Becoming Self Reliant

Becoming Self Reliant May Update

by Christy on June 6, 2012

I was going to skip the update for May, because I didn’t feel like we really made any progress towards becoming more self reliant, however when I really thought about it, we did make a few small steps, so I decided to share them with you.   Any progress, even if it’s small, is a step in the right direction, correct?

We finally got our garden planted in May.   I am hoping this year is a successful one, the last 2 years weren’t so good for us.   The first year the area wasn’t completely fenced off and animals got in and ate most of the items (we have bunnies and deer in our neighborhood).    Last year we got a really late start, combine that with all the rain we had and it didn’t make for a very successful garden.    Hopefully, you will see lots of garden veggie posts from me this year.   I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I am doing all of our watering with the rain water collected in our rain barrel.   This is the first year we really got to use the water, because I got the rain barrel last summer for my birthday.   (Don’t worry, my husband isn’t a lame gift giver, I totally asked for the rain barrel).

I have come to realize if I want to continue with this, I am going to need more containers to catch the rain.   Rain barrels are expensive, so I am looking at other DIY alternatives, so if you have any, let me know!

In May I took inventory of our food storage.    We are working towards having an entire year’s worth of food basics.    I stocked up on pasta from VitaCost.com, and I am happy to report that we have an entire years worth of pasta in our food storage.    Plus, I got it all for FREE with my VitaCost referral credits!    I assumed we would eat pasta once a week for a year and made sure I had 52 packages.

You can get FREE food from VitaCost.com too!   If you haven’t signed up yet, sign up now and start with a FREE $10 credit.   With my first purchase I used my FREE $10 credit to buy Bob’s Red Mill items and just had to pay the $4.95 shipping charge.

Here’s where you can earn even more FREE food!   VitaCost has a referral program, after you sign up, you can share the VitaCost with your family and friends using your referral code.   They will get a FREE $10 credit and you will earn a FREE $10 credit for everyone that makes a purchase.   When I have at least $50 worth of referral credits I turn them in for a discount code, because your VitaCost order will ship for FREE when you spend $50 or more.   This is a quick and easy way to get FREE food, health and beauty items, vitamins or products for your home.

I finally got myself a wheat grinder!!   Look for a post coming this month explaining more about grinding your own wheat and the benefits.   I will also share all the research I did that lead me towards my purchase of the L’EQUIP Nutrimill Grain Mill at Amazon.

Now this one may seem a little silly, but I am putting more thought into my purchases and what items will make for a more self reliant home.   Our electric popcorn popper died and I need a replacement.   We don’t do microwave popcorn, I just don’t think it tastes as good as the real thing and the real stuff is cheaper too!

I decided to go with an old-fashioned hand crank one.   I thought it would last longer than an electric one.   Plus, we will be able to use it even when the power is out because we have a gas stove (that wasn’t a big selling factor, it’s just a plus).   I bought the Great Northern Popcorn Original Spinner Stovetop 6-1/2-Quart Popcorn Popper from Amazon, and I have to say, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this popcorn popper!   I think it’s the best one we have ever owned.

So, there you have it!    Those are the very small steps we made in May towards becoming more self reliant.   I would love to hear about anything you are doing that fits in the category of self reliance.   How’s the garden growing?   Do you use rain barrels?   Let’s hear your thoughts!

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Becoming Self Reliant April Update

by Christy on May 1, 2012

We made a little progress in April towards our goal of becoming more self reliant as a family.   I am happy about the couple of things that we have accomplished.

During the month of April we have been baking more bread at home and buying less at the store.   My kids have even been using the bread for sandwiches, so it is working out quite well.   I shared with you how I prep a month’s worth of bread mixes because it makes baking the bread quicker and easier.   I loved having everything pre-made, it made baking the homemade bread a breeze.   I will be prepping more mixes for May too.

Our garden area was way overgrown, so we had lots of work to do to in order to prep it for planting.

I found my clearance gardening tools that I picked up last year on clearance at Target and we got to work.

The entire family pitched in to get the job done.

This guy lasted for about 10 minutes and then he switched to searching for bugs.

We are almost all ready to start planting.   We hope to get the planting accomplished this weekend.

Last week, I picked up some veggie starts using a voucher I bought from Living Social.   I have never used starts before, but since we are getting a later start than usual, I thought it would be a great way to go with a few of the veggies.

How is everybody else doing?   Anybody else getting their garden started?

