Experimentation is underway at my place. Just over a week ago, it began. The goal is to determine how to significantly reduce the space and weight of a fully stocked pantry inside ‘Lil Red, while maintaining a well balanced diet for me… and my dog “Squirty’ once the house is sold and we hit the road in our Micro-Mini Travel Trailer.
Additionally, the goal is to minimize the need for refrigeration, which will reduce the amount of propane needed for our full-time journey around the country seeking our next place to settle, since the fridge runs on either propane or electricity, which most of the time would be provided by our generator. Plus, the economics of buying food and fuel will comprise a huge percentage of our limited budget, so if this experiment over the next few weeks produces the results I believe it will, my wallet will see less $$$ fly out, while the nutritional aspect of our lives will remain solid.
My lab turned three earlier this year, and she isn’t fed ‘dog food’. There’s a reason why our money hasn’t contributed to the profits of the Pet Food industry, but I won’t bore you with the details. If you are dying to know, perhaps I’ll make a separate post on the subject. Squirty eats ‘people’ food. So the meals I have are the meals she has, with the portions a little smaller than mine.
Yes, there are things that dogs can’t eat, and fortunately, things like onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, and other things that I have a list of aren’t things I fix for meals we share. Yes, I do like coffee and other things that contain caffeine, but since that’s a no-no for dogs, I hog chocolate and other caffeinated products for myself.
Another aspect to consider is the need to minimize or eliminate wasted food. Preparing the right amount of food for 1 or 2 people, or in my case, 1 person and 1 dog, means being precise in the amount of ingredients used that will allow us to eat healthy without overeating or have leftovers that would need refrigeration. (Yeah, this is getting a bit over-analytical… But necessary)
The experiment may conclude that the concept I have in my head is perfect for the direction we’ll be taking. It also may conclude that it has no practical merit to adopt once the house has sold and the closing process is completed. Obviously, I hope the former conclusion comes out on top. I’ve done the cost analysis on paper, now we’ll see if that calculation is accurate in practice.
If you think that the menu will consist of empty calories, or tasteless, bland, limited dishes, my sourcing includes a variety of protein, vegetable, fruit, condiment and spice choices. Prep time is less than many of the meals we’ve prepared over the years, and all 4 of the days since implementing the plan have satisfied my taste buds. Squirty’s cast iron pan/dish had no trace of food left behind. So far, very encouraging. But before I reveal how it all comes together, provided it all makes sense for the long run, the experiment must run it’s course.
That will take at least a few more weeks, if not longer. Trust me, whichever way this goes, I’ll provide you with the results at the end. (This might sound like a shameless attempt to force you to read my blog on a regular basis… Well it might be, but I truly won’t come to a conclusion until enough time has elapsed and I have enough information to base my decision on)
Yeah, I know… ‘The suspense is killing me’… too…
