The Decision to Become a Vegetarian

Prepping has a lot to do with my decision to become a vegetarian.

I was searching for a way to reduce my grocery bill.  I looked at my grocery receipts for the previous month and realized that nearly 70% of the bill was meat purchases. I was spending over $500 a month on food. How was a single mom on a tight budget ever going to manage to stockpile food?


This led me to consider some other cold hard facts.  Could I ever slaughter and gut an animal with my own two hands?  Wouldn't it be twice as difficult if I had raised that animal?  I'm pretty sure that I would have a really tough time of that grisly task.  I know I could do whatever I had to if survival required it, but that's just somewhere I'd rather not go.

If I had no electricity to run a freezer, how would I preserve all the meat I planned to stockpile?  The answer at this point, became simple.  Life would be easier for me as a vegetarian.  I can store mountains of beans and grains with little effort and it will be far easier for me to produce those things in the future.  Instead of making a dramatic change of lifestyle post-SHTF, I'd rather make the change now and learn to cook these items in tasty and simple ways.  Making the transition now also helps me to know what seasonings and other staples I need to stockpile.

Going vegetarian might not be the right choice for everyone, but for our situation it seems the best course of action.

Physical Preparedness

Last October I seriously injured my back.  Over the past 6 months the injury has flared up again and again.  Last week, as I was packing for our move, it flared up to the point that I can hardly walk. 

Instead of putting it off with my usual sense of procrastination, I made an appointment with my family doctor and took time off work to have this taken care of.  Generally, if I go to the doctor at all, I hit a walk-in clinic after work.  To be fair, I've gone to walk-ins twice since the injury.  One doctor prescribed anti-depressants and the other offered narcotic pain killers.  None of which, of course, actually solve the problem.

At last some relief!

The doctor sent me immediately for x-rays and found some degenerative disc issues.  She also suspects a herniation.  She has given me an anti-inflammatory that provided some instant relief and got me into physical therapy the next day.

Preparedness is more than storing food.  If I can't garden or walk up and down my stairs, all the food in the world won't save us if the SHTF and survival requires me to actively defend my home or produce our food.

Beans 'n' Cornbread

My late father's favorite meal was beans and cornbread.  He was just a little fellow during the Great Depression and that was common fare for his family.  Anytime you asked him what he wanted for dinner, he responded, "Beans and cornbread!"

Today I cooked my first ever batch of pinto beans from scratch.  It was astoundingly easy and it left me feeling silly that I've never done it before.

I tend to cook a week's worth of food on Sundays so that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen during the busy work week.  Today I made beans, baked brown rice, Mexican cornbread, homemade cheese pizza (to be topped when we have it) and a vegetable quiche.  Good eats with no nasty chemicals and very easy on the grocery budget.

Let's talk about beans.  This solution isn't for everyone but I've decided to become a vegetarian for many reasons.  First of all, meat may not be in plentiful supply if and when the SHTF.  It definitely won't be if I have to be depended upon to kill it and butcher it.  I wouldn't say that I don't have it in me - I'm a Just Do It kind of girl, but I don't want to do it.  Supplying meat for the world is far harder on the environment than supplying the needs of a vegetarian diet.  Storing a whole bunch of meat makes me far more dependent on electricity than does storing pound after pound of dried beans.  And finally, cutting meat out of my budget has freed up a lot of money for preps.

Today's project was learning to cook the darn things from scratch.  You can store many more servings of beans in the form of dried bean than canned.

step one:

I measured out 1 cup of beans and 2 cups of water.  I picked through the beans, tossing some that were withered and funny-looking. I soaked the beans for about 7 hours.

step two:

Once the beans had soaked, I rinsed them and picked out any yucky ones that I had missed earlier. I drained them and then put them in a large stockpot with 4 cups of water, some sea salt and some all-purpose seasoning mix (with no MSG).

step three:

I put the lid on, brought the pot to a boil and then turned it down to simmer for an hour and a half.  I stirred it a couple of times to be sure nothing was sticking, and to also check that enough water was in the pot.  Each time I stirred it, I could see the bean water becoming thicker and darker.

finally!!!!

