One thing I have found that most mountain men, woodsman, outdoors men, and basically just men in general have in common is a need for lots of hardy meals on a regular basis. Huge hunks of roasted meats and heaping piles of potatoes and carrots. Loaves of fresh breads and heaps of pasta smothered in sauce. Washing it all down with cold frothy mugs of dark beer.
I would love to be completely self sufficient when it comes to mine and my family’s meals. Sadly there is no subsistence hunting in my state. I’m limited to what the fine folks at the department of wildlife say I can have. I’m not knocking conservation at all. I want my son and his kids and so on and so forth to be able to hunt just like I have been blessed to be able to do. The only thing I have a problem with is having to buy meat when I am perfectly capable of getting my own. So, long story short, I have to hunt what I can and buy what I need to supplement. As far as huge hunks of roasted meats I am limited to store bought beef, chicken, pork, and turkey.
When it comes to vegetables, starches, and grains I’m limited as well. Not by a government agency, but by my own lack of knowledge and time. I do have a garden annually but nothing big enough to provide fruits and veggies for a whole year. I’m usually just growing what I can’t find in the store. I hate tomatoes with a passion, or I guess I should say I hate store bought tomatoes. But I have found a few heirloom breeds that I now can’t live without. I’m also big on hot peppers, but the junk you find in the local supermarkets is so flavorless, heatless, and tough skinned it’s not worth eating; so I grow my own. From ghost chilies and scotch bonnets to pepperoncinis and Fresno chillies.
I don’t have the climate nor the expertise to grow my own wheat and barley, or culture my own yeast. I have, on the other hand, learned to bake my own bread and brew my own beer. Nothing beats turning flower, water, milk, and yeast into delicious homemade bread. No preservatives or chemicals to worry about. You know exactly what is going into you bread, not to mention it is cheaper than any bead you can buy off the shelf. Same with beer. You have to buy the grain, yeast and bottle caps, but it tastes way better than big factory beers and you can make it for a fraction of the cost of big label beers.
I won’t go into all of my recipes today but they are on the way. I’ll go through my processes for baking bread and making beer in the next few posts. I will share my mistakes so that you can avoid making them yourself. And I will share my discoveries to make life a little easier.
Today I just want to go over a few things I found that makes buying your food from a store a little less depressing. Basically just some ways I have found to stretch your dollar and eat cleaner foods.
#1: To be redundant…make your own bread. It is fun, tasty, cheap, and better for you.
#2: Instead of buying deli turkey or ham for lunches get whole turkeys or turkey breasts, or whole hams, and whole chickens and oven roast them. You get a good dinner and sandwich meats for days afterwords. The left over bones and veggies can be made into stocks, soups, and stews. Plus you know exactly what you are getting on you sandwich. No mashed turkey parts pumped with preservatives and smashed into blocks that don’t look like they were ever alive.
#3: Try to buy fruits and veggies at farmers markets. The food tends to be better and in a lot of cases cheaper. You get less pesticides and a bigger selection. The only negative that I have found so far is fighting crowds of hipsters buying fruits and veggies ironically.
#4: Make your own pasta sauce. Fresh tomatoes, onions, and garlic make way better sauce than canned. You can make a ton at one time easily and freeze what you don’t use. I haven’t learned to make my own pasta yet, but when I do I will let you know if it is worth it.
#5: Make your own pizza. Ingredients for pizza fully loaded with everything you want, plus really tasty sauce and crust, still comes out to less than 5 bucks for a large pizza. No way 5 dollar ready and hot can come close in flavor and delivery is way more expensive. In the time it takes you to order a pizza and have it delivered you can make a way tastier pie in your own oven where you know you are using real cheese, fresh veggies and better meats.
These are just suggestions. I of course know it’s not for everyone. It is time consuming to shop for and prepare your own food. But if you find yourself with the extra time and energy to do it the woodsman’s way I am sure you will enjoy the outcome.
woodsman's chronicles 