A year without groceries

[kentuckymom]

I found this article fascinating. A family is halfway through a year without visiting a grocery store. They were challenged to give it a try by their son, who wanted to emulate the pioneers. This is not something I can envision my family taking on anytime soon, maybe not ever, but I find the idea fascinating. What do you think? Could you do this? DO you do this?

 

http://letsgather.chick-fil-a.com/articles/our-year-without-groceries/

[KungFuPanda]

I could, but it would be an enormous pain because I'd be the one doing all of the planning and preparation.

[Bensmom]

Great story! Inspiring, but no I don't see us trying an entire year!

[Amira]

We couldn't do it the way this family does, but I do make a huge effort to avoid the grocery store and buy in small markets from the people who actually grow or make the food.  That was easier in Kyrgyzstan, especially one town we lived in, where my shopping was very local and there was no other choice but to buy everything from local growers and producers, but I still do my best to be as local as possible.

 

There are definitely places in the US that would make this project easier, but I suspect it could be done in much of the country.  It also seems like there's a huge range of options between farms and grocery stores and I wonder how this family decides what's a farm and what's a grocery store.  I assume they go to farmers markets, and if I had enough money, I could happily live off what we could buy at farmers markets in many parts of the US.

 

 

[Chris in VA]

What a great article! Can't say I'd do it--but I sure admire them for it.

[Aspasia]

I love it! This is totally something I would love to try, but alas, I married the wrong guy for it. We already eat vegetarian (I've been veg for almost 20 years) and we recently had to go gluten-free (ds was diagnosed with celiac a few months ago). If I impose one more food experiment/restriction on this poor husband of mine, I think he might leave me!

[speedmom4]

Great story but no way could I do it.

 

I wish I was the kind of person who could do something like that. I'm just not.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Elise in NC

[DawnM]

Wonderful for him.

 

I have NO desire to ever even attempt it.  

[regentrude]

No, I would have no interest in doing this because it would require me to grow at least part of our food, and I have no desire to do so.

I believe in division of labor. I have a specific expertise which I use in my job which I love and am good at - I will happily leave the raising of food to people who have chosen this as their field of expertise and joy.

 

I buy at the farmers market, but I consider it very ineffective for each person to drive around to visit each farm individually to purchase food. That is not environmentally sound practice either.

 

I grew up with food availability extremely limited by seasons. I very much appreciate that fresh fruits and vegetables are now available year round because they can be brought in from areas with different growing seasons. I do not find the idea of eating only local food very appealing ... I might if I lived in California.

[73349]

If I had a little farm, I'd be game to try it, although I know it would mean a lot of sweet potatoes in winter. But I have a third of an acre of loblolly pine trees, and we'd either spend an awful lot of time driving to farms or starve.

[Slartibartfast]

Maybe it I had a lot of veggies growing and chickens...otherwise I don't think we could afford it. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I like the idea in principle.  But as a person with chronic illness who has trouble even getting to the grocery store sometimes, there is no way I could do it.  I would have died young in past centuries.  

[JumpyTheFrog]

I read this book in the spring: http://www.amazon.com/The-Quarter-Acre-Farm-Patio-Family/dp/1580053408

 

The author decided she was going to grow 75% of her family's food on 1/4 acre (in California, I think.) She lost a lot of weight.

[Lady Marmalade]

Oh my gosh, I would totally love to do it.  Just love it!  Unfortunately, living in an urban setting with no farm animals allowed, I don't think it's possible now.  But this family is living a dream of mine- to be almost completely sustainable on our own. 

[Night Elf]

I couldn't do it for practical reasons. I do not garden or own farm type animals. I do not know where a farmer's market is in my area. Well, I don't know of any in any area I've ever lived in. And what if I couldn't get the types of foods we like? Like coffee? or flour? or sugar? Are those kinds of things in farmer's markets? I have no clue!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Oh my gosh, I would totally love to do it.  Just love it!  Unfortunately, living in an urban setting with no farm animals allowed, I don't think it's possible now.  But this family is living a dream of mine- to be almost completely sustainable on our own. 

