I have a great issue right now. My freezer, cupboards, and pantry (aka my spare bedroom closet) are very full. This is a great thing. Money is a little tight right now and I will only have to buy fresh things like milk, cream, cheese, and fresh veg and fruit.
How did I get to this point?
1. Canning- While I didn't can a lot this year. I did can three different jellies, corn relish, chutney, corn relish, apple pie filling, and apple sauce.
2. Freezing- I froze over 60lbs of blueberries, 20lbs cherries, green beans, corn, and small amounts of various excess from my csa's.
3. Batch Cooking- This summer and fall as I would make soups and stews I would make excess because I had so many veggies and freeze them. Some of the things I made were 14 containers of pesto, corn chowder, butternut squash soup etc.
4. Buying in Bulk- As I have started running out of rice, onions, potatoes, flour etc. I have started buying those in bulk. I have beans, rice, flour, pasta, oats, and tomato products in bulk. While I haven't been buying organic I need to do the best for my wallet and now I probably can go many months without purchasing these things. GFS is a great place to get started, but food coops, country life stores etc provide more organic options. It really isn't to hard to get started.
5. Accepting Castoffs- My mom and dad recently have gone grain free. And my father has gone legume free. So the sent me home with oodles of food. I will tell you I ain't to proud to beg.
6. Meat CSA- I recently traded in most of my food credits for eggs and meats. I have about 60 more credits to trade in so I will probably wait until January before turning those in. Next year I will either continue with the CSA or if I can find someone who will let me buy an eighth of a cow and a half of pig I may decide to go this route. However, I really like the fact that I can get fresh eggs through my CSA at a reasonable price.
So this is how I take care of my food stores. What do you do for food stores?
Toodles,
Bitha
How did I get to this point?
1. Canning- While I didn't can a lot this year. I did can three different jellies, corn relish, chutney, corn relish, apple pie filling, and apple sauce.
2. Freezing- I froze over 60lbs of blueberries, 20lbs cherries, green beans, corn, and small amounts of various excess from my csa's.
3. Batch Cooking- This summer and fall as I would make soups and stews I would make excess because I had so many veggies and freeze them. Some of the things I made were 14 containers of pesto, corn chowder, butternut squash soup etc.
4. Buying in Bulk- As I have started running out of rice, onions, potatoes, flour etc. I have started buying those in bulk. I have beans, rice, flour, pasta, oats, and tomato products in bulk. While I haven't been buying organic I need to do the best for my wallet and now I probably can go many months without purchasing these things. GFS is a great place to get started, but food coops, country life stores etc provide more organic options. It really isn't to hard to get started.
5. Accepting Castoffs- My mom and dad recently have gone grain free. And my father has gone legume free. So the sent me home with oodles of food. I will tell you I ain't to proud to beg.
6. Meat CSA- I recently traded in most of my food credits for eggs and meats. I have about 60 more credits to trade in so I will probably wait until January before turning those in. Next year I will either continue with the CSA or if I can find someone who will let me buy an eighth of a cow and a half of pig I may decide to go this route. However, I really like the fact that I can get fresh eggs through my CSA at a reasonable price.
So this is how I take care of my food stores. What do you do for food stores?
Toodles,
Bitha
