Just curious who else is living super frugal

[lazy gardener]

Found it . THis bugger is a hornet. Talked with DS so about it today. ANd my DS said it was vicious and attacked. BUT ate lots of bugs. Not a bee, and not a true wasp.


http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Bald-Faced-Hornet


LOts of these around this year.

Oh yeah, i've seen plenty of those. And they are nasty bugs! However, I once watched one swoop down and grab a fly. He then chomped the fly until it was a little round pellet, presumably about big enough to stuff in a cell of his/her nest. But, they're nasty tempered bugs.

 

[Arielle]

I live in a place where there are no Amish. But this community has something called commodities. They supply food for people who are in need. I have used Commodities when i was unemployed... In several instances. They give you one or two bags of staples.... Rice beans pasta some canned goods and occasionally hamburger or canned chicken. Its free. All you have to do is talk to the local church to find out where its being offered. Commodities are only offered once per month and are divided up by how many people are in the house hold. Also if you are on disability there you get more bags and meat and cheese fruit and fresh vegitables.

Another place is project share. you find out where the program is and in exchange for shares you do public service. This is directed by the church that is associated with the Share project. It could be working handing out bags of food or helping the community in some way. you get a card and so many signatures on the card gets you bags of food.

Hey Often times its stuff just that close to being expired... But most expiration dates are a suggestion. So even after several months beyond the expiration date its edible... As long as the can doesnt bulge.

Grocery stores donate the food. Same goes for bakeries.

I met a man who was a CFO for a company.... Chief Financial Officer.... He had been layed off and was working within the Professional Networking Group through the Employment Development Department. The group was all volunteer and offered classes on job search as well as resources like computers and phone lines. (before cells) this fellow had gone from 100,000 per year to 0. Nice nice man He told me about the Shares. When I asked him how He knew about it.... He said he had twelve kids. There were many times over the years where he needed to work for a share.

I knew people who with only a few additions to the food could make it a whole month.

deb

THanks fot the options. THose are new to me . THe expirations dates toally frustrate me. Who thought expiration dates would put more healthy food in our mouths ?? It has taken food OUT of the food chain. SO many products are given a date that makes no sense at all. Mind you I"m all for eating fresh fruit and vegies but shhhhh no one tell the pumpkins on the stairs that they expire in a month-- they will be goo well into the late winter. ( I'm being a bit sill here, but honestly, my pumpkins did last well on the stairs until the snows were leaving. Kids had a blast smashing htem open for the chickens. lol

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
there are some websites you can read up on expiration dates. But from the survivalist sites I have been on as long as the can is intact and hasnt been exposed to great amount of heat, the food is good much longer than the date on the can. Always inspect any can inside to see if any to of the seams are breaking down.

But the stamp saying Sell by...xxxxxx date or best by xxxxxx date are recommendaitions. The food begins loosing nutritional value after those dates but is still consumable. There even has been a proposal by a certain famous store chain to offer these "out of date items" for sale....

Also what I call commodities and or Shares may be very different from state to state.... even county to county here in San Diego County. I believe they are all run by the food bank....

Here is an article about the ex president of Trader Joes starting this new store:

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014...president-to-open-store-selling-expired-food/

this is a web page not a video

But the deal is we in the US throw out an obscene amount of foods... from Grocery stores to restaurants.....

deb

 

[Arielle]

I am happy to say that we do not throw out much food-- between the cats and the chickens, I have everythong covered!! A few things make it into the compost:like bones, orange peels, etc.

Canned food while of value is not as nutritious as fresh of course.

Buying fresh salads by the sell by date is helpful as it spoils quickly after purchase. ANd the other day I bought tofu and the container started to swell, like it has spoiled, and yet was unopened and not even close to the expiiration date. I couldnt risk my kids health over $2.50 worth of tofu, so chucked it.

Restaurants cannot do anything with the food that has been served. It is a no win situation there. Was a time this was collected, including from every home, but the health issues of the hogs became a serious concern. ANd in turn affected having a product that could be used by humans. That practice was eliminated many decades ago.

If the food has not been served, that food can be donated if stored properly. But most are not willing to put tin the effort to accomplish this. Panera bread does donate ALL their bread, every day; and only serves the freshly baked bread.

 

[oldrooster]

A guy who works for a local food pantry clearing house told me they only take items under 2 years expired and the can being undented and free of rust (he said if it had just a hint of rust it was more than likelhy okay and they would send it out, but he meant with rust that looked like it had been working on the can a while).

 

[Tikkijane]

Found it . THis bugger is a hornet. Talked with DS  so about it today. ANd my DS said it was vicious and attacked. BUT ate lots of bugs. Not [SIZE=12.7272720336914px]a bee, and not a true wasp. [/SIZE]
 

http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Bald-Faced-Hornet


LOts of these around this year. 

Sounds like this is what their nest might look like. Took us a few tries to eliminate this one.

 

[Turk Raphael]

I am happy to say that we do not throw out much food-- between the cats and the chickens, I have everythong covered!! A few things make it into the compost:like bones, orange peels, etc.

Canned food while of value is not as nutritious as fresh of course.

Buying fresh salads by the sell by date is helpful as it spoils quickly after purchase. ANd the other day I bought tofu and the container started to swell, like it has spoiled, and yet was unopened and not even close to the expiiration date. I couldnt risk my kids health over $2.50 worth of tofu, so chucked it.

Restaurants cannot do anything with the food that has been served. It is a no win situation there. Was a time this was collected, including from every home, but the health issues of the hogs became a serious concern. ANd in turn affected having a product that could be used by humans. That practice was eliminated many decades ago.

If the food has not been served, that food can be donated if stored properly. But most are not willing to put tin the effort to accomplish this. Panera bread does donate ALL their bread, every day; and only serves the freshly baked bread.

Good on Panera. Too many folks really do NEED help. I hate hear of anyone being hungry but children being hunger anywhere in the world but no kid should be hungry in the U.S....And I mean NONE.

I've been a little uncomfortable due to lack of food due to circumstances like getting carried away om a hike and not having prepared for it. But, the sight or even the thought of a child being chronically hungry just KKKKKicks my butt...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the jumbled grammar. I just came off a very tough shift that lasted 18 hours. Certainly glad to be gainfully employed but even a relatively young person like me can really punchy!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: We dont destroy nests here at our farm unless they pose a threat to our well being-- as in, living in the hollows of a gate we walk thru everyday. lol THese Wasps are our friends and attack the flying bugs that bug us so we leave ours beeeeeeeee . lol

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
I'm with you!!

If you want to be able to cope with the rare time that you are without a snack or a meal, eat low carb. MIssing a meal is far less stressful and your energy level will stay high all day long.

One of my peeves is that us AMericans eat poorly. We dont eat nearly the vegies that are healthy. People complain about allergies but can improve the body's response by getting it in tip top shape with truly good foods that are fresh off the vines , and freshly picked. In my family, bread has become a food for the birds, and the eggs and meat come to us. Bread is a rare occasion as it is ground too fine and too many parts are removed like the bran, and germ. In my family the consumption of grain and sugar has taken a dive. For the better IMO.

 

[Tikkijane]

We dont destroy nests here at our farm unless they pose a threat to our well being-- as in, living in the hollows of a gate we walk thru everyday. lol  THese Wasps are our friends and attack the flying bugs that bug us so we leave ours beeeeeeeee . lol 

This one turned out to be a problem, given its front door location. :/ My bug guy says he's never seen so many different species of wasps fighting for territory. ...