I want to talk about something that has really been on my heart lately: ways to save money in today’s world!
In a world where everything’s getting more expensive by the week, it can be so easy to get stressed out. Over the years, we’ve found that taking good care of what we already have builds such a deep sense of gratitude. When we appreciate what’s right in front of us, we find true contentment!
Part of that contentment comes from the peace of mind that this lifestyle and scratch cooking brings. So, I wanted to share a few practical, everyday ways to save money, and how you can do it too!”
Buying in Bulk + Grains for Sourdough
Buying ingredients in bulk is a classic money-saver for the homestead kitchen. It might cost a little more up front, but the delicious payoff of having bulk flour and grains on hand is huge! It makes baking everyday sourdough bread so much more affordable.
I have been buying bulk grains for cooking from scratch for over 20 years. About 15 years ago, I found a local farmer who grew hard white wheat and packaged it into sealed 5-gallon buckets with oxygen absorbers, and I stocked up my root cellar with those. They aren’t “organic,” but it is good wheat and makes beautiful whole wheat sourdough breads, cookies, dinner rolls, soft hamburger buns, and more. This was the best “bang for the buck” I have found for bulk wheat berries!
But over the years, the effects of herbicides have become disturbing to me. So now, I like to order 5-gallon “super pail” buckets from Einkorn.com or Ancient Grains. These are 40-50 pounds each, full of organic grains that stay fresh inside sealed Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, all vacuum-sealed inside the 5-gallon buckets. If kept at room temperature or lower, these will stay good for over 10 years, or till we will use them up and order more!
Stocking the Pantry with Basic Staples
Of course, cooking from scratch requires a few more things than just the wheat! I love stocking the pantry with basic staples so we are never caught off guard. When you keep those everyday essentials on hand—like salt, baking powder, baking soda, yeast (Iactually keep it in the freezer;), olive oil, good fats, and a little sugar or honey—along with your bulk grains, you have everything you need.
You can easily bake any kind of fluffy biscuit, fresh sourdough bread, homemade tortillas, a moist chocolate cake, or cookie whenever you need to. Having those simple pantry staples also means you always have exactly what you need to thicken a quick pan sauce or whisk up a rich gravy for dinner without ever having to run to the store. I always keep these on hand:
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda
- Salt – I keep course ground and fine salt on hand.
- Herbs & Spices like garlic & onion powder, thyme, rosemary, paprika, cinnamon, etc.
- Chicken Broth & Beef Broth
- Cocoa Powder
- Vanilla Extract
- Granulated, Powdered and Brown Sugars
- Chocolate Chips
- Molasis
- Raw Honey
- Real Maple Syrup
- Cornmeal
- All Purpse Flour
- Potato Flakes – These are great for adding to roll dough or thickening soups at the last minute!
- Olive, Avocado, and Coconut oils.
- Potatoes & Onions
Meals in a Jar
Along with those basic baking staples, there is real financial security in having ready-to-go meals on the shelf. When you have shelves full of home-canned food, you know your family is taken care of no matter what the grocery store prices are doing. Canning your own meals is a wonderful skill to learn! Here are a few of our favorites:
- Beef Stew In a Jar
- Chicken Pot Pie Filling is great with mashed potatoes on top!
- Tomato Soup – Great with sourdough grilled cheese!
- Chicken Breast – For quick tacos, enchiladas, and burritos.
- Salsa Verde – For easy Chicken Taco Soup.
- Mild Salsa and Crushed Tomatoes – For a quick and easy sourdough cornbread and chili dinner.
Make-Ahead Scratch Cooking (Beating the 5:00 PM Slump!)
We all know that feeling… When it’s 4:30 PM and everyone is hungry, if you don’t have something planned or easy to make, going out to dinner can be tempting. But by planning ahead, you solve the budget problem! Throwing a hearty meal in the crockpot early in the day saves so much time and money. Some of our favorite low cost scratch-cooked & crockpot dinners are:
- Make-ahead crockpot Chili
- Crockpot BBQ chicken served with homemade sourdough buns.
- Crockpot Clam Chowder served in simple sourdough bread bowls.
- Easy Crockpot Lasagna with soft sourdough rolls.
- Loaded Crockpot Potato Soup Recipe
- Crockpot Fish Chowder
- Crockpot Ribs with Pineapple
- Slow Cooker Rump Roast Dinner
- Low-cost smothered pork chops with mushrooms
- Marinated and grilled pork chops!
Making Tallow from Beef
Whether you buy your beef from a local farmer or raise it yourself, making your own tallow is a wonderful way to use everything and waste nothing. It is a beautiful, traditional fat for cooking, and making it at home saves you from buying expensive cooking oils at the store!
Growing Perennials for Years of Harvest
The garden is my grocery store in the summertime! I love planging and harvesting fresh zucchini, butternut squash, potatoes, cabbages for sauerkraut, tomatoes, basil and other herbs.
BUT, if you want to save money over time, plant perrenial crops that return year after year! We love growing asparagus, rhubarb, everbearing strawberries, red and golden raspberries, big juicy blackberries and fruit trees like apples, pears, and plums. Once they’re established, you get fresh food without the grocery store price tag year after year!
And, I save money by turning our harvests into sweet homemade jams to top our sourdough bread toast, morning pancakes, sourdough starter waffles, and even vanilla ice cream!
- 👉 How to Grow Strawberries
- 👉 How to Grow Raspberries
- 👉 How to Grow Blackberries
- 👉 How to Grow Asparagus
Raising Livestock and Poultry
There are wonderful economics to raising your own chickens, and beef cows… If you do it carefully! For example, rather than buying new chicks constantly, we propagate specific breeds of hens right on our farm (we love our Copper Splash Marans for their dark eggs!).
And we’re always looking for more cost-efficiency with local feed for chickens, and this summer we’re feeding our cattle on the newly fenced pasture (free food all summer long!). Every little bit of learning helps us save money by running farm run more effeciently.
DIY Infrastructure & Paying with Cash
Building your own home utility sheds, wood sheds, root cellar, or horse shelters adds long-term value to your property while saving on material and labor costs! Did you know that contractors also mark up materials by about 15%? They do! Over the years, we have built our own house several times, rolling the profit into the next one. We believe in saving up and paying with cash instead of buying things on credit… Becasue when you don’t have to pay interest or worry about monthly payments, it frees up your cash flow and brings so much peace to your everyday life!
I hope this helps you add more peace to Your everyday life!
