Missionary friends came to the US and went into a grocery store - their 5-year old looked around at ALL THE FOOD and said, "It would be easy to forget God here" - out of the mouths of babes!
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. This is the key to successfully walking with God, everywhere! Glorify Him in ALL things!! Blessings
To only spend $1200/month for a family of ten proves how good you are at feeding your family the nutritious and filling meals they receive, AMAZING! Blessings!
South Wales 🏴 here. My Sundays don’t feel complete without Jessica teaching me all things Canning, Preserving, Homesteading & more. Much love 💕 to you & your family ❤❤❤
Good morning! I always look for your videos! You have been an inspiration to so many! I have found a couple of young ladies from your challenge… God love them! They are so brave to have very little experience and yet gave this challenge a try! When they ran out of things, I tried to tell them that it wasn’t a failure… there’s a learning curve and trying anything the first time is an accomplishment! I see you are still tweaking what you need more and less of… I hope they see this video too and give themselves an at-a-girl! You are such a good teacher! Your family are blessed beyond measures! Keep warm! We had snow again! Hugs from central Ohio!
Do you do grocery hauls? If so what are the basics you get i think its so interesting what others get in other areas what kind of basic meaLs do you fix?
I love that you share how you do your planning before shopping, showing your lists and process. It helps us keep on track and encourages us to be more consistent in our own planning. It may take some time but saves so much time and money. The store apps really help with this stage of planning. I find that this type of intentional shopping also leaves a bit of flexibility so we can take advantage of things we find on sale but curbs that impulse to spiral out of control. I know it takes a lot of time to provide the detail you give us and we appreciate it! Thank you for another inspiring video.
We are in a camper. Traveling south for 4 months. I brought 12 cases of my canned goods. Back seat of truck, packed well and buckled in. I have done 2 months. Only have bought eggs, milk and an occasional fruit or lettuce. Love this challenge.
I would also encourage everyone to do your research on which grocery stores are allowing produce to be sold that is sprayed with Apeel, developed by Bill and Melinda Gates. Also, look into what chemicals and substances are in that spray. Costco has verbally said that they will not sell products sprayed but they do not have a formal written policy on it. I am letting you know I bought strawberries from Costco about five weeks ago. We ate the strawberries the first week and they taste like industrially created strawberries not like the ones we grow at home. Not very tasty. After about a week, I thought I better give the remaining strawberries to my chickens. My chickens normally eat anything red, they would not eat the strawberries. The strawberries have now been on the ground in my chicken run here in Southern California with rain and sunshine for a month, four weeks. And they have not molded and the wild birds have not eaten them either. So maybe even if these stores say they won’t use Apeel, they could very well be using some other similar product because a normal strawberry would mold within a couple of days. Apeel was going to be sprayed on avocados so they wouldn’t ripen quickly, and could be shipped and stored for a longer amount of time.
I love this challenge. Every year I try to extend the time. There are some staples I still have to purchase, like eggs, milk...but we are still going strong. My husband is always amazed that our grocery store runs are only about $100-150 a month.
It was so nice to follow along and implement great ideas. Being empty nesters my biggest challenge was trying not to have too many leftovers. It really helped seeing how you use everything. My husband likes to drink the juice from canned fruit but there was always some that was wasted. Putting it in pancake batter was especially helpful. I also canned dry beans as jars were emptied. I give cases of my canning to my youngest daughter to help with her grocery budget. I travel over 200 miles to get my grandma time and watch the little ones when necessary. My car gets loaded with cases of home canned foods and I bring back the empty jars.
That's so wonderful that you can do that you are a wonderful Grandma for helping out . I wish more families were like that. Od Bless You and your family 🙏
I've been making 💯 whole grain bread now for 3 yrs, this is my recipe. 4 cups water 1 cup oil, 2 tbsp honey 1 1/2 2tbsp salt 2 tbsp yiest 2 eggs then flour I don't measure just not to hard of a dough I will make the dough knead for like 12 mins let it rise for 10 mins then knead knead a little let rise for 10 mins then knead again I do that 3 times and then let the dough double and then make buns andwt rise till atleast doubled and bake at 370 in my oven till nicely browned. I'm pretty confident if u try that, they will be very fluffy, Mennonites love some soft and fluffy bread😂 and these are amazing.
