If I can’t find what I need at the store or pharmacy or any other venue, what are my options? Do I have back-up plans? The video in Mary’s Nest was about food sources, but I wanted to expand that and include anything we might need but couldn’t purchase because of product availability.
Here are options I came up with for back-up plans …
Do without it (this is a last resort)
Substitute something else for it (this is where having a good library of knowledgeable books or online sources is invaluable.)
Barter or swap with someone who does have said item or items (this is one reason why having a network of friends is important.)
Grow it
Make it
Possibly raise it if it’s a meat item
Hunt
Forage
For such a time as this, we need to have back-up plans in place for replacing items we use on a regular basis that might be hard to source.
What are your thoughts, have you thought about what your
options are if you can’t purchase what you need?
If you find this series helpful, please share it with others. If we all do what we can to help each other whether it be through writing, sharing, teaching, coming along beside each other or any other means, the world will be a better place!
Until the next post,
Ah, you're making me think....
ReplyDeleteBlessings from Harvest Lane Cottage
Laura, yeah, that's what I want to do, make everyone think!
DeleteYou are the answer to my everyday question of what I need to do. Mary's Youtube is also very helpful.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did in this month's budget was pull some extra funds for other places and create a Stock Up budget category so that I have the funds to carry on easily with this project. Proverbs 21:20 came to my attention yesterday as a affirmation to what I am doing.
1) We can go 20 miles west to another distribution area or north into another state where supplies also come from different warehouses. We have found this to be very helpful. We don't necessarily make a special trip but often make a point to stop and look for what we need when we in those areas. I also watch some money saving blogs for deals that I can buy online. When I see a deal I jump on it before it is gone. Oddly enough our salvage grocery stores often have things we can't find in the regular grocery but they are often organic or the expensive gourmet option that most would not pay for at the regular stores. We often grab a case of 12 single cups of cottage cheese there that is $3.50 for each cup at Publix.
2) Check the old cookbooks I have for recipes for food items that we rarely make from scratch anymore. My Mom used to make homemade marshmallows which are really quite easy but we don't think of doing that now We can culture our own buttermilk from what is left in our bottle from the store. Last week I added some butter to half and half for a recipe that called for heavy cream. (I felt like Julia stirring that cube of butter into the sauce!)
3) I can treat pretty much anything with my essential oils and herbs that we have on hand. I can make special blends from single oils if we need it. Old linens can make bandages or slings.
4) We have coffee beans to barter. We rejected buying anything that we would not use ourselves to barter but we always use coffee beans. I have seen others say to purchase alcohol or cigarettes but we did not want to do that. We have great neighbors whom we would feel comfortable asking to trade.
5) This weekend there were zero tomatoes at our Aldi. Hmmm...maybe our little container garden will be needed to supply those all summer. Maybe we could swap those for other garden produce. We just have to keep the squirrels out of them but we are ready to do battle with a roll of chicken wire we purchased a few months ago.
6) We are working hard to remember to put everything we use up on a list somewhere so that we can be on the lookout to replace it before we have to have it. Hubby keeps lists in his phone so this is helpful when we have a chance to check other places spur of the moment.
7) My Special Ops Army nephew was here a few years ago and said he could live for weeks in our woods. We still wonder how! But there are plenty of squirrels to be had here. There are fields of dandelions near by and wild blackberries. I have a supply of alfalfa seeds to sprout if we need fresh greens.
Cottage cheese 12 packs are $1.
DeleteLana, thank you! I really like the idea of having a separate category called 'stocking up.' You've shared several things in your list that I picked up some tips from, thank you!
DeleteGreat post! I would first say, have a good knowledge of substitutions. There are so many, and having that information at your fingertips is handy. We have a page of substitutions in our Family Recipes cookbook, as handed down from my grandmother, and I've added to it, so I don't have to search the internet when one is needed. This came in handy for St. Patrick's Day 2021, when buttermilk for Irish Soda Bread was nowhere to be found. Also, if you have favorite commercial seasoning mixes, find a copycat recipe NOW, print or write it out, and start mixing your own (and there's still time to plant the herbs you may need to make them). Lastly, I'd say get to know the farmers in your area. Identify who has milk, who might have fresh eggs, who keeps bee hives and would have honey, where are the fruit farms in your area, best produce stands for vegetables and fruit, and start buying from them now -- perhaps not every shopping trip, but once or twice a month and build in time for conversation, to start developing that relationship. Might that farm stand be willing to carry some of your jams, jellies, etc.? And what do you need to do to satisfy your State's cottage industry laws that enable you to sell home canned / home baked goods? This post also served as a reminder to me that I should be paying closer attention to world agriculture. Ukriane has traditionally provided nearly half of the world's sunflower oil. It also has been a major exporter to the US of corn, wheat, and potatoes, as well as barley. There will be pressure on US exports, to help overcome losses of these commodities in the marketplace due to the war. So, if you use any items that contain these products, it may not be a bad idea to stock up a little more than usual, in anticipation of wartime crop losses. I've added 2 extra bags of flour to my pantry, will add an extra whole wheat flour when I see it at a good price, and am keeping an eye out for barley flour (currently out of stock at all stores I've checked). If I can't find it, I'll be placing an order thru Amazon, so I have it on hand for some of my bread recipes that call for it.
