I'm so excited, we've reached one of our goals! I found out about a childhood friend who has fresh eggs. She was happy to barter for my homemade bread. I brought home 2 1/2 dozen eggs for two loaves of my homemade whole wheat bread - we quickly ate scrambled eggs after bringing them home, so some are missing for the picture. I grind the wheat myself so the bread was just as fresh.
I look forward to getting some more photos of her chickens this spring when they get to be outside all day. She has a great variety - everything from Plymouth Rocks to Bantams to Guineas.
She also has goats and milks them twice a day. They do not buy milk or butter - they use the goat's milk. She said she's even made ice cream with it and is going to try to make cheese.The eggs are delicious. The yolks are a deep golden color which means they have tons of vitamins in them. The shells are nice and thick. It's so obvious how much healthier they are than store-bought eggs. Plus, I'm no longer paying for eggs! Soon, I will blog about how to make your own bread.
We've successfully cut our three most frequent store-bought items from the budget. Milk, bread and eggs. The milk budget has been cut in half now that I'm supplementing with our non-fat dry milk from food storage, I'm making 100% of our bread from food storage items and no longer buying it, and we're bartering for fresh eggs and no longer buying them. These three items were what we would most frequently "run to the store" for and end up picking up other items while we were there. So excited!
Mary said something that really resonated with me when I was picking up the eggs. She said, "Once you get used to doing things yourself, it's actually easier." I think she's right. It really is easier for me to make a couple of loaves of bread while I'm cooking dinner or homeschooling than it is for me to run to the store and get more. It's also SO much healthier. Can't wait to share more...
6 comments :
I love making bread. I haven't had as much time for it lately, but when I'm done with school, I'll definitely be back at it. Do you use a breadmaker? I do mine all by hand, but sometimes the density is higher at the bottom of the loaf, and the top kind of falls apart. Any hints on how to fix that? And, I totally love the bartering! We might try the milk changes soon, but I'm unsure of how much it might change the taste. We use skim, so changes are kind of obvious. How has yours turned out?
I was in college before I had store bought bread. I need to get in the habit of making bread again. I have a nice electric wheat grinder and TONS of wheat...I will have to get your recipe.
I love bartering too :) I know a Website, where you can barter for almost everything... Maybe it is of interest for you (it's an easy system and free). It is: http://www.barterquest.com
Have fun with future trades :)
Hmm, Bethany, I'm not sure what's going on with your bread. I'm going to blog several lessons on here on making your own bread so maybe you'll find some tips and tricks there to try. I do use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to turn mine into dough, then I let it rise in the bread pans and bake in the oven. You can also let your bread machine run the dough cycle to turn it into dough and then let it rise in the bread pans and bake in the oven. I'll try to get around to blogging about bread soon!
That is absolutely fabulous! What a wonderful idea to barter, so healthy, simple and frugal.
I would love some tricks and tips. Only I don't have a bread maker. I do it all by hand. On the counter. :) I really like it. It's pretty fun, actually, and is a decent workout since I am too short for my countertops! I love this blog, keep it up, Sabra!
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