Food For Free - Page 2

kav122 · 01-15-2008, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amandajane

What a cool upbringing, it sounds awesome and nothing you've mentioned sounds too bad, apart from the frogs legs maybe, lol. What are poke greens?

kav122 - Raspberries, yumm, but good grief, that cheek of some people

I think you're being too polite, lol. I think I'd be dumbfounded if anyone did that to me though!

Poke greens are an herb, although most people think of them as weeds. After they are cooked they are referred to as poke sallet, and I think they taste like asparagus. They are poisonous if you eat the big ones or if you eat them raw, though, but DELICIOUS cooked!

And believe me squirrel is MUCH grosser than froglegs! Especially because you find shot in the meat from the .22. Excuse me while I go barf. Froglegs--and turtle, for that matter--is actually pretty good, depending upon the chef, of course. My grandmother was a very good cook of them.

And, no, I am not that nice, because I really wanted to go over to his yard and rip them up simply for not asking us. To be honest, when it was occuring I didn't see him until he was walking away, and then I wanted to chase him down, but my better half (MUCH better half) stopped me.

purplefdu · 01-15-2008, 05:29 PM

We have blackberries, rasberries and blueberries (ah Maine blueberries) growing all over the yard and lane we live on. Free range for whomever is willing to do the work. I normally freeze a good couple quarts yearly.

We also have black walnut and chastnut trees. Black walnuts are a pain to get out because of the black stuff, but amazing in cookies. Walnuts make great holiday gifts for cheap. We just have to get there before the squirrels and keep it that way.

We also have fiddlehead ferns, dandelions, and plenty of other stuff. Living in a small town its not even by a major roadway so its pretty good.

I've had squirrel, rabbit, possum, frog legs, etc from my grandfather when I was younger. He had 7 acres and ate plenty of stuff, which is what you did back in the Great Depression.

Anthony Marrone · 01-15-2008, 06:19 PM

I live in the city. The only wild edible things I can grow are oak tree leaves and weeds. This gives me all the more reason to move...This is a great post though, with some wonderful ideas. It is exciting to see fresh ideas in the world of frugality.

amandajane · 01-16-2008, 12:36 AM

kav122 - thanks for the info on the poke greens, sounds intriguing!

purplefdu - I think I've picked up a lot of frugal habits from my Mum, she was one of five children during the war and afterwards. My Nan had to be frugal or they wouldn't have survived.

Quote:

I live in the city. The only wild edible things I can grow are oak tree leaves and weeds. This gives me all the more reason to move...This is a great post though, with some wonderful ideas. It is exciting to see fresh ideas in the world of frugality.

I had no idea that oak leaves were edible, that's an interesting idea. Thanks for the comment on the thread

beansac · 01-22-2008, 03:58 PM

Great info, thanks!

Solinvicta · 03-02-2008, 04:07 AM

My favorite wild green around here (New England) are called wood sorrel. They basically look like little clovers with heart-shaped leaves. Although they look very different, the taste is like a stronger version of domestic sorrel - very sour. You could use them in salads, but I typically just munch on them when I'm going for walks.

Also, cattails are really good! If you peel all the leaves of the cattail down to the ground, away from the plant, you're left with a little tender white core, that is very succulent and delicious. If you harvest a bunch in a cattail stand, it will look like a hurricane came through, but they regenerate themselves very quickly.

Kathryn · 03-02-2008, 06:18 AM

Up in the mountains somewhat near where I live you get a lot of people tramping through the woods every spring hunting ramps and fiddleheads in the spring, and blueberries are pretty abundant in mid to late summer. We've got a good bramble of wineberries taking over one patch of our suburban yard, but it's hard to get any fruit off it before the birds do. It's considered an invasive species around here, so I feel a little torn about allowing it to proliferate, though.

We've also got tons of pokeweed around here, and although I do know its edible, I've never gotten up the nerve to do so.

frozemud · 03-02-2008, 07:22 AM

We used to pick wild blackberries and scavenge for pecans that would drop from the huge trees in the local park. Also I remember eating the little pine nuts found inside pinecones.
When we visited grandma in central Florida we could eat all the oranges, tangerines and grapefruit we could stand. The trees were all over the place, in addition to the groves.
I've read that kudzu is eaten in Japan and we've got plenty of it, but I haven't ever tried to eat it.
The best free food is fish caught by hanging a line in a creek or pond, or in our case the gulf of mexico. Freshly caught and fried up that same night with some hushpuppies, the best ever.

72Tiger · 03-02-2008, 08:50 AM

Morels are worth the time it takes to gather.

NaturallyCheap · 03-02-2008, 11:45 AM

http://freegan.info/

Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.

After years of trying to boycott products from unethical corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction, and animal abuse, many of us found that no matter what we bought we ended up supporting something deplorable. We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad corporations but the entire system itself.

Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able.

