sausage, onion, bell pepper and homemade tomato sauce made with herbs from the garden.
Saturday
Jeanette had a hankering for seafood so she bought some shellfish from a local oyster farm at the farmers' market to share. I accompanied it with pasta and a cream sauce.
Reflections
You're probably wondering who Jeanette is. She's one of my best friends and is currently staying in our water tower. Since we cook dinner for her most nights (obviously we're not going to exclude her) she's wanted to chip in her share since she's not on this journey with us and when we started it we didn't factor in feeding 4 people, only 3 - Tom, Junior (my stepson) and myself.
I have come to the realization that not buying any food for 3 months is a complete pain in the ass. I hate it. Completely. I never want to have to do this again unless we absolutely have to. It's much harder work than I ever expected. Honestly, I didn't think it would be that much different than going without groceries but it is. You're so limited on what you can prepare and you have to get SO MUCH MORE creative.
We only have a month left, which I am sooooo grateful for. It's definitely a challenge and I find myself daydreaming about saying screw it and buying some food.
Tom says he likes it though. He looks at it as a bigger picture and is proud of what we're accomplishing, though he's frustrated about the lack of fruit and sometimes he just wants something different to eat.
Had leftovers from Saturday.
Monday
We fended for ourselves. Tom had more leftovers and I had french toast.
Tuesday
We went to our friends' house for dinner where we had chicken fajitas.
Wednesday
Pork stir fry with carrots, onions, beets, eggplant, green beans, corn and garlic from the garden. Served with brown rice.
Thursday
Jeanette bought us some Mexican food.
Friday
Pizza with rabbit sausage, onion, bell pepper and homemade tomato sauce made with herbs from the garden.
Saturday
Jeanette had a hankering for seafood so she bought some shellfish from a local oyster farm at the farmers' market to share. I accompanied it with pasta and a cream sauce.
Reflections
You're probably wondering who Jeanette is. She's one of my best friends and is currently staying in our water tower. Since we cook dinner for her most nights (obviously we're not going to exclude her) she's wanted to chip in her share since she's not on this journey with us and when we started it we didn't factor in feeding 4 people, only 3 - Tom, Junior (my stepson) and myself.
I have come to the realization that not buying any food for 3 months is a complete pain in the ass. I hate it. Completely. I never want to have to do this again unless we absolutely have to. It's much harder work than I ever expected. Honestly, I didn't think it would be that much different than going without groceries but it is. You're so limited on what you can prepare and you have to get SO MUCH MORE creative.
We only have a month left, which I am sooooo grateful for. It's definitely a challenge and I find myself daydreaming about saying screw it and buying some food.
Tom says he likes it though. He looks at it as a bigger picture and is proud of what we're accomplishing, though he's frustrated about the lack of fruit and sometimes he just wants something different to eat.