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Jun. 2nd, 2005 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easyThe OS trip ate our bank account. One of my coping strategies has been to "scavenge" for "remaindered" vegetables at the greengrocers; stuff which is still perfectly edible, but is a little old and ugly, flogged at half-price to get rid of it. I've obtained perfectly good brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, green beans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes this way. (In times past I've also got tomatoes and apples for cooking and freezing.)
I confess I feel a little guilty about this. Other people are feeling far worse a pinch than Jon and I, and I'm mindful that we could survive without my saving a few bucks this way. OTOH, there's no shortage of the stuff, and there's only so much I can carry and use - so there's still plenty left for more needy people.
Voluntary simplicity, downsizing, etc, seems to mostly be a middle class thing, perhaps because it is voluntary. I'm not sure what proportion of frugal shoppers are comfortable and what proportion have no choice but to eat rejected spuds, or beg for the stuff that's going in the dumpsters round the back - or extract it from the dumpsters under cover of darkness.
One challenge my "scavenging" presents is that you've got a lot of fresh food which needs to be consumed promptly, so you need to be clever about incorporating it into meals. Last night's magnificent repast was package mac and cheese combined with steamed brussels sprouts (and frozen peas and crusty bread).
In other household news, I climbed up on the fence thing and ripped down about a ton of Lt. Bush. He has made a foray into the neighbour's yard; two vines have snaked across the patio and wound themselves around a neglected rake. O the embarrassment.
I confess I feel a little guilty about this. Other people are feeling far worse a pinch than Jon and I, and I'm mindful that we could survive without my saving a few bucks this way. OTOH, there's no shortage of the stuff, and there's only so much I can carry and use - so there's still plenty left for more needy people.
Voluntary simplicity, downsizing, etc, seems to mostly be a middle class thing, perhaps because it is voluntary. I'm not sure what proportion of frugal shoppers are comfortable and what proportion have no choice but to eat rejected spuds, or beg for the stuff that's going in the dumpsters round the back - or extract it from the dumpsters under cover of darkness.
One challenge my "scavenging" presents is that you've got a lot of fresh food which needs to be consumed promptly, so you need to be clever about incorporating it into meals. Last night's magnificent repast was package mac and cheese combined with steamed brussels sprouts (and frozen peas and crusty bread).
In other household news, I climbed up on the fence thing and ripped down about a ton of Lt. Bush. He has made a foray into the neighbour's yard; two vines have snaked across the patio and wound themselves around a neglected rake. O the embarrassment.
