Part of first hand food is learning how to use those suboptimal things. And i got as much satisfaction out of making fish tokos with the compromise stripe bast that was in my freezer for seven months as i did the fresh stripe bask coming out of the ocean. You mention that you weren't about self sufficiency. But you also point out that this is not generally, generally, it is not a financially lucrative strategy in life.
What did author and Washington Post columnist Tamar Haspel learn from her quest to eat at least one thing she'd grown, caught, or killed every day? For starters, that just-caught fish always tastes better (unless you've caught a false albacore). That all it takes to build a coop is the will and the right power tools, and that when it comes to homegrown produce, you've got none until you've got way too much. But most of all, she tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts in talking about her book To Boldly Grow, she learned that figuring stuff out to solve problems is more delicious than the most decadent of desserts.