In a country as vast and resource-rich as the United States, it’s surprising to learn that over 10% of Americans still struggle with food insecurity, even though we import only 20% of our food. During some of the toughest chapters in our nation’s history – World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II – families didn’t wait for help.
They embraced simpler living and planted victory gardens, transforming backyards, schoolyards, and vacant lots into vital sources of fresh produce to feed their families. Our grandparents and great-grandparents understood something we’re only now beginning to rediscover: true resilience starts with self-sufficiency.
Why Self-Sufficiency Matters
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Self-sufficiency means providing everything your family needs, especially food on the table, without relying on others. And while there’s a growing movement toward living a simpler, more intentional life, actually making that shift can feel overwhelming. Most people cannot be entirely self-sufficient, but even embracing it in small ways offers a sense of accomplishment and boosts your self-confidence.
Understanding what “enough” truly means can help you save money, reduce waste, and live more sustainably – whether that involves doing DIY projects instead of hiring help, growing your own food instead of buying everything, learning how to be a more thoughtful consumer, or using less energy around the house. With just a few easy changes, you can create a more meaningful, self-sufficient lifestyle and feel great about the positive impact you’re making.
1. Cook from Scratch
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Eating out at restaurants is convenient, but not only does the cost add up quickly, it’s not usually the healthiest option. Cooking from scratch means you have control over how healthy and affordable your food is, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you can provide for yourself and your family.
The more you learn to make at home, the more confident you will become in the kitchen, and the better you will get at stretching your grocery budget and making the most of what you have. Stock up on spices and basic pantry items, and then you can create tons of meals just by getting a couple of items at the store. If you grow any food, you can incorporate those ingredients into your meals, too. Memorizing a few recipes will make your time in the kitchen that much easier and more enjoyable.
Chicken soft tacos are a quick and easy meal at my house because we almost always have the main ingredients on hand – canned chicken, salsa, and canned black beans. I usually have to pick up soft tortillas and taco sauce, but that’s it. If I don’t have store-bought seasoning on hand, I use this recipe for taco seasoning to mix up my own. I simply drain and heat the chicken, mix it with taco seasoning and a bit of water, and assemble the tacos. It’s a fast meal that’s always a hit! You can customize your tacos with added ingredients, too, like fresh cilantro, diced onion, or sour cream, to make them interesting and fun! Or serve it over tortilla chips and rice for a different twist.
2. Mushroom Hunting
Image Credit: Depositphotos.com.
Do you love walks through the woods? Mushroom hunting is the perfect hobby for nature-loving adventurers wanting to be more self-reliant. If you don’t have property to search on, check out a local park. Morel mushrooms are cone-shaped with a honeycomb appearance and are especially exciting to find.
Morels are delicious and safe to eat, but it’s important to learn what edible mushrooms look like before going out on a hunt. This fun activity can turn dangerous if you don’t know how to distinguish between similar-looking mushrooms. There are lots of toxic mushrooms, so a mistake can have serious consequences. Ame Vanorio, director of Fox Run Environmental Education Center with 27 years of experience living off-grid, recommends going with an experienced guide or taking a class at a local park if you are new to mushroom hunting.
3. Canning
Image Credit: Depositphotos.com.
If you have never canned your own food, now is a great time to learn! Canning extra berries from the farmer’s market or apples you picked up from the local orchard (or neighbor who never does anything with them) is perfect; it doesn’t have to be food you grow yourself. Making jams and jellies is a fun way to start this adventure. It costs a bit on the front end to get the supplies you need, although you might be surprised at what you can find at garage sales or online marketplaces. Canning is an incredibly rewarding skill to learn and can save you a great deal of money over time.
There are great books on the market for everything you need to know about canning. Living on a hobby farm, I grow more food than we can eat, so preserving food is a necessity! To get started, I recommend browsing through Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. If you are like me, you may be overwhelmed at first. Ideally, it’s best to have someone show you the ropes. If you don’t know anyone willing to teach you, classes are sometimes available through local extension offices or library programs. YouTube has some great videos too.
4. Dehydrating Your Food
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Dehydrating food is one of the oldest methods for preserving food. Fruits and vegetables are great to preserve this way. Fruit dehydrates into tasty dried snacks and fruit leather, and dehydrated vegetables can later be tossed into casseroles, soups, or stews.
Kris Bordessa, certified master food preserver and author of Attainable Sustainable Pantry, loves her dehydrator but writes that you can use an oven on a low setting too – although the dehydrator most likely uses less electricity. Barbara Willenberg from the University of Missouri Extension also suggests microwave, air, and sun-drying methods. Herbs, hot peppers, and mushrooms are commonly air-dried, while herbs and some leafy vegetables can be microwaved in small amounts. Willenberg recommends sun-drying only in southwestern states where there is constant, direct sunlight and less than 20% relative humidity.
Keep this in mind: Unless you can use the sun-drying method, Willenberg says dehydrating is not as energy-efficient as canning or freezing in some situations. If conserving energy is important, consider which food preservation method is best.
5. Buy an Entire Chicken
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Learning how to cut up an entire chicken is a helpful skill. It is guaranteed to save you money at the store and can yield several meals. This skill is essential whether you’re buying a whole chicken at the supermarket or you choose to raise meat chickens.
How about making homemade chicken stock while you’re at it? Bordessa explains that making chicken stock is “like finding free food” because you’re using the waste parts of the chicken – the bones – that would otherwise go in the trash.
6. Grow Herbs
Image Credit: Depositphotos.com.
No need to live on a farm to grow your food! For city dwellers, container planting is a fantastic way to start a food garden. The most sustainable way to begin is from seed, but buying from a local grower is a great option, too. Local growers will often sell starter plants cheaper than big-box stores.
There is a learning curve to growing your food, so start small. Herbs are an excellent first choice because they are cheap to grow but often expensive to purchase in the store. My personal favorites are dill, cilantro, and rosemary. With so many choices for what to plant, think about what herbs or foods you like and will eat most.
7. Save Seeds
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Growing your own food is a big step toward self-sufficiency, but having to rely on others for the seeds to start crops each year is not ideal. How about saving seeds for next year’s growing season?
Some plants are more suitable than others for saving seeds. Jill MacKenzie and Michelle Grabowski from the University of Minnesota Extension say most tomatoes, peppers, beans, and peas are good picks. Not only do these plants produce self-pollinating flowers, but their seeds are also easy to prepare for storage. Open-pollinated plants, specifically heirlooms, are great for seed saving. Cross-pollinated corn and vine crops, and biennial crops – like carrots and beets – are not the best choices. Avoid hybrids, too, such as the “Big Boy” and “Early Girl” tomatoes. Plants grown from hybrids aren’t identical to the parent plants, so you don’t know what you’ll get.
8. Raise Chickens
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Raising chickens is entertaining and rewarding, and you don’t need tons of land to keep them happy. These easy-to-care-for animals give you delicious and nutritious eggs. They supply you with free fertilizer too, so you can start that garden you’ve always dreamed of. I own 11 hens, and they are laying 8 to 10 eggs daily right now!
Building your chicken coop or run is a fun way to hone your carpentry skills. Your chickens will love it, and they won’t mind if it’s not perfect – ours certainly isn’t! Keep in mind there may be restrictions regarding roosters and how many hens you are allowed, so checking with your city or county is the first step toward making this idea a reality.
9. Raise Goats
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Goats are fun, adorable, mischievous creatures that can help in your journey toward self-sufficiency. They eat roughage, so they are often used for clearing overgrown areas. Goat manure is an excellent fertilizer, too!
There are meat, dairy, fiber, and pygmy goats. Boer and Kiko are a few popular meat goats that people raise specifically for their lean and flavorful meat. If you go this route and can learn to process the animals yourself rather than paying someone, you can save money and celebrate another win for self-sufficiency. John Woodmansee from Perdue University Extension explains that pygmy goats are used for meat, milk, or as a pet, while fiber goats, including Angora and Cashmere, are valuable for their luxurious hair.
Dairy goats – like Saanens and Nubians – are bred for their milk, and they are typically calm and easy to handle. I have Nigerian dwarf goats, which are small dairy goats. They make wonderful pets, but they’re also useful companions if you choose to milk them. Besides drinking it, goat milk can be used in cooking and in making dairy products, lotions, and soaps.
10. Try Your Hand at Sewing
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Having basic sewing skills can save you from tossing out clothes that only need a small mending job. According to Earth.org, fast fashion has fueled a “throwaway culture” where people discard clothing after wearing it just 7 to 10 times. In the U.S., this has led to over 80 pounds of textile waste per person in landfills each year.
If you don’t have any sewing skills yet, start with hand-sewing a button. Once you learn that, try moving to something a bit more difficult. Know anyone with a sewing machine who is willing to teach you the basics? A class may be offered in your community, too.
Thanks to a few memories from middle school home economics and a little YouTube help threading the bobbin, I was able to relearn how to use a sewing machine as an adult. I am no expert, but once I remembered a bit, I could self-teach through trial and error. You don’t have to make all your own clothes, but being able to hem pants and dresses or take in a seam is really helpful.
11. Learn to Fix Things Around the House
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
You don’t have to be known as a “handy” person to learn how to unclog a drain, replace a light switch, fix a broken flush handle on a toilet, install a touchless water faucet, or replace a garbage disposal.
As a homeowner for over two decades, these are just a few of the countless things I have fixed around the house, mostly by following online tutorials on YouTube. If you don’t know how to fix something, check out an online tutorial before hiring help. If you are comfortable and it’s safe, you might be able to save yourself some money and learn a new skill.
12. Make Your Cleaning Supplies
Image Credit: Depositphotos.com.
Homemade cleaners are generally better for the environment, less likely to irritate your skin, and much cheaper than store-bought products. Vinegar and baking soda are inexpensive and can effectively clean most of your home.
The University of Arkansas extension lists several recipes for homemade cleansers on its website, including how to make an all-purpose cleaner using vinegar, essential oil, castile soap, and water. Toilet bowl cleaners range from a mild, vinegar and baking soda recipe to a strong recipe of borax and vinegar.
Make an Impact
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Embracing self-sufficiency means learning skills that are meaningful to you. We may not live in our great-grandparents’ era, but making even small, deliberate choices in our everyday lives to be more self-reliant can make a positive and powerful difference.
Read more
How to Get Started Homesteading: 3 Simple Steps for a More Self-Sufficient Life
The 10 Easiest Vegetables to Grow from Seed (Even for Beginners)