That's how corporations nickel and dime you. I resist subscription services almost completely (I pay for cloud backup storage for my phone in case of breakage/theft and that's it) because as well as being a constant financial drain they inevitably degrade and enshittify, often even removing things you paid for

This and not being able to criticise the actions of a country are really disturbing. It among other things feels like a slide into fascism

I no longer drink, don’t have a car and don’t wish to appear in any photos. And despite having been a redditor for 12 years, changing handles frequently for privacy means I’ve been Melbaboutown for much less than that. I’m not sharing any other accounts as the long term ones are doxable.

It sucks that Lemmy is being forced to do this and I wouldn’t even humour it for a second if it wasn’t you guys asking.

Guess if I want to keep talking to you awesome units Molly is just going to have to hear about my calcium pills, gaming off floppy discs as a child, and how I still have the Walkman I owned as a teen. Also Video Ezy and Blockbuster.

Whether the government wants to believe me is up to them.

::: spoiler Anti-capitalist rant ahead

Normally I'd be all for this. I am. I have a few tiny vegie containers of my own and given the capacity would have loved to have been able to grow enough to share with people around me. I posted for awareness of seed libraries if people didn’t already know.

I post to Frugal, try to post things to do that are some action rather than nothing, and share budget recipes that are basically poverty food. (I will continue doing this.) During lockdown I was posting local foraging maps of fruit trees to Reddit. If I wasn't so physically disabled and mentally unwell I would have considered volunteering with Food Not Bombs.

However I can't help but feel cynical about how these 'motivational' advice articles and suggestions are yet another way the burden of poverty and managing food insecurity are put back on the people experiencing it. The whole pushing of individual effort to manage systemic inequality.

And people on the lower rungs that can afford or have the energy to take on extra stuff after work have likely already have been doing this. I knew people in public housing who did this ten years ago not as a fashionable thing but to feed their families.

This is not a knock at OP and this article is a lot more sensible and realistic than others I have seen over the years. Maybe this helps someone who is newer to poverty and food insecurity. I will certainly keep contributing any suggestions and resources I think could help anyone get by.

It's just... Things shouldn't have been allowed to get to this point and there's only so much further people can stretch to make ends meet. Especially people who are disabled, already have manual jobs or juggle gig work. This growing level of wealth inequality is fucked, it was predicted ten years ago even without the pando justifying inflation, and it's so depressing to see all these well meaning top-down advice articles.

Wealth is concentrating to corporations and the people at the top to the point ordinary people are struggling to eat and food banks are overwhelmed, and instead of any action the media are cheerily offering people a bandaid. That they have to apply themselves. When they get a spare hand and a minute.

I can't begin to tell you the mental load of all the 'easy little things' you have to juggle being poor and I am so much luckier than some.

People shouldn’t have to come home after work and labour more just to get fed because essentials like food and housing have been made increasingly inaccessible and their wages aren’t enough.

:::

Also they are seriously underestimating yield. I don't expect a lot but with my little containers I can expect a literal handful of produce for the expenditure and work and see it more as a relatively cheap hobby. I could expand vertically but that has challenges as a renter.

Ps. On a more practical and less ragey note.

If you do do the guerilla gardening thing for edible food or start a vegie patch please test your soil for heavy metals and other contaminants. I won't be bothering as containers are what is feasible for me but if you're interested try these guys https://www.360dustanalysis.com/ or you can look at a soil map for your area (less reliable)

Please be aware contamination concerns (and council bylaws, and anti-fox measures that add up) also apply if you plan to keep chickens. Which I would love to but yeah. I don't have the space, the living situation stability, and staying on top of it is more than I can handle.

Also for foraging, I'm not experienced but be wary of things growing by paths ie dandelions or blackberries - you don't want a mouthful of dog wee or sprayed weedkiller. Do not try to identify wild mushrooms by yourself.

And be very careful of buying foraging guides online as there have been cases of AI written foraging guides with inaccurate and dangerous advice, ie tasting something to identify it. See my above point about mushrooms. Make sure the author is reputable.

Pps. Seriously do not do edible guerilla gardening on a golf course. One you'd probably get charged and two the soil is heavily contaminated from ages of being soaked in arsenic based pesticides. Or something. Idk. Nothing you want to be eating.

Remember that any netting used should be a particular type to avoid entangling and killing birds or animals. "Hungry animals are easily caught in ‘bird netting’, which has a mesh size greater than 1cm square. Wildlife friendly netting should have a mesh size of less than 5 mm."

I'm not kidding, an anti-cruelty regulation came in 2019. If you have the old netting you need to replace it.

And be careful of roaming neighbour cats. They love to use the soft soil of vegie gardens as an open air litterbox, potentially opening you up to parasites or bacteria if you don't prevent that.

It’s destroying everyone but the ones who benefit.

It seems like it’s taken such a long time for news outlets to become outwardly critical but even then it isn’t likely there’ll be any change because there’s a vested interest.

Has Australia just completely decided to go for broke

What the actual fuck is happening

So like universities and scientific organisations have to fall in line with whatever odd ideas this guy thinks up to go after, or they lose the funding for research?

I really don’t like this direction. This is an unreasonable amount of control and a dangerous precedence to set

Good thing you did. You don't want hot cross buns

::: spoiler TW Pet death Melbcat had too many health issues for treatment to give her a good quality of life. She was peacefully put to sleep while I held her. Thank you for all your well wishes and for loving her too. :::

Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get over here. I’ve been very tired and was a bit intimidated by the learning curve of the site.

Melbcat is here with me, happy and spoilt.

Edit: I’ve been resting a lot, learning to draw in an app on my phone and debating whether I’ll maintain a vegie window box

I’m so tired and cranky these days. Everything is just a hassle

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

baleeted

If you have anything other than water use it. Cooking the rice in chicken stock and/or fruit or vegetable juice will always put you ahead in flavour. The stock can be made from cube.

A lot of Middle Eastern dishes use rice and pulses. Try a pilaf style dish like this or this minus the meat and then add cooked or canned pulses at the end. Here's a vegan one with very simple ingredients.

You can also consider something like dahl and rice or lentil stew. (Other pulses like lentils and chick peas work as well as beans.) Lentil/bean+rice dosa or idli are another choice.

Adzuki beans sound like a pain to cook from fresh but if you can find tinned here's a Japanese recipe.

Red beans and rice usually requires Andouille sausage and bones but here's a simpler version without the more expensive ingredients. You can make a small amount of your own spice mix if that's cheaper than buying the seasoning or you don't use Creole a lot.

Gallo pinto can use up leftover cooked rice.

Mexican food also uses beans and rice a lot. Consider a bean and cheese burrito. These are freezer burritos so you have a few backup dinners.

Grains can combine with pulses or legumes too:

Hummus is very simple to make, blitzing canned chick peas garlic tahini and olive oil with a stick mixer. Just use it up fast, like 2 days. You can add that to wholemeal bread or pita.

And for a quick snack, peanut butter sandwich on wholemeal bread is also a complete protein. Nuts or beans also work with wholemeal grains.

Corn too. Soup beans on cornbread is another option. I'm not sure if you can get a few of the fussy ingredients for corn bread in Aus but you can possibly substitute polenta as it can be subbed for grits.

One last tip: You can caramelise onions in bulk (a pinch of baking soda speeds the process) and they freeze well for whenever they're needed. Freeze in portions for a topping or to add to whatever for flavour.

(Disclaimer: I haven't personally tested all of these out due to being unable to eat them now. They're just some ideas. Also don't beat yourself up if you can't live perfectly frugal on rice and beans, as soaking and cooking is labour and legumes/pulses can be rough on even normal healthy stomachs.)

Woke in the night and had the best sleepy cuddles.

I regret not getting a cat much sooner, but the cat distribution system has blessed me with the most special one.

Hey I’m sorry for the mental breakdown. I’m probably going to delete all of that soon.

I am just really not doing well and not catching a break.

Back from the hospital. Both positively and annoyingly, results were normal despite being in a fair bit of pain. But I will be getting a referral to a new specialist and also to a pain clinic so that's a win.

I'm missing the pitter patter of tiny beans. I downsized to a week. It's tempting to get Melbcat back asap but someone said maybe it's it's best to leave her there for a few days to settle in and get used to the cattery just so she knows it's safe for next time.

Fuck Colesworth. Having a disability and requiring both generic brands and delivery makes it hard to have other options… but don’t think I haven’t noticed the gouging, or how toothless the recent trust busting measures were.

warm feeling of cuddling a cat

crushing searing pain of cat stepping on neck 😬

Everyone right to go?