5 things I do each week to move our family towards "homesteading"

The 5 things I do each week in our kitchen to move our family towards "homesteading"

I’ll admit, upon first glance it does feel like a stretch to consider some of these homestead tasks. But hear me out! When we’re able to create something at home that we would normally buy at the grocery store, Amazon, Costco, etc., we are increasing our self reliance and therefore…homesteading.

Since Luke and I are working outside the home, we strongly rely on our afternoon and evenings to get things done around the home and prepare for the next day. And since I thrive on schedules and the reassurance that if something is written on my calendar then I’ll do it, I decided I had it in me to incorporate these 5 things into my normal weekly schedule. These 5 things are pretty darn simple- some of them take me 10 minutes, and some a bit longer, but spread throughout the week, all doable with our time constraints.

1. Overnight Oats

Luke leaves for work at 6:20am on Wednesdays so his mornings are rushed without having to worry about cooking breakfast (he does always manage to leave hot coffee for me, bless him). So Tuesday night became my night to prepare overnight oats.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that by the time you’re done reading this post, you could have made overnight oats. They are unbelievably simple. I’m highly motivated by competition so I’ll usually look at the clock and time myself to see if I can beat my time. I’ll typically finish the kid’s nighttime routine and while they’re falling asleep I will work in the kitchen.

In the colder months, I’ll make overnight crockpot STEEL CUT oats (very important because old fashioned oats will turn to total mush overnight) and in the warmer months I make refrigerator mason jar oats. I make 2 mason jars- one for Luke to take to work and one for the kids and I to share. I will say whenever I add chocolate chips, one jar isn’t enough for the three of us 😉

Here is the recipe I use for warmer months (put everything in a mason jar and shake):

1 cup of “milk” (I use dairy milk for mine and the kids and oat milk for Luke’s- you can’t tell the difference taste-wise)
1 cup of oats
¼ cup of yogurt
Dash of vanilla
Dash of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
1 tablespoon of Flaxseed
Spoonful of a nut butter
Teaspoon of maple syrup
Additional toppings: chopped apples, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips

Here is the recipe I use in colder months (put everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 8-ish hours):

1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups liquid (some combination of water & milk)
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of vanilla
Dash of maple syrup (or more if your family enjoys sweeter breakfasts)
2 chopped up apples
Add ons: nuts, seeds

2. Yogurt

Honestly I’m not sure, cost wise, if making our own yogurt saves very much money. Maybe a couple of dollars. But this is one of those things that’s not just about the money. As we grow towards relying less on grocery stores and big box stores, being able to make our own yogurt reduces the amount of things we need to buy at the store. All you need to start making your own yogurt is milk, a cooking thermometer, an Instant Pot and some yogurt to act as the starter for the first time. After you make your own batch you can use your own as the starter.

Our Instant Pot is pretty basic so we don’t have the yogurt setting. If yours has the yogurt setting, you’re living the life of luxury.

Pour milk into the Instant Pot (I eyeball it but maybe half a gallon?)
Heat the milk to 180 degrees, turn off the Instant Pot.
Let it cool to 110 degrees, add the yogurt starter (2-3 tablespoons).
Put the lid on and let it sit for 12-18 hours.

I’ve had to do some trial and error based on the seasons. In the summer, I can leave my Instant Pot on the counter and it stays warm enough in our house to properly set up. In the colder months, the milk wouldn’t thicken. Now I put it in the oven with the oven light on wrapped in a towel and that is working much better. If you do have an Instant Pot with the yogurt function, I have heard that it keeps the pot at the right temperature for the whole duration of the culturing (luxury, I tell ya). After 12-18 hours, check your yogurt. If it’s set up and to your liking taste-wise, I strain it through a cheese cloth and colander for another 6-8 hours to make it extra heavenly.

This yogurt is absolutely delicious. Super creamy and fluffy. The only challenge is to save a couple of tablespoons to make your next batch!

3. Granola

Making your own granola feels like your tricking the system. The ingredients are simple and it turns out tasting so good (unless you burn it, don’t burn it). AND there’s the added bonus of not having to buy something that could possibly be very processed and have ingredients that you can go without. AND AND this is something that the kids love to help make and because it’s so simple, they can basically do it all. I’ll post the recipe we use below but pretty much you mix everything into a bowl together and bake it at 350 for 20 minutes. Then you let it cool and break apart and store in a mason jar in the pantry. And then when the kids ask for 17 bowls of it, you can rest easy knowing exactly what you put into it.

The recipe we use is from Cookie & Kate:

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup whatever nuts are laying around
½ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup olive or coconut oil
½ cup whatever seeds are laying around
½ cup raisins (add these after cooking)

4. Soak & crockpot dried beans

We used to solely buy canned beans but now I am officially a dried bean girl. Fully converted full stop. First off, you can buy them in bulk for practically nothing. They might be paying you to take them at some places! Second, they are more nutrient dense AND tastier. Don’t get me wrong, I have tons of respect for a can of beans in a last minute dinner prep situation, but with just slightly more advanced planning you can reap the numerous benefits of dried beans. On the weekends when I’m meal planning for the week, I’ll decide to have burritos on, for example, Tuesday night. I will then immediately write “Soak beans” on my to do list for Monday night.

Night before:

Rinse the beans in colander and check for any small stones that may have mistakenly been put in with dried beans (rare, but does happen on occasion).
Put them in a big bowl and cover them with filtered water. Soak for 8-10 hours (or overnight).

The next morning:

Drain the beans
Put beans into crockpot and cover with water
Add cumin, salt, garlic, half an onion (just throw it in there, don’t even bother cutting it up)
Cook on low for 6 hours (check and cook longer if needed)

5. Bake a sourdough loaf

Alright, this is the one that is definitely the most involved in my weekly round up. Baking sourdough used to intimidate the heck out of me, but I’ve learned so much from The Clever Carrot on how to start your own sourdough starter and how to tend your starter. If you’re just getting started with sourdough, I certainly recommend combing through her blog. If you live near me and would like some organic starter, reach out and I’d be super happy to share. If you’re not near me, it’s worth a shot to post in any of your local Facebook groups to inquire about people sharing their starters.

Here is the basic everyday sourdough bread recipe I use from The Clever Carrot. I started baking sourdough 4 years ago and the stakes are just so low that it’s actually really enjoyable to experiment and have hilariously rock solid pancake loaves when you first begin. But now I’m baking consistently delicious loaves with minimal effort.

My typical routine has me feeding my starter for a few days prior to baking day. However, in the colder months I leave my starter on the counter and feed her everyday so there’s more flexibility to when I want to bake. When your starter is ready (bubbly and doubled in height) I mix the dough the night before and let it do it’s bulk rise overnight (always in the oven with the light on in the colder months and on the counter in the warmer months). Then in the morning I bake and BAM, delicious, homemade bread. I would like to eventually bake a sourdough sandwich loaf to freeze and have on hand for lunches, but I haven’t got there yet.

I hope these ideas spark some interest or motivation to get you and your family started toward your own homesteading journey. Please comment below if you have any questions or words of encouragement, we would love to hear from you!