The Pantry

I went to Bob's Red Mill with Julie earlier in the week, and we got some grains for the pantry.

I got some wheat berries and some oats and some corn. I now have the raw grains that I need to be able to make practically any meal. That is nice. I will have to do some hand grinding until I am able to get an electric mill, but that doesn't really bother me right now.

I spent a good deal of time reorganizing the pantry and everything in it, and I am happy to say that it looks wonderful. We got some plastic tubs to store the grains in, and they are now securely safe from little critters, which is nice for me.

We also rearranged everything so that the Daphne monster will no be able to get into the things on the shelves. If I keep the door closed, I will be able to eliminate a fair amount of cleaning up after the little monster that she is. :)

My strategy is to buy in bulk. We almost don't have to to go the store anymore. The only thing that we really need to buy is some of the cheeses that I can't make right now (cheddar) and eggs. The cheese problem will all be handled when we get a cheese press and the cheese is able to age for a while, and the eggs will be handled in about 6 weeks when my 8 little laying hens will be producing eggs.

That brings our grocery bill down to about $100 per month for other random stuff, mostly produce until the garden starts to give me veggies.

I am proud of what I have been able to do with our food budget with just a few small changes.