For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:11-14

Pages

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Grocery Shopping and Filling a Pantry

I spent some time this week watching a series of videos on the forecast for the coming year as far as grocery prices go. The videos were found on the Backyard Food Production website. The information in these videos made me even more determined than ever to closely evaluate where my food budget is going, how I stock my pantry and what items I choose to buy.

Here, we have many opportunities to avoid the grocery store, thank the Lord! I, for one, do not enjoy shopping at all. avoiding the grocery store is often difficult with a growing family and especially with growing teenage kids. Our menu is already fairly simple, and our pantry is generally pretty full. My goal, of course, is to get to the point where grocery shopping is a once every few months ordeal, but for now I am limited to one or two big trips a month. That is HUGE, considering I used to shop weekly for our needed items.

This week, after watching these videos, I have spent even more time evaluating what we buy and why. I already make most of our food from scratch, but there is always more I can do. A few areas still could use some improvement...like pasta, crackers and lunch items for my husband. I buy very little ready made items, but still feel like I should be able to do more....always a work in progress.

Some of the things we have moved away from buying are:

  • bread
  • tortillas
  • yogurt
  • buttermilk
  • kefir
  • rolls
  • hamburger/hot dog buns
  • eggs
  • beef
  • chicken
  • potatoes (this last season we were able to grow enough to last through most of February, this year we'll try to make it through spring)
  • pickles
  • pickled beets
  • green beans
  • blueberries
  • raspberries
  • oregano
  • sage
  • mint
  • milk (part of the year anyway)
  • jams
  • syrup
So many things I want to add to our list of homegrown/made items. I'd much rather stock the ingredients to make much of what we use, eat and need than purchase these items already made. I've been "playing" with cheese making, having been somewhat successful with both farmhouse cheddar and mozzarella. Each time I make cheese, it gets better. In the months to come, I hope to perfect cream cheese, sour cream and feta. Being able to take these items off of my grocery list would be wonderful!

Another area that I've been looking at are cleaners and shampoo. I've made and used my own shampoo several times over the past year and liked it! As my family runs out of shampoo, I'm slowly transitioning us over to all homemade. I found some great recipes on a friend's blog. You can visit Freedom Acres Farm for recipes. They are so easy to make and have nothing "bad" in them like so many that you can buy in the stores do. As far as cleaners go, I am using more vinegar, baking soda and buying my dish soap in bulk from Azure.

Another area that I've changed is my laundry soap. I have been using Charlie's Laundry Soap since December. Even with our extremely hard water, this soap works wonders! I love it, can't say enough good about it. One 80 load tub has lasted me since the 13th of December. How's that for inexpensive. Best part is there is nothing in this soap that is harmful...it's just that, SOAP! I can't say enough about this product. I saved up and bought 6 tubs of it all at once to save on shipping. Those 6 tubs will last me more than a year...gotta LOVE that!

While this is not even close to EVERYTHING that I am doing, I wanted to share a bit with you. This has been a big part of my thinking this past week. I'm always looking at what I am doing and trying to do more, or at least be more efficient with what I am able to do.

Given the recent forecast for our food costs this year, I am working even harder to do a better job at what I do. My garden planning this year is different, my canning and preserving goals are changing a bit and my focus is on simplicity and efficiency in it all. This was a big part of my thinking even before I saw the videos this week. I've seen the prices in our grocery stores here rise at alarming rates over the past few weeks and months. It's frustrating, at best, when you are trying to feed a growing family with limited resources AND trying to be as health conscious as possible at the same time!

How have your shopping, cooking and budgeting patterns been changing? Is the economy affecting this part of your life or are you to the point where you are providing enough of your own that you don't feel it as much? I can't believe that for a minute to be very true of most people, you are either feeling it at the gas pumps, the feed store or even just in the little you do buy. We are all feeling the pinch. What have you changed?

Friday, February 18, 2011

Thankful for Friday!

