primitives discuss free food

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x88842

Oh my.

I tell you, the cooking and baking forum without hippywife makes the middle of the Sahara desert look crowded with people.

Denninmi  (990 posts)      Fri Aug-19-11 09:26 PM
Original message
 
Free, almost free, or frugal food sources.

Well, since the bottom is going to fall out, apparently, I thought it might be both fun and actually helpful to someone to start a thread about really inexpensive ways to feed ourselves.

A couple of free food items for me this week -- puffballs and meadow mushrooms. Our July drought turned into about 8 inches of rain in August so far, and mushrooms are growing in many places. I found some white puffballs in a lawn at a cemetery, and I have meadow mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) growing in my own lawn. Both of these are wonderful edible mushrooms --puffballs actually are about the closest thing I know of in flavor to a truffle, but can be quite substantial in size, and you can make nice, large slices which can be floured or breaded, fried, and then used to make a dish similar to eggplant parmesan, or just eaten as is. Meadow mushrooms are extremely closely related to white buttons and criminis, the only difference being gills are pink instead of white. Yum, yum. As with ANY wild mushroom, please be sure you know EXACTLY what you are eating, if you have ANY doubt, don't do it!

And, a kind of frugal recipe, well, semi-frugal -- Corn Cob Jelly -- I am going to try this this weekend, and I'll let you know how it turns out -- 12 corn cobs after the sweet corn has been cut off. Break into quarters, put into a kettle, add just enough water to cover, and boil for 15 minutes. Strain off the liquid, and discard the cobs. Measure 3 cups of the liquid, and dissolve a box of powdered pectin in it. Then, add 4 cups of sugar, bring to the boil, and then stir constantly for 2 minutes. Add a couple of drops of yellow food color if desired. Also, some recipes suggest 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon or a tablespoon of lemon juice as an option. Skim the foam, ladle into prepared jars, add lids and bands, and bwb process for 10 minutes.

Why's the bottom going to fall out?  Isn't whatshisname in the White House?

Anyway, corncob jelly is an ancient Sandhills delicacy, nothing new about it.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Fri Aug-19-11 10:39 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. You can also make pea soup out of the pea pods and a great v****e stock out of peels, ends, trimmings and yes, corn cobs.

trud  (1000+ posts)      Sat Aug-20-11 05:55 AM
Response to Original message
 
3. foreclosed or abandoned houses

The Times had an article in the last week or so about people foraging fruit and vegetables from the yards of foreclosed and empty houses. If the legal owner is a bank and the people are truly gone, I think that's acceptable. It's not like the bank is going to be out there harvesting the food. One could make the argument that it's better to harvest it than to have it rot and attract rats.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Sat Aug-20-11 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #3
 
4. Rodents are more attracted to animal products but rotting fruit attracts other stuff you don't want around, either, like flies, roaches, pigeons, raccoons, and every other critter out there you find rummaging through garbage cans overnight. In addition, it looks like hell littering what was once a lawn.

Birds will eat the stuff high up in the tree. People ought to be able to forage anything they can reach.

Retrograde  (1000+ posts)      Sat Aug-20-11 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
 
5. Be very careful with mushrooms

A lot of poisonous ones look very much like edible ones in different areas: there are cases of immigrants being poisoned every year because they ate some that looked almost exactly like what they found back home.

I know a spot to forage wild blackberries - but so do about a hundred other people. I have a large patch of volunteer miners' lettuce in my yard during the winter. Otherwise, the area's too dense for many foraging activities.

I use corncobs to make stock for corn chowder. I also cook down squash rinds for more body for squash soups. A lot of vegetable trimmings can go into the stock pot, although I'd be careful with stuff that's overly wilted* - the end product is only as good as what you put in. Chicken carcasses, of course, shouldn't be discarded until you've gotten all the goodness out of them.

*V*****s that are just a little bit old can often be revived by soaking them in acidulated water (i.e., add lemon juice or vinegar to cold water) for a half hour or so.

So the Great One, the Almighty One, is president, and the primitives are scrounging around for food.

One wonders what's up with that, why that is.

[jukin]

Yep Coach, I too thought that it was all going to be Unicorns shitting Skittles and the long awaited socialist Utopia after January 2009.

What. The. Hell. Happened. Again?

[tanstaafl]

Yep Coach, I too thought that it was all going to be Unicorns shitting Skittles and the long awaited socialist Utopia after January 2009.

What. The. Hell. Happened. Again?

Bush's fault.

Oh, and that darned bad luck! Arab Spring, Greece crisis, other stuff, y'know.
Without all that, Obummer would be the Master of the Universe.

[franksolich]

Yep Coach, I too thought that it was all going to be Unicorns shitting Skittles and the long awaited socialist Utopia after January 2009.

What. The. Hell. Happened. Again?

I'm as puzzled as Hell over it.

I have no idea.

The Magic One's been in power for how long now?

And the primitives are foraging for food?

[Odin's Hand]

The new party line from the horse's ass mouth is "Congress' fault".

He is just the focus of the "misguided" anger from the public and is trying to deflect and redirect it.

[JohnnyReb]

Free food huh? Well, in just the last couple of days I've given away two five gallon buckets full of okra, some squash and a few tomatoes. Unfortunately for the DUmmies, it went to some ultra-conservative friends. Hey, us conservatives look out for each other.

[GOBUCKS]

With so many DUmmies dying from governmental neglect, due to the Republican House of Representatives, a lot of good protein is going to waste.

All you need is a freshly dead democrat, a sharp knife, and a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's.

You may want to brine that meat a day or so, to soak out the illegal drug content, but it should be tender.
The beast it came from did no more work than a veal calf.

If the bottom falls out, some of us will still eat like kings, and we won't be making jelly out of table scraps.

