As time went on i began getting inventive with the limited kitchen supplies i had in stock. Items i would have bought readily before such as vegan milk and butter were marked up to a pricey amount. Pieces of produce in the health-food store in town were a dollar a piece or more. I began cutting the oat milk in half with water before adding the cereal to make it last longer. I tried not to use the oat milk for anything but vegan yogurt, as it was so expensive. So, oatmeal and tapioca pudding had to be made with water instead of milk. Instead of putting honey in the oatmeal or tapioca i emptied the stevia packets i kept in the tea cabinet in the shed. Sometimes i just salted the oatmeal and dubbed it “savory”.
Every week i bought 3 lbs of potatoes from imperfect foods. Whatever vegetables were available, i put with them in the skillet. Most weeks they had carrots, squash, kale, and onion. When the box arrived i would divide all the veggies into three ziploc bags for 3 separate days. Then i would peel and chop the contents of one of the bags each day, placing them in the skillet with oil and making a meal. Half of it would be supper and half of it would be lunch for the following day. It became the meal i ate throughout most of each week. I never tired of it. I was thankful to have the food.
I started combining vegetables with noodles on the days i was out of potatoes to stretch them farther. If there were any tomatoes in the garden i threw those in too.
This was the last batch of strawberries from imperfect foods before they were no longer available to buy. as usual, i fought for my order of them. I sliced eight of them for the yogurt jars and ate the rest, saving the tops for the chickens. They were such amazing berries!
We did the same. Did a bulk shop of polenta, flour, rice, sugar, dried milk etc and stored safe in a huge metal trunk in case of mice. We bought lots of tinned veg and herbs; honey we had from our home back in Transylvania and olive oil. We cook on Sundays for the coming week…pies, potatoes, sauces, salads made and just mix it up as we need. Saves money and time and you get interesting combinations as you try more variety. We only eat meat twice a week or take pork mince and make pork and veggie pies and bread to eek it out more. Very few shopping trips and a full freezer of home cooking.
Wow, i’ve never known anyone that’s lived in transylvania before! What is transylvania like? What’s the weather and the vegetation like? Yes, it seems like nowadays bulk shopping is the way to go.