**This is part of a series on the mindset and skills needed for living like a homesteader. Here is the link to the first blog post in the series.**
Much of what we do in homesteading revolves around food. If you think about it, much of what we do outside of our working hours revolves around food, regardless of whether we're living the homesteading lifestyle or not, from figuring out what to eat to going to the store to doing the dishes and dealing with leftovers to cleaning out fridges and freezers to repeating it all over again. Food is a primary need for humans, so a lot of what we do surrounds food. When it comes to living a more homestead-based lifestyle, food becomes an even bigger chore. Homesteaders try to grow and/or raise at least some of our food, and we try to find the rest on sale at local stores or get it from other local homesteaders and farmers. Sometimes, it feels like this is all we do and that it's the only important part of the lifestyle. Broadly, very generally speaking, most homesteaders do more cooking at home than we get takeout or eat in restaurants. Part of that is simply due to how much garden produce we have. It's hard to justify getting takeout when you have a whole basket of goodies picked just that day from your own garden. It's even harder when you have eggs and/or meat that you raised on your homestead in addition to fresh veggies and fruit. All that good, homegrown, fresh food is just going to spoil if not eaten or preserved quickly, so you might as well cook something up and make your own meal. So, how do you make your own meals from that food or foods you've purchased locally? There are a few key rules to always keep in the front of your mind:
Cooking like a homesteader, in the end, means thinking it through ahead of time and then cooking what's ready and available, planning it out as best you can, having the right ingredients and tools at the ready, and then having fun with it. For example, we raise our own ducks for eggs, meat, and pest control. After getting them back from the butcher, I usually can several of them up. That shelf-stable meat and bone broth can be made quickly, especially after adding in whatever else I have on hand, into a soup or stew. Throw in enough herbs and spices to make it sing and have some homemade sourdough bread on the side, and it's a nutritious meal we can eat for a couple of days. Once we get a little tired of that, then I take what's left, add in more broth or veggies if needed, and then thicken it up. Pour that into a casserole dish and top with drop biscuits, and I have a casserole that's just different enough that we can eat it for another day or two (or freeze those leftovers for nights no one feels like cooking). Or, I can thicken it up and make pot pie or add in another jar of meat and make pasties. Take spaghetti. Make a solid sauce, and that's a base that can be used to make spaghetti one night, American goulash the next, and then a baked pasta with zucchini after that (that can go in the freezer, always handy). The main ingredients for spaghetti grow in most gardens: tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, oregano. Add in some shredded carrots and zucchini to make it a veggie marinara, and it's a very useful base for many meals. There's a reason so many homesteaders can up jar after jar of homemade spaghetti sauce. Same goes for many, many meal options. That roasted chicken can be turned into bone broth for soup, a chicken casserole, stir fry or fried rice, or the filling for a pot pie or pasty. That jar of salsa can be the cornerstone of so many dishes, from chilaquiles to enchiladas to tacos. Most dinners can be stretched by adding more vegetables, let alone adding more side dishes like our foremothers used to do, and then, anything left over is good for lunch the next day or dinner the next night. Remember: it takes time to change thinking and behavior patterns, so don't expect to be a perfect homesteader in the kitchen right away. I can't even say how much food waste I've pitched into our compost bin, having forgotten about it or finally admitted no one liked what I made. I mollify myself by remembering that the food waste of today is tomorrow's garden soil so I can grow more veggies to try again with next year. I'm still learning how to be more efficient in the kitchen and how to better use what we grow and raise. So, why not take that step into the kitchen, take a good look around to see what you have and what you need still, and then take a leap?
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CarinaI'm a 40s something disabled mom living the life on our small urban farm. Archives
April 2022
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