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Monday, June 04, 2007

We think fast food is equivalent to pornography,

nutritionally speaking. ~Steve Elbert

It's quick, it's easy, it's always there, but never as satisfying as it could be, if done naturally.

Friday I told you how we reduce our energy consumption, today food waste. In case you forgot, it is still low impact week. Also Crunchy Chicken is holding a contest and the winner receives a low impact goody basket.

There is an interesting study about man and agriculture. Some claim that it is the problem with us today, that it was the worst mistake we ever made. Without agriculture and domestication, we wouldn't have stayed in one place building homes, villages, cities. Our population wouldn't have exploded, and we wouldn't have the environmental problems of today. But the grass is always greener, things would be different if we were still hunter gathers, we would just have a whole set of other problems. Here is where I should place this, I am writing to more people and some of you do not know my history. I was a vegan for many, many years. When I became pregnant breakfast sausage became my favorite friend.

It isn't the meat itself I found that I had a problem with, it is the factory farms, the wastefulness and the way they keep and butcher animals. Waste and flavor are my biggest problems, while disease and quality are my biggest concerns. And now with NAIS looming over us, and the FDA approving cloned meat, I want to run further from my local grocery store. And in a way, I am doing just that. We raise our own organic chickens, for both eggs and meat, we also grow our own fruits and vegetables. This is the biggest way that our homestead reduces our food waste.

I know that not every one can do this. It's a matter of time and space, and by no means am I saying that this is the right and only way to do it. I can not completely rely on our own food stuff to survive. I also shop at my locally owned grocer and the farmers market, as well as a local dealer of cow juice. For the store and the dealer I shop for two weeks. this forces me to plan out a menu before hand, while I shop at the farmers market once a week, until seasons end.

Meals that are planned out carefully will still lead to leftovers and waste, especially when you have children. If leftovers are not advisable for various reasons, our chickens will get them everything but chicken meat which our dogs get to eat. Chickens are not vegans, they will eat rotten meat and fresh insects. {grasshopper feed chicken eggs are incredible tasting}. We opted to do this rather than send it to the compost pile.

Eating out happens once in a great while. My husband and I will take my mother to her favorite restaurant as a thank you for watching our active boys for an entire weekend. Or when we lose power, and I have had a long day in the mud, saving animals and farm. Or as a special treat. The places we tend to patronize are small, locally owned restaurants. Our favorite is ran buy the owners of a local U-Pick-it peach farm.

I know that the above says little about our food waste. We tend to not eat out, we buy our meat from local vendors, or butcher our own. Reducing, here, means a carefully planed 2 weeks worth of food items more than anything else.

Tonight? well some pulled pork. These make great sandwiches for lunch the next few days. What's for dinner at your place?

11 comments:

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Crunchy Chicken said...

We create a lot of leftovers with the kids. Half the time they say they want something, then don't eat it. So it goes in the food waste bin to get composted by the city. I wish I had me some chickens, though!

Thanks for posting these great posts during Low Impact Week :)

Malva said...

What's for dinner at my house tonight:

Pennes with veggies and emu sausage.

You basically stir fry a bunch of veggies (usually, red/yellow pepper, red onion, mushrooms, zucchinis), cook up some some sausage and boil some pennes (adding brocoli to the pennes if you have some). Drain pasta, add cooked sausage and veggies.

Top with one or two tbps of olive oil, some parmesan cheese and some chopped fresh basil. You're also supposed to add proscuitto but I don't have any right now. Toss to combine.

Anonymous said...

Hmm...good question. Leftover turkey and spinach meatloaf I think (organic fee range ground turkey thigh meat from whole foods, our own garden spinach)a nice fresh garden salad, asparagus, organic carrots from the Amish, maybe some MI spuds for the rest of the family and some frozen garden sweet potatoes from last years haul for me. Topped off with raw milk. :) Bigger question: what am I going to whip up for dessert? I have a TON of cherries left still from last year and the new seasons about to begin. Wish I could send you some!

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on all those points. We do our best to raise all our own meat and give our animals a happy life on our Irish smallholding.

www.sallygardens.typepad.com

Tim Appleton (Applehead) said...

You'll have to ask Stephanie what we are having for dinner. I have no clue. She went out and picked wild grape leaves this morning that could have something to do with it. but I don't know.

Stephanie Appleton said...

The kids are eating popcorn right now! There is venison veggie soup on the stove that was canned last fall. There are leftover stuffed grape leaves in the fridge along with several other leftovers. It has been rough day. That is dinner!

Billy said...

I went out to eat at the Lone Star steak house in Hutchinson. Had a corporate meeting today and I decided to stay and have dinner with some out of town coworkers. I had a ribeye, sweet potato, salad, and appetizer of mushrooms and fried shrimp. Ugh, I am too full.

Alexandra said...

I guess we are big eaters here, everything gets eaten! Dh waits until the children are done, and eats what they don't, LOL. That's his diet dinner.

April said...

We feed all our leftovers to the chickens...even chicken, is that bad? I figure if they eat turkey and beef, then they can eat chicken too.

Walter Jeffries said...

Corned pork potatoes and salad greens. The corned pork is something we've been exploring making. We make our own hams from our pigs. We love corned beef. Problem is we raise pigs, not cattle. Soo... it naturally occurred to me that I ought to be able to make corned pork. Our first couple of tries have been delicious. In the interest of food science we'll continue eating! :)

On the left overs, we love them! Left overs are great for quick meals the next day. Generally the only thing left over is potatoes or large portions of meat. The meat goes into omelets, sandwiches, soup, etc. Bones go to soup and then the dogs. left over potatoes get pan fried for breakfast or another meal the next day. Delicious!

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