How Self-Sufficient can you ACTUALLY be???

Ok so we like self-sufficiency. Different people have different reasons for chasing the dream, anything from saving money, to not being reliant on anyone else, simple pleasure in DIY, living simply, living cleanly (avoiding all those hormone-screwing, toxifying, health-destroying chemicals used these days), being eco-responsible, and more. Why do you do it??

Now the idea appeals, for all the above reasons, but how self-sufficient is it actually possible to be these days???

On different occasions I've made long lists detailing everything we can do in our home to be self-sufficient - generally in order to save money. Since I tend to make these lists when I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed, stressed out, unmotivated and financially cracked the lists are unreadable and written on whatever scrap paper I can get my hands on and invariably make their way into the fire. I do have those ideas floating around in my head though and I thought I'd pop as comprehensive list as I could on here incase it gave you (or me) any new ideas or just plain motivation! I decided to break it into levels since obviously if you're renting its not possible to put in a whole new solar power system for example ;) Heres what I came up with for people who either don't have much money, don't want to spend much money, don't want to do alot of tripping around to find different ingredients, etc or do too much re-vamping to their home. I do or have done all of these things and don't find it adds much if anything to my workload. Bread is probably the most timeconsuming job in my home, and no I don't find that I have a heck of lot more washing to worry about. I subscribe to the old-fashioned rule of if you can spot clean it, don't put it through the machine (in regards to our clothes) and we have approximately 1.5 loads every 2 days during winter. FYI its impossible to spot clean anything worn by anybody under 5 (possibly over but I haven't got parental experience in that age group yet lol) during outside play during autumn/winter/spring!!!!

Level One (Stuff anybody can do regardless of whether or not you like the idea :o))

DIY cleaners - basic cleaners require ingredients easily and cheaply found at the supermarket.
Not time-consuming. Takes approx 5 minutes to mix up a vinegar/water cleaner, or 15 minutes to mix up a batch of washing powder (once every few weeks). Very cost effective.

No-poo hair cleaner/condition - again requiring ingredients easily and cheaply found at the supermarket.
Not time-consuming. No prep required. Very cost effective.

DIY personal products - facial scrub, facial cleanser and moisturiser require ingredients easily and cheaply found at the supermarket.
Not time-consuming. Depending on the recipe no prep to 15 minutes prep required. Very cost effective.

Mamapads/Mooncups (and other brands) - whip up your own mamapads using scrap material, order a DIY set that contains everything you need or buy them all ready to use. Mooncups and various brands are a one-off cost of anywhere from $30 - $60. Added bonus of removing chemicals from your system, being extremely eco-friendly and much easier on your body. Many women report significantly less cramping and pain, and lighter flow once they switched to natural, reusable product.
Moderately timeconsuming if you're making your mamapads from scratch to not timeconsuming if you purchase ready-to-go. One-off purchase of cup and/or pads is extremely cost effective in the longrun.
Cloth nappies - many affordable options here such as make your own using scrap material, making your own using brought material, buying secondhand off TradeMe or other sources, prefold system.
Varies from time-consuming (it takes me about an hour to cut and sew 2-3 pocket nappies), to not time-consuming at all (seriously shopping cannot be classed as time-consuming! I mean hello, shoooopppppiiiinnnnnggggg).

Cloth wipes - cut up an old sheet/towel, dampen with water or a DIY wipes solution and voila!
Not time-consuming. Takes about 15 minutes (once-off). Use material that doesn't fray in order to avoid hemming.

Cloth toilet paper (also refered to as family cloth) - again cut up an old sheet/towel, dampen with water or a DIY wipes solution and voila! Having resorted to this system on the odd occasion as an emergency I can assure you it isn't as disgusting as it sounds lol in my experience there was no scrubbing required, cloths just got chucked into the nappy bucket and put through the machine with all that washing.
Again - Not time-consuming. Takes about 15 minutes (once-off). Use material that doesn't fray in order to avoid hemming.

