Hi! Welcome to Eating off the Food Grid.

Why do I call it that? I kind of envision the entire food-production-consumption chain as a big grid, similar to the electric grid. In the electric grid, one power line comes to your house, and you use the power, and you pay for it. You have the option of some other limited sources of power too: natural gas, gasoline. But the sources are limited, and fairly monopolistic.

However, some people choose to live "off the power grid", creating their own solutions for power and sewage. Given that the power grid is a rather new thing, all of 100 years old, you would think this would be something humans could do, esp. with newer technologies. But it is in fact very difficult.

For food, there is a food grid. In our society, a fairly limited batch of producers create most of the food, using a fairly limited batch of ingredients (corn, soy, wheat, predominantly).  These items are sold in a limited number of stores, grocery stores, and we, the consumers, buy whatever is on the aisles.

But it's possible to get off the food grid too. Actually it's far easier than getting off the power grid, because you can do it gradually, and you can still buy whatever things you can't get locally.

For us it's been a gradual process. First, I started baking more and more of our own food. Actually I was forced into this, because I needed to go gluten-free, and that was very difficult at the time. Then, we started shopping more and more locally. This was prompted by a local organic farm starting, which is not far from our house at all and has excellent produce.

Then, we started buying meat wholesale, because it was cheaper. Then, we started buying directly from the farmer, which was even cheaper (and grass fed). Finally, we started growing our own.

At this website I'll be posting some of our recipes, tips and tricks, which we've learned over the years. Some will be helpful, some not, like everything else on the web. So choose what works for you!

If you want to talk to me personally, you can reach me at HeatherTwist@gmail.com. I will answer if I have time, which I can't always promise.But I do promise to pay attention to what you have to say.

 

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