Cutting Costs at the Grocery Store & Getting in Touch with our Food
The grocery store has been something my family has been able to almost cut out of our lives. We don’t have anything against big chain grocery stores, we have just chosen to provide most of our food ourselves. The other day I went to the store to buy some bananas and other forms of fruit and I got curious as to what the stores prices on meat and leafy greens were. I thought I would look at organic chicken. That would be the most comparable meat to the New Zealand meat rabbits we raise. When I looked at the meat I was in complete shock, $9.99 a pound. The first thing that crossed my mind is, “people really pay for this”.
Yes, people really pay for food at this price. People buy it and that is why the prices continue to rise. It would be nice if they were fair prices, but the reality is they are not and in the money making world we live in, it will continue to be this way.
When Rach and I lived in Italy almost a decade ago we would wander the Italian grocery stores admiring their unique approach to food. It was very different than an American store. They had more varieties of everything and a lot less processed food than we were accustomed to. The non aisle section of the store was full of so many selections of meats, and cheeses, and breads made without folic acid ( a topic for a different time). It was plentiful with what you would expect from the elegance of the Italian culture. We would usually buy chicken there and right next to the chicken was rabbit meat. It didn’t shock me too much , I mean they offer horse on the menu at many restaurants, but I thought with my cultured American mind “disgusting, eww, gross, poor bunny”. I don’t know if it’s the way I was raised but anything outside beef, chicken, or fish was almost taboo to touch. A few years later a tough hunting season and some data wipes of a previous cultured American mindset I began to wonder if there was a way I could raise protein on a small property. We lived in a community with covenants and there was no way I could have any livestock. I thought about chickens but didn’t want to build a huge space and structure for them to live in. I also had a very busy schedule and didn’t have the time to build something elaborate. Then one day listening to an interview with Joel Salatin, he talked about the most sustainable meat source for those wanting to raise their own meat was rabbits. My mind started spinning, tell me more I thought. Rabbits have a 31 day gestation period, they have anywhere from 8-12 babies per litter and they grow really fast. I thought oh h*** yeah!!! But now I needed to come home and convince Rach. After doing more research I found a study on line from an agricultural college. I think it was Purdue but I can’t remember anymore. This study showed how sustainable Rabbits were and how healthy they were for you. Ah Ha! “That’s how I’ll sucks her in I thought”, Rach has always been very conscious about our health. After she saw the study and the outstanding nutrition facts she was okay with my idea. So time to look for rabbits to buy, specifically meat rabbits…. One week, two week, three week later, finding meat rabbits was a lot harder than I thought. Trust me its not like looking for puppies.
We eventually found some and purchased one buck (male) and two does to get us started out. They came in wire cages and we hung them from a back wall in an outbuilding. Rabbits can honestly be put anywhere as long as they are off the ground. Hang them on a fence with something over the cage so they won’t get wet. That’s about it!
Well we began breeding and the saying “breed like rabbits” is true they are pretty good at making babies. 31 days later we have 12 babyies running around. I few weeks later the dreaded day came. I had never butchered anything I raised myself but the day was here. It was an important day for my family, because if we were going to keep doing this everyone had to be on the same page. I told Rachael and the kids that it was all or nothing. I encouraged my kids to be a part of the process and sure enough they were. I believe it’s important for them to see and feel the emotion of being in touch with the life cycle of food. I butchered the first rabbit and it was upsetting for Kinley, as expected but we immediately took the rabbit in and prepared it to eat. I wanted my family to have an immediate reward so we cooked it immediately. When the oven rang and our food was ready, the whole family was so excited to try it. It made me feel good knowing they were still interested. The best and final moment came when there was no more meat left, and my daughter asked if we could go butcher another rabbit…..
Still to this day, she is with me in the process. She thanks them, and we begin to butcher. She brings the meat to mom to clean and package. This process gave my children an unsheltered and grateful approach to understanding the complex nature of food. The life and death for an apex predator to survive. It’s not comfy or cozy but it doesn’t have to be hard or super emotional. It just is what it is…..