lace your boots!

We're going on an adventure. I want to delve into the realm of non participation with the global economy.
I'll try to learn about permaculture, squats, local currency, locally grown foods and free music and free food and free conversation and free friendship. I'll need a blog to give me a place to report. I'll need an audience to listen, care, advise, answer, argue etc.

Join me, it'll be fun.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Fitty Cent Plan

Rule #1) Buy foods that cost fifty cents a pound or less.

Examples:
carrots, potatoes, onions, chicken gizzards, cabbage, bananas, flour in bulk, rice in bulk, beans in bulk, sugar in bulk, cornmeal in bulk, whatever fruits or vegetables are in season. shop wholesale, small business if possible. milk fits in the plan if you count "a pint is a pound the world around", milk is best when transformed into yogurt, most nutritious, helps everything digest well and wards off sickness.

Dishes to Cook:
stir fry, bread, banana bread, sauerkraut, kombucha, yogurt, soup, apple sauce, tomato sauce(if in season), etc. Recipes to be added.

Rule is meant to be Broken:
you will need cooking oil, you will need yeast, you will want spices, buy in bulk, share with friends.

Ways to avoid Spending Money:
Social gatherings that don't involve overpriced alcohol or food prepared by somebody who is working for money. Invite friends over for dinner, brunch, lunch, breakfast, tea, midnight snack, etc. Avoid guilty feeling when friends are coming over and you've only spent 6 or 7 dollars to prepare. Slap yourself if need be, Your Worth is not your Money!

Treat Yourself:
find cheap restaurant in town where you can eat decadently for under three dollars. bring water or tea when you go out. make cookies sometimes. dumpster dive.

The Story:
I was injured at work and collecting worker's compensation enough for rent and a little more. my brother and room mate was recently returned to the city, in credit card debt and jobless. we had a brow furrowed discussion one night of our finances and the tension made our dinner sit none too nice. the next day we independently came to the conclusion that if we spent only 50 cents a pound on all our food, we could conceivably live on $1.50 per day, not including rent and utilities of course. and so the Fitty Cent plan was born, and we listened to "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" that night. It was glorious.

Recommended For:
people who have a job, don't want to work so much, and need to put money away.



My brother and I found this plan to be very useful when getting out of a sticky financial situation, but became hooked on it when we realized we could use money for other things. My recommendation for anyone interested in using this plan is to give it a month. your memory of meat or cheese or strawberries or tofu or whatever it is you love to eat will fade, and you'll look forward to the next pay check in the bank, and the next plate of stir fried potatoes and onions.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Brother Colin here:

I just want to add that the best part about the fitty cent plan, for me, was how it forced us to learn how to cook a lot of things that we were used to buying pre-packaged. The packaging seems to be most of the cost of the food. So we were getting fresher food, the enjoyment of making it, the adventure of learning how to make new things, how to preserve foods, how to cook a lot of good food and still have time to do everything else you want (crockpots rah rah!!), AND we were saving a lot of money to boot. I know this might sound crazy, but doing all that extra cooking and scheming has been so much fun. The best time I've had in years probably. The Fitty-cent plan: live poor and get rich trying.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, nice to see these thoughts written out - I've been shopping along the same lines, but never been so clearly aware of what I was doing.

Today we'll go recycling at the market as well, might make a nice dish together with some fried potatoes ;-)

Greetings from Berlin!

Ps. Nice to see you brought your thoughts and experiences online!

btmc said...

Thanks Jurgen, I hope the potatoes are tasty, as potatoes usually are.

thanks colin, you have completed my thoughts, and added a lovely tag line as well. it was alot of fun, I'm glad we had that adventure together.

Anonymous said...

Colin,
Was great to have you here in Malden on Hudson as an overnight guest. I do have fotos to send you. Have lost the email address to do that. Hope you come by on your way back East, whenever that may be. Weather here has heated up and muggy....all good for the garden. Hope you have safe and invaluable travels for yourself and others you share your journey with. As we said in the Sixties.....Love and Peace, Steve

Anonymous said...

oh....stevecrohn@mac.com is my e address. tel is 845 247 8097. Let me know how you do pilgrim.