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How back to basics are you?



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Seraph




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 6:23 am
I'm just curious how many of the things in your house/home are made/grown at home and not bought in a store.
I'm not talking about the typical food, like chicken, rice, etc.
But if you make your own homemade crackers, bread on a regular basis, etc, please share.

Do you grow any fruits/vegetables? Which ones? Does it completely cover your need, or do you need to buy in addition to what you grow?
Do you make wine/grape juice/alcoholic beverages?

Sew your own clothing? Knit your own socks/hats/etc?


We are starting to grow cherry tomatoes. So far the plants are too small to yield anything, but we hope our 3 plants will grow a decent amount.
Our chickens lay almost all of our egg needs.
I make my own bread on occasion, but not all the time.
I've started to make my own chicken jerky.
I'm making homemade sauerkraut and pickles.
I sewed my own duvet cover out of some gorgeous fabric.
I buy almost no processed foods, make almost everything from scratch including noodles, pasta sauce, etc.

Looking for other ideas/inspirations.
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chocolate moose




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 6:59 am
I work full time; I can't do any of that. But I make a lot of money for a secretary, BH. I think I do better by working full time than I would by homesteading.

That said, before I went back full time, I did make all of our own bread and bone our own chicken. And we ate a lot of soups and casseroles.
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Pizza




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 7:12 am
I make about half our bread and crackers, and all our cakes/cookies
Sometimes make pickles
80% of meals are homemade (not from the frozen foods sections)
We are growing 4 types of tomatoes and cukes this year (used to do more, but need to take it easy this year!)
Used to make duvet covers and some kids clothes, etc.... now I have found it is cheaper to buy at gemachs (thrift shops), except for special purchases.
I recently re-glued our dining room chairs, and recovered them.
There is definitely less of this when I am working outside of the home... but still a lot of it, for health and frugality.
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willow




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 9:48 am
How do you make crackers?
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sky




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 10:14 am
I make half our bread, and all our challah.
We have a small garden with tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zuchhini, cucumbers, string beans, cantaloupe, honeydew. (Those are grown from plants). I'm also growing from seeds snap peas, watermelon, corn, winter squash, and more zuchhini. It all sprouted, but after I transplanted them it doesn't look so promising.
I hope to get a lot of our veggies from the garden over the summer but I don't save for the winter.
I bake a lot.
I also work full time so I don't have time to do as much as I'd like - but I love the taste of fresh veggies so that I'm willing to put in the effort. Plus I think its great for ds to water the plants and watch them grow. (When I told him we were buying tomatoe plants, he was all upset that they didn't look like tomatoes - its a great learning lesson for him)

This may sound funny - but one thing I started doing myself is making dips - my dh loves them - and was buying 2 -3 every shabbos - and I recently started making them myself. We are really enjoying them.

Almost all meals are homemade. But I do use store bought ingredients in them to save time.
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URMe




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 11:02 am
Let's see...
I make all my bread and challah
cookies and cakes
all meals are homemade with store bought ingredients
I wash my dishes- no papergoods
natural births- I'm really proud of myself
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Marion




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 11:53 am
I make my own challah, cakes, muffins, squares, and cookies. If DH ever weeds the backyard I want to put in a few fruit trees, and I want to put herbs in our planter boxes, but I have something less than a green thumb and I work full time outside the home as well, so time is something of a commodity. That said, the only convenience foods I buy are fish sticks (don't think I can make them for that price anyway), and ready made schnitzels for DH (same deal...they're something like a shekel each). Occasionally I'll buy frozen bourekas or cold cuts for the freezer if they're on special...those are my "OMG, DH just brought home an extra 6 people for Shabbat" foods.
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natmichal




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 12:10 pm
DH bakes bread every day (bread maker) and I bake all challah, cakes and biscuits in the house. will buy pretxel for B-days but that's about it.
borekas are out usually but in now since I'm studying for a major exam and have little time (otherwise I make them too)
As a rule, we eat pretty healthy so I try to avoid ready make fish fingers etc, my kids like regular fish and I make yummy tuna patties with veggies in them (chabbad cookbook).
I sew a bit - I'll make a dress for special occasion for DD or a skirt for me. for gan, it's a lot of hand me downs and cheap shops (not worth the sewing).
no garden right now (no time) But DH 's dream is a veg. garden , some chickens and goats so if we survive this year we might have our own eggs and milk/cheese.
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freidasima




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 03 2009, 12:28 pm
Well we live in an apartment so goats and chickens are out.
We don't eat bread or crackers, only rice crackers and I really can't make those.
I bake my own cake.
I make my own clothes.
I pain my own house.
I make my own jam.
I cut up my own chickens
That's about it.
But we don't use processed foods. Nor do we have a garden. We have window boxes with spices and a tiny fig tree that the birds eat from.
I also work full time and take care of my mother and grandson in my spare time.

What else could I make? I don't use processed foods, we drink water (I use a brita filter) and we eat lots of fruits, veg, rice, chicken, my dh eats a leben every day and we eat rice crakers with homemade jam or just by themselves.

Any suggestions that will be healthier and not time consuming as I have no time whatsoever to spare?
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ruthla




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2009, 12:02 pm
Let's see:

I don't purchase cakes or cookies at all. We generally make a cake for Shabbos, and sometimes the girls bake cookies during the week. I do purchase ice cream and candy occasionally.

We've just started being more frugal, and making our own brown sugar syrup instead of buying maple syrup, and making our own chocolate syrup, and if we have pudding, it's homemade.

Crackers, rice cakes, and breakfast cereals we purchase.

I used to make all my own challah, but when I went gluten-free, I realized it's not safe for me to be in a kitchen with wheat flour floating around. Nothing baked that day would be uncontaminated, and I can even get sick from breathing in the flour that inevetiably gets into the air when baking. So now I bake the gluten-free challah for myself, and purchase challah for other family members and guests.

We don't grow any vegetables.
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