[JohnnyReb]

With so many DUmmies dying from governmental neglect, due to the Republican House of Representatives, a lot of good protein is going to waste.

All you need is a freshly dead democrat, a sharp knife, and a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's.

You may want to brine that meat a day or so, to soak out the illegal drug content, but it should be tender.
The beast it came from did no more work than a veal calf.

If the bottom falls out, some of us will still eat like kings, and we won't be making jelly out of table scraps.

You know, I bet that meat would be the next best thing to that $100 a pound pampered wagyu beef the president likes so much.

[diesel driver]

You know, I bet that meat would be the next best thing to that $100 a pound pampered wagyu beef the president likes so much.

That may be the DUmmie's new "battle cry" to re-elect Zero.

"You don't want our president to eat REGULAR food, do you?"

FWIW, I prefer the "home-grown" beef we had on our dairy farm, even if we did have to "process" it ourselves, to the $10/lb shoe leather substitute the stores sell.

[JohnnyReb]

That may be the DUmmie's new "battle cry" to re-elect Zero.

"You don't want our president to eat REGULAR food, do you?"

FWIW, I prefer the "home-grown" beef we had on our dairy farm, even if we did have to "process" it ourselves, to the $10/lb shoe leather substitute the stores sell.

As a kid, we had our own on the farm too. My favorite was when momma would cook up a bunch of the little steaks about the size and thickness of my hand and put them in a large bowl of gravy. Boy that was some eating...then after eating a full meal cut open one of her big bisquits made with hog lard and cover it with gravy for dessert. I was skin and bone back then. If I ate like that now, I'd probably wiegh 500 pounds are more.  

[jukin]

You know, I bet that meat would be the next best thing to that $100 a pound pampered wagyu beef the president likes so much.

While a DUchebag is much like veal in that it never moves and would be tender, it will still taste mighty nasty with all the toxins it takes in.

I would feed it to my dog but she probably would turn it down.

[JohnnyReb]

While a DUchebag is much like veal in that it never moves and would be tender, it will still taste mighty nasty with all the toxins it takes in.

I would feed it to my dog but she probably would turn it down.

You need to shut them in up the barn and feed them nothing but grain and clean water for a couple of weeks. ...and then the dog might eat them.

[GOBUCKS]

You need to shut them in up the barn and feed them nothing but grain and clean water for a couple of weeks. ...and then the dog might eat them.

Well, you could give them a few weeks on slats with corn and molasses, but they're already fat as hell.

[Evil_Conservative]

The Times had an article in the last week or so about people foraging fruit and vegetables from the yards of foreclosed and empty houses. If the legal owner is a bank and the people are truly gone, I think that's acceptable.

No.  It's not.  You're trespassing. 

[catsmtrods]

I have simmering on the stove as we speak a big pot of tomato sauce with every ingredient from my garden, spices and garlic included. In the last hour I will add rabbit pieces that I raised. The only thing on the menu tonight that I didn't grow is the wine! So go out in the cow pasture in the morn and eat your mushrooms that grow in the flops after the rain assholes! Maybe you'll see a big chicken?

[Skul]

I wonder about this quote from DUnninmi.

As with ANY wild mushroom, please be sure you know EXACTLY what you are eating, if you have ANY doubt, don't do it!

First thing they'll do, is abuse it. Whooaaa, duude.

Seems they talk a lot about going onto someone else's property to collect their fair share.
I suppose it is a bit much to ask them to plant and work their own garden.

[Ballygrl]

Is corncob jelly good?

[GOBUCKS]

Is corncob jelly good?

Tastes like banana peel jam.

[franksolich]

Is corncob jelly good?

I think so, but it's pretty sweet.

Despite its name.

[franksolich]

Tastes like banana peel jam.

Oh now, sir.

All hail to the frugal pioneers, who made the Greatness of America, who made use of every resource available to them.

If it went by any name other than "corncob", corncob jelly would be more popular than peanut butter.

[GOBUCKS]

Oh now, sir.

All hail to the frugal pioneers, who made the Greatness of America, who made use of every resource available to them.

If it went by any name other than "corncob", corncob jelly would be more popular than peanut butter.

If you like corncob jelly, you'll love chicken bone marrow preserves, and pickled apple cores.

[franksolich]

If you like corncob jelly, you'll love chicken bone marrow preserves, and pickled apple cores.

But whoa, sir, I never said I liked it, as it's too sweet for this palate.

However, if it didn't have the name it did, it'd appeal to the tens of millions who have a sweeter tooth than I do.

[BattleHymn]

No way would I eat a DUmmie without first boiling the meat and scooping the scum off the top, much like one does with pig's feet.   

[Karin]

As a kid, we had our own on the farm too. My favorite was when momma would cook up a bunch of the little steaks about the size and thickness of my hand and put them in a large bowl of gravy. Boy that was some eating...then after eating a full meal cut open one of her big bisquits made with hog lard and cover it with gravy for dessert. I was skin and bone back then. If I ate like that now, I'd probably wiegh 500 pounds are more.  

I'm here to tell you that gravy is hands down my favorite food group.   

I'd never heard of corncob jelly, but I'm with GOBUCKS on this, making "food" out of table scraps that should go to the hogs doesn't inspire.  Melted, boiled sugar is all it appears to be anyway, with a little pectin.  That's not really food. 

I think it's an excellent idea for the DUmmies to forage for wild mushrooms for dinner. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

Puffball mushrooms taste like truffles?  I've eaten them, they have less flavor than Wonder Bread with the crust cut off - they pretty much taste like breaded bread, really.  And I won't touch a wild gilled mushroom, period...'waaaay too easy to make a fatal mistake on them.