Cloth cleaning wipes - again cut up an old sheet/towel, pop in a container and use instead of paper towels, etc. If you have a particularly messy mess just chuck the cloth into the fire or recycling otherwise into the washing machine!
Again - Not time-consuming. Takes about 15 minutes (once-off). Use material that doesn't fray in order to avoid hemming.

Bread products - Basic recipes require interchangeable ingredients easily found at supermarket. Bread, pita, burritos, bread rolls can all be made for a fraction of brought cost.
Can be timeconsuming if you are kneading by hand, alot faster if you have a mixer with a kneading attachment or use a no-knead recipe. A loaf or rolls can take up to half an hour of preparation, burritos/pitas are alot quicker (how often depends on how you store - you could do one big batch a month if you have the freezer space, otherwise anywhere from once a day to once a week).

Condiments - Basic condiments require ingredients easily and cheaply found at supermarket. Ingredients have multiple uses. Tomato sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, dressing, guacomole, salsa, etc can all be made at a fraction of brought cost while ensuring no added colours, flavours, preservatives and can be made to individual tastes. Fermentation also an option not offered at supermarket and offers a huge range of health benefits.
Not very timeconsuming. Most recipes take 15 minutes to mix up (how often depends on how much you use).

Baked Goods - Basic recipes require ingredients easily and cheaply found at the supermarket. Recipes such as cookies, muffins, muesli bars, cakes, fruit pies, meat pies, etc can all be made at a fraction of brought cost while ensuring no added colours, flavours, preservatives, cutting back sugar and sodium intake, catering to food allergies and individual tastes.
Moderately timeconsuming. My favourite recipes take no more than 15 minutes from getting ingredients out to putting them away (how often depends on how you store - you could do one big batch a month if you have the freezer space, otherwise anywhere from once a day to once a week).

Vegetable garden - Many options ranging from abit of effort at no cost or no effort at max cost! Whether you live on a farm with scads of room for a garden of in an apartment with only enough room for a couple of buckets a vegetable garden is attainable!
Dig up a patch in your garden, sprinkle seed or raise seedlings using DIY compost and egg trays, transplant and protect from marauding birds/cats/dogs/children - most basic.
Very timeconsuming (one-off), not always best results. Practically free! Cost rises to about $30 if you buy seedlings.
Dig up patch in your own garden, add fertiliser (DIY), compost (DIY), sprinkle seed or raise seedlings using DIY compost and egg trays, transplant  and protect from marauding birds/cats/dogs/children - step up from most basic.
Very timeconsuming (one-off), depending on your yard should get good results. Practically free if you DIY compost and fertiliser and seedlings. Cost rises to about $60 if you buy compost, fertiliser and seedlings.
DIY garden boxes (I used free wood from the local mill) OR beg borrow or steal (though we don't recommend that ;)) buckets and containers from everyone you know, drill holes in the bottom, fill with DIY fertiliser, DIY compost, seeds or home-raised seedlings and again protect from marauders.
Very timeconsuming (one-off), very good results (so long as your chickens don't get into them like mine did - little &^(*%*&^$*^#%&$#'s munched out on my precious seedlings LOL I'm really not having much luck with my gardening this year!!!!) Practically free if you source free scrap wood/containers, DIY compost, fertiliser and seedlings. Cost can vary from under $100 if you buy the wood etc and gets into the hundreds of dollars if you buy readymade garden boxes etc.


I know there are others but I'm having a mind blank lol note to self: write a list on paper thats NOT SCRAP while the ideas are fresh in my head then put it in a safe place that I'll remember when I need it at a later date!!! I'll add as I think of stuff ;)
The best part about Level One is that the ingredients required for cleaners, personal products and no-poo/conditioner are all interchangeable as are the condiment, bread and baking ingredients. Imagine how many supermarket aisles you could skip and how much time you'd cut off your shopping trip!!