Jessica, since finding you last year, I have been so much better at organizing and cooking my meals. So much less waste, to start with! I did flunk out in January from shopping but that was because I placed my first Azure order and discovered how great they are. I finally learned to bake bread also, so I needed more ingredients that I had on hand. Because I'm so in to the bread baking, I got a mill in February and ordered wheat berries in a second Azure order! All in all, I consider it a win because we are eating healthier and more food from scratch than ever before. I usually try to watch you first thing Sunday morning but was late today because we were busy making and eating homemade bagels! Love your channel, Jessica. Have a great week with your garden work.
Jessica, I'm glad you talked about having so many canned condiments as I have noticed that this is actually a common issue amongst many of the other homesteading RU-vidrs. I watch a lot of homestead channels and have often wondered why condiments are more popular than meal-in-a-jar type convenience food. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with in this regard. Another fantastic, informative video. God Bless you, Jess and let's all pray for those who are struggling and don't have shelves of food.
My Pantry Challenge and Canuary was interrupted mid Jan by housemates with cvd19😷 & I'm very high risk. But thanks to my previous efforts and a hotpot in my room, I had awesome gumbo, minestrone, taco & hot & sour soup, and more for almost 2 weeks of no kitchen. So despite being confined& bored,at least I was very well fed. I'm only 1yr into canning, primarily pressure can & mostly do chicken stock & meals in jars Definitely saved me!
I always check out the dumpster at aldi's first and this month I got 3 bags of grapefruits,few bananas,3-4 canelopes,5 heads of broccolis,1 pk. Of spinach, enough for 5 batches ofcheesy broccoli soup, and will can the canelopes and cheesy broccoli soup. And freeze 2 bags of juice from the grapefruits them make clean solutions from the peels. And I finally got my organic grounded beef & 2 tater tot bags for casseroles,and 1lb. sausage for biscuits and gravy and breakfast burritos and egg rolls for the freezer. I will start a monthly meals menu chart,freezer charts. Thank you so much for your help on all you've shared.
You have had a huge influence on our family. I went through my freezers and used old stuff. We found muffin and cake mixes in the back of a cupboard that expired 2 years ago. We used them, but my daughter was reading the ingredients and asked that we never buy those again. Today we canned cranberry juice. My goodness that is pretty!!! I'm looking forward to freeze drying the cranberries to use in muffins. I've enjoyed learning how to use the resources God has given us much more intentionally. We have even started head covering recently. Thank you for your Godly influence in our lives. We appreciate you!!!
I surprised myself by going three months without a grocery run (other than for milk and a very few items). Of course, it was doable because of our huge pantry developed over several years.
Isn't it amazing how many meals you can put together from things we already have. I find its also a fun challenge to incorporate those things that have been lingering on the shelf longer than we would like.
Good morning Jessica. It's interesting how we need to be flexible with our needs in the pantry and how it changes seasonally and yearly. It's incredible how much we can save each month with planning. Thank you for sharing your tried and true tips.
Farmhouse on Boone is a great resource for sourdough. I know she uses Eincorn flour fresh ground from Azure Standard sometimes. But, I'm not sure the extent to which she uses it. I am new to the homesteading channels, so I'm sorry if it is information you already know. Great challenge! I am inspired to buy an electric pressure canner. There is just my husband and I at home (empty nesters), so breaking out the 7 quart canner is just way too much. 😅
I am shocked how expensive groceries are in the US. I live in Germany and I respect your research and organisation when you plan your shopping. We can learn a lot from you. Thank you so much for sharing ❤❤❤
Years ago, I was a member of a CSA. Every week i decided what in each box i wouldn't eat and put it in a pot with what i hadn't eaten from the week prior. Then i canned it with broth. Mus-go Soup. Everything in the fridge mus' go.... Lettuce, everything savory. All winter long I had pints of veg soup for lunch at work! Sand i had finally figured out something to do with a beet!! I say all this, because I bet your kids would happily eat those soups come winter!
