If you are looking for a way to save money then this post is for you. Supplementing your food budget is easy when you follow these simple tips.
As food costs continue to rise, eating healthy can be difficult especially when the budget is tight. Trying to find chemical free food choices can be a challenge since organic produce is rarely found on sale.
I am always trying to steer clear of pesticides and other poisons in the food supply by eating nutrient dense organic food. Unfortunately, this can get expensive.
To stretch the family food budget, I have found foraging to work great and it doesn’t cost you a cent.
SUPPLEMENT YOUR FOOD BUDGET THROUGH FORAGING
TIP 1: GET THE WORD OUT
I have found that putting the word out to family, friends and co-workers has helped me to eat healthy while maintaining a budget. Once the message is heard you will be surprised at the return you will see.
People enjoy sharing their bounty with you. There is garden surplus during the growing season. So, think tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash.
Even if you already have a vegetable garden don’t disregard accepting other’s surplus. It has been my experience that not every year is a stellar one.
So, if for example your tomatoes did lousy this year and your neighbors were great he just might be willing to share some with you. Or if you have truck loads of tomatoes maybe having just a few more can mean making homemade sauce.
I have been able to obtain fresh picked red raspberries from a family who didn’t eat them but had two huge overgrown bushes in their yard. They would pick and freeze them for me. I would repay them with homemade raspberry jelly at Christmas.
TIP 2: LOOK CLOSE TO HOME
Don’t overlook your own yard or outdoor space. My daughter has wild raspberries growing on her suburban lot that just a couple of years ago weren’t there. Must be the workings of the birds dropping seeds along their travels.
And the same holds true for me. We have an area filled with wild blackberries that was never there just a few short years ago. I was so over the entanglement of prickers on this steep hillside that I set out one day to rip them all out!
As I just said, it is a steep hillside so ripping them out without replanting immediately with something will lead to erosion of the hillside. So, midstream I aborted the idea and just left it alone.
Granted I do have to sometimes just look the other way because it is a rather unkept space according to my likeness. Thinking ahead to what I can glean from it often helps.
Now, I only go in there to remove small trees such as maples and pines whose seeds randomly landed there. This area just wouldn’t make the best spot for their growth. And to pick the blackberries when in season during mid-August.
TIP 3: WALK YOUR LAND
If you are fortunate enough to own or have access to a larger piece of acreage walk it to see just what is growing. You might be pleasantly surprised. On this six- acre parcel in addition to the blackberries there is also wild black raspberries.
The wild black raspberries tend to grow under the canopy of larger trees and here are found along the roadside. We travel the perimeter of the property in early July to pick them at their peak. Some years we have enough to make jelly.
Eating food that hasn’t been treated with chemicals and is full of vitamins and minerals can be growing right under your nose without you even being aware. Try foraging to help you supplement your food budget.