Why Raising the Retirement Age Is Problematic

So true.

When J had his stroke- and then, a month later, had an episode that turned out NOT to be a stroke, but still had him in the hospital... I was not feeling great about pushing him to go back to work ASAP, but since the division he's in was getting sold, it was REALLY IMPORTANT that he make a show of strength.

Plus, he really does lots better when he goes to work than when he stays home; he loves his job, and staying home depresses him.

Still- it was very disturbing that we decided that he had to get back to work ASAP regardless of the impact on his health.

I, too, am very, VERY appalled at how Big Business has taken over the country.I've recently been reading a Pohl/Kornbluth duology in which companies rule the world- it was written in the 50s, or the first one was, and is alarmingly on-target. And then there's Jennifer Government...

We really need to re-take the means of production fr5om the mega-corps. This is one of the basic reasons why we get most of our food from CSAs, as much as we can; we can afford to do so, and i think it has a positive impact (though said impact is most positive when the CSAs are engaging in economic justice, which our veg CSA is not).

I know not everyone can afford to do this; that's one reason that I feel that- while I CAN afford it, it's important to me to buy from actual makers as much as I can.

Where we are, we do have the option of a lot of CSAs, and we can afford them. (I will mention that our food expenses, doing CSAs as much as possible, are less than a lot of people who do conventional groceries, even though the CSAs are by some trackings more expensive. Anyway.)

At this time we're doing CSAs for: fish, meat, veg (summer through fall), wine, milk, and eggs. That's most of what we eat. We do buy veg in the winter, and flours (I try to buy most from King Arthur, since they're a worker-owned co-op; similarly, as much as I can, I buy Cabot cheese, which is also a co-op which also makes really excellent cheese, especially the cheddars.)

We can afford this. However, when I analyze my food expenses... even though I'm buying the CSA stuff, they are usually at least comparable to the expenses of people who are buying more conventionally.

That's not my main issue, though. I do this because I WANT independent producers (and co-ops) to WORK... and even if it's not economically feasible- at this point I am in a position to patronize them anyway, so I do. It is just a plus that it is not really more expensive than "normal" groceries... though it does require more work to make the edible fuds.

I'd love to join a co-op! They seem to enable one to buy flours and grains at a really decent and fair price. I keep looking...

So yeah- it's about short-changing the mega-corps as much as I can. AND getting better fuds as a result!

I am fortunate to have enough money that I can afford to do this, even when other stuff is cheaper. And that's one of the reasons I DO it- if people like me don't, how can it be made to work????

Plus- it's REALLY tasty. :) Win-win!

I, too, am mostly cooking for 2 people. However, neither of us objects to leftovers- in fact, we tend to prize them- and so something that makes 8 servings is dinner 1-2 nights, and 4-6 lunches. Ever since my husband had a very minor stroke, he's pretty keen on bringing lunch to work rather than eating more salty and less healthy stuff, so that's working out- increases my workload some, but also allows me to use up the array of CSA stuff we get. :)

Like, this past week the 5 whole flounders we got have made 2 dinners (one plain, 1 in fish cakes), and 3 lunches, plus I made the roe into a pate for lunches or breakfasts. So that one was $20 for maybe 8-10 meals; even though it's expensive per se, it's not bad considering the amount of use we get; takes work, though! (The fillets are not as cost-effective; that's $24 for about 2 pounds, and that normally makes maybe 6 meals. Granted those are really fish-heavy meals...)

That's a good example, since it's expensive per pound, but goes a long way; I find this with the meat, too.

Plus all this stuff is pricey enough that I want to make sure not to waste it- and so it pushes me to try new things, and to cook more; we're trying to move to a lower-carb diet, and the relentlessness of the meat and fish help with that. :)

That being said, tonight we're having a meatless pizza; it does have ricotta made from the raw milk, and tomatoes that I roasted and froze last summer. :) And I'm making the crust.

So: I guess i find the CSAs here to be generally more expensive than the stores (the exception is the wine one- that's a great deal!) BUT the way the involvement impacts my cooking means that on the whole we pay about as much as a similar couple who shop conventionally. OK, we almost never go out to eat... :)

I saw an idea recently about making lasagna in bread-loaf pans- each pan makes roughly 2 servings. That'd be a great way to make lasagna- cook 1, and freeze the rest!

Homemade BBQ sauce is GREAT (and I'm not a huge BBQ sauce fan), and really easy. I don't think I've had a bad version. Some do use ketchup, so may have some HFCS, but still not as much as the commercial ones. Great for sloppy joes, as well as for pulled pork (or beef or chicken) in the crock-pot! And that also freezes really well, but is often better the next day anyway.