FOOD :: July thoughts

 Been working hard on my food efforts.

I hope this blog will become more than me sharing my life but the things I am trying to do are also part of Working Together plans... FOOD is a huge issue everywhere.

I have been in the poverty bracket for so many years.  After my kids were not in the house, my household, anymore, things changed, but were still hard.  Now I am working on new ways to stretch my limited funds and buy better food.

Our food supplies are now tainted by genetic modifications and large companies that use the government to protect them.  The common person knows little about the effects of what is being done to our food.  

Most people can't grow all their own food, but that is the goal of Working Together, for its communities.  If you think of living in a world where there is no money, no buying or selling, becoming self-sufficient is a requirement.  We have to know how much food we need to survive, plus extra for our missions and others in need.

If we can even do that is a whole different question.  

I see preparing for the Antichrist as a survival need, a way to get us to a place that GOD can bless us with miracles.

In trying to survive myself, I can discover a basic amount for one person, then we can multiply that for a community.

This summer I am finally receiving my first CSAs...  I am stretching my budget with Farmers Market Double Bucks, I am trying to shop once a week, I am growing some more food in my personal container garden, and I am learning more plant-based eating options, eating less meat and dairy and eggs, plus working on my exercise needs and weight loss issues.

It's all related to FOOD.

I watched some short videos about water issues all over the earth and how it is affecting our survival as a planet, including our food sources and our people.  There is no survival without clean water.  The biggest emphasis seems to be large cities, and they will take from others to get enough for themselves.  Water issues create wars because it is a life issue... related to food and body needs.  One of the videos shared the battle between two countries where one country has the power to deny water to the other.

The Bible warns of famine and drought and things related to it... pestilence, etc.  It has been a part of history, is recorded in the Bible, and is part of the earth's cycles (I think)... we talk about 100 year floods because they seem to repeat over long amounts of time.

Urban areas are very vulnerable to food crises.  There is no farmland in big cities... but some are trying to modify greenhouse options -- in whole buildings dedicated to growing food.  It will never be enough.  We know from history that those in power make sure they have more than their fair share, so lots of ordinary people will suffer.

I think hunger was the cause of many historical revolutions and the ability of people like Hitler to gain power.

So, our food issues are not a small thing.

I started to say that my food efforts have created more food resources than I have had in my lifetime... It is strange to be in this situation.  I am working toward a goal of $300 to $500 a month as my food budget... and I have determined that food is about 20% of a total budget in the lower income ranges.  At $300 a month for food, I need to have an income of $1500 a month.

That seems like a fortune to me now... because I haven't been able to generate that much money yet.  I was hoping online sales would provide it, but it didn't. 

In the past I wanted up to $5000 a month...now I am not sure what would be the best financial goal for my retirement because of possible medical expenses... even paying for insurance would be more than what I hope for as income to survive.  Who knows what the future will hold, but I keep trying to increase my options.  :-)

So that is where I will end this post.

Let me know what you think a good food budget would be, for one person... and what it would provide you with in food.

Until next time,

Deborah Martin, work2gather.us

FOOD :: New things I am discovering...

I've been thinking about how to post at all my blogs and food has been rising in possibilities this month...  :-)   I am busy trying to live on what I have in my "pantry" and this has led to some interesting food discoveries.  I am going to try to share more of these "aha!" moments as time goes by.  

This long effort to stay away from the grocery store has been good for learning new ways to eat.  Over the weeks of doing this, the way I shop has been changing. More veggies and fruit are one of the goals.  Losing some of my extra pounds is another.

Someday I hope to afford ORGANIC because our food systems are so dangerous now, and getting worse.  But, I can't afford the high cost of Organic so I have been learning to buy as much Organic as I can, and then keep working to enlarge these items when I shop.

I don't know EVERYTHING there is to know about the growing GMO contents in our food supplies, but I am amazed at how this knowledge increases as I look for recipes, read articles, watch videos at YouTube and other places, and also try to view documentaries on the topic.  (One I now like to recommend is called  MODIFIED, by a lone woman in Canada.)  I have some of the major books on food issues, but can't say I have read them all the way through.  It's one of my "senior" projects, for the days of rocking chairs and worse health.

