No Grocery Stores in 2020

So I am still sick. Man this stuff is going around pretty bad. It has made it a little bit more challenging. Mainly because even though I had food prepared all I wanted was junk food. So what did I do? I ate all the convenience food and the prepared food got frozen. I couldn't imagine what it be like to have kids and take care of them too. Hats off to all the moms out there. Waste this week: I had to throw away some celery root and jam I had in the fridge. That was 11 oz of food. I also had to through away 5 sweet potato latkes. They tasted bad. So I don't think sweet potatoe latkes are the way to go. Spending: Nothing extra spent Weight: since I ate like it was my job and I was a total rockstar at it.... I am not weighing in this week. Sometimes ya just gotta be nice to yourself

No matter how excited I am about this challenge MANY people have done this or something similar but different, my challenge is not entirely unique. To me that is okay, and I would like to take a post sharing some of my favorite inspirations: 1. https://www.100daysofrealfood.com It is about a family that went 100 days only eating real food. I stumbled on this 7 years ago? It was one of the most radical ideas surrounding food I had heard of at the time. 2. Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B Mackinnon I actually think this book had a different name the first time I read it, but it is about a couple that only eats food within 100 miles for a year. 3. Farm City by Novella Carpenter This woman has an urban farm in Oakland CA with pigs and poultry and bees. She doesn't follow rules and doesn't ask permission. 4. Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver A woman and her family eat locally/seasonally for a year 5. Rob Greenfield- he only ate things he grew, foraged, o

Ugggh I totally forgot to include the financials in my last post. Because I want to see if this is affordable for everyone. So I bought a year of CSA's from Crisp Country Acres.... I do understand that probably wouldn't be feasible for everyone. The cost: $869.50 for 47 weeks or $18.50 a week So each week I will be spending $21.50 a week on fruits/vegetables/eggs from Crisp Country. I also get a milk share every week. I pay paid this month and part of next month in advance, but the monthly share is $16.5 for a half gallon. I am not sure a half gallon will be enough. I use the milk for coffee and yogurt currently and I can tell this week I will run short. I may end up getting a gallon a week. If that happens I will make butter and buttermilk, yogurt, cheese, and have milk for drinking. The amount of work is what would hold me back. Long story short every week between the csa and milk share I spend $25.63

So I am one full week through my year of no grocery stores! It has not been bad so far, but I don't think the tough parts have happened yet. I am slowly starting to tell more people about this and I get strange looks, but mostly support. Part of this challenge is that I cannot go to a restaurant, coffee shop (unless work related), or get take out by myself; I can go if someone invites me out because I don't want to lose social interaction. A very sweet person I work with wants to go out to lunch and told me he would pay because that wouldn't break my rules right? What a kind offer! Working in a kitchen we don't make a lot of money so anytime a person offers something like that it makes my heart smile. I explained that I can pay as long as I am invited somewhere. Another part of this challenge is reducing my waste. Why is this important? Studies suggest that Americans waste 1 pound of food per day. So far I have wasted 3 radishes that were gross in the middle and

This week is going pretty well. I can tell that I must have been spending a lot of money on convenience food. I pass a lot of restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops on my way home from work and the gym. If I had to guess maybe $40 a week? This week zero dollars spent. Sunday's are meal prep day. I like it and it means I have food all week to eat. It also helps with food waste. So far this year I have wasted 3 radishes. When I cut them open they were rotten on the inside. Today I made potato and radish latkes, Spaghetti squash, chicken sausage and pasta bake, and yogurt.

Happy New Year🎉🎉🎉 Everything is going great here! I mean how hard would it really be 2 days in? I had a moment yesterday where I wanted to go get a coffee after the gym, but it was more of a duh just go home and make a cup. Next week will be a little challenging because I haven't had fresh veggies in 2 weeks. I plan on making a pasta bake and putting my spaghetti squash in it. I do have a significant amount of dried veggies so some sort of stew or soup will be in the works. I am being pretty conscious of making sure I eat everything up so there is no food going into the garbage on my end. Here is to a great 2020