Day 1 - Ground Rules

I cleaned my fridge and cupboards today and realised that with some ingenuity there is no reason to set foot in a grocery store for 3 months.

For the purposes of this project I suppose a post-apocalyptic environment.  However this happens is a product of your imagination.  Essentially, all the food left is in your home right now.  There is no grocery store to go to.  I just woke up this morning and decided to do this.  I didn't plan and go to the grocery store to stock up because few people expect the apocalypse...so I really don't even have an abundance of food.  For 3 months I intend to live this dietary reality.

Why?  To see if I would survive.  I will probably save a lot of money along the way too.   

Having read 'On a Dollar a Day' (http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/) a month ago, this is an homage of sorts, but with different parameters.  Since reading this book, I've wanted to explore the
notion of food, nutrition, and affordability.  In 'On a Dollar a Day' two teachers buy a bunch of bulk food and then write the unit costs on the canisters.  They parcel out the food so that it equals exactly a dollar a day.  They create this challenge to look at what it means to eat on a poverty-line kind of budget.  They find out (spoilers!) that it sucks.  In particular, they are tired, cranky, underfed, and over-worked because of all the time they put into preparing food.  They do not suggest following their plan.  They try some other budget constraint plans that align with Food Stamp program recommendations.  You can read their book to find out how that goes.

Anyways, the teachers lay down rules so that their project approximates reality.  Here are my rules:

1. No food store visits.  Nothing from a store enters the kitchen.
2. Others may share their rations.  This is tricky territory.  In 'On a Dollar a Day', they only accept food that is available to everyone.  So food from a garbage is okay, but a basket of food from friends or family on the doorstep, no.  I think in post-apocalyptic times community is an important aspect.  I will accept food from others BUT I will also return the favour with a culinary creation from my rations.

That's it.  I may add more if situations arise.

Dinner Tonight: lettuce and dressing (tsp of miso, handful of pine nuts, tsp olive oil, pepper)