Screw it. Welcome to my masterlist of ways to make your own food.
Your mileage may vary with some of these, but I've tried to include things that can be used across many different living situations & budgets. I promise these things are easier than you think! Your ancestors did them for thousands of years, and you're living proof that they were doing something right.
And as a reminder: There's no act too small here. All three of the pictures below contain something that has been in my belly by this point, with varying levels of investment & effort. 👇
Beginner Gardening Guide 101 - A great list of links for beginning your garden, including in urban environments.
What to Plant Now - Learn what plants are best to grow in your specific climate zone.
Common Sense Gardening Advice for the Beginner
Landscaping & Gardening in Arsenic and Lead Contaminated Soil
Best Vegetables to Grow for Beginners
Growing Vegetables in Containers - EXCELLENT page to check out if you want to use pots instead of growing directly into the ground. There's a whole list of container-happy crops and their preferred sizes.
Indoor Gardening for Beginners: An Ultimate Guide - Pretty comprehensive guide. They discuss a lot of the different options you've got when it comes to indoor gardening.
How to Grow Vegetables Indoors (Easy Beginner's Guide)
How to Grow an Indoor Survival Garden - Yeah preppers get kinda weird with it, but this guide has some great tips on grow lights, drainage, containers, etc.
(The next few bullet points are going to be specifically on hydroponics because I'm a nerd and I LOVE hydroponic gardens. They're super easy to maintain. I have one in my kitchen for growing herbs. <3)
A Beginner's Guide to Hydroponics - VERY good place to start!
DIY Hydroponic Garden - If you don't want to buy a pre-built hydroponic garden, this is also a really solid option. It's basically just a storage tub, water bubbler, and grow light.
Everything here is a huge help for cutting down on food waste!
Root Cellaring for Beginners - On the pricier end of these projects, but often worth it if you plan to grow a lot of stuff. I <3 root cellars.
Quick Pickling 101 - If you want to start pickling stuff, start here. Quick pickling is your gateway. Just keep in mind that quick pickled foods have a shorter shelf life since they aren't properly canned.
Preserving Food and Canning for Beginners - Goes over water bath and pressure canning. Water bath canning in particular is pretty easy to get into.
Curing Onions for Storage
The Dos and Donts of Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Garlic
4 Simple Ways to Dry Herbs - I often just microwave mine, lol.
Salt Curing for Beginners
Yes, you can make this stuff!
Farmer's Cheese - If you have milk and vinegar, you have cheese. I make this stuff all the time, especially if I've got a lot of brine leftover from a pickle jar.
Ricotta Cheese - Milk and lemon juice. Yummm.
Vanilla Extract - Also only two ingredients. My fellow Americans, please visit a Mexican grocery store for the best vanilla beans.
Beginner French Bread - I like to recommend this to people who haven't baked with yeast before. Yeast opens up a whole world of possibilities.
The Basics of Sourdough - Full honesty here, I hate sourdough. But my sister loves it, and I like watching people treat their starter like a pet. If you've ever wanted to own a slime, sourdough might be the perfect option fro you.
How to Make Vinegar from Scratch
How to make Yogurt at Home - Infinite yogurt hack.
Failproof Homemade Mayonnaise
I'm just linking some very basic small animal stuff here, but raising your own meat animals is awesome and I strongly encourage it if you're in a position where it's possible. Just do your research and PLEASE connect with more experienced people!
Beginners' Guide to Keeping Chickens
Raising Rabbits for Meat: A Comprehensive Guide
Quail Basics for Beginners
How to Render Fat and Why
Foraging, Hunting, & Fishing
This is the part where I beg you to please learn about your local ecosystem and laws before you try any of this. Particularly for hunting and fishing, you NEED to get licensed and learn with someone who knows what they're doing. Also idk anything about hunting laws outside the US, so I'm very sorry but this is going to be America-centric. </3
How to Start Foraging - Really good guide for showing how to safely & ethically forage.
US State Hunting Websites - In the US, every state is a little different about its hunting rules. Know your region, and know your seasons. Most hunting seasons will have restrictions on harvest number, permitted weapons/methods, and animal size. Game wardens do not fuck around.
(I won't go over hunting methods themselves, because that's a huge category and you probably shouldn't learn how to shoot a rifle from a Tumblr post. I'm a compound bow weirdo anyway.)
Field Dressing a Deer for Beginners - Gore warning, obviously. I will note that this guide instructs you to remove the genitals from a buck. If you're in a state that requires you to keep the sex intact, don't do that.
^ If you're not good at this and you plan on eating the meat, please just keep the whole animal intact and pay a processor to do it for you. Otherwise you are going to get deer hair all over the meat.
Butchering and Preparing Wild Ducks
8 Rules of Roadkill - Good tips on the legality & safety of harvesting roadkill.
Getting Started with Fishing for Food - This is another thing I recommend learning with someone who has more experience, but this guide is a great way to get started.
Federal Fishing Rules and Regulations by Region - Fish law. Again, game wardens do not fuck around.
Now that you've done all of the above, here's what you do with the leftovers.
The Absolute Begginer's Guide to Composting
And thus the cycle begins again!
Enjoy your food hacks. If you want more suggestions or notice something stupid here, let me know.
