Winter in the Mountains

Before we moved to the Show Low area, the only experience I had with living "off the grid" was my experience RVing for 9 years. In that lifestyle, I grew accustomed to solar power, generators and propane appliances. We grocery shopped when we were in a large enough town, rationed the fresh water in our tank and watched the waste water "output" so we always had a happy balance. (At least that was the plan!)

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Since moving "to the mountain" I've learned that many people choose to live off the grid and are proud of how they do it. In the winter there are many challenges that must be dealt with. Heat is one, and we see firewood for sale everywhere we go. Many people heat with wood stoves, and Norm and Olga are just one family we know who do that. In the more remote areas up here, people who can afford it, use wind generators and solar power. They supplement with propane heaters and most cooking appliances are propane powered or some people still cook on wood stoves. Without electrical hookups for refrigerators, small propane refrigerators are available. But whatever the plan, stocking up on staples for the winter requires ingenuity. The White Mountain Apache Tribe lives just south of Show Low on 44,000 acres of forest land. Most of the residents live in isolated areas of the reservation. They can go long periods of time without seeing anyone else. Each family has to be self sufficient.

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Our local Wal Mart had this aisle stocked in October. You can see the empty spaces where some products have already sold out. These cans are huge, and I took pictures to show the variety of what is available.

Butter Powder????????? Margarine Powder???? in 3 pound containers????? Remember this is powder! The butter powder was $22.14 and the margarine powder was $14.47. I should have read the instructions for reconstituting either one. Would have been interesting to know how to do it, a cup at a time, or less????? If you can't refrigerate the leftovers inside, do you use a snowbank?

Freeze dried anything and dehydrated somethings weigh practically nothing, so a 1 lb 6 oz can contains a lot!!!

These 5 lb cans of soup and taco mix would last me a LIFETIME!


5 pounds of bouillon??????????

The prices aren't cheap and the most expensive ones, dried raspberries and dried blueberries, were already sold out.

3 pounds of powdered sour cream???? Who uses that much? What for? I can picture a simmering pot of soup or stew on the back burner, and fresh bread coming out of the oven, but that much sour cream baffles me!!!! Remember, all these cans are the same size!!!!

So, now you've had a little insight into my scrambled brain! STAY TUNED.......