I had to smile as the Morrisons van pulled up the other night.
I was half way through butchering three chickens when he rocked up, I kept out of sight - more because I didn't want to put the shopping away than anything else.
But it's funny how our own personnel shopping supply is still at very extremes of the spectrum.
I grow and harvest fruits, vegetables and butcher much of our own meat but yet we're still very reliant on this yellow van that rolls up each week. 
I try to buy things from other places, our flour is all organic and comes from Shipton Mill, the rest of our meat comes from Rick our local butcher and yet there still seems to be many things we buy each week.
Year round fresh fruit is one, certainly at this time of year - I'm working on this with plans to plant more berries to help bridge the gap, but I still love fresh apples all year round.
Snacks are another, mainly for the children, I'm trying on this one as well but I tend to bake a lot less this time of year.
Some staples and tinned products, again I'm working on this, producing a summer surplus that I can preserve and use year round - this area needs a lot of work!
Milk and dairy are our other major expense, each week we get through 20 pints of milk, a large block of cheese, butter, etc. I "make" our own yogurt from Easiyo but otherwise I have no intention of changing the way we get dairy yet. A milking cow or goat would be a lot of work and more commitment than I'm willing to give!
Then there's cleaning products and toilet paper and neither of these I'm willing to give up just yet!
What about you?
How far are you willing to go in the name of self sufficiency?
I'd go further than the rest of my family! Apart from the stuff I'd manage without I have to be aware that great as my children are at eating what I give them, they're also all teenagers and I don't want them to look stupid in front of their friends, so that does affect what I give them in their lunches, for example. I still don't buy multipacks of crisps though ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy snack solution is to make double batches of flapjack and keep it in the freezer- individual pieces defrost quickly- and at this time of year fruit juice and yoghurt-y ice lollies. And the youngest could eat her bodyweight in fruit leather...
Dairy is a large part of our grocery shopping too. Baking uses a lot of butter, and note again three teenagers! We've been part of a pig club and a lamb club in the past couple of years and I do to persuade the lamb club landowner to go for a dairy sheep breed so I could have milk but share the commitment, but I can't interest him in it yet!
I've got to admit a real love of crisp from me! I do love a packet! I've amde the batches of flapjack but I keep forgetting to make it, my kids are always hungry. The yogurt ice lolly sound good though.
DeleteBeing 'self-sufficient' doesn't mean we make our own washing up liquid and bog paper. We should grow and produce as much as possible (to our own capabilities), then begrudgingly buy the rest. I've just come back from buying dog and cat food.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on that one - it's fuuny though as some people assume that because I'm into it suddenly I'm not wearing deodorant!
DeleteI agree with Cro it's always hit to be the best of your ability. I'm no where near that as I don't have the land but for a few precious months each year we eat from the garden, stockpile any gluts and freeze what I can for the winter. I also plan to produce even more next year.
ReplyDeleteEvery year I try to produce more and more, this year is the best I've done in terms of produce and now I'm wondering how far I can take it.
DeleteBeing self sufficient kind of went away before the stone age ended as the peoples who advanced worked together and weren't self sufficient. It was a goal of mine until I finally realized that it would take a lot of people to be self sufficient which defeats the whole idea. Being sustainable is more realistic and the experience of working toward self sufficient status is very valuable as one can handle a variety of difficulties should the need arise.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right there's a certain circle to everything, as long as someone has somethign to offer the collective. I dod liek the idea of being the food provider in that group though. Maybe why I'm thinking of doing veg boxes next year.
DeleteYou have sheep, yes? Ever thought of experimenting with their milk? My brother is allergic to cow's milk but has been eating a lot of sheep's cheese, so it has to be possible to milk them somehow...
ReplyDeleteI've always been told it's possible to milk anything with nipples.... The commitment of milking something everyday puts me off, I'm really not a morning person either!
DeleteWe got pretty near SS in fruit although it did mean eating the same things over and over. The Apricot trees were agood help on this and 3 different sorts of raspberries and it needed a good year of apples to get them from July to Feb. I said we were self sufficient on goats milk but of course we still had to buy the feed even if we did produce all our own hay. And Goats are a BIG tie!
ReplyDeleteYeah, not keen on milking anything at the moment, maybe one for the future. I want to try to get there with fruit, we spend a lot on it each month and it certainly saves us some money in the autumn.
DeleteUgh. Self sufficiency is a lovely goal but sounds exhausting. I freely admit to liking books and booze and have a subscription service that sends cosmetics to my door every month. Do what you can with what you have to the best of your ability I guess.
ReplyDeleteWe also buy in a ton of dairy every week but I don't have the time or energy to manage someone else's lactation. Lol. Would prefer to barter but will have to pay cash monies in the meantime.
I'd like to increase my self sufficiency in booze! That's on the list for this year! Cider I'm thinking and my friend has made his own press. No cosmetics for me, I wash my hair with a bar of soap!
DeleteBattering for someone else lactation does sound weird when you put it like that...
DeleteIts a shame you are not near by we could be doing swapsies for milk, as you know we raise our pork lamb goat and chicken meat, grow our veg and most of our fruit, our dairy products come from goats milk, cheese yogurt butter ice cream and cream. we have the bees for honey I am experimenting with growing animal feed, I have the alpacas fleece for making with, our monthly shop is reduced to things like tea flour sugar and a few odds and sods.
ReplyDeleteWhat would I have to trade! You have everything covered that I grow and more! I'm working on the chicken meat and a few other things. I'll get to your stage one day!
DeleteThere's no such thing as self-sufficiency :D It's a matter of what you can be self-sufficient in - 'as much as possible' is the best you can hope for. You're already doing great. Just written a book about exactly this, as it happens - all about fitting a degree of self-sufficiency in around an ordinary 21st century lifestyle https://www.greenbooks.co.uk/growing-self-sufficiency. I am pretty much self-sufficient in veg, fruit, herbs, most drinks (don't buy squash, for instance)... and I try to barter wherever possible, eg I buy my pork as a whole pig from a friend who raises weaners. But I buy in my bog roll like everyone else :D
ReplyDeleteGoats are a BIG tie!
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