Skip to main content

The city mouse stores food for winter

We are at the supermarket yesterday and manged to buy nearly $150 dollars worth of goods.  Including some ground lamb that I intend to turn into a late 16th Century dish once I find some powered nutmeg and cloves.  

Interestingly enough, the same market had cloves but I've no way to make them into a powder.  So, if anyone wants to get me a pestle and mortar for the holiday's that be great.  But I regress.  

Sue and I have a refrigerator and two freezers, both of which are stuffed to the gills.   Our basement has become an ad hoc pantry as food takes over one corner.  My wine fridge has 3 local wines in it and I'm planning on adding a few more to it in the coming months. I've got a few beers stored away as well. I could not help but laugh and tell Sue that the "City Mouse" was storing away food for winter.

Which, she reminded me, is exactly what we are doing.   We moved into our home in September.  Basically living here for only two months and missing out on the growing season.   Although Sue knows how to preserve food via canning, it's something we simply have not practiced in the past. Nor do we have anything to can.  

Storing up for the long, cold days ahead
So until we get to that point, it's best to save up for some future day.  It's been a long time since I've had to drive in snow (no, it's not snowing yet but it will), and although I enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit today, we are still a 30 minute drive from the nearest markets.   So it's better to stock up so you don't have to make that drive.

We talked about how an old friend of hers wants us to go in with them and buy either a quarter or a half of cow with them.  Or perhaps even a pig.  

I'm learning a lot out here in the country, and doing the math it may make sense for us to get a 1/2 a cow with friends, although where to store it would be an issue.  Although it looks like that will happen closer to the new year than anytime soon and we should have some room in the freezer by then.  

What shocks and surprises me at how commonplace this quickly sounds.   

"Hey Rob, you want buy a 1/2 of cow with us?  Run you about $1000 dollars and give you a yield of about 170 pounds.of meat" sounds reasonable.   I've paid $25 or more for a good steak at a restaurant.  Why not pay less for the same cut? The biggest advantage to doing it this way is that your paying the same price for each cut of meat. The filet mingon is costing you the same as a prime rib which is costing you the same as a hamburger.

It does sound like a lot of beef, but that would last us about a year and would prevent us from buying meat at the grocer. Something, up until several months ago, would have never ever entered my rader. Nor would I've ever considered doing it, much less found out how. Their is some debate about exactly how much beef the "Average American" eats but in 2019 it was roughly 217 pounds. Yes, we should all be cutting down on our red meat consumption, but buying 1/2 the cow means that your removing yourself from having to buy other meat in the future, as well as saving money on gas and time. Now the conversation turned once again. We have considered chickens and goats eventually. It be nice to have fresh eggs, and we've already talked about goat's milk and cheese. Any animal we get would require time, and that in turn may pervent us from doing things like taking a cruise or just getting away from the weekend (Sue and I love to travel). Plus, evenutally a chicken stops laying and when that time comes, it's best it end up in the soup pot. Although, thanks to capitalism, their are actually chickens that have been raised for their meat only, and those that arn't. I have been a pacifist my entire life, and seriously doubt if I could kill any living thing. I may explore that pacifism in another post. Knowing where my food comes from, does not bother me. So for now we will load up the fridge and prepare the best we can for the coming winter. I plan to dig in and be safe and warm in my little den. Knowing that spring will eventually come.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Why didn't Erie, PA develop into a bigger city?

          Recently I had to travel up to Erie, PA for business.   It's about an hour north of me and is a rather small city, having just under 100 thousand people living in it.   It played an important role in the founding of America,  - where it was the headquarters for Oliver Perry's flagship Niagara during the battle of Like Erie in the war of 1812 .            It was also a important shipping center, being Pennsylvania's only access to the Great Lakes which was the easiest way to trade with parts of Canada at the time as well as move goods to the cities of Detroit and Chicago, which in the mid to early 1800's were just starting to develop.  It was also directly north from Pittsburgh which was a major industrial city at that time.     Yet Erie never really grew beyond it's humble beginnings and I wondered why.   Like any good sleuth I turned to the intern...
3 comments
Read more

Paradigm shifts and Project 2040

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “ There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. ” His observation has been echoed by people ever since and changed a bit over time, but has remained a stark warning. Only anarchy the way most people think of it rarely occurs.  We have found that people are more likely to band together when their communities face some sort of disaster, be it from war, plague or natural disaster.   We are all too familiar with pictures and videos of communities digging through the rubble of bombed buildings searching for survivors...but how many of us remember the moments during the Covid epidemic of people singing from their balconies?   When you have a community; people will always help people.  Despite these bleak times the things that make us human - our compassion - will see us through. Recently my life changed due to issues with a car .  While, in the scheme of things it was a minor crisis it did make me think if things coul...
1 comment
Read more

A bit of foraging....in praise of the lowly dandelion and other ramblings.

 I consider myself a researcher.   Meaning that I find something of interest and I have to learn all I can until that research itch is satisfied.   I've actually made a career out of it in some ways.  Hopefully not dressed like this Foraging for food has never really interested me much.  I have a passing interest in it because of my desire to make my yard into a edible lawn.   For example I planted an edible (although non native) dogwood tree.  I'm planting or have planted a variety of native perennial fruits and veggie's.  It is an ongoing process, simply because in the back of my mind some post apocalyptic traveler will come across this and have nourishment for a few days. I have identified and used purslane, sheep and wood sorrel, curly dock and; what I believe is fiddlehead ferns in my yard before.  However not being 100% sure about the fiddlehead fern, it's not made it into a dish or salad yet.   Some ferns look...
Post a Comment
Read more