This is day 2 of my No New Groceries challenge, wherein I attempt to live off the fat I’ve stored in my freezer and pantry. (Cross posted at Blogher.)

Perhaps I should have thought about this for a little longer. I mean really. Who starts a crazy project like this on a whim? And what kind of a lunatic does it in public by blogging it? (If you can call three people a public.)

And what kind of a kook does this in the autumn? Isn’t this when we are biologically programmed to be storing food? You know, ensuring the survival of the clan through the long, cold winter? Seems like this could go against human nature somehow, doesn’t it?

Financial experts advise us that we should have six months of expenses in savings “just in case you lose your job”  – which in this continuing downward spiral of an economy is all too real a scenario. Not to mention my growing urges to shout obscenity filled epithets at the idiotic imbeciles to whom I trade my time for money. So wouldn’t having a month (or more) of food stored also be a good idea? Wouldn’t that six months of expenses be a lower number if one didn’t have to spend it on food in addition to mortgage and ISP fees? Isn’t this exactly what the end timers are always saying? “Make sure you have gallons of water and miles of toilet paper in your bomb shelter just in case they drop the big one on us!” Or the swine flu hits. Or Jesus comes back. Or something.

I re-read that inventory yesterday and I thought that it sounded terribly privileged.  All that meat! (and to think I spent years as a vegitarian?!?) And organic CSA (community supported agriculture) veggie shares? AND fruit? Who does this woman think she is??

One or two of you may still be reading from back in the day when around here every dollar was stretched thin, every unplanned expense was cause for dismay and I was begging for a “bigger hog”. Seems like Babe has grown up to be quite the sow and I have climbed right up to the haunches of that sucker.

And those two reasons are exactly why I’m plowing ahead with this cockamamie scheme: because hoarding food is part of our fear-based society and because I have clearly lost touch with the abundance with which I am blessed.

I know this is a risky endeavor. But the reality is that I am lucky enough to be able to stop this challenge at any time and go to the store and buy what I want to eat. Just about anything I want to eat. I’m not forced to this because personal economic disaster or because of regional famine. I’m not doing this because I truly live anywhere near the edge. I’m not desperate, like so many of our neighbors are. I’m doing this because I have stopped noticing how lucky I am. And it is only chance, my friends, that keeps me from having to use government coupons to feed myself and my son.

I’m not kidding when I say that I could lose (or be pushed to quit) my job at any time. None of us is secure these days. And I know you know that. But I also want to be quite clear that I am not more or less “favored by God” than someone who does have to rely on our help to keep from starving. I am not smarter, or more strategic, or more talented. I’m just luckier. For now anyway.

But to continue to hang on to this food only feeds that fear. Don’t I really believe that “enough” is enough? Can I live in to that belief? Can I figure out how much is actually enough and live there instead of wobbling wildly between extremes?

Our society tells me that I’m being foolish and even worse, I’m not taking care of me and my own. I’m risking my own and my son’s security and relying on my neighbors to take care of me in case something happens to my income. There are many in our society that would tell me to my face that I am not American for taking on this challenge; for squandering my own personal safety net of a freezer full of meat.

That is true. I am squandering it. Because I think that no matter how much I freeze, store, plan or hoard, I’m going to need help if something bad happens. And the truth is that I can’t possibly be good enough or smart enough or prepared enough to keep something bad from happening and needing help.

And neither can you.

The idea that you can is a downright lie. The lie of rugged individualism.

This challenge will end just before we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. I think that is a fitting juxtaposition. The week before Thanksgiving I’ll be shopping in order to host a feast with my family and friends.

The question is, will I still feel the need to stock up on all sorts of other food in order to feel secure or will I find security somewhere besides an overfull freezer and pantry? Can I find contentment and security within myself, in my community and relationships or do I need the stuff?

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Day 1 recap:
Breakfast – coffee and scone from the coffee shop
Lunch – leftover beef stew and 3 organic dates
Dinner – Lamb and rice hotdish, steamed Swiss chard and birthday cake for dessert

My improvised lamb and rice hotdish

1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 thinnish carrots, sliced into rounds
salt & pepper to taste
2 t cinnamon
1 t ground cardamon
1/2 c wine

1 cup rice

Steam rice in a rice steamer. (I used sushi rice because I had that or wild rice. I think I would have preferred jasmine or something with a little less starch.)

In a large cast iron or non-stick skillet, brown the lamb. While the meat browns, chop the onion and the carrot. Drain off fat. Add chopped onion and cook until starting to become transparent. Add the carrots and spices. Stir to distribute the spices around. Cover and cook until the carrots start to get tender. Deglaze the pan with the little bit of wine (or broth). Cover and let cook until the rice is done. Stir the rice in to the meat mixture.

Time to cook: about 20 minutes from taking the meat out of the refrigerator to table.

Made 2 dinner sized servings and one lunch-sized container.

Taste Grade: 3 out of 5 It was sort of bland. Reminded me of something called Porcupine Hotdish that they used to serve at church potlucks but that had mushroom soup for a sauce. DS2 wouldn’t eat mushroom soup (although there is a can in the pantry…)

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up 2008
random song reference 2007
SaxMan part 2 2006
SaxMan 2006
Too sweet for words 2006

October 14th, 2009 | Category: my crazy life | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL