Obviously I was going to need a few things from the store to make this whole winter challenge possible. As much as I'd liked to have worked out more bartering for things like milk and flour, it just wasn't realistic for someone who by the way works full time! So the best compromise I could come up with from the very begining of this whole thing was to take one last trip to the store for the bare necessities right before winter. As romantic of a notion as I had imagined the last shopping to be, it was pretty anti-climactic. But the good news is I have what I need, as best as I have estimated anyway.
Over the last month I came up with a shopping list, the idea being to buy as little as possible of the most versitale ingredients. I looked at a few of my bread recipes for my gluten-free flour and cornmeal estimates, and I spoke with my mom to get her opinion about everything a week before shopping. I want to slide into home base on March 19th with nothing left and also not starving. It's a hard line to plan.
Here was the list:
17 pounds of gluten-free flour mix
9 pounds corn meal
1 package xanthan gum (gluten replacement that is not added to the flour I buy bulk)
7 small tubs of butter
1 can of baking powder
1 box of baking soda
104-ish ounces of canola oil
64-ish ounces of olive oil
4 canisters soy milk powder
2 bags of sugar
1 container of shortening
1 can of salt
It doesn't look like much sitting on the table. For a winter of these things it didn't cost much either, about $130.00.
Back to the romantic notion. Initially I wanted to arrange with our local co-op the purchase of all my things in one swoop. Long story short (I'm considering writing a book about this whole adventure, so I'll leave the nitty gritty details of the shopping experience to that), I ended up at the co-op far longer than anyone should have to be there, and I had to go to sprawl-mart for the rest. My ideas of leaving one location with two big bags and arms spread out in a gesture of farewell were dashed. Instead I ended up pushing a cart through a dark parking lot and over a clump of slush.
If you're looking at that list above and see something desperately wrong, please don't bring it to my attention.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz
Over the last month I came up with a shopping list, the idea being to buy as little as possible of the most versitale ingredients. I looked at a few of my bread recipes for my gluten-free flour and cornmeal estimates, and I spoke with my mom to get her opinion about everything a week before shopping. I want to slide into home base on March 19th with nothing left and also not starving. It's a hard line to plan.
Here was the list:
17 pounds of gluten-free flour mix
9 pounds corn meal
1 package xanthan gum (gluten replacement that is not added to the flour I buy bulk)
7 small tubs of butter
1 can of baking powder
1 box of baking soda
104-ish ounces of canola oil
64-ish ounces of olive oil
4 canisters soy milk powder
2 bags of sugar
1 container of shortening
1 can of salt
It doesn't look like much sitting on the table. For a winter of these things it didn't cost much either, about $130.00.
Back to the romantic notion. Initially I wanted to arrange with our local co-op the purchase of all my things in one swoop. Long story short (I'm considering writing a book about this whole adventure, so I'll leave the nitty gritty details of the shopping experience to that), I ended up at the co-op far longer than anyone should have to be there, and I had to go to sprawl-mart for the rest. My ideas of leaving one location with two big bags and arms spread out in a gesture of farewell were dashed. Instead I ended up pushing a cart through a dark parking lot and over a clump of slush.
If you're looking at that list above and see something desperately wrong, please don't bring it to my attention.
Image credit: Cale Ruiz