After an hour and a half, I had delicious, tender pinto beans that cost a fraction of the price of canned ones.

Tonight's dinner could have been supper on the homestead!  We had beans, cornbread and rice, along with some baby carrots (okay, except for the carrots, but Rome wasn't built in a day!)

I think it's very important to become accustomed to cooking basics like this.  That way, if I ever have to improvise by using a solar oven, a camping stove or a fire pit, I'll have the basics down pat.  This will help me make the necessary changes to use the tools at my disposal to make a familiar, nourishing meal.

This meal's for you, Daddy!

Don't be Weighed Down

I'm about 20 pounds overweight and pretty darned out of shape.

I have a reoccurring back issue that leaves me nearly crippled sometimes.

If the SHTF, these things are really going to hold me back from protecting and providing for my children.

One of the first things I need to do is drop 20 pounds.  Lots of benefits there:

~ I'll be more comfortable eating less, which will allow supplies to go further
~ It will reduce some of the strain on my back
~ It will help me build my endurance by having 20 less pounds of myself to lug around.

As far as the stupid back injury is concerned, that's a little tougher.  I have a herniated disc and the pain comes and goes.  Lifting heavy things puts me out of action for days.  So does turning the wrong direction, pivoting from the waist and, heck, batting my eyelashes hard, on occasion.  I'm going to make a concentrated effort to heal this issue, using every method at my disposal and by learning all I can about it.

If we had to bug out, right now I'd be pretty useless.  With this injury we have no option except bugging in.  I can't walk very far without excruciating crippling pain and I sure couldn't carry a 20 pound pack. Thank goodness we will be moving to an easier-to-defend home at the end of them month (although the difficulty of moving in this condition is another story altogether!)

For me, the diet and fitness plan starts today.  By the end of May I intend to be 20 pounds lighter and way more fit.  Strong body, strong mind, strong home.  The physio exercises the doctor gave me will be completed every day before I allow myself coffee (a little internal bribery there!)

Look at your physical situation.  Prepping may be more than stocking in supplies if your weight or fitness levels aren't where they should be.  This kind of prepping doesn't have to cost a penny!

Ready or Not....

Lately, I've been watching the news and it scares me.

I've recently had some major financial setbacks, and at the age of 41, a single mom, I'm starting over again.  Instead of being a homeowner, I'm a renter.  Instead of being at my job for many years, I'm the new person.  Instead of having RRSPs and investments, I'm flat broke and a paycheck away from homelessness. That scares me too.

I don't want to be scared anymore, though.  I want to be prepared.  Preparation is the opposite of fear - it's taking what is going on in the world and using it to fuel your way to a different life.

I've read a lot of prepper and survivalist sites lately and I've learned a lot.  I thought this might be a journey worth documenting.  This is me, reading the Handwriting on the Wall and realizing I have the power to choose how I greet the changes taking place in the world today.  It's me, teaching my daughters what it is to be strong, tough and ready for anything.

While I'd love to run off to the woods and start a fabulous little homestead, that's not in the cards right now.  I have to focus on what I can do at this time.  Maybe as I learn, some of the people reading this can learn too.

I live in a small city in Ontario, Canada.  I'm relocating to an upper apartment with a tiny yard that I can use for gardening at the end of the month.  I have two girls, some cats and a dog.  I'm a bookworm, a geek, and a homebody. I work in a male-dominated industry and I really enjoy my job.

My goals:

~ Building up a stockpile of food and health and beauty aids to last at least 3 months
~ Increasing home security
~ Learning to garden
~ Saving all the money I can by reducing expenses
~ Continuing to cherish the world around me by being "green"
~ Living by using my faith and ethics as guidelines
~ Celebrating every moment

Sometimes people think that preppers are all full of doom and gloom.  I prefer to think of myself as a realist - someone who knows (from experience) that bad things can happen, works hard to keep them at bay, and if all else fails, makes the best of a bad situation by looking for those small bright spots.

Comments are always welcome.