The word freegan is compounded from "free" and "vegan". Vegans are people who avoid products from animal sources or products tested on animals in an effort to avoid harming animals. Freegans take this a step further by recognizing that in a complex, industrial, mass-production economy driven by profit, abuses of humans, animals, and the earth abound at all levels of production (from acquisition to raw materials to production to transportation) and in just about every product we buy. Sweatshop labor, rainforest destruction, global warming, displacement of indigenous communities, air and water pollution, eradication of wildlife on farmland as "pests", the violent overthrow of popularly elected governments to maintain puppet dictators compliant to big business interests, open-pit strip mining, oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, union busting, child slavery, and payoffs to repressive regimes are just some of the many impacts of the seemingly innocuous consumer products we consume every day.

Freegans employ a range of strategies for practical living based on our principles:

01-15-2008, 05:29 PM	#12
purplefdu Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Eliot, ME USA Posts: 457 Reputation: (27)	We have blackberries, rasberries and blueberries (ah Maine blueberries) growing all over the yard and lane we live on. Free range for whomever is willing to do the work. I normally freeze a good couple quarts yearly. We also have black walnut and chastnut trees. Black walnuts are a pain to get out because of the black stuff, but amazing in cookies. Walnuts make great holiday gifts for cheap. We just have to get there before the squirrels and keep it that way. We also have fiddlehead ferns, dandelions, and plenty of other stuff. Living in a small town its not even by a major roadway so its pretty good. I've had squirrel, rabbit, possum, frog legs, etc from my grandfather when I was younger. He had 7 acres and ate plenty of stuff, which is what you did back in the Great Depression. __________________ Homeward Bound Puppy Blog&Shades of Purple Blog best general coupon site & organic grocery coupon help

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01-15-2008, 06:19 PM	#13
Anthony Marrone Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Syracuse, New York Posts: 56 Reputation: (18)	I live in the city. The only wild edible things I can grow are oak tree leaves and weeds. This gives me all the more reason to move...This is a great post though, with some wonderful ideas. It is exciting to see fresh ideas in the world of frugality.

01-22-2008, 03:58 PM	#15
beansac Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 32 Reputation: (13)	Great info, thanks!

03-02-2008, 04:07 AM	#16
Solinvicta Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Sandy Hook, CT Posts: 74 Reputation: (12)	My favorite wild green around here (New England) are called wood sorrel. They basically look like little clovers with heart-shaped leaves. Although they look very different, the taste is like a stronger version of domestic sorrel - very sour. You could use them in salads, but I typically just munch on them when I'm going for walks. Also, cattails are really good! If you peel all the leaves of the cattail down to the ground, away from the plant, you're left with a little tender white core, that is very succulent and delicious. If you harvest a bunch in a cattail stand, it will look like a hurricane came through, but they regenerate themselves very quickly.

03-02-2008, 06:18 AM	#17
Kathryn Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 103 Reputation: (17)	Up in the mountains somewhat near where I live you get a lot of people tramping through the woods every spring hunting ramps and fiddleheads in the spring, and blueberries are pretty abundant in mid to late summer. We've got a good bramble of wineberries taking over one patch of our suburban yard, but it's hard to get any fruit off it before the birds do. It's considered an invasive species around here, so I feel a little torn about allowing it to proliferate, though. We've also got tons of pokeweed around here, and although I do know its edible, I've never gotten up the nerve to do so.

03-02-2008, 07:22 AM	#18
frozemud Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 50 Reputation: (10)	We used to pick wild blackberries and scavenge for pecans that would drop from the huge trees in the local park. Also I remember eating the little pine nuts found inside pinecones. When we visited grandma in central Florida we could eat all the oranges, tangerines and grapefruit we could stand. The trees were all over the place, in addition to the groves. I've read that kudzu is eaten in Japan and we've got plenty of it, but I haven't ever tried to eat it. The best free food is fish caught by hanging a line in a creek or pond, or in our case the gulf of mexico. Freshly caught and fried up that same night with some hushpuppies, the best ever.

03-02-2008, 08:50 AM	#19
72Tiger Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Knoxville, TN Posts: 280 Reputation: (33)	Morels are worth the time it takes to gather.

03-02-2008, 11:45 AM	#20
NaturallyCheap Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 57 Reputation: (10)	http://freegan.info/ Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed. After years of trying to boycott products from unethical corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction, and animal abuse, many of us found that no matter what we bought we ended up supporting something deplorable. We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad corporations but the entire system itself. Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able. The word freegan is compounded from "free" and "vegan". Vegans are people who avoid products from animal sources or products tested on animals in an effort to avoid harming animals. Freegans take this a step further by recognizing that in a complex, industrial, mass-production economy driven by profit, abuses of humans, animals, and the earth abound at all levels of production (from acquisition to raw materials to production to transportation) and in just about every product we buy. Sweatshop labor, rainforest destruction, global warming, displacement of indigenous communities, air and water pollution, eradication of wildlife on farmland as "pests", the violent overthrow of popularly elected governments to maintain puppet dictators compliant to big business interests, open-pit strip mining, oil drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, union busting, child slavery, and payoffs to repressive regimes are just some of the many impacts of the seemingly innocuous consumer products we consume every day. Freegans employ a range of strategies for practical living based on our principles: