A couple have revealed they only spend $50 a week on groceries eating wild animals and wild plants.
Eric Joseph Lewis, 41, of Knoxville, Maryland, and his girlfriend, Jess Russell, 26, insist everyone should treat “plants like people” and encourage people to forage for food.
Eric and Jess also feast on wild animals such as opossum, marmot, squirrel and sometimes wild turkey or ducks and often make wild berry smoothies.
By doing this, the couple only go to the supermarket for special drinks and treats and only spend $50.
Eric Joseph Lewis, 41, of Knoxville, Maryland, and his girlfriend, Jess Russell, 26, revealed they only spend $50 a week on groceries eating wild animals and wild plants.
Eric and Jess also feast on wild animals such as opossum, marmot, squirrel and sometimes wild turkey or ducks and often make wild berry smoothies.
By doing this, the couple only go to the supermarket for special drinks and treats and only spend $50
Talk to The mirrorthe couple explained how their unique diet prevents them from spending hundreds of dollars on groceries.
Eric said: “I eat wild foods daily and grow a good amount of them. We should treat plants like people. We eat roadkill.
“If you can overcome the fear and discomfort of being a dead animal, you can recognize that it was a life lived in freedom and respect it.”
The 41-year-old noted that instead of letting the roadkill rot, the couple use it as bone broth, to feed their dog Leela, and even turn it into leather.
“A deer can be between 60 and 100 lbs of meat, or about 60,000 calories. Nothing had to die for it,’ he told the outlet.
Eric started learning yoga and meditation in his late twenties and lived in a tent.
He worked one day a week as a painter to help build his grocery store.
It wasn’t until a close friend of his revealed that he lived above a blueberry field that Eric became interested in the various plants that animals can nibble on.
The 41-year-old noted that instead of letting road-killed animals rot, the couple use it as bone broth, to feed their dog Leela, and even turn it into leather.
Eric started learning yoga and meditation in his late twenties and lived in a tent
Today, two decades later, Eric lives in a crèche. He grows fruit, nut trees and edible plants (wild food Eric made is shown)
Today, two decades later, Eric lives in a crèche. He cultivates fruits, nut trees and edible plants.
Eric said: “I eat nettles, sochan – which is related to a black-eyed Susan – and sunflowers.
“Now the berries are coming – we have them in smoothies for half the year.” We pick goumi berries and blackberries.
During Maryland’s colder months, Eric travels to Florida, where he searches for mushrooms and sets traps so he can catch wild animals such as pigs and iguanas.
He also frequently goes fishing and catches catfish.
The self-proclaimed “mushroom enthusiast” revealed that he and Jess pick mushrooms such as morels and hen of the woods.
During Maryland’s colder months, Eric travels to Florida, where he harvests mushrooms and dumps trash for wildlife such as pigs and iguanas.
At home, they often have a meal prepared with onions from the garden, sweet potatoes, chayote and garnished with a wild mushroom they have picked.
Eric and Jess still go to the grocery store for things like kombucha, coconut yogurt, lentils, rice and other goodies – and spend around $50 a week (homemade pecan butter , wild blueberry jam and bananas shown)
He also said he even teaches his pup to look for mushrooms.
In addition to mushrooms, the couple often eat coconuts and avocados.
At home, they often eat a meal of locally grown onions, sweet potatoes, chayote and topped with a wild mushroom they have picked.
Eric and Jess still go grocery shopping for things like kombucha, coconut yogurt, lentils, rice, and other goodies — however, they only spend around $50 a week.
He told the outlet, “We spend $50 a week between Jess and me. We get sweet drinks and candies. If we had just what we needed it would be $20.
