I'm so happy to see so much interest in this topic. I've been leaning this way for years, and my DH and I are increasing the amount of homegrown food in our diets.
I know my homegrown poultry is better tasting than the supermarket birds, even though it costs me more to produce than buying store bought, I prefer it. With money from selling free-range eggs tossed in, the laying hens pretty much pay for themselves, though don't I show any profit, I'm pretty much breaking even. I live out in the sticks, and at around $4 a gallon for gas, fewer trips to the grocery store adds up.
My Dh hunts a little in the fall, so we usually have venison in the freezer, too. I wasn't that wild about it at first, but over time, I've gotten used to it, and for some things, prefer it over beef. Not everything, you can't beat beef for a nice ribeye steak or T-bone, or a chuck roast, or, (food of the Gods) BBQ ribs, but I love my Bambi burger, and the backstrap is tender and delicious. I have a bowl of venison slices, (I don't know from what cut, if it was backstrap for sure, I wouldn't marinate. It would be tender as is.) in the fridge right now, marinating since last night in seasonings and buttermilk, for tonights dinner.
If the economy gets much worse, and food prices continue to rise, I predict that DH and I will be adding a variety of other wildlife to the menu, as well.
My garden didn't do well this year, due to watering problems in my area, (we have to haul water in where I live, though just down the road they have county water) we weren't able to keep the garden watered. We also have a roof water collection system, but have had very little rain. So this year, instead of canning and freezing my own organic produce, I'm buying from local growers who were able to water, and have gotten so far, 50 lbs. of beautiful tomatoes, and 2 enormous bags of hot peppers. I had to go ahead and get onions and garlic from the grocery, but it's salsa canning time!
I bake all of my own bread, (with the help of a bread machine) so that I can have bread without high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. Besides, at around $4 a loaf for good quality whole wheat bread, who can afford it? I have a salvage grocery store very near me, not very big, but he does get a few things that I use. I got two 5lb. bags of whole wheat flour for $1 each. That's enough for about 10 or 12 loaves of bread, and the other ingredients aren't that expensive, I buy yeast in the little jars, instead of individual packets, it's a lot cheaper in the jars. Plus I got a jar of Red Star yeast at the salvage for .75, it's slightly past the pull date, but I proofed it when I got it home, and it's still good. I keep the jar in the freezer, and I'll use it up before I use my newer jar.
As my stock of flour runs out, I'll be grinding my own. (of course, when I find whole wheat flour, or unbleached white, cheap, I'm going to grab it!) I have a Family Grain Mill, and I have 100 lbs. of wheat in my storage shed. I store it in 5 gallon buckets I buy from a local bakery, for $1 each, they have good tight seals. It takes 2 buckets to hold a 50 lb. bag of wheat berries, or other grain. I'll be getting oats and corn, also. In the fall, I plan to plant a crop of soft winter wheat, (for biscuits and baking other than bread) and if that goes well, next year I'll also plant hard wheat, for bread. Hard wheat has more gluten, for a good rise in yeast breads, soft wheat had a lot less gluten, for tender biscuits, cakes, and other non-yeast bread uses.
I've always made biscuits, cornbread, pancakes, etc. from scratch. And I've always preferred home cooked meals. When I was working full time, I used to cook up big batches of whatever we were eating that weekend, plus 1 or 2 other things, and freeze my own dinners from it, to take to work with me. It worked great, and I have a greater variety of vegetables and meat dishes than the pre-made stuff. Tasted better, too, without the chemicals, and without so darn much salt! (There's so much salt in the commercial stuff, it actually burns my mouth and makes it sore.)
I read Kingsolver's book, and enjoyed it a lot. Since then I've mostly stopped buying produce that's been shipped for the other side of the country, or from other countries. I haven't yet been able to limit it to within 100 miles, but I try to keep it at least in this region of the country. I'm in KY, so I'll buy a bag of Florida oranges rather than California oranges. Georgia peached instead of CA, etc. A lot of the KY produce comes from Virginia and W.V., the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. Most of KY's big ag has been tobacco and corn, that makes it harder to find local veggies. They're out there though, at the farmer's markets. The closest ones are only open one or two days a week, and I keep forgetting on the days they're open, but I'll catch some of them. I keep an eye open for roadside sellers, too, the folks with the produce on a pick up truck. You have to ask them, though where they get the stuff. Some aren't growers, but buy bulk from warehouses that ship it in from all over. It sometimes the same as if you went to the supermarket, but not always. And, sometimes it's a bit fresher, and less expensive.
