2020, a year of (almost) food self-sufficiency, part 2

I'm going to try and limit my 2020 grocery store visits to one per month. I already know what I need routinely in addition to my current stores and projected production of fish and veg. Between hunting, fishing, and a big garden, I'm providing a lot of the food I need, but as long as I love dairy (and I do), I'll be shopping. I live alone and usually eat alone. I seldom eat out. Here's what I consume in addition to meat and veg and fruit that I provide myself.

Per month:

• 2.5 pounds of cheese
• Butter, half pound
• 2 gallons milk (I'll freeze one in quart containers, and thus I can get through a full month without shopping)
• Possibly some other dairy product, like sour cream or cottage cheese.
• 60 eggs
• A box of wheat crackers or a bag of tortilla chips. (simple/real 3-ingredient foods, which I could make myself but usually don't)
• 12-16 ounces of cashews, pistachios or almonds
• An on-sale fruit, about six servings
• One can frozen OJ

If I find that cumbersome, I can do two trips per month, with the second trip being for only eggs and milk), but I'd prefer to hold it to one trip. (Fewer chances to catch sight of a candy bar and think "just this one time.")

Less-frequent purchases:

• Winter sale on California lemons--10 pounds that I juice and freeze and then use all year.
• Chicken stock when the turkey stock I've pressure-canned runs out, probably not until early autumn when soup season rolls around again
• Apples in early autumn, local ones if I can find them
• A turkey and a ham around Thanksgiving when they go on sale, or possibly two turkeys and a ham
• Flour, sugar, peanut oil, and salt re-stock once per year
• Probably five more pounds bacon around mid-year when it goes on sale
• Mints. I get these in a medium-sized bag and they last for months.
• Fizzy water (lemon flavored--I don't drink this often, though. Maybe a can per week.)

Monthly grocery bill is about $25. The annual bill for less regular purchases is about $50, or $4/month averaged out.

The fishing license here is $15 (after age 65, half that). I have lures and can dig my own worms any time from my own yard. So that averages out to a dollar and change per month.

The regular garden expenses this coming year should be around $200 total, or $16 per month. (Every year I'll be buying more infrastructure-type items, so I think this will remain steady henceforth, though last year, it was higher, in getting the garden up to the 3000 square foot monster it is, buying dozens of canning jars, a food dehydrator, and so forth) This year there's an extra expense of fruit bushes of $135, so seen one way, even though I won't eat a bite of that fruit this year, it's still costing me. However, I think I'll count that in my costs divided over 2021 and 2022, about $5/month in those years. After that, with propagation methods, homegrown fruit will be free and I'll not be buying any at the grocery store. And I'll probably need a small chest freezer before much more time passes, and I'll divide that expense out over five years, as it surely won't break within five years.

In other words, I'm already at a point where I can eat for a fraction of what most people spend on groceries--$25 + $4 + $1 + $16 = $46/month this year, compared to something like $150 for the average one-person household. Yes, it cost more last year, probably the $150 it costs others just to go to the grocery store or perhaps even a little more than that. With freezer and fruit bush expenses coming in 2020, that'll rise again to $55 or so per month. There is some electricity cost with preserving food, but as far as I can tell from my monthly bill, it's minimal.

Plus, of course, there's a lot of sweat equity in gardening, and a little bit in going off to fish one morning per week during half the year.

But for me, I consider that my "gym membership" as well, and a mental health builder (there are natural substances in the soil they say are better anti-depressants than any pricey and possibly dangerous drug your doctor would order for you), so I simply won't count that as a dollar cost. The value of the exercise and mental health balances out the time spent, in my opinion. (If you hated gardening, you wouldn't see it this way!)

How much time will I spend? I'll talk about that later this winter.