Have you got any ideas?? Remember they have to be things that anybody can do :)

My Shopping List

With the GST going up in October I'm actually planning on doing as big a shop as I possibly can, aiming for a whole years worth of groceries. Yep its a huge undertaking but I think I can do it! Here is my shopping list so far in case anyone is interested :

Rice
20kg Long Grain Brown Rice
20kg Short Grain Sushi Rice


Grains
25kg Kamut
20kg Barley
10kg Quinoa
10kg Rye
50kg Oats
75kg Spelt


Beans
25kg Black Turtle
25kg Chickpeas
25kg Cannellini
25kg Red Kidney
25kg Navy (Haricot)
25kg Lentils

Seeds
5kg Amaranth
5kg Linseed
5kg Poppy
5kg Sunflower


Nuts
10kg Hazelnuts
10kg Cashews
10kg Peanuts


Misc
1kg Garlic Powder
10kg Tahini

10L Tamari Soy Sauce
30kg Tinned Tomatoes
20kg Lye
10 x 40 pack Toilet Paper


Vinegars
10L Apple Cider Vinegar
10L White Vinegar

Pasta
10kg Macaroni
10kg Fettucine

Oils
25kg Rice Bran Oil
20kg Coconut Oil

Sweeteners/Salt
25kg White Sugar
40kg Rapadura
25kg Raw Sea Salt
40L Maple Syrup
10L Agave Nectar

Baking
10kg Cocoa
50kg Baking Soda
5kg Powdered Milk
5kg Baking Powder
15kg Dark Chocolate Drops
15kg White Choc Drops
5kg Yeast


There are a few other bits and pieces that I can't think of off the top of my head but thats a basic list. Since I have only done a 6 month shop at this point my amounts are a bit of a guesstimate though I'm pretty confident they're accurate to a mnimum 10 months. I'll be dating everything as I open it and making a note in my Homekeeping Notebook so I know for future reference how we did! We'll be putting a beast + a couple of sheep + a rack of $1 chickens from the local egg farm in the freezer, plus any wild rabbits/deer/etc that the big guy and the biggest little guy will bring home so that takes care of meat for the year in case you were wondering.

Here are some of the things I do and/or can make from scratch, using the basic shopping list above:

All cleaning products
Shampoo/conditioner
Soaps
Mama pads (I also use a Mooncup)
Cloth nappies

Pita breads
Paninis
Tortillas
Crepes/Pancakes
Bread loaves
Bread rolls
English muffins
Crumpets
Sourdough starters and products

Tomato sauce
Mayonnaise
Dill mustard
Nut butters
Salad dressings
Chocolate sauce

Muesli
Dried fruits
Fruit rollups/leathers
Canned meat
Sauerkraut
Muesli bars
Biscuits/cakes
Canned fruits
Canned veges

Cheese, different kinds
Cream cheese
Yoghurt
Creme Fraiche (used like sour cream)
Mascarpone

Hmmm lol I know theres more but I can't think of them since I'm not busy actually doing them at the moment...

Anyway feel free to post what you DIY to keep costs down :)

Buying in Bulk PART TWO

So now you have the prices of what you want. You need to work out whats cheaper and in what sizes, then its a fairly simple case of buying :)
To work out how much you go through in what amount of time write down the date you open each pack then the date you finish it. Some things you'll go through faster, some slower. You'll be able to work out how to make things stretch abit more as you go along.

Here are some of the suppliers I found while searching :

Toops Wholesalers - servicing the Lower North Island
Gilmours Wholesalers  - servicing the Upper North Island
Trents Wholesalers - servicing the South Island
The Trade Cellar - wine for those who like it
Woolworths - great to check supermarket prices ONLINE

Bidvest - throughout NZ

Davis Trading - Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch. Stocks good range of Asian foods too.
First Foods - Throughout NZ, scroll down linked page to find your closest supplier.
Chantal Organics - Delivers throughout NZ (Organic/Wholefoods).
Bin Inn - Various locations throughout NZ.
Huckleberry Farms - Delivers throughout NZ (Wholefoods).
Piko Wholefoods - Christchurch local vegetarian wholefoods co-op.
Steves Bulk Barn  - Palmerston North (Wholefoods/Organic).