I completely agree that going through all the extra steps is completely worth the time, it is how I stay within a budget for groceries, then allowing me to use those savings elsewhere. There are always things that are needed(now or soon) when you are a homeowner. So I am trying to stretch our pantry challenge for a few more months, with minimal spending, if any.
Hi Jessica, I really enjoy your videos! I understand you're a very busy homeschooling mim, but I wish you had more time for posting extra videos! Hope you and your family have a lovely week! Hugs and kisses from Ireland!
There is a lady on RU-vid I believe that uses sour dough with freshly ground flour. I have followed her directions and my bread turned out great. I noticed there are many videos on the subject.
So funny, not to put you on a pedestal but when you said we could skip your thoughts on the challenge I had a clutch my pearls moment like "what! No way!" Hahahahaha. As I listened the idea of not just saving money but offsetting animal feed costs was so valuable. It was a bit of an aha moment. Don't know why but..... Sometimes things don't occur til someone says it.
This was the first time I joined in the pantry challenge. It’s just my husband and myself but pick up things for my one grandson. We did pretty well we felt. We are going to continue as long as we can with only a $50.00 a week limit if we have to. Because my husband just had surgery last week and won’t return for at least a month. So this showed us we can do it this long. We just needed milk,dairy, eggs and toilet paper. So if we can keep with that for the month we’ll be good and will be getting ready for next year! Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to create your videos and share your inspirational ideas. I also joined the pantry challenge at the beginning of January, and was doing very well until our local grocery store had an excellent sale on meats. We don't see a good sale price on meats very often so I chose not to pass up that opportunity. $152 later... And as a result I was able to pressure can 28 quarts of food we needed to restock the pantry... Beef chunks for stew, etc, pork chunks for pulled pork, beef broth, and chicken broth and soup. But I have practiced an unofficial form of the pantry challenge for many years already, simply because I don't enjoy grocery shopping in winter conditions and prefer to use what's available in the pantry whenever possible.
I've always been known as the person of a thousand lists at work and as a Mother. What I have found is that your children will also use these invaluable skills for the future!
I made it this year through the 2 month challenge! Stayed under budget and could even make it another month if needed. I definitely need more soups and complete meals in a jar this upcoming year and found out turkey is what I grab least but it was what I had most of. Going to work on adding it into more meal plans. My savings will be going to more canning jars, chicken and beef on sale in the next 2 months as I stock back up. I am learning to only stock the pantry when items are on sale.
Learning more as I rewatch the video. What the pantry challenge taught me was to find a use for things I was not using, trade with a family member for things I absolutely needed. (She needed certain items I wasn't using and vice versa.) Also, making meals stretch. I didn't realize how wasteful we had become with food just because it was available. This blew our grocery budget out of the water. I find that what I would actually get in a month is good for six weeks because I'm not going to the grocery store when I have plenty of food available to eat.
I love how you keep your pantry stock organized. What a great idea using a teacher's planner! I would have liked to see your Azure order. Only have just started using Azure and am working on learning how to use their products and ordering. Since I am only about a 2hour drive away from them, I have several options for delivery locally. I also am elderly and do not like to go into grocery stores nor can I right now because of my mobility so getting my groceries delivered, even if it is to a pick up point, is much preferred. I like the option of Azure allowing smaller quantities for people like me. I still can some things, use beans and legumes for my protein source for my main meal and splurge on meat only one or two days a week. But since I am still learning I would have liked to learn a bit from you and how you shop,
I love grocery shopping, ive watched a few uk/us comparrison food trials and never realised how many additives are in your US foods, a lot of them are banned in Europe and the UK, i wondered why organic was so popular😮 Love the video look forward to Azure haul😂❤🇬🇧
Thank you for sharing! Was so great to follow the challenge, but also the restock. I would love to see the Azure haul too if you would share that. I understand if not 😊 Looking forward to seeing more meals throughout the year 😊 Love and blessings from Johanne, Norway 🇳🇴
I love meals in jars! I make spaghetti sauce with meat, pot roast one with beef and one with chicken, soups and soup bases, chilies and I'm always looking for more ideas 😊
Jessica, about sourdough. Try making rye sourdough. It is very easy to manage, rye is much cheaper. After the starter is done, you don't have to put it on a counter like with white flour, just take it from the fridge, use half, put flour (1/4 cup or so, it is really forgiving and indestructible to measurements, water, temperature, etc!) and mix with water, pit right back to the fridge. And use to make white bread/whole wheat/rye, any type of sourdough breads, pizza's and sweet buns. It is MUCH MUCH easier to work with, it's very forgiving and bubbles in the fridge just by sitting there, it immediately ready after you take it out and most importantly it adds nutrients to your sourdough, because it is rye. I hope you give it a try. Mine is 4 years old almost and I love it.
Thank you for hosting this challenge! This was our first year doing the challenge and it really helped me to get my children to expand their snack and breakfast choices. I'm working on eliminating or at least drastically limiting processed foods in our home and not going to the store has helped. I've also started learning to bake breads.
I really admire how your rise to the challenges in feeding your family on a budget. Not easy - you have a lot of children and boys! Thank you for the video - I always enjoy yours.
Thank you again for showing the process of getting back into the restoration of the pantry. I follow this every year, my household consists of me and my adult, son who is a chef, so it is an interesting adventure for us. It works and mentally preps me for gardening. Have a blessed week and Happy Birthday wishes to your children.
I also prefer to plan ahead of time and stick to my list, but you are correct. Going into the store always means spending more than planned. 🤦♀ We are big fans of the Aldi ketchup as well and stock up every time we go. We can't find anything else comparable in price, and this large family uses a lot of ketchup. Great haul. ♥
Curbside pickup- at Aldi the prices of items can be higher when you do this. My daughter found this to be the case. Just fyi. Thanks for your wonderful videos! God bless!
Thank you Jessica for sharing and inspiring. I flopped on the Challenge but did learn a lot as I followed everyone about being more intentional. As with everything in life, you fall you get back up brush off the dust and try again. Anna In Ohio
This pantry challenge has been fun! I have learned we eat a lot of cheese. I love my pressure canned meats. Home canned tomatoes and tomato sauce are especially tasty this year. We need NO more pickles or relishes for a few years. Freeze dried vegetables are convenient, nutritional, and well worth having lots on hand. I’m trying to get my husband to make it to March 1. The challenge reset my cooking habits and I found our preserved foods have winners! And a few losers. 😅
You have all you need make orange date muffins and they are a family favourite! Awhile orange, peeling and all, 1/2 cup orange juice and 1/2 cup chopped dates, put in a blender and blended. Add an egg and 1/2 cup
I love your channel and your pantry challenge. You talked about friends who are afraid to eat raw egg mayo....have you ever tried making vegan mayo? I have dairy and egg allergies...and this is really good. 1/4 cup aquafaba (the liquid/brine in a can of cooked chickpeas) 1/4 tsp ground mustard 1/4 tsp sea salt 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 1-3 tsp brown rice syrup* (or sub stevia to taste, cane sugar, or OR maple syrup) 3/4-1 cup sunflower oil* (a neutral oil is important here for flavor // avocado also worked well and we’ve heard canola does, too)
Jessica, I’ve been buying from Azure all these years and just finally realized they aren’t charging me tax. So the 8.5% that they are charging for shipping is slightly cheaper than the tax that I pay locally on my groceries! Very happy with that.
I haven’t managed to do a pantry challenge yet but have followed yours for a couple years. I was so excited for your first shop! ‘Yes! She restocked her sugar and yeast! Cabbage and slaw and brussel sprouts, oh my!!!’ This is all the action and suspense I need in my programming these days. Yours is my favourite show of the week! ❤ Much love and blessings to you and your family. Thank you for sharing your life with us.
Great to see your thought process Jessica. Thank you for sharing. I have waaaaay to many condiments too. I do sell excess condiments to my students at sewing classes, but I find it hard to part with them! The Dragon Hoarder in me thinks I should keep them all! A few years ago my daughter and I had the awful job of throwing away dozens of 10 plus year old stuff that was just nasty. i vowed not to let that happen again.
Personally, I sprout all my grains before I mill them, but I find that sifting out all the bran along with the sprouting makes the difference in getting flour that compares very well in recipes. I also make a point to mix grains, both soft and hard varieties help create a more rounded and balanced flour for use in everything. ❤
Well done Ma'am! Thanks for sharing. I found it very interesting to hear your process. I have a suggestion for you regarding your brassica's. I know from your seed starting video that you are using row covers this year, which is great as they work well. But I would also suggest planting purple cabbage - although the heads don't get as large as the green cabbage and they are a little slower growing, they keep really well in the fridge. I picked mine at the beginning of October and they are still great in my fridge today. But their biggest attribute is that the cabbage moths don't like them - I never have to dust them and there is not a worm on them. I noticed this a couple years ago, took note last year and talked to a few other folks who confirmed my observations. Researching it, I guess the theory is that the color confuses the moths. Regardless of the reason, I am planting more purple cabbage this year. In addition, I am trying purple cauliflower and broccoli this year to see if the same holds true for them. Just thought it might be an option for you. Keep up the good work.
I love watching your channel since you can, use and buy like I do. I haven’t gotten to the super “planned” out stage like you do but every time you do one of those videos I incorporate something new to help myself. Since prices are 😬 these days it is even more necessary to control over spending and impulse buying. The biggest helper for me is curbside pick up. To those out there who are looking to control their money I highly recommend do so. You are able to see how much you’re spending and where you can adjust if needed much easier than you can if you’re trying to do it at the grocery store with a list. Thanks again for another great video.
I still have loaded Freezers even drawing near the Challenge❗️ I used Freezer Items to make our Food but, I was able to put some back because the Meals I made were feeding us more than two Meals❗️Now I filled the Freezer with Convenience Meals, a WIN, Win in my book❗️👍🏼😃
Good Morning Everyone!! Here in Oklahoma City they are trying to pass a bill to eliminate taxes at the grocery store, that's just how much prices have went up on Everything!! Love the haul and thought process that goes along with it.. Much Love From Okc ❤
In the UK we do not pay tax on essential food. So you pay 20% on cakes and biscuits (cookies) and those foods considered to be luxury extras but no tax on fruit, veg, meat, fish, dairy, bread etc….. so glad we don’t, the prices are bad enough now! Hope your bill gets passed
Thank You--I've found out that when it's passed it it will not go into effect until August. And everything will be tax free with the exceptions of hot foods already cooked and that's understandable. With prices being so high and constantly changing, any type of savings can surely help.
Yes, gotta budget your restocks. I don’t know about others but I keep and ongoing grocery list so when I go to the store I don’t forget anything. That being said I don’t always get everything n the list if more important things are needed. All depends on the money. I need to start making more condiments but haven’t branched out in that area yet.
I've been keeping an eye on prices in the stores. I won't be growing tomatillos this year. I'm growing more tomatoes. I still have to figure out what I need to grow in my 5 new raised beds. Of course I would love to grow everything, but that's not realistic. Have a great day.❤
I find that Aldi and Walmart sell the same brand veggies. But... Aldi have theirs at a set price per item as Walmart prices theirs per pound. So, when purchasing your fresh produce- keep Aldi in mind for a cheaper route. Love your channel! Thanks for sharing your life!
Good morning my dear friend, it's always fun to see what someone else buys, a new ice cream maker, that sounds like fun!! I'd like to say a big Happy Birthday to Elizabeth!! Have a blessed week!
Just a FMF sourdough tip. I still haven’t perfected it but it vastly improved when I scrapped my old starter and created a new starter with just exclusively FMF. Be careful though…. My uncle did this and in a rush added nonFMF to his established starter and it killed it.
With Azure Standard we pay the delivery charge but it is only 1/2 percent more than our state sales tax that they don’t charge for so it basically balances out buying at Aldi or Walmart.
Jessica, have you thought about hydroponics gardening? There's so much you can do indoors with brassica's that will help your meal planning and offer a huge variety of fresh veggies and even strawberries, too!
If you have a sous vide, you can pasteurize your eggs in the shell. On an archived page at the USDA from 2016, it listed water bath pasteurizing eggs at 130°F for 45 minutes. I let mine sit at temp on a metal frame I originally got for my pressure cooker in my sous vide for 60 minutes just to be extra precautious. It gives me extra piece of mind about my homemade mayonnaise and meringues Love your content btw! You convinced me to try Azure Standard and it's been lovely being able to source cream cheese and heavy cream I can actually eat (I have to avoid commercial emulsifiers for health reasons) ❤
Love your videos. I just went today to pick up a few items to make a few meals for two people. One cabbage, one zucchini, one cucumber, a 2 lb bag of carrots, 1 lb of tomatoes, and 2 multi grain bread loaves. This cost me $37.00 cdn. I already have the meat to make the meals.
Jessica, I so appreciate the time & effort you put into your videos. They are always so informative & helpful. Loved the video as always. God bless you all.
We did well in January but I was not as disciplined in February. There is always next year. Thanks for the tips on inventory and grocery shopping. ❤ Loved seeing your meals too. I have noticed we struggled with lunches. So I'm going to work on that harder for next year.
Oh Jessica it was so nice to hear how you dislike shopping. Sometimes I feel guilty about that feeling because we have such amazing stores. I would much rather run out and pick a vegetable out of the garden anyday! Wish gardens were around longer. Yes i love love love your cooking videos.
I did do the pantry challenge, it was a good experience for me. I can see myself doing it again next year, and even this coming fall and winter. I have stated making a list of things I want to grow, especially jalapeno peppers, I made cowboy candy last year, and loved it, so definitely will be making more this year. I got a variety of tomatoe seeds, for sauces and salsa,
Great video. I have shopped with Azure for over 20 years but I too have seen the prices on some items have gone up too much for me. I have changed all my organic canned goods to Walmart but still order all my dairy, eggs, frozen fruit and dry goods from Azure. I wait until the frozen veggies are on sale from Azure and stock up.(we live in the West so no delivery).
Jessica, you are so organized. I think I might wan to do more canning of complete meals this year. It's such a great idea, especially on this busy days or on days when I get home from work. Thank you so much for always being such a great inspiration.🥰
This was a great video! Thank you for sharing all your hard work and planning. I'll definitely be canning more soups and one-jar meals this year. I'm only cooking for one, yet the concept is the same. I take my lunch to work every day. It is so easy to grab a jar of soup on the way out the door and have a healthy, home-made hot meal at the office.
I always enjoy your pantry challenges so much! I’ve never officially taken part, but sort of did it this year. We moved in December so I wanted to use food we already had so we didn’t have to move it. I was able to clear out a chest freezer of meat & veg. I thoroughly enjoyed the creative challenge. I’m glad you’ll continue to share meals because those are my favorites. God bless.
Jessica I really appreciate the time you put into the details of the videos. I need the physical examples of lists and ideas . Also I learn a lot from your shopping trips and meal plans .
Thank You for inventing the challenge. It has grown so much through the years you shoul be very proud of what you started. I look forward to you videos. Thank You also Thank You to your children and Adam
Hi Jessica, Thank you so much for sharing this. I look forward to your videos every week. I especially love seeing you grocery hauls because I am always amazed at how you manage to spend so little for your groceries. I strive to be as efficient as you.
Thank you for showing how you plan and how you get the best prices for food! This is a crazy hard job for me for some reason. I'm trying to be intentional, but WOW! I'm impressed with your planning and more impressed that you make the time to do this! You're a rock star, Mama!
I dehydrated about 8 heads of cabbage and really find it helpful for adding to soups and casseroles. It’s not advisable to can cabbage unless it’s pickled because it’s disgusting when pressure canned. I don’t make much of the pickles coleslaw because I don’t eat sugar or honey.
cherries i craved cherries this challenge and i only have half a jar of my cherry jam left until autumn i havent been in a shop or supermarket since dec2019 i brought soapmaking supplies this challenge gobsmacked at how much money i will save after 10 years paying a soapmaker to make 1 kilo loaves now i can make my own x
I would have rationed out my shopping hauls. WOW, what a project. I guess you did ok with your beef shortage issue. I remember eggs were an issue the year before. Every year is different. Also, as you know, a few well placed treats really help to stretch the usual stuff out.
Be careful with Aldi’s curbside pickup! The prices on the app are more expensive than in the store. I only take cash when I grocery shop so that I don’t get debit card swiper-happy.
