Freegan October Food Challenge

Viking_mfw

Well, on Oct 1st, Day 2 of the challenge, the children had a very high class Charlie Bingham macaroni cheese for their dinner which they roundly condemned for being far too good for their taste buds! DH had chicken jalfrezi samosas for brunch and declared them delicious which is a good job as there are two more packs in the freezer. He then had katsu curry for dinner, and has just had another one for breakfast! The main issue I think is going to be getting him to eat enough vegetables - which is also a problem when we're not on a food buy ban. There is no lack of veg to eat mind you. 

I had yoghurt and stewed rhubarb for breakfast, with the rhubarb being an Ol*o number. Yoghurt is my usual go to for breakfast, but there's only half a tub of greek left, which is probably one or two more days. I'm going to have to start on the boiled eggs I think. 

We are finally going to eat our planned bacon cabbage and potatoes (sort of Colcannon but with roasties instead of mash) tonight, which will at least get one veg in. It's a dish that goes down well with everyone. The cabbage is hanging around from a L*dl veg box bought two weeks ago, and the bacon was part of the last food buy. Potatoes come from Ol*o. 

I can already tell the real challenge for me is going to be lack of chocolate. I had quite a stressful day yesterday and finished off the half a bar my MIL bought me at the weekend. We had decided to cut down our hot chocolate buying before the freegan month idea, so we had run out and were not getting any more until October... too late now! We do have some chocolate nesquik powder in the cupboard and that may well end up being my lifeline. There is also a jar of nutella which is only slightly ruined by having to eat it on stale rice cakes...

I don't have another pick up scheduled til Friday, and that's one that often doesn't have anything, so it will be a chance to eat some of the things in the freezer - like five packs of spinach!

knitandsew

Fab idea to go Freegan!

We've been freegans since 2020 and have never looked back. Family of seven so all different age groups!
It completely changed the kids' attitudes towards food when they saw how much would have been thrown away.

Don't forget wild foods as well. There's a lot out there, some of which isn't very tasty tbf but a lot is lovely.

mumtoomany

Hi Viking, it sounds like you eat better as freegans than many do who pay for food. I wish we had Olio, to good to go, and/or community pantries locally. The disadvantage of living rurally.

Keep up the good work, hugs, mumtoomany.xx

Viking_mfw

knitandsew said:

Fab idea to go Freegan!

We've been freegans since 2020 and have never looked back. Family of seven so all different age groups!
It completely changed the kids' attitudes towards food when they saw how much would have been thrown away.

Don't forget wild foods as well. There's a lot out there, some of which isn't very tasty tbf but a lot is lovely.

Thanks @knitandsew . I do do a bit of wild food but tends to be mostly fruit. 


@mumtoomany you are completely right - the late night sa*nsbos pick ups are insane. We are trying to give away stuff but just cannot manage it all. I think I'm even more appalled now than when the idea started. My husband has certainly stopped worrying we will starve. 

mumtoomany said:

Hi Viking, it sounds like you eat better as freegans than many do who pay for food. I wish we had Olio, to good to go, and/or community pantries locally. The disadvantage of living rurally.

shandyclover

Daughter collects for Ol#o. We sometimes help by bringing bread or pastries into work when food is not requested/collected. Quite horrific the amount that must be wasted especially when you realise this is going on all over the country. While not following a set challenge I do try and use up Ol#o stuff. Last month I had 4 punnets of squishy strawberries no one wanted. Cooked up to sterilise, mixed with chia seed and frozen in ice cubes. Now added to overnight oats means I haven't bought frozen berries for awhile. Tubs of hummous I've added to pasta sauce to use up (no one knew they were getting extra protein and fibre), we're vegan/vegetarian household so often get the plant based milk no one wants, this gets frozen to be used at a later date too.

Viking_mfw

Strawberries would be great! My children love strawberry jam but I'm making them use up the homemade stuff first

Today everyone had apple crumble (or apple slab/ cement!) from the windfall apples I pick up at work for breakfast. I used quite a lot of oat flour in the crumble because we have a lot in the cupboard and that may have been the cause of the slab. 

Dinner is fishcakes, sweet potato wedges, beans and carrots, which are all Ol*o except for the carrots. We could have Ol*o carrot batons from the freezer, but we happen to still have paid for carrots which need using up. 

We have worked our way through the fresh stuff we got at the beginning of the week and are now moving on to freezer content. Which is a good thing as the freezer is completely stuffed full, probably about one third of which is Ol*o related. We also received 6 corn on the cobs from our neighbour this morning, whose L*dl box was too sweetcorny for her! I might make chicken and sweetcorn soup at the weekend, given we have some frozen chicken, stock etc. But the children also love sweetcorn, so it may well all go before then!

Viking_mfw

Well we are at a wedding a couple of hours away from home today. Sat in car eating specially acquired Ol*o sarnies as you can't wait til when weddings decide to feed you with small children!

Viking_mfw

Chicken soup in pressure cooker made from homemade chicken stock from our last bought chicken, plus a pack of ol*o wafer thin chicken, a carrot and a potato. Oh and a base of ol*o frozen fried onions from Icel&nd. OH doesn't like sweetcorn so I'll add some to mine before serving. Kids having last of the corn on the cobs the neighbour gave us for lunch. 

For tea we're having ol*o sausages (oh and kids) or ol*o crustless quiche (me), all frozen unclaimed, along with some form of potato (also Ol*o) and whatever veg comes in my regular sains Ol*o evening collection. Frozen back ups available. 

This month is working to date because of 1) picking what is most useful to us as my 10% and 2) the vast amount of stuff that goes unclaimed. 

My fears about fruit are so far not founded, in that there has been some pre prepared stuff which I've fed them, we're working through the backlog from last l*dl box (now finished), the community fridge provided us with three apples last week, we've got our homegrown pears to eat this week, and we're still eating windfall apple crumble/ pie. I think longterm it's not sustainable for fruit faces like my children are, but so far it's working. 

Viking_mfw

Apparently I over counted on pear availability. 6 of the 7 have gone down the children at lunch!

Cooked some windfalls from a week ago. I will check tomorrow but I think they might be the last windfalls of the year. Made pastry for pie having finished the last crumble for breakfast. Even if this is the last lot we have 3 x 1l bottled or frozen (enough for 1 pie each) so still fruit for the future. 

Viking_mfw

First spending on food: 2.25 on additional milk (we have 6 pints a week delivered and top up as needed). There were a small handful more windfalls and one more to come I think. 

Egg fried rice last night using cooked chicken left over from our last bought chicken, and a pack of stirfry veg no one wanted by its use by date. Today is a more luxurious potato bacon onion bake with milk instead of the cream we'd usually use, topped with cheese. Only the potatoes are ol*o but it is good comfort food for a cold wet night.