Good morning! I know...it's been a while. Life has just been so busy lately that sitting down to write a blog has been hard. Forming a normal and complete thought has been difficult too...my mind going off in so many different directions just trying to keep up with life. Ever feel that way?

The flu has visited our house this month. Two of us had the stomach flu a week apart. SO not fun...especially when one of those two was the mama. Hard to be mama when you can't get out of bed. :( Thankfully it was a short lived flu bug and I was up and around in a day.


My wonderful hubby brought these to me when I was sick. Kind of an early Valentine's Day, get well soon gift. :) I love that man!


This was the sight from our home Wednesday morning....such a beautiful sight. I never seem to get tired of snow. :) We get it so infrequently here in the Pacific Northwest. This may be our last "big" snow storm...not big by my standards either, but it is still snow and still beautiful. It lasted just about a day, we still have a bit here and there, but our place is looking more like a muddy mess now. It was beautiful while it lasted.

So, what am I thankful for this week? Oh so much!

  • God's everlasting Grace and Mercy....so undeserved! We are continually blessed.
  • My hubby is still working...huge in this tough economy.
  • My pantry is full...grocery shopping will not need to happen again until NEXT month. :)
  • Fresh milk, homemade cheese and other tasty dairy products that I can make from it!
  • Fresh baked bread from my oven...so much better than anything I could buy in the store.
  • Being able to provide much of what we need here on our place...milk, eggs, produce, meat...we are blessed!
  • My kids that are a constant joy, though challenging at times, we are blessed with some amazing kids.
  • Being able to homeschool my three younger kids. This has been a grand adventure that keeps on growing and improving.
  • My husband getting more involved and encouraging in the whole homeschooling vision for our family....love it!
  • Spring is just around the corner. While I LOVE the snow, I am SO ready for spring! I'll be planting peas this weekend, Lord willing! I can't wait!
We have been so blessed. God has been so amazingly faithful to our family. Have things been easy going? NO, tough times and struggles are everywhere for us. Life is full of struggles, challenges and frustrations. Through it all, however, God is faithful and always here guiding and encouraging.

This homesteading dream is just beginning...though we've been at it for almost 8 years now. We are on the edge of so much...can't wait to see where the Lord will lead. :)

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thankful for Friday!

The past week has been a true test of my thankful heart. Our family has been seeing quite a few struggles lately and the strain of it all has really worn us a bit thin, I'll admit. Some days you just have to pull yourself up by your boot straps, as they used to say, and determine in your heart to be thankful. Ever feel like that? Boy howdy, I do!

I have been continually reminded in various ways that we are truly blessed, even in the midst of turmoil and stress. We were never promised an easy road, there are GOING to be bumps along the way, we are going to face really hard things. If we aren't, then we are either not living or living in a dream world unaware of real life. One thing we ARE promised is to have peace during the storm, right? Often times that peace is hard to hold onto in the midst of a big storm, we may loose our grip on the peace that surpasses ALL understanding, but it's always there!

We are SO blessed to be able to see the blessings, the silver linings if you will, in any situation. Sometimes we have to look a little harder than others and sometimes we even have to just trust the Lord that they are there. I think that's where a bit of old fashioned faith comes in. :) God is SO good to us and has blessed us abundantly...we just have to purpose in our hearts to see it.

My blessings this week have been many, though there have been moments that I almost missed them!

  • I serve a loving God that sees all, knows all and CARES about it all!
  • My husband is truly my best friend, and I am his.
  • My kids are healthy and growing, learning to lean on the Father in the midst of hard things.
  • My pantry is full, my freezer is full and my hens have started laying again...YAY!
  • The Lord has blessed us with amazing friends that know how to pray, know how to listen and know when we just need a break.
  • My hubby and I get to have a quiet weekend alone...thanks to some very dear friends. Something that we both desperately need!
  • MOST importantly.....GOD is in CONTROL! I don't have to be, I don't want to be and He does a much better job at it anyway. :)
WE ARE BLESSED!