Hello, everyone!

Welcome to "The Road to Semi-Self-Sufficiency," a blog that's going to cover some of the ways we're changing our lifestyle to become more self-sufficient. We've already made a few changes already, but we'll post about those changes one at a time.

This blog is going to be a journal not only for us but for people who are likeminded. Anyone who wants to try to become more self-sufficient but doesn't know where to start could take a look at this blog and just jump right in. The way my fiance and I started thinking about self-sufficiency was when we read about troubling economic times and how our world is changing so quickly.

The first change that we made was to our eating habits. Well, actually, it was mostly to my fiance's eating habits. He used to live alone (i.e., single) and he would eat out most of the time. One can't save money by doing this. So when I came along, all I mostly ate was home-cooked food, and I like to think that I introduced him to the wonderful world of savory cooking. It's a great skill to learn, to be able to cook for yourself. I tend to think that he enjoys my homemade meals more than the stuff he bought at fast food places.

So, with that in mind, we're going to start off this blog by talking about all the different kitchen tools that we think we'll need to become more self-sufficient. The first one is a dutch oven type of pot, which is basically a deep pot with a well-fitting lid. There are many different types of dutch ovens out there. Some are made of cast iron, some out of ceramic, or metal. Mine is a Staub. It was the "floor model" so my fiance got it with a discounted price, but it is really my favorite pot, and I can use it with many different types of recipes. It is made of cast iron, but it has enamel coating inside which makes it even more non-stick. Now, this is a good type of pot to have because you can use it for so many different things, like stews, sauces, shallow frying, roasting, etc.

Now to keep this Staub pot in great shape, I have to wipe the inside with oil (preferably lard or other animal fat) from time to time. I do not use soap when I wash this pot; I only use very hot water. Even though the pot looks a little greasy inside, I can heat it up a little and the grease just melts, then it continues to season the pot. This is the "coq au vin" pot, but I can make almost any savory meal in it, from casseroles to soups to braised meats. I just love it!! (See the "Never-Fail Recipes" page on the left sidebar of this blog to get the carnitas-style pork recipe I love to make in my Staub pot!)

We also got a Lodge cast iron frying pan that I've been religiously seasoning for the past month. I now don't use any soap to wash it either, so it only goes in hot water and I rub the interior with lard to keep it smooth and seasoned.

In the next post, I'll show you a couple of manual (hand cranked) grinders that we thought we'd really need if we were to ever become more sufficient. So go find yourself some cast iron cookware...The Lodge was less than $21 and it takes extra time to season. The Staub can cost over $200 depending on what you want and when you get it. Try to find them on sale or at outlets. We got the floor model so we even got $20 off ours when we bought it. Don't be afraid to ask for the floor model if it looks good to you.