No more store bought bread

We need to buy a new car, ours is quite old and she is on her last leg, or should I say wheel.


We are going to keep fixing ours at least one more time, more if it really needs it, but sooner than later we are going to have to purchase a new one. Well, new to us anyway, we won't be splurging for a brand new one.



Before we welcome a new car, and it's payments, into the family we need to pay down some debt so we can still sleep at night and not be fraught with economic worry. For the last year we have not had any car payments and I gotten rather use to it.



To accomplish "Mission Debt Reduction" we are no longer going to be buying any more groceries until our cupboards are bare. We will still buy the basics of milk, butter, fresh veggies, fruit and anything else that crops up that we just can't go without, but otherwise, no grocery shopping. I also will not be foolish enough to pass up a great sale on something just for the sake of staying with our no grocery rule. Especially in the upcoming month when baking and regular pantry staples are on deep discount for holiday baking and cooking. Dancer can't eat anything with food coloring in it, including yellow cheese, so we are already quite limited to grocery store sales that I can't let these seasonal sales go by. We are also going to have to shop for Thanksgiving since guest are coming to our house this year.



It may sound like we are really depriving ourselves but we are not. If anything should ever happen in the world and we had to stay home for a few months, we would be okay. Our freezer is so full from the garden and butchering that we can't get anything else in it. We also buy with a food co-op and just bought a few cases of our favorite items. And like probably most families, we have those things in our larder that maybe aren't our favorites but they need to be eaten any way. Thus far it has been quite easy but I am assuming as we get further along we will be having some rather creative meals. The kids are excited about the challenge so with them on board it shouldn't be too difficult.




This last week I spent $28.00 at the grocery store. That total would be lower if we were still milking the goats, but they are dry now for breeding. I am back to buying cow milk, and we only drink organic, so that ups the bill a bit more.



On our "no buying" list is bread. Our last slice of store bought bread was eaten on Sunday of last week. This week we have started baking our own bread. We often make homemade bread but certainly not exclusively. When we make it, it is usually some fancier type, not a loaf that you could make a sandwich out of. So now we are in the plain loaf bread and buns baking business. Here is a loaf that Dancer and Dad baked earlier in the week. I must say that Dancer has quite a knack for bread baking as her first loaf turned out delicious!
It is dangerous to the waist line to have fresh made bread in the house though. We would normally go through a loaf, or maybe two, in a week, with fresh bread we are eating a loaf a day. Most of that is eaten the few minutes after it comes out of the oven. I don't know what we are going to do when we run out of flour. Pray for good holiday flour sales I guess!