so I made it through the first week on $40 at the farmer's market -- I not only made it, I still have a few duck eggs left, two small squashes (but they're about to go, so I better cook them up soon), miraculously I still have half a pound of ground beef, my green tomato just got sliced up for frying this morning, I've got three potatoes left, and two tomatoes that are starting to look like little red old men, so I had better do something with them, soon, and the same goes for the last of those strawberries... the bread lasted right up until last night, when I fried the last of it with a shit-ton of turkey bacon (thanks to my roommate, Jake, who didn't like it, and passed it down to me) and one of those duck eggs, salted generously, for a feast fit for a hillbilly king. this morning I picked up some spring onions, cube steak, beets, another green tomato, a yellow beefsteak tomato, two truly gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, a dozen eggs, and a loaf of ciabatta bread. I've still got $6 left. hell yeah, I'm a pro, now.
so here's the deal. I'm not a wealthy person (this should be obvious, by now), and while I would love to feast gloriously and immediately on all of this food, all of it at once, I tend more toward small humble meals, in an attempt to save as much of it as I can, in the case of even leaner times than I'm experiencing now. so just in case you don't know, I've got some tips for saving foods and making them last weeks (or months) instead of days.
beets: I cut the leaves and stems off of these, and I'm going to fry them up for dinner tonight. they're great with lemon and garlic. so cut those off, cook them within a few days, and store the beets in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to three weeks. I think I'll stew some of the cube steak in tomatoes, and make a fine meal out of this.
spring onions: seal in a plastic bag, they'll keep in the fridge for about two weeks.
ciabatta bread: this will last up to three days in a normal kitchen, but in a kitchen like mine (hot and moist) I might not even get that long. I'm going to slice the bread up, put it in a well-sealed bag, and pull the slices out of the freezer as I need them. they should last two month, maybe three, but I don't want to push it, and I imagine I'll eat it all before then.
needless to say, despite my best efforts, things start to go bad. my strawberries are a great example -- I meant to make kombucha with them right away, but neglected to buy sugar in time, and so they sat in the fridge getting ugly for the last week. I sliced them up, covered them with a generous shake of sugar, and I'll use them either as a puree for the aforementioned kombucha (I'm finally brewing tea to refresh the jars), or they'd be great as strawberry shortcakes, if I'm really feeling fancy tonight. we shall see.
so here's the deal. I'm not a wealthy person (this should be obvious, by now), and while I would love to feast gloriously and immediately on all of this food, all of it at once, I tend more toward small humble meals, in an attempt to save as much of it as I can, in the case of even leaner times than I'm experiencing now. so just in case you don't know, I've got some tips for saving foods and making them last weeks (or months) instead of days.
beets: I cut the leaves and stems off of these, and I'm going to fry them up for dinner tonight. they're great with lemon and garlic. so cut those off, cook them within a few days, and store the beets in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to three weeks. I think I'll stew some of the cube steak in tomatoes, and make a fine meal out of this.
spring onions: seal in a plastic bag, they'll keep in the fridge for about two weeks.
ciabatta bread: this will last up to three days in a normal kitchen, but in a kitchen like mine (hot and moist) I might not even get that long. I'm going to slice the bread up, put it in a well-sealed bag, and pull the slices out of the freezer as I need them. they should last two month, maybe three, but I don't want to push it, and I imagine I'll eat it all before then.
needless to say, despite my best efforts, things start to go bad. my strawberries are a great example -- I meant to make kombucha with them right away, but neglected to buy sugar in time, and so they sat in the fridge getting ugly for the last week. I sliced them up, covered them with a generous shake of sugar, and I'll use them either as a puree for the aforementioned kombucha (I'm finally brewing tea to refresh the jars), or they'd be great as strawberry shortcakes, if I'm really feeling fancy tonight. we shall see.
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