So I find myself finishing the first 3 weeks of this experiment and I have to say, so far it appears very doable. One trick I have learned is making a larger than normal amount of food. This serves two purposes it gives me lunches to take to work every day as well as lunches for my wife, and so far it has been a source of 2 days of dinners for the family as a whole. While at first everyone was a little upset about eating the same things over and over, they are now starting to except it and actually enjoy it. Small changes to things like stew, in terms of making rice and putting the stew over rice helps to break the rut a little.
To date I still have a bulk of the supplies I bought. Making it clear that I should be able to last another 5 months before the next supply run. Fishing is getting ready to open everywhere in the state, which should open up a wealth of meat options. Muskrats have come into season though I have not been able to get any yet. In speaking of muskrat it has come to my attention from talking to some of my co-workers that not many people are familiar with eating these animals. So I think after I have gotten a few and tried some different recipes I'll post them here for people to try out.
The weekly grocery run came out to 45 dollars this week, so that still amounts to a 105 dollar savings on average and after the last week of march is over I should now start to see the savings from such a reduced bill.
This coming weekend also will start my preparing for next winter in terms of cutting and splitting firewood. I will also be planting my seedlings to get them started for planting in the next few weeks with any luck.
Another side effect of how we are eating that I don't think any of us has thought about was the loss of weight. I have dropped 10 lbs in the last 3 weeks and my wife and kids are also reporting similar weight losses. I attribute this to two things, first the small portion sizes that we are all eating, and second the fact the majority of food we are eating is healthier. No more soda, no more store bought bread, no box meals, and all the additives and chemicals in those foods.
Stay tuned the first full month is coming to a close soon.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Week 2 Time Management
So now that I have gotten through the 2nd week of my subsistence living experiment I have a few things to talk about. First of all time management is essential. In order to make this a more realistic experiment I have added some other things to the parameters. Since last november the fireplace in my house has been working and usable. So I decided to make that part of the experiment, while we still heat the house with a traditional furnace fueled by natural gas, I have made it a point to light a fire every night and simulate the act of heating the home through wood. This of course has added to my chore list in the means of bringing in firewood and making kindling to light a fire with.I have also decided to make things from the pelts of the animals that I kill and therefore use as much of the animal as possible. Letting nearly nothing go to waste. Again another chore added to my list.
And this is where time management is key. I hold a full time job working for the local hospital as does my wife. This leaves very few hours left in the day when I get home to do all the things I need to. I like anyone else like to come home and relax after a long day at work. But I have learned the hard way that while I still have time for relaxing I have to better manage my time to get everything done. Otherwise like on Tuesday last week I end up making bread at 11pm at night. (Not a fun thing to be doing mind you) So I'll recap the week for you all so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.
Sunday- Went hunting for rabbits on the last day of the season for 4 hours in Newport, which is a 2 hour drive one way from where I live. I did manage to get a rather large snowshoe hare but got home at around 7 pm. As is usual friends and family came over at 8pm to watch The Walking Dead until 10pm. Which meant I didn't get around to skinning and cleaning the rabbit till 1030pm. And I finished that at around 1130pm.
Monday- Out of work at 5pm made dinner of a baked chicken for the family and ate then made the bad decision of sitting down at 8pm and relaxing. Nothing else got done.
Tuesday- Work, then made dinner of beans and rice and left over chicken. Brought in wood for the night and the following night but didn't realize or think about needing more loaves of bread until 10pm by the time they were done it was 1130 or so.
Wednsday- Work, dinner of left overs, made kindling and finished prepping the hides from the three rabbits in a salt and alum powder solution. Made kindling for the night and night after.
Thursday- Work, made home made mac and cheese and some green beans for dinner, cleaned the fireplace, took out garbage.
Friday- Work, then it was my anniversary for my wife and I had dinner out and stayed at the Inn where we got married, which is a tradition we have been doing since we got married 3 years ago. ( I know eating dinner out violates the rules of the experiment but better to keep my wife happy.)
The weekend was filled with things like bringing in wood, making kindling,( something I am starting to do for the entire week all at once.) I boiled the rabbit meat and made a stew of him. Worked out the rest of the pelts and now have them ready to be made into something. Got fishing gear ready, sighted in my hunting rifles. I also did the weekly grocery shopping which came out to the same as last week 40 dollars. All of which was a large box of cereal for the children, snacks for the kids lunches, milk, a bunch of bananas and a bag of apples, all of which is for the children to take to school in their lunches. Another weekly savings of 110 dollars on average on top of the saving money not buying my work lunches or buying coffee. For a total weekly saving of about 175 dollars.
What I have taken away from this week is work smarter, I was able to make the stew and 4 loaves of bread at once which saved me time. The 4 loaves should make lunches for the kids all week and allow us to eat some bread for dinner, the stew will last us for about 3 meals or so and lunches for most of the week at work. Instead of making kindling on an as needed basis I have decided to spend a couple hours and just make enough for the entire week all at once and keep it in a small box next to the fireplace. With more things to do coming in the spring with planting a garden, fishing and hunting and cutting and splitting firewood for next winter these things will be essential to make it all work.
And this is where time management is key. I hold a full time job working for the local hospital as does my wife. This leaves very few hours left in the day when I get home to do all the things I need to. I like anyone else like to come home and relax after a long day at work. But I have learned the hard way that while I still have time for relaxing I have to better manage my time to get everything done. Otherwise like on Tuesday last week I end up making bread at 11pm at night. (Not a fun thing to be doing mind you) So I'll recap the week for you all so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.
Sunday- Went hunting for rabbits on the last day of the season for 4 hours in Newport, which is a 2 hour drive one way from where I live. I did manage to get a rather large snowshoe hare but got home at around 7 pm. As is usual friends and family came over at 8pm to watch The Walking Dead until 10pm. Which meant I didn't get around to skinning and cleaning the rabbit till 1030pm. And I finished that at around 1130pm.
Monday- Out of work at 5pm made dinner of a baked chicken for the family and ate then made the bad decision of sitting down at 8pm and relaxing. Nothing else got done.
Tuesday- Work, then made dinner of beans and rice and left over chicken. Brought in wood for the night and the following night but didn't realize or think about needing more loaves of bread until 10pm by the time they were done it was 1130 or so.
Wednsday- Work, dinner of left overs, made kindling and finished prepping the hides from the three rabbits in a salt and alum powder solution. Made kindling for the night and night after.
Thursday- Work, made home made mac and cheese and some green beans for dinner, cleaned the fireplace, took out garbage.
Friday- Work, then it was my anniversary for my wife and I had dinner out and stayed at the Inn where we got married, which is a tradition we have been doing since we got married 3 years ago. ( I know eating dinner out violates the rules of the experiment but better to keep my wife happy.)
The weekend was filled with things like bringing in wood, making kindling,( something I am starting to do for the entire week all at once.) I boiled the rabbit meat and made a stew of him. Worked out the rest of the pelts and now have them ready to be made into something. Got fishing gear ready, sighted in my hunting rifles. I also did the weekly grocery shopping which came out to the same as last week 40 dollars. All of which was a large box of cereal for the children, snacks for the kids lunches, milk, a bunch of bananas and a bag of apples, all of which is for the children to take to school in their lunches. Another weekly savings of 110 dollars on average on top of the saving money not buying my work lunches or buying coffee. For a total weekly saving of about 175 dollars.
What I have taken away from this week is work smarter, I was able to make the stew and 4 loaves of bread at once which saved me time. The 4 loaves should make lunches for the kids all week and allow us to eat some bread for dinner, the stew will last us for about 3 meals or so and lunches for most of the week at work. Instead of making kindling on an as needed basis I have decided to spend a couple hours and just make enough for the entire week all at once and keep it in a small box next to the fireplace. With more things to do coming in the spring with planting a garden, fishing and hunting and cutting and splitting firewood for next winter these things will be essential to make it all work.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Week 1 Into the Fray
So the first week of my subsistence living is over, and for the most part I'm very encouraged by the results. My buddy and I were able to get a couple rabbits on Thursday before this whole thing started and I made those into two dishes that lasted me and my family the week. The first of which was a standard rabbit stew, potatos, carrots, onion and the like in a thick broth. And the second was a rabbit, rice and red bean combination that was seasoned with Frank's Hot Sauce and salt. In fact I'm eating that as I type this post today.
