So last night my wife and I had a long talk about the economy...

We have been on a mission for the past 3 years to eliminate anything plastic from our home. We did this for environmental reason and mostly for health reasons.

We are very fortunate. We have no debt. Our home is paid off. We are in good to great health. Her kids are grown and are responsible adults. We grow a good portion of our veggies and we do our best to not eat anything processed.

So last night, I posed this question to her:
What do you think if we refrain from buying anything new for a year? Given the economy and the vanishing value of the dollar, we only restrict our "new" purchases to medication and food. And this is why I love this woman so much, she said, "okay" with a beautiful smile.

then I thought I would push the envelope a little, lol, I then said, "have you heard of the 100 mile diet?" She nodded slowly.

I then offered up a suggestion of trying it for a month. And see where it got us. She was a little hesitant on this one, but agreed on the month limit.

The next steps are to plan out the 100 mile diet sources.

This will be a very interesting challenge for the two of us.

But my reasoning behind it is two fold. Obviously the economy, but for me, it's also about peak oil and climate change.

As oil becomes too expensive thus driving up a gallon of gas, the price, as everyone on here can already see happening, will go up.

This is more of a dry run on what I believe will become a necessity very soon.

Anyone else up for the challenge?

And what state do you live in?

There seem to be all kinds of homegrown goodies in my neck of the woods. Which reminds me: I have to till my garden this weekend.

but it needed it twice anyway and the kitchen garden is already started :bounce:

Thank you so much for posting it! I have 68 hits when searching my zipcode. :bounce:

What a great site. Bookmarked.

since population outstripped arable land a hundred years ago.

Diet for a Small Planet I can do, have done, will probably keep doing.

I also spent a little over a decade not buying anything new except uniforms for work.

The thrift shop giveth and the thrift shop taketh away. Next stop would've been the dump...

maybe if just hubby and i. we are older, and eating healthy but not anywhere close to you. we have two boys 13 and 10... not gonna happen.

but... cool for yawl

i would love hubby asking for all new purchases to stop a year. easy for me. not so easy for him. lol. though we are conservative

support your local farmers yanno?

the fruit has gotten so bad in grocery store. cant wait for the fruit/veggie market to open this year.

sorry.

that's not much further than 100 miles from Dallas

:shrug:

Yeah, not much further, huh?

:-)

http://100milediet.org/

They can explain it much better than I can. :)

last week.

the 100 mile thing I can try. tougher here as there is no CSA or farmer's markets in the area

we only buy local beef, chicken and pork and our garden should be producing in a month or so....

I'm already giving it my best shot.

its not grown within 100 miles of me.
We also grow some vegetables and buy most produce at our local farmers markets...but neither my husband nor I are human beings before we have our coffee

for as long as I can get the stuff...

The 100 mile diet means eating only things that are grown or produced within 100 miles of home.

With diesel fuel now topping $4 per gallon, there won't be an alternative, soon.

It's doable with food. But how about meds? Household products?

...you must realize that the 100 mile diet means never having another orange or banana for most people. No apples, for others. No tea.

n/t

my cholesterol wouldn't like it too much either.

and i'm not going to be eating anything that comes out of lake michigan, or any of the rivers around here.

Did you know that?

saturated fat is the problem.

So, shrimp is not terrible. And neither are eggs, for that matter.

i eat fish, not glorified water filters like shrimp or lobster.

I consider it to mean shellfish. Fish means fish to me. We all know fish is good.

Which more than offsets any cholesterol problem. Fish and seafood is very healthy, as long as you don't fry it or drown it in butter.

And I live in an apartment. But is has a roomy terrace, so I'm giving it a go. Also, I'll be trying my best to localize my food consumption and reduce my un-necessary consumption of oil-based products.

I've already reduced my carbon footprint by eliminating ALL my to and from work driving. I actually changed careers. For 25 years I was a construction worker. I now work for an internet renewable energy products supplier. My S/O has also made adjustments. She used to work in a town 15 miles away. She now works less than one mile away.

I've also been stocking flour, rice, sugar, coffee, beans, assorted canned goods, and a bunch of other stuff.

I've been doing all of this for several reasons but the two most prominent reasons are our government response to Katrina and Peak Oil. The economic downturn we are currently experiencing wasn't even on my radar when I began to prepare for rough times. But now that we're heading for a depression, I'm extremely happy that I'm at least somewhat prepared and in the frame of mind to confront the coming challenges.

and I've got a veggie garden going too here in 'west of west texas'

:hi:

That was my first vegetable...and really the only one I've had much success with.

LOL

of veggies and even some grass fed beef.

What they need next is some local chicken.


A few weeks ago a Chico State student was interviewing all the famers at the market and finding out how far the food they were selling had traveled.

Their class is doing a project that will map (as the crow flies) the distance the food travels. She said they will display the final map at the famer's market when it is done.

It would be great if schools could do that for all the farmer's markets!

I do believe that the chicken I buy at trader joe's is raised just under 100 miles from here.

Now to start reading the labels of everything else I use.

I know that the 25 pound bag of Lundberg organic brown rice I bought today was grown about 15 miles from my house. :)

I also need to work on eliminating plastic from my house.

great idea!

We are trying not to buy new stuff but the coffee maker broke and had to be replaced. If my stove or fridge went, it would have to be replaced.

Kids outgrow shoes and clothes too.

I don't think I can commit to no new stuff. Perhaps no new unnecessary stuff.

There's a lovely selection of coffee makers to be found at thrift stores and consignment shops.

am I going to spend the effort trying to source 100 mile food radius. Sorry... work 50 hrs/week, go to school 8hr/week, commute 10hr/week. No time or energy to spend on this.

interesting concept, need to read more

:)


(I'm a bad hypoglycemic)

But, riding a bike or walking anywhere on the Ms. Gulf Coast is nearly impossible. They try to run you down. Plus, they apparently don't know what sidewalks are down here.

within 100 miles that grows soy/makes tofu.

I'm up for trying though. Good idea!

It would be an excellent idea, for sure.

Pretty sure I can even find some wine & cheese around here. Bready stuff and oil/butter for cooking might be difficult, but my uncle's a raw vegan, so I can get some tricks from him.