I could go on and on, you can tell it's a a subject dear to my heart. So's bartering, I've done a good bit of that, too!
I know my homegrown poultry is better tasting than the supermarket birds, even though it costs me more to produce than buying store bought, I prefer it. With money from selling free-range eggs tossed in, the laying hens pretty much pay for themselves, though don't I show any profit, I'm pretty much breaking even. I live out in the sticks, and at around $4 a gallon for gas, fewer trips to the grocery store adds up.
My Dh hunts a little in the fall, so we usually have venison in the freezer, too. I wasn't that wild about it at first, but over time, I've gotten used to it, and for some things, prefer it over beef. Not everything, you can't beat beef for a nice ribeye steak or T-bone, or a chuck roast, or, (food of the Gods) BBQ ribs, but I love my Bambi burger, and the backstrap is tender and delicious. I have a bowl of venison slices, (I don't know from what cut, if it was backstrap for sure, I wouldn't marinate. It would be tender as is.) in the fridge right now, marinating since last night in seasonings and buttermilk, for tonights dinner.
If the economy gets much worse, and food prices continue to rise, I predict that DH and I will be adding a variety of other wildlife to the menu, as well.
My garden didn't do well this year, due to watering problems in my area, (we have to haul water in where I live, though just down the road they have county water) we weren't able to keep the garden watered. We also have a roof water collection system, but have had very little rain. So this year, instead of canning and freezing my own organic produce, I'm buying from local growers who were able to water, and have gotten so far, 50 lbs. of beautiful tomatoes, and 2 enormous bags of hot peppers. I had to go ahead and get onions and garlic from the grocery, but it's salsa canning time!
I bake all of my own bread, (with the help of a bread machine) so that I can have bread without high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. Besides, at around $4 a loaf for good quality whole wheat bread, who can afford it? I have a salvage grocery store very near me, not very big, but he does get a few things that I use. I got two 5lb. bags of whole wheat flour for $1 each. That's enough for about 10 or 12 loaves of bread, and the other ingredients aren't that expensive, I buy yeast in the little jars, instead of individual packets, it's a lot cheaper in the jars. Plus I got a jar of Red Star yeast at the salvage for .75, it's slightly past the pull date, but I proofed it when I got it home, and it's still good. I keep the jar in the freezer, and I'll use it up before I use my newer jar.
As my stock of flour runs out, I'll be grinding my own. (of course, when I find whole wheat flour, or unbleached white, cheap, I'm going to grab it!) I have a Family Grain Mill, and I have 100 lbs. of wheat in my storage shed. I store it in 5 gallon buckets I buy from a local bakery, for $1 each, they have good tight seals. It takes 2 buckets to hold a 50 lb. bag of wheat berries, or other grain. I'll be getting oats and corn, also. In the fall, I plan to plant a crop of soft winter wheat, (for biscuits and baking other than bread) and if that goes well, next year I'll also plant hard wheat, for bread. Hard wheat has more gluten, for a good rise in yeast breads, soft wheat had a lot less gluten, for tender biscuits, cakes, and other non-yeast bread uses.
I've always made biscuits, cornbread, pancakes, etc. from scratch. And I've always preferred home cooked meals. When I was working full time, I used to cook up big batches of whatever we were eating that weekend, plus 1 or 2 other things, and freeze my own dinners from it, to take to work with me. It worked great, and I have a greater variety of vegetables and meat dishes than the pre-made stuff. Tasted better, too, without the chemicals, and without so darn much salt! (There's so much salt in the commercial stuff, it actually burns my mouth and makes it sore.)
I read Kingsolver's book, and enjoyed it a lot. Since then I've mostly stopped buying produce that's been shipped for the other side of the country, or from other countries. I haven't yet been able to limit it to within 100 miles, but I try to keep it at least in this region of the country. I'm in KY, so I'll buy a bag of Florida oranges rather than California oranges. Georgia peached instead of CA, etc. A lot of the KY produce comes from Virginia and W.V., the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. Most of KY's big ag has been tobacco and corn, that makes it harder to find local veggies. They're out there though, at the farmer's markets. The closest ones are only open one or two days a week, and I keep forgetting on the days they're open, but I'll catch some of them. I keep an eye open for roadside sellers, too, the folks with the produce on a pick up truck. You have to ask them, though where they get the stuff. Some aren't growers, but buy bulk from warehouses that ship it in from all over. It sometimes the same as if you went to the supermarket, but not always. And, sometimes it's a bit fresher, and less expensive.
I could go on and on, you can tell it's a a subject dear to my heart. So's bartering, I've done a good bit of that, too!