We'd be allowed chickens and rabbits in very limited numbers.  As far as I can tell, no other livestock would be allowed because we do not have the acreage required for them.  We would not be allowed to have bees.  

[Dory]

I could make it happen. The last little bit of winter and the first little bit of spring would be the hardest. That tends to be when I'm wearing thin emotionally and mentally and when our food supplies have dwindled the lowest. By then I just want something fresh and fun to eat. We supplement our food that we grow with a CSA share and share a cow with a couple family and neighbours. The grocery store just allows me to have lazy meals now and then. Not having that would be hard on the days that I can't seem to pull myself together. It's doable, but I wouldn't want to do it. I could see giving myself only 2 visits to the store a year. I could make that happen.

[ocelotmom]

Since buying locally is allowed, I'm sure we could do it. It wouldn't even be particularly hard, assuming we're going by Little House rules and can stock up on staples occasionally.

 

It would just be more expensive. 

 

I read this book in the spring: http://www.amazon.com/The-Quarter-Acre-Farm-Patio-Family/dp/1580053408

The author decided she was going to grow 75% of her family's food on 1/4 acre (in California, I think.) She lost a lot of weight.

 

Yep, in Northern California, in an agricultural area with a very long growing season (we used to live there). I remember hearing about her and keeping my eyes out for her house, but never seeing anything that was obviously it.

[Loowit]

I think it is cool that some people do this.  I think it sounds intriguing, but I can't see it working for us.  I used to love it as a kid having fresh veggies and fruit from our garden, fresh milk from a friend's farm, farm raised beef from my dad's uncle, etc., but that isn't my reality.  I don't have any desire to grow my own garden, nor really the yard space.  But the biggest thing is my DS's food allergies would make it more complicated.  However, there are days I tell DH I want to move into a cabin in the middle of nowhere to live, so I guess if we ever did that I would need to get over my aversion to gardening.

[Desert Strawberry]

We are about halfway there. This is our goal. I don't eat meat or dairy. My husband does and my children do occasionally.

 I buy mainly from farmer's market, produce market-in bulk-, small ethnic markets, a local health food store. I buy staples like oats, butter, and eggs from a regular grocery store. I order a few items online that I can't get locally-coconut oil, popcorn. I am a terrible gardener, but we do have berries and I can sometimes get a handful  of potatoes, carrots, or a melon to grow. I sprout beans and seeds. We are planning on getting chickens someday.

We eat a lot of beans, local rice, lots of fruit and veg. One kid is now off of wheat. I'm adjusting to that. I am not doing much baking because of that and the heat. In the winter, I bake everything. All of our breads, any treats.

We eat very little packaged food. I think that would be a big adjustment. Once you get past that, the rest is easy.

 

 

[idnib]

Yes, I could do it if I were allowed access to the local farmer's markets for meat and fish. We already get 2 cases of local veggies and eggs each week. I could grow herbs. We have a local raw milk supplier and it wouldn't bother me to make cheese. I already make my own yogurt and kefir. I have made butter by throwing the milk in the food processor. I could live with local honey as a sweetener. 

 

I'm not saying it wouldn't be effort and that I wouldn't miss some foods (maple syrup!) but we could pull it off. A long growing season helps.

[kewb]

I could make it happen but I don't want to make it happen.  It would be somewhat difficult because I don't have the land to raise my own meat and laying hens.  I do have access to locally grown food and I tend to only shop at the supermarket for some staples.  I already make the majority of our food from scratch.  My kids already know that June is when I buy strawberries because that is when they are local and in season, the same for summer fruits.  By the end of winter everyone is quite tired of apples and pears.

[Lady Marmalade]

We'd be allowed chickens and rabbits in very limited numbers.  As far as I can tell, no other livestock would be allowed because we do not have the acreage required for them.  We would not be allowed to have bees.  

