We Made Pickles & Current Economy
Throughout the last few decades, it has been less expensive to buy most food at the grocery store than it has been to make it from scratch. This of course is not the case for all foods and for many, making their food from scratch, using items they’ve even grown or raised themselves, has been cost-effective. For most Americans however, it has been easy, convenient, time-saving, and cost-effective to just buy all their needs at the store. Even fast food was so affordable that for decades, the argument was used that Americans could feed their families for less money at the drive-through than even going into grocery stores. For years this political discussion brought about food insecurity arguments, prompting fresh food availability for the underprivileged and healthy food programs in our public schools.
We have all noticed change; the question is what action do you need to take now to avoid food insecurity issues that are threatening our nation? The short answer is to start evaluating now what is costing your family more money and take the actionable steps now to either remove these items from the food budget, find a cheaper alternative, or make it yourself. As we dive deeper into this issue, I want you to understand that while many common grocery items are increasing in price, my household food budget continues to go down. We only shop sale ads and if it’s not on sale, we don’t buy it unless it’s a necessity. This has been a change in our household over the last year and while it was an adjustment at first, it has become routine now.
Of course, with change comes some discomfort and I recently could not ignore the rising prices of refrigerated pickles, my favorite. At my local store, my favorite brand of refrigerated pickles is upwards of five dollars a jar, which is just unacceptable to me! I knew I could make pickles, but I hadn’t decided to take that leap until I refused to pay the prices anymore. This happened to me on Saturday morning, I just couldn’t justify the price and so my goal was to make pickles that day. I wanted cold-brined pickles, so I knew I wouldn’t be heat canning them, at least until I can find a recipe that I like. After calling my local produce place and finding out they had pickling cucumbers, I headed there to get them, came home, and spent the next several hours combing the internet for recipes. After a few hours, and combining several recipes, I settled on what I thought would be a good pickle recipe and got to work. You can see the whole process in the YouTube video above!
Making pickles was probably the single easiest from-scratch item I’ve ever made, and they came out incredible. I will never buy another pickle from the store, and this is why I love the confidence that comes with homesteading. Homesteading to me is a state of strategic, slow, thoughtful, progress at becoming more self-sustainable and more self-reliant. We just removed one item that we will never have to buy from the grocery store again, and once we start growing these types of cucumbers this summer, we will essentially rely less and less on others for this food source. It’s a satisfying and proud moment when you can depend on yourself for something that you once relied on others for.
This type of self-reliance should begin to flow into all aspects of your life once you decide to take the journey toward a self-sufficient lifestyle. If your goal is to become debt-free, it is important to start reducing your grocery budget, follow sale ads, and begin making more things at home. This concept holds true in other aspects of your life, such as buying non-food items from the store. Going shopping and buying new things is nice, but usually unnecessary in most situations. Just this weekend I was on a mission to outfit my oldest son with cleats, a bat, glove, helmet, and bag for baseball which he starts in a few weeks. My weekend goal was to visit a few local thrift stores to accomplish as much of this as possible. Between my mother-in-law who visited her local consignment shop, and me going to our local thrift store, we were able to outfit Thomas with everything he needs this season for thirty-eight dollars.
We should be aware that at this point, the world has shifted, it is changing. Things that once were, are no longer and as humans, we need to adapt. The last several years have proved to us several things, but the one thing I’ve personally taken away is that we became too dependent on others, just coasting on by, living life, not thinking twice about having our needs met at any given moment. I’m thankful that God gave me the discernment to see change was needed in my life, and I’m grateful that he directed my heart and the hearts of my family to a much richer and more fulfilling life, pursuing his glory.