Shopping for the fall, or at least a few months.

I did my first trip to the organic wholesaler's yesterday. It was a time to invest for the year. Some things: grated cheese, quator oil (sesame, olive, pumpkin and rape seed), are truly for the year, but others will be refreshed as needed, month by month. Here's the list of what I considered necessary for my household to function. With these ingredients I've the basics for nourishing my charges daily. Considering I never buy anything packaged and prepared, it means a lot of cooking. But, when you've a house full of pasta, grains, flour, sugar, chocolate, etc., you've not the necessary ingredients to prepare a meal as needed.

Dry goods:

a case (12 packets) semi-whole wheat spaghetti - 12.60E
10 bars (200g) dark pastry chocolate - 21.70E
5kg non-bleached sugar - 9.70E
5 cases plain brown rice crackers - 22.50E
5 cases brown rice and quinoa crackers - 22.50E
3 kg pumpkin seeds - 15.36E
3 kg sunflower seeds - 10.29E
5 kg 9 grain flour - 10.15E
5 kg whole wheat flour - 6.95E
5 kg white flour - 7.25E
5 kg semi whole wheat flour - 7.00E
3 kg 5 grain flakes (oats, rice, wheat, spelt, barley) - 5.70E
a case (12 packets) lasagna noodles - 5.70E
6 litres quator oil - 45.00E
a case (6 boxes 400g) hot chocolate powder - 22.80E
2.5 kilos almonds 21.25
3 kilos chocolate chips (a splurge) 27.15E

Cleaning supplies: (I still have toilet bowl cleaner from last year, and it works very well on limestone deposits too).

5 litres concentrated dish liquid - 10.66E
5 litres concentrated liquid detergent - 15.21E

Perishables (extra to be put in the freezer):

16 packets of 200g sweet butter - 35.88E
10 kilos grated gruyère cheese - 103.50
30 eggs - 7.50

Between various storage pantries and my freezer, this will keep us for a good long while. I go through flour faster than anything else, and chocolate (brownies, muffins, etc.,). I already have stashes of basmati rice, brown rice, spelt, barley, green lentils, bulgur, nutritional yeast, linseed, olive oil, my home-made chunky tomato sauce, 6 litres of plain tomato sauce, a jar of my refreshed sourdough starter, baking soda, sea salt ... and my personal stash of black Tazo chai. Hence, a pantry now filled with what I need to make bread, soda bread, pancakes, lasagna, quiches, tarts, cookies, brownies, risottos, couscous, and much much more.

Weekly I'll purchase eggs, milk, vegetables and fruit. Occasionally a bit of ham, bacon, a chicken, and chunks of cheese. I try not to go over 20E/week, and am normally successful as long as I stick to in season.

Now, if only gas were cheaper...