Get Started Homesteading: In the Kitchen

This is the place where most of the magic will happen. You want to make sure this space is efficient and well rounded, or you'll certainly risk being overwhelmed and burned out.

Shop your stores

Take a look at your stores. What do you have canned? Frozen? Dried? etc.

• Take an inventory and make note of any gaps to fill.

This will help us build an efficient and very personal system for our family's likes and needs. We've allowed the supermarket dictators to provide our family with the food we used to provide for ourselves. Do you really want THEM being responsible for the essentials of human survival in regards to your family and loved ones? I don't.
In having your own garden, and preparing your own foods within your kitchen, there will be quite a bit more work involved, but there's also a beautiful simplifying that takes place when you're preparing your own foods. No more clipping coupons for foods you really shouldn't be eating anyway. And no more being overwhelmed with the mass of Pinterest recipes you'll never make

• Get to cooking what you have at home.

Open your fridge

Take a look inside and lets do what we did for our pantry. How many bottles of condiments and sauces have you managed to cram in the door? Get rid of them. You don't need exotic sauces for the meal you cooked once months ago with no intention of cooking again. That's a waste of money and space. You'll find that the flavor of your own staples far surpasses that of any store bought brand. It feels so much better eating something that you made. You know every last ingredient. You don't need to worry about how it was processed or the undercover chemicals that may hide behind innocent looking names. Relish in it!
We want to focus on streamlining our systems and doing more with less. Take a general stock of the food throughout your fridge, even the food that you've left to rot in the back.What about the freezer? How have you been using the foods you have on hand? Before you gear up for more food preservation, you need to commit to using the food you already have. Freezers and fridges aren't created to hold your food indefinitely.

• Invest in containers

There's no need to go overboard now. Pooling resources together with some friends and like minded people and buy in bulk as possible. This will cut costs significantly. These will be canning jars and food grade buckets for holding dry food stores in bulk, such as flours and beans. Half gallon, one gallon and 5 gallon buckets are the most practical. You can use these to store things like:
Flour *Keep in mind some flours go rancid more quickly than others, so don't buy these in large quantities if you aren't prepared to use them. Wheat berries, nuts* buckwheat groats, brown rice and beans! *Some nuts such as walnuts can go rancid quickly. It's best to use within 2-3 months for freshest flavor. Store in the fridge or freezer to extend flavor.

A place for everything

Do you have a good amount of space set aside for all your canned goodies? Don't worry about the exact amount of space just yet. This is just something we want to consider. We'll have a better idea of the size of space we'll need after delving into the preservation planning in march.

Now, write down all the bullet points and let's get crackin'!
Your home system will be a reflection of you, and those you love; uniquely.

-Abbey

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