Bulk Shopping in the Bush

Since we are located close to Fairbanks, we can order from Fred Meyers. They will either mail it off to us through USPS or take it to the local airlines as "freight." (We also have access to Sam's Club which does great freezer things: individually packaged salmon, veggies/fruits, premade meals) We can also do Amazon deliveries. 

I am sharing what our grocery list was: 

Meat 

Ground meat (Beef, pork, turkey/chicken): Meatloaf, tacos, meatballs, burgers, shepherds pie

Beef (We splurge here & get ribeye. Eat with a side. Save bones for stock) 

Chicken (Whole chicken so you can use carcass for stock or thighs/drumsticks) 

Pork (Country style pork ribs are usually cheap. Can be cut into small pieces for stir fry)

Shrimp (Uncooked, whole shrimp are usually cheapest) 

Hot dogs (For lazy days or cut up for fried rice/macaroni) 

Fish (Eat with side, make fish cakes) 

Lunch Meats

Fruit/Veggies

Potatoes: (Baked, mashed, scalloped, fried, pancakes, croquettes, gnocchi, donuts, dumplings) 

Sweet potato/yams/squash/pumpkin (Roasted, pureed, soup) 

Onions

Garlic

Cabbage (“sauerkraut”, kimchi, Slaw, cooked, boiled, roasted, curried) 

Zucchini (Grated, circles, or zucchini pizza “boats”) 

Apples (Raw in salads or cooked) 

Jalapenos/Bell peppers (chopped up or stuffed) 

Kiwi

Orange

Lemon 

Banana 

Avocados

Eggplant 

Radish (Raw or cooked)
Fresh Spinach (Eat as salad, cook, or freeze) 

Cans of Stewed tomatoes/Tomato Paste (marinara, soup, spanish rice, salsa) 

Cans of beans (Chilli, burritos, soup) 

Frozen peas

Frozen broccoli 

Frozen carrots

(Frozen corn) 

Frozen blueberries

Frozen Dole mixed fruit: Peaches, Mangos, Strawberries, and Pineapple. 

Grain 

-Rice: Sushi (add rice vinegar & roll), Fried Rice (fry with meat, veg, & egg) , Spanish Rice (add tomato sauce) Pilaf (add broth) “Risotto” (add cream sauce) 

-Bread (Sandwiches, strata, croutons, stuffing)

-Flour Tortillas (burritos, wraps)

-Corn Tortillas (Tacos, enchiladas, corn chips) 

-Pasta (Spaghetti, Lasagna, shells, rotini, macaroni) 

-Crackers/Corn chips

-Flour/Bisquick (Pancakes, bread, biscuits, cookies, cake, pie, roux, spaetzle, dumplings/pierogies, pizza dough, pretzel, cinnamon roll)

Dairy 

-Cheese Log

-Parmesan/Feta 

-Goat cheese

-(Milk/Cream) Half & Half 

-Butter

-Eggs

Specialty: 

-Ginger

-Frozen wontons or wonton wrappers 

-Rice noodles/Udon noodles

-Miso Paste

-Yellow Curry Paste

-Dried shitake mushrooms. 

-Mayonnaise

-Mixed nuts/ Peanut Butter

-Mustard

-Sugar

Seeds (To grow): 

Chives

Parsley

Mint

(Dill) 

(Basil)

I base this upon what I feel like we will eat in the next month: 

Dinner: 

-Meat. Mashed potatoes. Veggie. 

-Meat. Rice. Veggies. 

-“Mexican”

-“Italian”

-“Asian” Curry. Rice. Veggies.

-Burger/Sandwich. Soup. 

-“Seasonal” (Create something out of what needs to be eaten: Fried rice, meatloaf, casserole, -enchiladas, wontons) 

Lunch: 

Sandwiches/Wraps

Soup

Leftovers

Breakfast:

Wraps

Toast/pancakes, sausage, and eggs

Oatmeal

Cereal 

Fun Tip: You can freeze avocados! I wa a little mad when the avocados all arrived super ripe, but found out you can freeze them! http://www.californiaavocado.com/blog/september-2015/how-to-freeze-california-avocados?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 

Fun Fact: Yesterday my husband took out some Frozen Fruit and let it melt and we ate it. It never occurred to me that frozen fruits could be thawed (I thought you just blended them for smoothie mix or boiled them for compote), but I never thought about eating them raw after they were. It was surprisingly good. Unfozen Mango is my favorite. Freezing seems to kind of "cook" the fruits when thawed, that might be something fun to experiment with... 

How much did our months worth of groceries cost? $500 plus $50 (0.60 a pound in freight) That's about $16/day. I imagine we'll have to hit up the local grocery store for a couple emergency items, but this should work pretty well :) 

Another helpful link: What to do with overripe fruit.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-use-up-overripe-fruit-58183