Itty Bitty Grocery List

Our grocery list has condensed to only those things that we can't grow — coffee, chocolate, vanilla, peppercorns, salt, baking soda, tapioca, celery.  There are other things that we just haven't ventured into making or growing ourselves — sugar, molasses, vinegar, vegetable oil, and honey.  We also get toiletries and cleaners.  The list is pretty small.  When we made the shift to home-grown food last summer, we re-did our grocery routine to monthly shopping.  After going six weeks without a trip to the grocery store, we decided that bi-monthly shopping was sufficient.  I just love not spending time walking the grocery aisles.

We still eat alot that we haven't raised ourselves, but we're committed to buying local, in season, and organic.  Our fruit trees were just planted last summer and haven't started producing.  So last summer we bought boxes of fruit in season from local producers to simulate growing ourselves.

We'll probably never be able to grow our own grain, but we got enough wheat for a year last August when the harvest was fresh, and it was local and organic.  We buy oats in 25 pounds bags, also local and organic.  Our beef this year was bought as a whole beef from a local grower.  It is Jersey raised on grass.  Next year we'll be tasting our first homegrown beef.

Our grocery budget has shrunk right along with the list.  We used to spend about $700 per month for our family of eight.  Now we spend about $400 every two months.  If we amortize in the beef, fruit, and grain we bought last summer, it works out to $700 every two months, still a significant decrease.

Soap is something I'd like to figure out.  A friend of ours gave us a recipe for home-mixed fabric softener.  Mix 2 cups hair conditioner (like the dollar store 16 oz. bottle), 5 cups vinegar, and enough water to top it off.  The original recipe said 6 cups of water, but our container will only hold one additional cup, so we just use half as much.  It works great and costs about $1.50 instead of the $5 we were paying.  To use the solution as dryer sheets, just soak some wash clothes in the softener, ring them out, and throw them into the dryer.