 

Where I live I am allowed up to three rabbits.  I don't think we'd get very far on three bunnies at a time.  Anything else that is considered a farm animal is against city ordinance.  I heard someone was working on allowing bees in limited settings, but as I'm close to a school, I doubt I would be in one of the permitted areas anyway.  And that's okay, because I am happy to pay someone else to be my beekeeper and keep me supplied with honey. 

[JustEm]

I feel dumb for asking but what about pasta? Do they not eat it all year or make their own? And rice? I know someone mentioned they get local rice. I wonder if this family did that or just skipped it. When I originally read this I imagined a scenario where you have to stock up on non perishables at the beginning of the year. I wouldn't even have the space for a year's worth of rice, etc. We have a small deep freeze and that gets full quickly. We have two industrial shelving units that we stock full of pantry items. They couldn't possibly hold enough. So I am just thinking if they did stock up on any items they must have had a lot of storage space.

not that I know what this family has done but homemade pasta is awesome!! Its so good I don't even bother with store bought anymore.  That means we only eat pasta if I feel like making it, which could easily be less than once a year.

[Desert Strawberry]

I feel dumb for asking but what about pasta? Do they not eat it all year or make their own? And rice? I know someone mentioned they get local rice. I wonder if this family did that or just skipped it. When I originally read this I imagined a scenario where you have to stock up on non perishables at the beginning of the year. I wouldn't even have the space for a year's worth of rice, etc. We have a small deep freeze and that gets full quickly. We have two industrial shelving units that we stock full of pantry items. They couldn't possibly hold enough. So I am just thinking if they did stock up on any items they must have had a lot of storage space.

I have 5 gallon buckets stacked in a corner of my dining room, and 1 gallon containers on top of a cabinet. I have shelving in my kitchen, but only 4 cupboards. I hang cups and pots on the walls. 

We make it work. It's not pretty, but we eat well and live cheaply.

 

I don't like pasta, but that is one thing I do buy for my family. Spaghetti is about as "convenience" as our food gets. If I were going fully grocery-free, I would buy 20 pounds at once, and that would be it for the year. That would give us pasta once a month for a year.

 

Eta: I don't care for rice ,either, but it's available, local, and everyone else loves it. My kids burn a lot of energy-not terribly active, just skinny-and need a lot of carbs. They didn't get that from me. 

[MistyMountain]

I know a family in Alaska that does this and they only live on a suburban plot like me. I wanted to get there eventually but I haven't really gotten close. I do have a garden and a community plot and go to a local you pick farm yearly but I still rely on grocery stores a lot especially in the winter. I brought bulk whole grain wheat and barley but I didn't like grinding it and all the extra work involved so I didn't end up making things like bread and pasta like I planned. I admire it and maybe I will eventually do better. I can't see having my kids build things by themselves at those ages. I am not good at doing stuff like that with them underfoot while patiently teaching them.

[JustEm]

This is partially what I have in mind for when we look for our next house. A place I can have chickens for eggs and meat, enough room for a garden that will feed the entire family for most of the year. We already split a side of beef each year with my brother. Our next home is at least 5 years down the road so I've got time to dream.

[MrsMommy]

My version of this was giving up Walmart. I've been in there only once in the last six months, and I'm hopeful to not have to go there again for another year. Other than that, I've been shopping our local grocery stores only. Not as big of a commitment as this story, but a huge commitment that involved reworking what we buy, as well as our grocery budget, for us!

[Carrie12345]

Well, my dream is to live with as few grocery store visits as possible.  The kids and I want a mini homestead. Dh, not so much.

 

I like gardening.
We have quite a few local farms.

I know how to can, dry, and pack a mean freezer.

 

Not an easy path, but I'd jump at the chance.

[Sara in AZ]

I loved reading Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about her experience with this. I could never do it, though.

