Note: this article has gotten all over in a couple of days.  Replies are at the end of it. Realize that it was originally an email only, that got forwarded.  Paul.

I spent $1.60 on supper.
Friday, April 29, 2005. Draft of article.

Recent economic problems, starting about the beginning of the year, have led me towards what a revelation about the food most of us are now eating. I am giving you my opinion of what has been going on.

ACQUIRING

Instead of buying junk food, or more junk food, I spent one-dollar-and-sixty-cents on supper, tonight. (I say supper, but I made probably two gallons of stew.)

At a local “country store,” I bought three scoops of dried pinto beans, at 87¢ a pound, three bananas, and two small onions. Total was one-dollar-and-sixty-cents.

DONATED DEER

Someone had given me a “shoulder” from a deer, that had been frozen for two years, and I made a stew.

Two years is not a recommended time to let deer meat sit. However, for the last few weeks, I have been eating from the deer meat that was given me, almost exclusively. There were several pieces of tenderloin, a couple of roasts, and two shoulders.

OPINION

The following is my opinion- our present meat is so loaded with chemicals and hormones that many of us are sick. The contrast shows up when you eat natural meat, that has not been raised on a modern farm.

I have been sort of weak, and sickly for the past few months. Because of economic hardship, I have had to cut down eating out, and eating my beloved sweets, called “junk food.”

I have had to gradually had to turn away from such food.

To be sure, I have had what can only be called “withdrawal” symptoms, or what they call “proving” as the chemicals, or whatever was in the food I formerly ate, worked out of me. Sometimes, and some days, I would be sore, and aching, and feeling like my whole body hurt. After that passed, for several days I would feel exceptionally well.

THE CONTRAST - More recently

Each time I would eat the deer meat, it became like eating candy. I could feel myself getting stronger, and my system would calm down, each time I ate some of the meat.

Further, in my case, the strength of my body has seemed to double, in the last couple of weeks. I practically bound up the three flights of stairs, at work, compared to how I used to go.

PREPARATION

The meat, tonight, was slowly cut up into small chunks, and boiled in well water, with the two onions, the pinto beans and some large dried lima beans, slowly.

The well water actually tastes like water, and you can detect the contrast, if you drink city water. (Goes towards the lack of added chemicals in the stew.)

WHY THE BEANS

Years ago I had met a Christian family who said that the LORD was saying for them to eat mostly dried beans, in their diet. This was a Northern family, who had never heard of the Southern tradition of eating such fare.

As I understand it, the fiber of re-constituted dried beans is good for you, and there is much more protein in them, than you think. Years ago, when I was thin, I used to eat much more food like that.

I did not necessarily like it. To be honest, I would not have been eating it again tonight, if I had not seemingly been forced to. What I used to say is that such food does not make you feel good when you eat it, but it sure makes you feel good later.

A rule of thumb, in reverse, might be that if you are really enjoying and having a lot of fun eating the food you want, it is probably not good for you.

Really, we, as Americans, are killing ourselves by what we are eating.

SO NOW WHAT? How can I change?

We can’t everyone get deer meat, and I don’t know what I am going to do, when this is gone. (The friend has offered to give me more, and I will take them up on it.) Still, not everyone can get unprocessed meat. So, what am I saying?

First, stop eating out, right now, today. Eat a more simple diet, that you cook yourself, for a month. Then go get a morning biscuit. See how it makes you feel.

I promise you it will seem highly greasy, and you will get hungry, soon, from lack of nutrition.

Second, eat much, much more vegetable matter than you have. You will get stronger, and your system will begin to clean itself out, in my opinion.

If you can find a natural, or grain fed meat,  (should have written this as "grass fed," as noted in an email form New Zealand, below ) get it. I’m telling you , we are poisoning ourselves. 

Stay away from the sodas, and sweets, that we all know and love. The are not good for you. Again, you will feel good when you eat them, and you will not feel good after you eat them.

QUICK CONCLUSION.

This has been a revelation for me, and I am far from what you might call a “health nut.” However, four months ago I actually thought I might be dying, and now I am beginning to feel fine.

Change your eating habits, toward the better, and see your whole life improve. I spent $1.60 on supper.

Paul

SECOND SECTION “I spent $1.60 on supper.” continued 2

DEER MEAT PREPARATION

The preparation of the deer shoulder was into rough “cube” shapes, or whatever morsel-sized shape I could cut.

The tenderloins and the roasts had been cut up, after cooking, with my Ulu knife. The knife was very sharp, and handy for that.

That did not work so well, with the uncooked shoulder. The razor sharp edge of my Ka Bar knife did the trick. The denser, more muscular meat, was harder to cut. As well, you had to carve it off the bone, not lay it down and rock the round edge of the Ulu through it.

A “deer shoulder” is like a large thigh and a leg, on a chicken. It seems to me that the meat, basically muscle meat, could have been cut into rough “roast” shapes, and been made into more tender cuts, with practice.

The first roast I had cooked had been sealed individually in heavy tin foil, and broiled in the oven, at 375, for three or four hours. The taste of the meat is tremendous. There is nothing quite like it.

Broiled venison is something like a super-high-quality roast beef, with a unique taste. As I said before, whenever I would eat it, I could feel my body thanking me.

‘FRIGERATOR SOUP

Years ago, in elementary school, I heard a black child talking about ‘frigerator soup. That consisted of a simmering soup pot that his mother would put whatever was left over in the refrigerator, into. “I love my ‘frigerator soup,” he would say. It sounded good. I thank him, now.

My large pot of deer shoulder, pinto beans, lima beans, and a couple of onions is again simmering, on low, on the stove. Plan to leave it there, all day. When the heat gets up good, will just shut off the stove, and let it sit some. Slowly I will slow-cook it.

And, as I go about the day, I will find some more to put into the pot. Might add some wild onions, and some wild ginger root, for my stomach.


ADDENDA TO THE SECOND SECTION

I have written elsewhere that the “staff of bread” will one day be cut off in this country. (Things are a little tight for most of us, now, with the rising prices.) It is good to know that the LORD provides what is actually needed, and far above that.

My health is improving through all this, but it is killing my pride. I did not need that any way. Pride will kill you, though more slowly than poor eating habits.

Paul.

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From: "Roly" <omitted>

To: <paul@survivalprimer.com>

Subject: Healthy Eating

Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 12:36:25 +1200

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