For bulk baking soda and washing soda (or soda ash) for your cleaners : 

Wonder Products Eltham 06 764 8088       0800 100 350

Aakland Chemicals Christchurch 03 341 8490


I hope this helps you get off to a good start :) since we eat a wholefoods, non-processed, living diet alot of these places provide organic/gluten-free/whole foods. While we're on a strict budget I firmly believe that you get far more bang for your buck by buying the least processed foods you can. You'll find you need less to eat, you and your family are healthier and you all have more energy.



Check out these books at your local library for more info on eating like we're supposed to -

Buying in bulk Part One

This seemed like such an easy topic to post on when I first thought of it but its turned out to be quite an effort! However, here it is - I hope its of some help to someone :)

I came to the concept of bulk buying over a period of about 2 years. Shopping once a week was a finely tuned, very dragged out endeavour that I hated with a passion. We live in a rural area and I had to factor in travelling, both time and cost, plus naptime for my then 1yo and my energy levels (living with PND is a real drag ;)) and most often they didn't jive. Having our income slashed during the economic slump leaving us approximately $30 to spend on food and diesel was the last straw and I very quickly decided fortnightly shopping was the way to go. As my 'stretch'em' skills developed and I found more ways to DIM (do it myself!) I realised we were going 3-4 weeks without needing to shop! Possibly not exciting for the rest of the planet but for me it was a great relief and I embraced the change gladly!!

Now time went on, our income went back up, we suffered through my second pregnancy and the birth of our second gorgeous son (not one of those peaceful glowing mamas-to-be!!! My pjs were my best friend, second only to mouthwash after my rather hideous and continual bouts of morning sickness and don't even get me started on how much I hated the kitchen...), then it was time to do another shop. To my utter shock and horror two children actually doubled the time it took me to get everything done!!! I don't know why I was surprised - but I was! Even once a month was too much and so I began to consider bulk buying and we get to the point of this post...

Points to consider when contemplating the fine art of buying in bulk:

• What products do I use the most?
• What products can I not afford to run out of (i.e toilet paper!)?
• What products that I use can be stored longterm and what has a short shelf life?
• Wheres my recipe book?

For the more frugal-minded its also good to ask:

• What can I make myself (i.e tortillas, tomato sauce)?

Actually thats a good question to ask anyway coz if say you go through alot of tomato sauce but you don't plan on making it regularly yourself its still a good idea to have a recipe plus ingredients on hand on the off chance you run out. Its best to avoid those unplanned trips to the supermarket, since we all know that a quick dash down there for one item invariably turns into a half hour look-see where you walk out with about 20 items, often including chocolate, and surprisingly often not including the original item you required!! Anyway I digress...

Here is the rundown of what I did to prepare for my first 6 month bulk buy:

1. I pulled out all my recipe books and listed all our favourite dinner, baking, condiments and desserts recipes (very important!).
2. I multiplied each dinner/dessert and condiment recipe by 24, and each baking recipe by 48. I based my multiplication on the assumption that I'd make each dinner/dessert and condiment recipe once a week and each baking recipe twice a week. I have about 20 dinner recipes, 3 dessert recipes and only make up condiments as we use them so I obviously wasn't working to a specific 6 month menu plan!! I wanted to make sure I had more than enough in case we felt like a particular meal more often than another or we had dinner guests. The idea here is to OVER-shop!
3. I broke down every single ingredient in every single recipe (based on my multiplied figures and no its not as hard as you'd think) and listed it like for like, so all tomato servings from all recipes are added up together KWIM? I may need 20 x 800g tins of tomatoes to make all the recipes requiring tomato over the 6 months. Hmmm hope thats clear enough!
4. Just slotting in here that I also worked out how much I could actually make from scratch so my enchiladas require tortillas and enchilada sauce both of which I make myself. I broke down those ingredients and added them to my list.
5. I listed all the ingredients required for my cleaners, hair and body products.
6. I then worked out the approximate shelf life of everything on my list and sectioned all the items under headings such as dairy, tins, bags, and so on. Its important to have an idea of whats required to store your bulk food items safely and securely. 
7. Finally I began to price check!!