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Prep a Month’s worth of Bread Machine Mixes for Easy Bread Making (Becoming Self Reliant Series)

by Christy on April 12, 2012

We mentioned that we are working towards becoming more self reliant.  As part of the process, we have been baking more bread at home.  I find that it’s difficult for me to stop in the middle of the day and get all necessary ingredients so I can make a loaf of bread in my bread machine.  I have come up with a system that works wonders for me, and with the system I am able to make several loaves a bread a week without it being a hassle.  I prep a month’s worth of bread machine mixes at one time!

This saves me so much time, because I only have to pull all of the ingredients out once, and the process of adding the ingredients to the machine is super simple.

Please note: I understand that becoming self reliant should probably involve me making bread by hand, in the oven, without the use of the bread machine. We are taking baby steps here! I am currently relying on making bread from scratch, and not having to run to the store for it, so I still consider that becoming self reliant. We do plan to share with you a great method for making homemade bread in the oven too, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Once you know what recipes you plan to make for the month, you want to get all of your supplies together.  I usually make 3-4 batches of the same items, I don’t make 16 different flavors of bread.  That would just be crazy!  Here is what I have planned to prep for this month:

  • Potato Bread
  • Honey Wheat Bread
  • Pretzel Dough
  • Pizza Dough

Once I have all the ingredients together, I start adding them to the containers.  I only add the dry ingredients to the containers (minus the yeast).  Later I will add the wet/fresh ingredients that are needed for the recipe.  I chose to invest in reusable plastic containers made by Click Clack (I got a great deal on them through One Kings Lane), but you could just use Ziploc storage bags if you want.

When I am done, I have several containers filled with pre-made bread machine mixes.

I label the lids of the containers with what mix is inside.

I store all of the pre-made mixes in my pantry.

When I want to make bread for the day, I just pull out one of the containers so I can add it to my bread machine.

I just pour all the dry ingredients into the bread machine.

The recipe I chose today called for water, honey and butter.  These are the wet/fresh type ingredients that I add the day I make the bread.

Next, all of the wet ingredients get added to the machine.

Lastly, I add the yeast, and I am done!  This is a HUGE time saver, and it ensures that we end up with bread that we made on our own and didn’t have to buy at the store.

Finally, you get to enjoy!

I have had a couple of questions regarding the Bread Machine I own and whether or not I like it.  I own the Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker  and I absolutely love it!!   I put a lot of research into it before I put it on my birthday list and had my husband buy it for me. :)    I really did do a lot of research though, you can check out all the reviews on the Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker at Amazon, lots of people like it too!

The containers I used are the Clickclack Airtight Storer 1-1/4-Quart Container, Red Lid (Amazon link).

Here are a few of the recipes I used this month:

This post is part of our year-long series on becoming self reliant, go HERE to read the other posts in the series thus far.

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12 Things you can do to Become More Self Reliant

by Christy on April 3, 2012

We mentioned that this year our family is working towards becoming Self Reliant. We have compiled a list of 12 things that you can do to work towards becoming more self reliant.

Each idea also includes thoughts on how we plan on implementing each of these ideas into our own lives. Throughout the year we will be discussing some of these items in more detail.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Get out of Debt:   Getting out of debt is an important step towards becoming self reliant. You can’t really be self reliant if you have an obligation to someone else. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey as a resource if you are looking to get out of debt.

Our plan: We do not have any credit card debt or automobile loans, but we still have a school loan left from my husband’s MBA. We have increased our payments towards this debt, and if we get some unexpected money we put it towards repayment on the school loan.

Have 3-6 months worth of Living Expenses in Savings:   Have 3-6 months worth of living expenses in your savings will come in handy if there is a job loss in your family.   It is nice to have a safety net so you don’t have to rely on others (or credit cards) to live on a day to day basis.

Our plan:  We plan to continue adding to our savings each month until we reach our goal of having 6 months worth of living expenses.

Food Storage (Stockpile):  Having a couple of months or a years supply of food is a good idea for several reasons.  There are so many unforseen circumstances that can happen that would prevent you from getting to the store, job loss, natural disasters and more.   If you have s stockpile of some basic panty items and things your family eats on a regular basis it will be helpful to sustain your family during those hard times.

Our plan:  We are working toward having a years supply of food for our family.  We have been gradually stocking up on wheat, flour, sugar, oil and other basic items that we can use to make almost anything we need from scratch.

Learn New Skills:  Becoming self reliant involves learning new skills you didn’t previously know how to do.  It could be learning to sew, cook, grow a garden or even change the oil in your car.    The more you know, the less you have to rely on others to help you.