[elegantlion]

I love the convenience of the grocery. I'd prefer to live like some European dream city and go to market every few days and buy fresh from vendors. Alas I don't live in Europe. Our Walmart is cheaper, but our locally owned store recently changed hands and they've been dropping prices, so for some things it's economical. 

 

The only farm animal I'd be interested in is a goat, but for milk and eating the grass. But we can't have them here and I don't need any other living thing (animal, vegetable, or mineral) to be responsible for. 

[MrsMommy]

Oddly Walmart isn't really cheaper around here.  There is just too much competition.

 

I wish this was true here. There should be enough competition (one large local chain, one mid-size local chain, and a whole bunch of smaller grocers), but it just doesn't work out that way. We're spending a good $10-15 a week more to not shop at Walmart...mostly in the meat department, and even with shopping the sales.

 

But, I've discovered I really enjoy shopping at our local grocery store. The employees have actually bothered to get to know me, and my children. They're friendly, and they talk to us. And they even ask if I need help to my car! So, our wallet is taking a hit, but I don't mind too much. :)

[redsquirrel]

I could do it here if I could buy locally and then can/preserve for the winter. I live in the city, so can't keep animals, or garden enough to make a difference, but this is a huge 'farm to plate' area. I am in a raw milk collective and could be in never ending CSAs and collectives:, fruit csas, veggie CSAs, a bread collective, pasture raised meat collectives, honey and maple collective etc etc.  We even have a community freezer to help people buy meat directly from the farmer.  All those collectives and CSAs get really expensive though.

[Ravin]

Not possible here without a whole lot of driving we can't afford to do, and while I would be game for such an adventure if child-driven, my partners never would.

[Mango]

I would miss my coffee.

 

 

 

[Mango]

We should post pictures of our gardens. I'm anticipating a bumper crop of tomatoes, squash and zucchini! All 31 tomato plant survived being transplanted. :)

[Wheres Toto]

I was going to ask how someone living in Alaska could possibly do this and then I read the comment about canning/preserving.  I guess that's how.  :blush:

 

I still think it would be very difficult in an area where there aren't year-round or close to it, farmers markets/gardening.   I definitely couldn't grow enough myself to can enough to last the entire off-season.  it would also end up being almost a full-time job just buying and canning enough.  I'm not sure I could get that dedicated to the concept.

[Dory]

I feel dumb for asking but what about pasta? Do they not eat it all year or make their own? And rice? I know someone mentioned they get local rice. I wonder if this family did that or just skipped it. When I originally read this I imagined a scenario where you have to stock up on non perishables at the beginning of the year. I wouldn't even have the space for a year's worth of rice, etc. We have a small deep freeze and that gets full quickly. We have two industrial shelving units that we stock full of pantry items. They couldn't possibly hold enough. So I am just thinking if they did stock up on any items they must have had a lot of storage space.

 

Homemade pasta is great. It is definitely a treat around here though. Rice would be something we'd miss, but it isn't a necessity either. My dh could've counted on his hands the number of times he ate rice as a kid.

[Jean in Newcastle]

No farmer's markets that I know of around here carry meat or fish products.  Perhaps because they need refrigeration?  Plus, they are only operational from May to October.  What about all the other months of the year?  And I'm fairly sure they don't sell things like sugar and flour either.  The wheat farms are on the other side of the state so I would have to drive a very long distance to pick up my flour.  I would have fruits and vegetables and beans - I did see sacks of locally grown kidney beans on sale at the farmer's market.  Half of the farmer's markets I've been to are dedicated to crafts and specialty items like special vinegars etc.  

[ocelotmom]

I was going to ask how someone living in Alaska could possibly do this and then I read the comment about canning/preserving.  I guess that's how.  :blush:

 

I think most of the country would be hard-pressed to do it without either preservation or hard-core greenhouses.

 

(For comparison, I live in a part of Nevada where the average monthly lows are within a few degrees of Juneau's, though the highs are significantly higher.)

[FaithManor]

My concern for those living north of the Ohio River Valley line or in dry areas like Arizona/New Mexico etc. is nutrition. In order for our family of five to eat 5-7 servings of vegetables per day, we would need 775 servings preserved per month from harvest to harvest. Our farmer's markets open in June with strawberries and cherries, maybe some hydroponic tomatoes, and a few peas and close the first week of October. So at a half to whole cup of veggies or fruits x 775 x 8.5 to 9 months....you get the picture.

 

Pioneers ate largely grains and beans because they stored well, and out of a keg of salt pork bought at slaughter time. It took years to get the soil broken and amended to produce huge crops. Root cellars sound nice but in northern climes still get too cold after December and ruin stored items such as squash and turnips. So from january through the end of May when asparagus, leaf lettuce, and peas come on - hens will start laying a lot better in April - stored grains and beans with whatever salted down meat they might have left or maybe some potatoes if they haven't gone bad is all that's left. It got lean and high in carbs, low in vitamin c, a, e, potassium, calcium, and some omega oils. Some mothers kept bottles of cod liver oil around to help keep their children healthy.

 

So, I don't romanticize the life of those who came before me trying to live off the land without some modern options for preservation, and even with modernization, it's pretty much not an option where the winters are long and harsh and there isn't much to buy locally between harvests. Gardening a large plot with my dad plus purchasing at harvest time from local Amish farmers has provided us through canning, dehydrating, and freezing, 100 quarts of tomatoes, 3 or 4 gallon baggies of broccoli,a couple gallons of cauliflower, a few buttercup and butternut squash, 104 pints green beans, several bunches of leeks, a half bushel of carrots, a couple quarts of sweet peas, 40 red peppers, several quarts grape tomatoes, a bushel of sweet corn, a few lbs. potatoes (still working on that), some banana peppers, cucumbers for fresh eating and making pickles, radishes for fresh eating, some sweet onions, and a few quartsof raspberries for the freezer. Oh, we pick a few quarts blueberries wild, and freeze some asparagus as well. I still have to buy citrus, potatoes, onions, salad greens, and carrots all winter long and supplement in other areas because we would need to have more land in order to get 5-7 servings a day of veggies and fruit. Not easy and certainly doesn't represent other sources of nutrition such as nuts, avocados, coconut,snd citrus which do not grow here. Then there is seafood. The Great Lakes used to be amazing in this regard. But, low water levels, pollution, invasive species that destroy habitat and compete for resources such as zebra mussles, alewifes, and some species of carp have really hurt the fishing industry. Except for Walleye in the winter and occasional big salmon runs, everyone but the most avid anglers are eating imported, ocean caught or farm raised fish.

 

That said, I think a healthy goal is for each family to experiment with what they can do...a few tomato and pepper plants on the terrace, a bed of strawberries as part of the landscaping, an order of some veggies to freeze produced by a local gardener, u pick berry farm, etc. is that much less that it is trucked in long distance and sprayed so it will color up on that trip.

[NASDAQ]

Other than the novelty value, I don't see why this is desirable. Super markets are a useful way to get food to people who live in higher density areas, and there are lots of reasons we have tended as a people towards higher density than we used to. But as an interesting project for a year, similar to cooking through Julia Child or sewing all your own clothes? Sure, whatever floats your boat.

 

 

But then if my son came up with a high intensity, extra-work project for me, I'd say no. Or today, "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo go to bed."

[MistyMountain]

I was going to ask how someone living in Alaska could possibly do this and then I read the comment about canning/preserving. I guess that's how. :blush:

Yes they preserve food by canning, drying, fermenting, root cellars, and freezing etc. They also extend the season a bit by using row cover and starting stuff indoors and greenhouses. They grow things close together and have sheet mulching beds. They have fruit bushes and trees mixed throughout. When they harvest something they sometimes replace it with seeds that are shorter season. They go hunting and fishing and grind grain. They buy local milk or have cow shares.

