Food and Social Justice:
Fact:In Oakland CA, a mostly black and Latino population there are 53 liquor stores and no grocery stores , the closest thing to a grocery store is a Dollar store that has some food items. Over 20,000 people live in this area.
http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/
Two post in one day is a record for me but I have been a busy bee and don't want to forget what I have done today.
Last night I made bread dough and baked two loaves today. This probably takes about 30 mins of hands on time at the most, it has to sit and then you knead it a few times, transfer sit, bake. Its not really labor intensive and once I get it memorized I think it will be very easy and take even less time. This is not my first bread foray, but they have all been sad in the past, the "Whisk Bread" recipe in cookforgood.com is by far the best bread I have made.
Then I rolled out three pizza's from dough I made Saturday. Mixed crushed tomatoes with homemade basil pesto (gift from Mi Mi, and the best pesto ever!) for sauce and covered with mozzarella and Parmesan. The trick to baking is to put a pan of water in the oven to keep everything moist.
Pizza is easy and economical and a family pleaser. My kids can eat on it all day long. The acid in the sauce keeps it safe and stable a bit longer.
So I put out Natural Peanut Butter, Jam, and butter, made sweet tea and said "Okay kids this is lunch, help yourself." Not one complaint, that is amazing!!!
Mixed up some pepper, onions, garlic and spices with the black beans I made Saturday and will make some brown rice..Viola Dinner. The kids will eat at church tonight and can snack on a variety of fresh fruit or leftovers if they get hungry.
All in all I bet my hands on kitchen time has been about 3 hours today max, including clean up. This sounds like a lot, but tomorrow I will not be cooking much except for oatmeal or some eggs. We will eat leftovers and we have a variety so all I will need to do is possibly cut up some fruit or fix a side veggie.
If you read back to previous post you will see tons of money saving ideas that are good for the planet and your pocket, but here are a few observations from this venture.
1. You can make a variety of foods fairly easy with grains, tomato based dishes, beans and spices.
2. Eating less or no meat will cut your food bill (for us we have cut back to not buying any.)
3. Eat oatmeal or homemade toast with eggs for breakfast, its fast, easy and super cheap.
4. Drink water, then homemade tea or homemade lemonade. The sugar is nothing in comparison to the overly sweet corn syrup drinks Americans consume. Arkansas is number two this year in the highest rate of obesity. Much of this is due to corn syrup laden drinks, and foods.
5. Go through your house and get rid of everything with corn syrup or do not buy any more.
6. Produce does not have to be expensive there are many cheaper options like potato's, carrots, green peppers, & in season produce. If you buy off season or fancy produce you will spend more.
Courtney
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