Price checking wheres and why fors:

When checking prices of the products on your ingredients list you'll come across different sizes available. You'll also have a range of providers available to you. Heres some ideas on how to price check in your area and some things I did, beginning with how to price and following on to where to look.

1. Always take the unit price of each brand/size you're pricing. This is very important so you have the most accurate figures to work with.
2. Make sure you check if GST is included in the price. Bulk providers don't include it so you need to add it on in order to get the most accurate price. To find GST I use this calculation : 'price not inc GST' x 0.125 = GST. If you have a different way of doing this please share :) Remember GST is going up in October so the calculation will need to be adjusted to reflect that.
3. Don't take down sale prices unless you plan on shopping within the sale timeframe.
4. Make sure you note which shop you got each price from. The more organised you can be the easier it is. I have a price list you can print off however I'm having abit of trouble converting it to PDF so I'll sort that out tomorrow - watch this space :)
5. Make a list of all your local suppliers first and price them out.
6. Google your area for more supplier options. Christchurch for example has a couple of bulk suppliers that aren't available to the rest of the country.

 

Becoming self-sufficient

I'm a huge believer in if you CAN do it yourself then you SHOULD do it yourself, therefore its no great surprise that I'm on a mission to become 98% self-sufficient with a strong focus on living healthfully!!

I thought I'd list some of the things we're doing to be as self-reliant as we can on a just under quarter of an acre section:

• Chickens - we have 5 chickens at the moment which make for eggs and, as time goes on, freezer chickens! They're fed on kitchen scraps and leftover bread from the local primary schools big breakfasts (yep they put on a breakfast every morning for the kids - awesome ae?! And our lovely neighbour, who is one of the breakfast ladies, brings the bread home for us).

• Food storage - After the storms and powercuts of the last two years, plus losing a good portion of food when our chestie blew up just before christmas, I'm not entirely confident that bulk refrigeration is the way to go!! So I've been on a mission to find as many different ways to store food, fairly longterm, as I can. So far I've canned fruit, fermented vegetables, and dehydrated both. I've just brought a dehydrator and am waiting very excitedly for its delivery (should be tomorrow!) so I can read the recipe book and try dehydrating some apples I have stashed and have a go at some meat jerky! In regards to storing meat, I've asked the big guy what he thinks about building me a smokehouse but he reckons we'll hold off on that for now since he likes our neighbours (though I did point out they'd most likely be queueing up to borrow the thing!), so I've been reading up on other forms of meat preservation. Theres pickling, dehydrating and saltpacking but other than dehydrating I'm put off just by the names of the others! However I was really intrigued when I read about canning meat!! Apparently you chop up the cheap scungy cuts, pack them in a canning jar, pop them in a pressure cooker and bam - tender, gravy-laden meat, canned meat!!! I'm now stalking various pressure cooker auctions on Trademe and leaving my name and details at all the local (and some not so local) secondhand stores! I've also been looking at different options to store eggs, fruit and veges to keep them fresh but since thats still a work in progress I'll have to update you on my investigations abit later! Popping back to where I commented on fermenting vegetables, yep I know the concept of leaving food to 'ferment' (which kind of seems like a polite way of saying rot!) is abit offputting but has anyone ever actually tried it?? I started with sauerkraut, moved on to fermented salsa, then turned my hand at apple butter and I'm soooo converted! I'm actually going to write a whole seperate post on it because I think its such a good food storage option plus so so good for you (and I know you'll all wana hear about why I cried when I first tried the salsa, not to mention the escaping apple butter saga ;)) so watch this space!