[KungFuPanda]

This would be impossible where I live.  The comment about nothing growing in January?  Nothing grows here for like 9 out of 12 months.  We have no yard.  We aren't allowed livestock in the yard.  If I could only shop farmer's markets then in the winter I'd be eating honey and candles.

 

Frankly giving the optimal conditions they have for this sort of thing, I'm not all that impressed.

 

Mmmmmm . . . Candles!

 

It seems like manufactured stress to me, but I feel that way about chickens. I have friends who LOVE their chickens, but it doesn't look like they'll ever come out ahead after all of the work and expense. My grandparents lived this way. My great grandparents were subsistence farmers in Appalachia. I do not envy them. I WILL read the heck out of someone's blog who attempts this and I'll watch any of those Frontier House or Alaskan wilderness shows. Heck, I'll even go camping, but I'm not about to move a grocery store into my house for bragging rights.

[idnib]

I have friends who LOVE their chickens, but it doesn't look like they'll ever come out ahead after all of the work and expense. 

 

I'd have to taste the eggs first before deciding.  ;)

[Dory]

No farmer's markets that I know of around here carry meat or fish products.  Perhaps because they need refrigeration?  Plus, they are only operational from May to October.  What about all the other months of the year?  And I'm fairly sure they don't sell things like sugar and flour either.  The wheat farms are on the other side of the state so I would have to drive a very long distance to pick up my flour.  I would have fruits and vegetables and beans - I did see sacks of locally grown kidney beans on sale at the farmer's market.  Half of the farmer's markets I've been to are dedicated to crafts and specialty items like special vinegars etc.  

 

Our farmers market has a refrigerated meat truck that comes a few times in the fall. Most people buy a large chunk of their meat once or twice a year.

 

I drive to the opposite end of the province for one type of my wheat and pick up my other wheat every second year in the neighbouring province. Wheat berries last a LONG time. I can buy enough sacks to last a year or two and they'll keep so long as they don't get wet and they are safe from bugs and mice. I could easily live without sugar as long as I have my honey. We go through a LOT of honey in this house because I get it locally and I use it in numerous recipes.

[KungFuPanda]

I'd have to taste the eggs first before deciding.  ;)

Yeah, yeah, it's like the emperors new clothes. Nobody wants to admit how slight the taste difference really is and that if it wasn't for the color difference we'd be hard pressed to pick the 'good' eggs out of a line-up, much less pick up on these differences when we eat the eggs days apart. I tend to taste and smell things that other people don't notice, and I WANT there to be a bigger taste difference, but I fear there just isn't and we're fooling ourselves.

[Roadrunner]

My younger boy would legally petition for a new family. Seriously, he would trade us in for food. :)

I can't grow anything. My thumbs aren't green, and if I do manage a vegetable, the gofers get them. I think starvation would be a state of normal if I attempt to live off the land, and I live in CA! It's kind of sad. My grandparents managed the small garden on weekends and we had everything from homemade wine to vegetable preserves for winter.

[Carol in Cal.]

I have been a member of a CSA for a couple of years now, and also have started to get fruit from the trees I have been planting gradually in my yard, and I have become really hooked on fresh, seasonal produce.  It's more complex in flavor, and generally better.  It hasn't been just one thing, either--not just tomatoes, for instance, which are ALWAYS better from the garden or CSA, but also lettuce, apricots, strawberries, and even onions. 

[Carrie12345]

Yeah, yeah, it's like the emperors new clothes. Nobody wants to admit how slight the taste difference really is and that if it wasn't for the color difference we'd be hard pressed to pick the 'good' eggs out of a line-up, much less pick up on these differences when we eat the eggs days apart. I tend to taste and smell things that other people don't notice, and I WANT there to be a bigger taste difference, but I fear there just isn't and we're fooling ourselves.

 

We don't have chickens, but the kids did a taste test with standard supermarket eggs, "grass-fed eggs" from the supermarket's special aisle, and local free-range eggs.  The last two tied, but nobody picked the first one. :)