cknmom
Almost Self-Reliant
I have not been on the forum for a very long time. This whole year I have been in the process of moving from CA to TN. DH, DGD and I moved in with our daughter and SIL and three more of our granchildren. I went from managing a household of three to a household of seven until DD returned from Afghanistan right before Thanksgicing! Now we are a famil;y of eight!
When I was in CA I was baking ALL of our baked goods (bread, tortillas, buns, desserts, snacks,etc) I tried here, but I could not keep up with the amount of people eating them and my energy ability to make them. So we went back to buying bread and tortillas, I am still baking everything else.
I am having a hard time adjusting to the amounts of food to prepare. I either make too much (which I would rather do) or not enough. Our freezer broke down a couple of months ago. We will buy a new one after the first of the year. We have three fridges with freezers in them. A small pantry in the kitchen and a large two door, four shelf pantry in the garage. Until our SIL gets out of the Army next july (DD gets out in March) we are renting a house. We will be looking for a large ranch/farm next year or two. So we cannot do much in the way of altering our storage.
We have been trying to lessen our grocery bill, but with the holidays and extra people and extra baking, it has been harder to do. We try to do major shopping once a month at Sams Club and are trying to figure out if it is better to shiop a Kroger's or Wal Mart for the rest of the shopping. Krogers is better quality and a better selection.
Any help with ideas for large families will help. Both DD and I LOVE to cook and bake so we cook from scratch almost all the time. I like to keep frozen or boxed things on hand for quick meals or if I am too sick to cook.
I have most of the canning equipment I need but have not started canning. Both DD and I have vacuum sealers. We will be buying an dehyderator next year.
Great informative thread!!
Monica
When I was in CA I was baking ALL of our baked goods (bread, tortillas, buns, desserts, snacks,etc) I tried here, but I could not keep up with the amount of people eating them and my energy ability to make them. So we went back to buying bread and tortillas, I am still baking everything else.
I am having a hard time adjusting to the amounts of food to prepare. I either make too much (which I would rather do) or not enough. Our freezer broke down a couple of months ago. We will buy a new one after the first of the year. We have three fridges with freezers in them. A small pantry in the kitchen and a large two door, four shelf pantry in the garage. Until our SIL gets out of the Army next july (DD gets out in March) we are renting a house. We will be looking for a large ranch/farm next year or two. So we cannot do much in the way of altering our storage.
We have been trying to lessen our grocery bill, but with the holidays and extra people and extra baking, it has been harder to do. We try to do major shopping once a month at Sams Club and are trying to figure out if it is better to shiop a Kroger's or Wal Mart for the rest of the shopping. Krogers is better quality and a better selection.
Any help with ideas for large families will help. Both DD and I LOVE to cook and bake so we cook from scratch almost all the time. I like to keep frozen or boxed things on hand for quick meals or if I am too sick to cook.
I have most of the canning equipment I need but have not started canning. Both DD and I have vacuum sealers. We will be buying an dehyderator next year.
Great informative thread!!
Monica
I/we use so much of them for cooking/eating. Thank you for the links!!
DD also is a couponer, we both have some coupon websites also. I did not know that walmart matches other stores coupons.
YAY! 
