Poplar Hill Happenings

10 steps toward better cheaper eating

A friend recently got very excited about the Mother Earth News that I loaded her.  So I set out to write down some things that I've learned over the last two years.  Because I'm the homemaker they all involve around eating.  So I thought I'd pass them on.

Christine's 10 steps to more self sufficient environment friendly eating

1. Menu plan. Sit down every week and think about what is in the refrigerator. How can you use it. What can you use twice. I've been menu planning for about two years and it really helps with what I need when I go to the store and helps us use things up.
2. Cook more from scratch. It's better for you and cheaper.
3. Three kinda goes with two (but I'm trying to stretch this to 10). Find a few basic quick from scratch recipes that work for you and that your family likes. Our favorites include, cinnamon quick bread, tacos, stir fry (cut up veggies add meat), brownies, grilled or roasted veggies, BLT's (in the summer).
4. Take any and all free produce given to you. If you can't eat it right away can it or freeze it.
5. Grow tomatoes, green beans, peppers, zucchini and yellow squash for a good basic garden. After you master those add on each year. Grow California Wonder peppers to get both green and red peppers from the same plan.  After a few gardens learn to 3 season garden. It's December 28^th and I have a head of cabbage, carrots, potatoes (we don't have hard freezes until Feb.) and chard in the garden. We are eating some carrots pulled today this evening and the cabbage on New Years day!
6. Learn to can your tomatoes and make salsa. These are the easiest and cheapest canning methods to learn.
7. Go organic. Grow everything organically. Its just plain healthier and reduces your carbon footprint. Also buy organically-- it's becoming cheaper as more places like Wal-mart carry some basic products. Along the growing lines:
   1. learn companion planting
   2. learn how to hand pick insects
   3. plant more so the bugs and critters can have some and you can too
   4. learn other natural pest control techniques
8. Go on a partial to full 100 mile diet. Learn what is produced and made locally within 100 miles of your home. Patronize those growers and produces. Read the label on the commercial products in the store. Since doing this I've found locally produced bread, lunch spreads, eggs and flour. I've also found a local maker of goat's milk soap. In the summer time be sure to hit the farmers markets weekly.
9. Find a local cheap meat source and learn how you best consume it. My husband hunts so we have venison. The first year we had roasts, steaks, burger and summer sausages made. We finally now know that we don't eat the roasts and steaks so we have everything ground into burger and made into summer sausage. You might have the chance to buy a side of meat, pork or some local chickens. We don't raise our own meat, but you might try.
10. Go easy on yourself when you fail-it's a learning process. Read, read, read in the winter and experiment, grow your tomatoes in the flower bed, fix new foods and learn what works for you.

A final note: We still buy plenty from the grocery store, but we look for sale items and buy bunches of what we need. For example, shrimp has been on sale because of the holidays so we've been buying it up. We like it in tacos and egg rolls. With menu planning, growing and preserving some of your own food and buying local we are learning more about self-sufficient eating. Our hope is we are eating healthier, cheaper and reducing are carbon footprint.

Untitled Comment

04:04, 2007-Dec-31 .. Posted by gabbie427

Love your list!!!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo