Happy New Year!
I’ve just been languishing on the couch for my entire holiday. Lots of knitting, lots of Netflix. Many many fires in the wood stove while reading. I was quite happy to be hiding out in this place.
Isn’t this the life? I feel very fortunate. And I would be lying if I said I was looking forward to going back to work. Call me in the spring! I’ll be hiding out here until then!
One day last week The Mr. asked me to go for a drive. A road tour as he calls it. To aimlessly drive in the country side and look at who has done what at their place and point out animals that are camouflaged in the bush (yet oddly can’t find something on the first shelf in the fridge). And I check out homesteads and dream about the things I would like to do here (when I win the lottery). After I got over my suspicions that he was just asking me out so I would finally shower, I hopped in. Ah yes, I remember now, it was New Year’s Day so nothing was really open and the roads were fairly quiet.
Just stop at a convenience store real quick so I can grab some bread, I requested. In my slothiness I hadn’t even fed the poor sourdough starter all week and bread was scarce. And since I was no where near ambitious enough to make any (also it takes time!), we had to stop.
So up to the counter I went and placed my loaf and a pack of throat lozenges with a cheery Happy New Year! I thought, this poor guy has to be working today and there’s a good chance he stayed up late last night so I’m going to be as cheerful as possible. Also, I just showered for the first time in a few days and I was really feelin myself.
Happy New Year, he replied, $9.70 please.
You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. And I stood there for a solid few minutes contemplating just how badly we needed that bread. But I had made homemade soup for supper, with the promise of grilled cheese, BEFORE I discovered we didn’t actually have bread.
When the H EEE DOUBLE TOOTHPICK did bread cost almost 8 dollars a loaf?
2024 that’s when. Grocers are making billions in profits and families are barely feeding themselves.
So I paid for the bread and left. Still cheery mind you, because it’s not this guy’s fault that food costs have risen to an insane amount.
But when I got home, I immediately fed that starter and planned to get back to it. And I spent most of the next week going back to food prep basics and making things from scratch. I made a ton of bone broth with all of the bones I had frozen from Christmas. I used leftovers to make a large batch of perogies for the freezer (I’ll share next week!), I made bread and buns, almond milk and nut butter. Just to name a few things.
I’m not bragging or anything but it really does remind me that all the times I’ve spent baking from scratch and freezing and preserving, really does matter. Especially in these times. And I still have so much more I would love to be doing here. Am I still going to buy convenience foods? Yes, probably. Because, LIFE. But I’m challenging myself to get a little more strict with the back to basics and stick with making what I can here.
This week I’m sharing some of the simple items I’ve been making for a long time. Try them if they interest you! If you’ve got any ideas to share about cutting food costs I would love to hear from you.
Have a great week friends,
Renee xo
I’ve been making this bread for a long time. I’ve made it with active starter, fallen starter and starter that was sitting in the fridge (not recommended but I’ve done it!). Also I know I’m not showing uniform holes or that perfect crusty ear here but I don’t care. Even though I aim for that, bread perfection is a real art that takes time. The truth is that it’s homemade and delicious and that’s good enough for this gal. Nothing smells better than bread baking!
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