When nothing is close, what do I eat in the woods?

Even if stores, restaurants, and fast food are a long drive away, you can eat better and in short order with a little forethought.

The closest Walmart, grocery store, or fast-food is a minimum of 25 minutes away. So I've gotten pretty good at making sure I have food made for the week--from scratch, mostly organic, nothing processed. It has made a huge impact on my health, energy level, and wallet. (The final hurdle will be portion control, my downfall at the moment. Especially when the weather gets cold.)

The first thing I did after I purchased my cabin was get rid of the electric stove. I knew the chances of losing power in this remote rural area was a real possibility. That concern has since been confirmed numerous times over the years. I purchased a gas stove that I had adjusted to accommodate propane. When the power goes out, I'm able to start the burners with a lighter or match. This adjustment to propane was made easy by an appliance store in a neighboring town that sent a serviceman over on the installation who was familiar with the propane modification. Also, please note, that all-electric reliance is not good for survival or even convenience in the woods. Propane-modified gas stoves and wood stoves assures cooked food and a warm, heated cabin, even when the power goes out. (Dual fuel generators and solar generators are a godsend as well.)

Being semi-retired, I have to watch my budget. One thing I found, was not having fast-food establishments close to me was good for both my finances and my health. I've established ways to shop and to cook that have helped me save money, move toward better health, and be prepared when unforeseen circumstances occur. Things such as being stuck up here because of flooded or tree-blocked roads, being snowed in, surprise guests (extremely rare), or a large expense I hadn't anticipated.

If I loved to cook all the time, I'd make from-scratch meals everyday. I don't love to cook all the time, especially when I have outdoor tasks or a workday that need my attention. Property maintenance of various kinds, canning, my fitness, teaching myself to quilt, gardening, etc., are all things I'd prefer to do rather than cook some days.

I usually take one day a week to cook a couple of entrees, a soup, a loaf of sourdough bread, and a cookie or dessert to eat throughout the week. Breakfasts are easy for me to put together in the time it takes for my coffee to brew. My homemade meals go like this most weeks:

• a soup, usually for lunch with bread or a sandwich, a piece of fruit or a salad

• a loaf of sourdough bread (stored in the fridge) for sandwiches or toast

• two main dinners, usually one beef and one chicken, pork or fish, just add a side vegetable and a starch like rice/potato/pasta

• maybe sourdough bagels or English muffins (half stored in the fridge, half in the freezer for another time) are subbed out for the bread at breakfast

• homemade pizza once a week, from dough I made

• breakfasts usually consists of any of these with coffee as my beverage: avocado toast, toast with butter/honey/peanut-butter, eggs from my hens, egg sandwich, Dutch Baby Pancake wedge, overnight oats or steel-cut oats

• snacks or desserts are usually sourdough discard cookies, a fruit cobbler or crisp, or homemade granola mixed with homemade yogurt

With the above basics, I'm only cooking one or two days a week. It saves me time in the kitchen and saves me money.

Sourdough recipes have pleasantly forced me to use up discard and helped me to avoid buying processed baked goods and sweets at the store. We all get cravings for something sweet on occasion. I've made a deal with myself that I can have a sweet indulgence, only if I make it from scratch. I make cookies, crackers, granola or granola bars, scones, bagels, muffins, English muffins, cinnamon rolls, cakes, cornbread, pasta or noodles, pizza dough, pie crust, fruit-tarts, etc., all with sourdough. Since I don't waste any food, sourdough recipes keep my imagination thinking up different ways to bake, and it is all homemade. It saves me money when I make these things from scratch, rather than buy them. Tastes better too.

You can make so much more than just bread with sourdough.

Where and how do I grocery shop? Most of my organic and bulk foods I get through Azure Standard (azurestandard.com). Azure is a website where I can place an order that gets delivered at a drop location by tractor trailer. The drop is once a month. Who you'll see at these drop locations are people/families that are a diverse group of health-conscious people (some from the suburbs or the city), homesteaders, home-schoolers, and others who prefer to opt-out of mainstream grocery stores. Presently, I get my flour and grains (to mill myself) from Sunrise Flour Mill (sunriseflourmill.com).

Besides my monthly Azure Standard order, I may or may not hit Aldi's or Walmart for groceries I can't get from Azure or forgot to order. It turns out that I go to those grocery stores about every three to four weeks. Lastly, I'll make a quarterly run to Costco, about 1 1/4 hours away. I'm only grocery shopping once or at most, twice a month. On these days, I combine other errands such as banking, gas, and visits with friends.

I challenged myself this year to only buy raw milk, which I pick up from a farm about 35 minutes away about twice a month. From the raw milk, I use it in my coffee, to make my homemade matcha lattes, creamy soups or sauces, and to make homemade yogurt and kefir. I believe in the benefits of raw milk over milk purchased in the store.

The last week before my Azure pickup, I use up what is getting replaced. This week, for example, I had leftover carrots, potatoes, and cabbage that were going to be in my order. So yesterday, I made a cabbage soup, and roasted the carrots and potatoes for sidedishes. I also had some walleye in my freezer that my brother caught last summer. I dredged the walleye in flour/salt/pepper, fried it up and served it on a bed of romaine drizzled with a homemade dijon vinegarette for lunch.

Nothing goes to waste, not even the veggies scraps, which go to the hens. When I have bones (beef, chicken, pork), I save them in the freezer and make them into bone broth in my Instant Pot for soups. The scraps give the hens variety and keep them and their eggs healthy. The bones make mineral-rich bone broth that I can pressure-can or freeze. There is not much in the way of trash on trash day using up everything in this manner; and of course, it saves money.

There is always something to eat here or to serve a guest. I will be providing various recipes that I make in upcoming blog posts. Please let me know if you want me to provide any specific recipes or menus.