A homesteaders cupboard

Im snowed in, yes this is our road after 8" of snow, and its like this for 12 miles until you exit the national forest.
a good day to blog about,,,, BEING PREPARED *wink*

At some point in Late July Early August , i questioned myself more than once about that amount of food I was canning for a family of 3. How many Jars of beans do i really need? who actually eats this much salsa? Will my family grow tired of chicken soup?

It is now The end of december, and im getting the answer to all of these questions: you need a lot, yes you do, and maybe but they will get over it.

Our trips the grocery store these past couple months have been stress free and simple. especially financially, a trip to the store requires a small list of basic items when you grow and preserve most of your own food.

I am no expert, but thought maybe I would share some tips , lists and homesteading recipies for all of you out there who are trying to learn the same of living of the land and sustaining your family as much as possible

it aint easy, thats for sure , i canned about 300 jars this year, and we are going through it no problem. The picture above is our canned good cupboard as of dec 26th

CANNING LIST

Green beans, tomatoes, salsa, tomato soup, pizza sauce, chicken soup, chicken broth, chicken chili, peppers, pickles, peach and blueberry jam, blueberries, peaches, applesauce, applebutter, blueberry syrup. potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash:)

We also have eggs from our chickens and meat from our chickens, honey from our bees.some broccoli/homemade veggie pies in the freezer and lettuce in the greenhouse and homebrew that hubby made:)

GROCERY LIST( im sure im missing items, but this is usually what we buy at the store or have on hand at all time)

flour, sugar, butter, cheese, yogurt,yeast, oatmeal, peanut butter,milk, juice, coffee/tea, rice, pasta, pretzels( the famous snack in our house)

now a lot of this will last a week or 2.. so sometimes the list can be A LOT smaller, making your grocery bill 30.00!

A WEEKS worth of MEALS at the Cool Homestead

day 1 breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries, toast, juice

day1: lunch: peanutbutter and jelly

day 1: dinner: Breakfast burritos with salsa,cheese, jalapenos

day 2: breakfast: toast with honey , peaches, and juice

day 2 lunch: peanut butter and jelly(lol norah lives on pb&j)

day 2 dinner: 1/2 Homegrown chicken, beans, and potatoes

day 3 breakfast: eggs n toast

day 3 lunch, grilled cheese tomato soup

day 3 dinner: pasta with homemade sauce, butternut squash

day 4 breakfast: oatmeal with peaches and toast

day 4 lunch: applesauce, cheese sandwich

day 4 dinner: potatoe soup( made with canned chicken broth n taters from the garden and broccoli yuuummy)

day 5 breakfast: toast, yogurt n peaches

day 5 lunch: pb&j

day 5 Dinner: Chicken Chili, bread n butter

day 6: breakfast: eggs n toast with applebutter

day 6 lunch: homemade pizzas with sauce that was canned, canned peppers, onions, n broccoli

day 6 dinner: tomato garlic soup, applesauce, bread n butter

day 7 breakfast: oatmeal

day 7 lunch: yogurt n peaches, cheese slices

day 7 dinner: chicken soup with noodles, applesauce

This is just a somewhat typical mealplan for us,, and repeat......of course sometimes we go outside the homesteading list and buy granola bars or chocolate chips for cookies,, but for the most part we stick to the basic and use what we have
someother meals as i sit here and think
-omelets with spinach and cheese
-pancakes with blueberrysyrup
-chicken sandwiches with lettuc
-bean burritos with salsa n cheese etc....
....

We are still learning a lot, but this year feels like a major accomplishment for us in self sustaining our family

we recently had a pretty good snowstorm so im thankful for all the canned goods, the cookstove, and the homebrew.. so even being stranded here for a week doesnt seem too stressful:) I credit that to the homebrew,, teeeheee