One recent discovery adds to my beliefs about our global future...

I discovered our country has a huge,  REALLY  HUGE! , underground water supply under several states in our mid-west farmland.  They call it The Aquifer.  I discovered it existed when I was looking for information on the oil pipeline that is going from Canada through the entire US to Texas.  I watched a video about something called the Sandhills in Nebraska... then more videos on that topic.

Later on I realized that SAND is nature's way of purifying water.  I thought about all that farmland, all the Round Up and other chemicals that are used for industrial farming, and how rain makes the things on top of the land sink down into the earth.  I think you can see the problem.  

I wondered if anyone tests that water for pesticide pollution.

I realized that the government would never tell us if it did.

I realized how dangerous this is for our nation's food supplies... and what we send to other countries.

I had no idea where to find out, so I sent something to the Non-GMO Project asking if they knew anything about the water called The Aquifer, but never heard back.

When I think of me and my income, there is little for me to do to go forward with this.  I am very upset that this was not a consideration when the oil pipeline was decided.  Any kind of disaster with it might involve this water source.  

I don't think oil can really be "cleaned up."  It just goes somewhere along the currents.  I lived in Goleta, CA, for a time in my teens.  The Santa Barbara area has had oil spills and one of the lasting issues is "oil tar" in the beach sands.

I kind of understand (from the BP disaster) that they use chemicals when they try to clean up an oil spill.  Maybe it is like all the chemicals they put in our city water supplies... it is considered "harmless."  I know we have to do something to try to get clean water to millions of people, but I don't think anything added for those purposes can be totally harmless.

We use these things because we have to, there are no other alternatives... at least for the poor there aren't.

I guess I am getting into more than I planned for this post.  

I am seeing that the weekly shopping plan is really the best.  My goal budget for food is $300 a month, separating that into $100 for staples that need to be replaced, and then four weeks of $50 each.  This should be enough to buy fresh veggies and fruits, treats for the week (so you can limit them better), and then what you need for meals that week.

I am trying to plan my meals more, but haven't gotten that detailed.  I buy things I like to eat and then work them into the daily plan.

When I get low on food is when things get "creative."  :-)

I am noticing it is good for my overeating because I need to get up and do something.  It is eating when you aren't hungry, just eating.  Health issues push me into this.  I would probably end up sitting in front of a computer screen all day and night if I could get away with it.  

As a senior citizen, food choices become important... and meals change.  I am on that learning curve as well. Small portions more often work well for me.  That would be a sandwich, a salad, or something like a baked potato or roasted veggies as a "meal."

Limited shopping means dry beans and rice, or other grains.  I think it was a week or so ago that I made some lentils into a new veggie burger for me.  I had lentils and I had some Italian-flavored bread crumbs. They were liquid enough that I could mash them with a spoon and mix in the bread crumbs for a thickener so they could be shaped into a burger. It turned out so good I will make it my veggie burger option from now on.  I was able to make a small amount, and even froze some for later.

My life has always been in "survival mode."  Recipes have always been for people with money.  Most of them still are.  But now, without kids to cook for, I can explore more food choices... things I was never able to eat in my earlier life.  Those are some of the "treats" in my shopping budget.

It works for me.

Trying to do this new experiment in food and budgeting and shopping has really depleted my food supplies at home.  So recovering will take awhile.  That is something to keep in mind... and is why I decided there needed to be a separate amount for replacing staples like flour, sugar, yeast, condiments, etc.

I look back on my life sometimes and I wonder how I survived on Food Stamps all those years, especially with children.  It was never enough, but you had to find a way to survive until the next month.  We had to go to community food kitchens all the time, and get food boxes when possible or necessary.

Food issues are BIG with me because of my past, knowing that once the food is gone, there is nothing you can do on your own.  I worry about the needs of others in the future... about the dangers in our food supplies and how to provide for the poor in the US and other places. 

I guess I hope GOD provides the finances I have been seeking to change the things I worry about.

Pray for me.  I know GOD wants us to care for each other, but He hasn't provided for me to start these things.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us

and more...