Our plan:  I don’t know how to sew – at all!   So, I plan on tackling that this year.   It would be nice to know how to hem my boys church pants so I don’t have to use Glue Dots.  (Yep, I actually use Glue Dots!  Glue Dots and a little heat with the iron and the hem stay in place for …well, not very long).   We want our kids to know how to cook when they leave the home, so we will be assigning each child a night to do the cooking.    They will plan and cook the meal from start to finish.   I see some interesting dinners in our future!   We have lots of areas where we can learn some new skills, so these are just a few we plan on working on over the next year.

Plant a Garden:  Planting a garden is a great way to become more self reliant.   There is something special about putting seeds in the ground and growing food for your family.   Having a garden means less trips to the grocery store for produce.  Plus, it’s so much for fulfilling when you grow your own.

Our plan:  We haven’t had too much success with our garden the last 2 years.   We had animals get in and eat it the first year, and the second year we just started too late and had too much rain.    We plan on tackling the garden again this year.    We need to build a gate to keep the critters out and hopefully we will have greater success this year.   We will keep you updated on our progress.

Bake from Scratch:  Baking from scratch is not only a great way to be self reliant, but it’s also so much more healthy than boxed convenient foods.     When you have the basics on hand, baking from scratch is an easy thing to do and you don’t need to run to the store for any ingredients.

Our plan:   We plan on baking a lot more bread from scratch, instead of running to the store to buy it.   We even have plans to make your own pasta, hamburger buns and more.    This is one of the items I am most looking forward too, it should be fun!

Can your Foods:   Canning food is a great way to extend the life of your garden.   Canning items when they are in season is also an inexpensive way to have fruits and veggies all year long.    You can even can meats and poultry.

Our plan:  I have limited canning experience, but I am looking forward to learning more.   Every summer I make jam, I have made pickles (thanks to my wonderful grandmother), and I have also canned chicken.   I hope to can several items this items this summer, like fruits, green beans and more.

Keep Chickens:   If you have the space, keeping chickens is a great way to get fresh eggs.   I have been told once you have fresh eggs you will never want to go back to store bought eggs again.

Our plan:  My husbands plan is to convince me to get chickens.    I have a slight fear of anything with wings, weird, huh?   I think we will probably end up with chickens sometime this year.   I am thinking he can help me get over my fear by building me a super cute chicken coop.

Have a Reference Library:  In this electronic age, we can find all the information we want via the internet on our laptops, phones and even eReaders.   However, if the power goes out and we have no way to charge these electronic devices we are left without the necessary information we may need.   Having a reference library of “real” books will make for a great resource on a day to day basis whether we have power or not.  You can expand your reference library with books on cooking, gardening, home repairs and more.

Our plan:  I love how you can download any book you want instantly onto an eReader, so we don’t really own too many real books anymore.    We do need to invest in a book that would help us with some basics on home repairs.   I am kind of a cookbook junkie and I have a couple books on gardening, so I am set there.

Invest in Reusable Items:  When you invest in reusable items, you aren’t having to always run to the store for replacements.   Not only that, but you are saving our natural resources as well.   Reusable items may be more expensive in the beginning, but usually in the long run they are much cheaper.   Reusable items could replace everyday items like diapers, paper towels, water bottles and so much more.

Our plan: My current plan is to get some reusable napkins so we no longer have to use paper napkins.   I am sure there are lots of other areas were we can replace some of our everyday items with reusable ones.   Thank goodness we are out of the diaper stage.

Install a Wood Stove:  Installing a wood stove is a great way to ensure you will have heat in your home if the power goes out, it can even make for a cooking source.    You can also use a wood stove to heat your home on a regular basis, so you aren’t relying on the power company for your heat.    This not only will help you to be more self reliant, but it will also help you to save money too!

Our plan:  We would love to add a woodstove to our home, we don’t currently have an area where one would fit, so this one will require some extra thinking.   OK, maybe I should re-phrase that, my husband would LOVE to add one to our home.  I am still thinking they are big and ugly and take up a lots of room.

Use Rain Barrels:  By using rain barrels you can cut down on water consumption by using them for watering  your garden, lawn and more.

Our plan:  We have one rain barrel, but we would like to increase that.   We would love to use the water from the rain barrels to take care of all of our watering we do during the summer months.  The cost of water goes up so high here in the Summer.    The rain barrel we have now only hold enough to water our planters during those warm summer months.   Since we live in Washington there is no lack of rain to collect.


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