On Sunday we went out again and I was able to bag another large snowshoe rabbit which again I will make into a stew for this week. Unfortunately Sunday was the last day for rabbit season here in Vermont so there will be no more of those to come until Sept. when the season opens back up. However, due to an early thaw coming possibly this week I may be able to start fishing as early as next week and start bringing in that for meat.
Bread making has been a work in progress. White bread has been easy to learn and come out very well, but potato bread has been a bit trickier. I'm going to attempt that one again tonight when I make bread. I made 4 loaves of white bread that lasted me and the family through the week and to be honest may start cutting us back on bread anyway which would not be a bad thing in terms of health.
Speaking of the family the whole thing has been a huge hit so far with them, while they were first apprehensive of the idea they now see that it can be fun and possible and have gotten on board. My youngest son is very excited by the hunting and devours anything that has been shot or fished at a rate that I may have to get under control to make it through next winter. My oldest son is still adjusting to more time outside and less time on the electronic devices in the house but he will get there, he's a teenager, everything is terrible when first offered but a whole lot of fun when he gets out doing it.
On another note and to be completely open about this whole thing there are things that I continue to have to buy for them. Milk, cereal, peanut butter and jelly and snacks for their school lunches but that is all. This weeks shopping trip cost me 40 dollars for those things. Which when put into perspective is much less than I use to spend per week. Which is something I will start posting at the end of each weeks blog is my expenses for you to watch and see how this, if it works, will save money in the long run also.
To Date: 375 dollars spent on initial supplies Average weekly grocery bill pre-experiment
40 dollars week 1 groceries. 150 dollars
So that means that as of right now I am still 265 dollars in the hole as it were. but this week alone I saved 110 dollars in the grocery store.
On top of those savings I no longer by lunch at work average 5-7 dollars a day or coffee from the store 1.50 a day. For another total weekly saving of about 32.50.
Not to bad to start off with, but the question still remains is it sustainable. Only time will tell. Watch for the week 2 post around this time next week. And I will post in between if anything major changes. Thanks for reading.
On Sunday we went out again and I was able to bag another large snowshoe rabbit which again I will make into a stew for this week. Unfortunately Sunday was the last day for rabbit season here in Vermont so there will be no more of those to come until Sept. when the season opens back up. However, due to an early thaw coming possibly this week I may be able to start fishing as early as next week and start bringing in that for meat.
Bread making has been a work in progress. White bread has been easy to learn and come out very well, but potato bread has been a bit trickier. I'm going to attempt that one again tonight when I make bread. I made 4 loaves of white bread that lasted me and the family through the week and to be honest may start cutting us back on bread anyway which would not be a bad thing in terms of health.
Speaking of the family the whole thing has been a huge hit so far with them, while they were first apprehensive of the idea they now see that it can be fun and possible and have gotten on board. My youngest son is very excited by the hunting and devours anything that has been shot or fished at a rate that I may have to get under control to make it through next winter. My oldest son is still adjusting to more time outside and less time on the electronic devices in the house but he will get there, he's a teenager, everything is terrible when first offered but a whole lot of fun when he gets out doing it.
On another note and to be completely open about this whole thing there are things that I continue to have to buy for them. Milk, cereal, peanut butter and jelly and snacks for their school lunches but that is all. This weeks shopping trip cost me 40 dollars for those things. Which when put into perspective is much less than I use to spend per week. Which is something I will start posting at the end of each weeks blog is my expenses for you to watch and see how this, if it works, will save money in the long run also.
To Date: 375 dollars spent on initial supplies Average weekly grocery bill pre-experiment
40 dollars week 1 groceries. 150 dollars
So that means that as of right now I am still 265 dollars in the hole as it were. but this week alone I saved 110 dollars in the grocery store.
On top of those savings I no longer by lunch at work average 5-7 dollars a day or coffee from the store 1.50 a day. For another total weekly saving of about 32.50.
Not to bad to start off with, but the question still remains is it sustainable. Only time will tell. Watch for the week 2 post around this time next week. And I will post in between if anything major changes. Thanks for reading.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Subsitance Living
Subsitance living, by definition is growing, foraging or taking from nature only what you need to live, or sustain life. That is going to be how for the next year I plan to live.
It all started by watching the show Yukon Men on Discovery channel. The show follows 4 men in Tanana, Alaska, a small village in the yukon on the Tanana and Yukon rivers. If you have not seen the show I highly recommend it. In the show the 4 men hunt and fish for the bulk of their food, not only for themselves but for their families as well. This got me to thinking about all the things I had done over the past year and how I could incorperate this into a larger experiment.
And to be completely honest it was also inspired by a half joking comment I made to my wife about moving to Alaska with the kids and living there full time. Her response was, "Well show me that you could even do it here in Vermont, I don't think you could."
So I took the challenge. Along with my gardening projects I will hunt or fish all the meat that my family eats for the next year. Starting on March 1st. She did allow in her challenge two supply runs to Costco for bulk ingredients that would carry us through the year.
The list of supplies I purchased are;
100 lbs of flour
100 lbs of sugar
20 lbs of coffee
16 lbs of butter
50 lbs of red beans
20 assorted boxes of pasta
20 peppers that I cut and frove
20 lbs of carrots that I cut and frove
10 lbs of broccoli
16 lbs of ground beef to get through to the thaw
4 whole chickens
20 lbs of salt
5 lbs of pepper
80 lbs of rice
24 cans of cut green beans
20 cans of corn
5 lbs active yeast
All of that cost 375 dollars, and if my calculations were correct should make it through to mid/late summer when I will do another run but without buying any meat. I was successful at getting 2 rabbits so far from hunting and used them to make a large stew and a large pot of rice and beans. I have also learned to make my own bread in the oven.
So lets see how this goes and wish me luck. I will make a seperate post about the first week of this experiment soon which as you can see by the date of this post is fast approuching.
It all started by watching the show Yukon Men on Discovery channel. The show follows 4 men in Tanana, Alaska, a small village in the yukon on the Tanana and Yukon rivers. If you have not seen the show I highly recommend it. In the show the 4 men hunt and fish for the bulk of their food, not only for themselves but for their families as well. This got me to thinking about all the things I had done over the past year and how I could incorperate this into a larger experiment.
And to be completely honest it was also inspired by a half joking comment I made to my wife about moving to Alaska with the kids and living there full time. Her response was, "Well show me that you could even do it here in Vermont, I don't think you could."
So I took the challenge. Along with my gardening projects I will hunt or fish all the meat that my family eats for the next year. Starting on March 1st. She did allow in her challenge two supply runs to Costco for bulk ingredients that would carry us through the year.
The list of supplies I purchased are;
100 lbs of flour
100 lbs of sugar
20 lbs of coffee
16 lbs of butter
50 lbs of red beans
20 assorted boxes of pasta
20 peppers that I cut and frove
20 lbs of carrots that I cut and frove
10 lbs of broccoli
16 lbs of ground beef to get through to the thaw
4 whole chickens
20 lbs of salt
5 lbs of pepper
80 lbs of rice
24 cans of cut green beans
20 cans of corn
5 lbs active yeast
All of that cost 375 dollars, and if my calculations were correct should make it through to mid/late summer when I will do another run but without buying any meat. I was successful at getting 2 rabbits so far from hunting and used them to make a large stew and a large pot of rice and beans. I have also learned to make my own bread in the oven.
So lets see how this goes and wish me luck. I will make a seperate post about the first week of this experiment soon which as you can see by the date of this post is fast approuching.
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