No more shop bought food - self-sufficiency begins today

If we are to be self-sufficient, at some point we have to reach a point at which we take the decision to stop buying food from shops. Well, the day has arrived. We set 1st August as the date and food purchases from shops have now ended. Okay, we will have some very minor exceptions for things we cannot produce ourselves, such as tea and coffee, flour and, in the absence of the goats, milk. We will however strictly limit our consumption of these products, using alternatives wherever possible. And we have lined up a friendly shopkeeper who is prepared to trade for some of our honey, jam and eggs.

For a month I will be keeping a diary on this blog of the food we consume. We do have a modest transition period as there are some perishable foods we bought that still need to be used. There will also be a short gap in August as I may be away for a few days.

The main rules we are following are: we eat the food we produce ourselves, forage for or trade for with other local food producers. Where this is not possible, and alternatives do not exist, we will aim to trade for the products we need. In the absence of that, we will have to buy in the shops. Our aim is to avoid that. Read on to see how we get on.