ReplyDeleteLori, I like the idea of compiling a page of substitutions and keeping them somewhere handy. Great comment!
DeleteLori, I just added to my list to make a substitution page. Thank you!
DeleteFirst, I'm sorry to hear that you have IT! I hope you and your husband will be on the mend soon.
ReplyDeleteI need to go watch the video, but I wanted to comment that I did this exact thing the other day! I sat down and made a list of the things we usually buy at the store- our regular items. Then next to each thing, I wrote down substitutions, or whether I could produce/grow it myself. (Some things like my beloved coffee would have to be outsourced.) We have some homestead projects coming up and I am making a list of things I want to raise or grow. I have found that I can get by with quite a few things on my list without the grocery store. Now to put it all into action.
As a side note, in the spirit of this series, I had an 'a-ha' moment earlier in the week. Due to some major oversight on my part (how could I let this happen?) I ran out of trash bags for my kitchen and didn't realize it until I needed one. I thought, "How can I make do?" I went out to the shed and got an empty chicken feed sack and stuck it in my kitchen trash can. I had to roll the top down a bit, but it fit! Then I wondered why I have been throwing out empty feed sacks and then buying empty bags at the store just to fill up with trash and throw away! So now I will be repurposing those feed sacks and cut down on my trash bag purchases. I'll still keep them on hand because I use them for other things, but every little bit helps!
Kelsey, thank you, we are improving with each day. The feed bag/trash bag idea is pure genus! I'm going to start implementing that right away!
DeleteKelsey, good grief, when I think of all the feed bags we have thrown away. Not anymore. Thank you !
DeleteAlways thinking of how to "do things without" and sourcing things I can't do without. With the world in the mess it is in and not getting better any time soon...Well, you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteCass, I do know what you mean!
DeleteMy oldest daughter has been learning how to forage, and she made us a pesto with chickweed, which grows in abundance and grows back very quickly here in a certain area of our land. It was delicious and nutritious! We have also tried some other things, and she's always munching on something. She's identified wild blackberries and blueberries, mock strawberries, plantain, etc. It's invaluable!
ReplyDeleteGabrielle, maybe she can teach you! That's a valuable skill for sure!
DeleteI hope you and your husband are well on the mend from IT. This is a wonderful post, Patsy. I'm quite familiar with Mary's Nest. One of the things I really like about her site is that she is so practical and doesn't use a lot of exotic ingredients that most of the cookbooks on cooking with scraps do. We live an agricultural area, although not an a farm ourselves. I have made lists of all the farms within a 5 to 10 mile radius of our home who have on the premises markets for poultry, meats, veggies and fruit. We also have an IGA who, during the growing season sources all of their fruits and vegetables from the local farmers. Over the years I have also learned to stock ingredients for things so that they be be made at home rather than going out to find them. I have friends I can swap with for eggs, vegetables that I grow that they don't and vice versa. With the fertilizer shortage I have researched ways to make homemade fertilizer using what I have on hand such as epsom salts, dried milk, a touch of ammonia, or different compost teas, and also using fish emulsion which is can be bought in quart bottles for a song compared to bagged fertilizers. I have lists of substitutions for different herbs and spices I always keep several bags of flax seed on hand to use for egg substitutes in baking and a dairy free milk. Our property has a buffet of wild native plants that are edible, such as dandelions, which every spring get made into dandelion honey and salve and the tender leaves for salads, plantain, clover, dead nettles, violets,and our roses provide us with rose petal jelly as well as flowers for the table. Apple skins and cores as well as peach skins and pits get saved and used to make apple pie jelly and peach jelly. Doing internet searches from cough syrup, Gatorade and other medicinals, we found that most can be made at home from simple ingredients usually in the fridge or pantry.
ReplyDeleteCookie, you are so resourceful! Going to take notes on your comment and work towards doing similar things.
DeleteI am not sure how many others do this but I have a lot of family that lives near and we "Share it." I have gotten eggs, strawberries, extra hamburger, blueberries, tomato plants, dry beans, etc this way. I also have given away various things myself.
ReplyDelete