• Vegetable garden - yep oldie but a goodie! The more I can grow, the less I need to buy. I'm being especially daring this year and planting carrots :gasp: and all the beans I can think of since they make up a big portion of our wholefoods diet. I'm still tossing up whether or not to try a grain of some sort but I might need to hold off on that til I work out how to get the vegetable part growing! I'm actually a total brown thumb and I swear my plants actually shrivel up and die when they see me but I persevere, plus bribe the big guy alot coz he seems to have the knack! Is anybody into gardening in a big way?? I'd be totally interested in getting someone who knows what they're doing to so a post for me??!

• Meat - ok so we have abit of an advantage on alot of people since we own cattle and graze them on family land but since I'm typing specifically about our journey I thought it was worth a mention! We grow our own cattle, the big guy shoots them, we both skin them (except when I'm pregnant cause then I pull my shocked 'are you seriously asking me to make an effort' face ;)) and chuck them on the back of the ute then toss them off again at the backyard butchers lol sounds abit...hick-like... but hey we get easily a years worth of meat for maybe $500 and an afternoons work!

• Clothes - well this half falls under the 2% thats not self-sufficient and thats mostly because I really don't know how to sew. I've taught myself what I do know and even then its abit hit and miss but I'm getting there, albeit rather slowly! The half that falls under self-sufficiency is the boys clothes since I am at the point where I can run up pants, shorts, tshirts, sweatshirts and pull-on pjs for them, and probably knickers if I had to. Adult clothing, however, is a tad more complicated so maybe thats under the 2%... Hmm this bulletpoint isn't very clear but I'm sure you can work out what I'm saying :)

• Dishes/crockery/etc - hmmm ok so this is a funny one. YES we are capable of making our own plates and dishes, serving wear, etc, using our skills in pottery (mine and they're minimal haha) and stainless steel turning (well he's an engineer, what can I say, hes got the smarts!), however at this point it would be extremely complicated and drawn out! We are instead going for the no-plastic look in our home and investing in some good quality bamboo and stainless steel mugs and dinnerware with a sprinkling of glassware for cooking. We're slowly building up the type of stuff we want which has excellent long-term wear and no health side-effects. Is this something you'd be interested in for your home? I'd like to hear what you think.

• Dairy products - we now purchase raw milk from a local dairy supplier (yes all legal!) as we have that bit of extra money now and my goal is to make our own cheeses, hard and soft. Once we're on our block we'll have a milking cow and I'll be doing our own butter too but at this point I'm working with the limited resources we have. I'll put up a post with photos of my attempts at a later date.

• Condiments - firstly I so love that word haha, and secondly this is an awesome way to save some moolah (money for those not in the know) and eat healthfully! I make our tomato sauce, salad dressings, flavoured oils and such. Its so easy!! What do you make?? Favourite recipes??

• Cleaning/personal body products - finally I am on a mission to make all our household cleaners and our body products from scratch. I already do all our cleaners, however I brought a 20L container of B.E.E washing machine liquid off a friend who had purchased it only to discover she was allergic to it. Once this is finished I'll be making my own powder again. I've also found a recipe for crockpot soap so watch this space for a future post on that! I have been given quite abit of baby products and am wading my way through the stuff I'm comfortable using and flicking the rest off (have you ever read what those long and unpronounceable names on the back of the containers actually are and what they can do??!!) so as soon as I'm finished with them I'll be making my own again!

So there you go! I may have missed a bit of stuff but I think I've summed most of it up. I'd love to hear what you do to be self-sufficient and save money round the house.

I was thinking I'd do a post on bulk shopping since I'm now shopping for all my drygoods once every 6 months with a goal of spending no more than $600 - averaging out at $100 a month. My first shop came to just under $500 so I'm stoked with that especially as 4 and a half months in I'm not even close to running out of most things!! Would that interest anyone?? Let me know :)