The Laundry Room, Eating & Groceries in rural Alaska

The kitchen

People are probably most fascinated by this aspect of rural Alaska. Maybe that's because many of my readers are moms who can't imagine feeding their picky eaters without a grocery store or drive through!  I will say it had me thoroughly freaked out at the beginning, but has only gotten easier with time.

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Gluten Free

One person asked if you could live gluten free in rural Alaska and I say that with enough planning, you absolutely could. In fact one adult and one child here now are currently gluten free.  Anchorage has this great place call Natural Pantry and you can shop there and ship it, or even order online from them.

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The Co op

Our co op carries snack items and canned goods regularly.  Eggs, dairy (ice cream, sour cream, cream cheese), chips as well as fruits & veggies are harder to come by.  The fruits are often hard or frozen, or bruised & rotting by the time they reach us.

I have paid $5 for a single avacado, and I don't know what Josh pays, but every time there are tomatoes, or lettuce, he brings them home to me.  Same with apples.

Earlier in the year our neighbor Cyndy called me from the store in Bethel asking if she could bring anything.  Boy did she deliver! An entire bag full of fruit (apples & oranges) plus some Dave's Killer Bread as a surprise!

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Growing Veggies

Someone asked if we could grow some of those things in a green house or something. I am NOT a gardener, so my answer is an ammateur's answer.  But I think the problem mainly is sunlight. In the dead of winter we get less than four hours/day of sunlight.  A fellow teacher is trying to grow some things, but as of yet, I'm not sure how it's going.

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The Laundry Room

I love having a separate space for laundry.  In there you can see our stackable washer & dryer, as well as my favorite octopus hangers from Ikea.  They were awesome for cloth diapers when I did them with Wyatt.  Speaking of which, I am thinking of selling my collection of 24 BumGenius diapers along with the wet bags if anyone is interested.  Those hangers are also awesome for drying bibs & other clothes that need to hang dry.

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The VHF

The VHF radio lives in our laundry room.  This is how the community stays in touch and it's how pilots reach us when a flight is coming in.

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In Case of Emergency

I learned the first year to keep "illness" groceries on hand at all times.

Broth

Sprite

Soup

Gatorade

Crackers

Pedialyte

You never know when you're going to get sick, and chances are, it won't be at an opportune time to visit the co op.

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Cleaning House

Out here, we make do with what we can.  That means I am using our $70 vacuum from Amazon until it dies.  It's not fabulous, but it gets the job done.  I mostly use the broom, and occasionally our mop.  Other than that, I use Windex, Clorox wipes & Soft Scrub, all ordered from Amazon.

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Totes

Our lives stop and start with Rubbermaid totes.  We have this stack in the laundry room, and they are in use all over the house (under beds & in closets).  I don't even want to think about the day we decide to leave this place, but someday we will, and we'll be glad we held on to all these totes for shipping!  At $9 apiece, we probably have a couple hundred dollars worth of these hanging around our house.

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Moving Sales

When people do leave, most people have a "fire sale" before they go. They announce it on the VHF and people come to look at what's for sale.  Because shipping is so expensive, it's often cheaper to just sell what you have and start fresh when you get where you're going.

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Walmart Bush Order

We do at least one Walmart bush order a year.  The process is quite simple.  You go to Walmart in Anchorage, fill however many grocery carts you desire with goods, and write your address on a COD (Cash on Delivery) order form and wheel it back to the Bush Department.  When the goods arrive (boxed) from Walmart at your village post office, you write a check.

You can also email, call in or fax a grocery order and a personal shopper will get everything you need and ship it to you.  You can opt out of substitutes (ie different brands or sizes) if you don't want your order differing at all.

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Laundry

For laundry I have developed a system.  Upstairs I have a triple laundry separator like this one for Josh and myself, and down here I have one for the twins, Logan & towels.  It's nice to be able to just throw a load in as needed.

Those laundry baskets we zip tied together, wrote our address on, and shipped via the post office sans box.  I was pleasantly surprised they made it in once piece!

For Tide & Downy I use Amazon, and for dryer sheets, I just throw a box in my Walmart bush order.

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Organization

I find that we must be super organized to keep track of all that we keep on hand.  Cleaning supplies, shipping supplies, tools and food as well as medicines and technological supplies could easily overwhelm us if we aren't careful.  I am constantly paring down what we have and trying to find better storage solutions. 

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Sense of Community

The lovely thing about living in a small village is being part of the community.  Chances are if I don't have it and the store doesn't have it, my neighbor does.  And vice versa.  We trade milk for batteries, and tomatoes for pickles.  It's an awesome system, really.  Kind of old school and really moving.

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Span Alaska Orders

We order groceries from Span Alaska twice a year, ordering as a group with fellow teachers and the school.  This makes the shipping remarkably cheaper.

{Span Alaska Order}

{Span Alaska Order}

We generally order:

chicken nuggets

corn dogs

frozen vegetables

pork chops

hamburger

lasagna

cheese

butter

ham

cheese sticks

chicken

lunchmeat

whip cream

Our orders are usually $1500, give or take.

{Post Span Alaska Order arrival}

We store said orders in this large standing freezer that came with our housing.  It makes feeding a family of our size doable out here.

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Family Help

Also, family sends us things we need. During winter months they can send us cheese & butter, as well as other things, like pizza pockets & chicken nuggets for the kids.  Being able to call on them when there's a specific item we need but can't get is a godsend!

{Thank you Samuel!}

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Co op Prices & Availability

We wish we had an AC store in Marshall simply because we would have more regular stock, but prices out here, whatever kind of store you have, are spendy!

$14.99 12 pack of soda

$16 for one pound of grapes

$9.05 for coffee creamer

At the co op, we often treat ourselves no matter the price.  If a bag of Doritos we want is on the shelf, we pay $10 for it.  If there's Lucerne Mint Ice Cream and it's $16? We buy it.  It's the little things that bring us joy!

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Groceries from Amazon

For those things we can't get from Walmart, Span or at the co op, we order from Amazon.  Most of our canned goods, cereals and snack items come from there.

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Amazon Prime Account

The most important part of ordering on Amazon is having an Amazon Prime account, which makes shipping free on nearly everything!  A sweet blog friend of mine added me to her account, so I get my free shipping for free!  I think it's normally $70 per year.  I'm so lucky!

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Target Debit Card

In addition to having an Amazon Prime membership, I also have a Target debit card, which offers me 5% off all purchases (in store and online) plus free shipping, which has saved me tons!  I ordered rugs for our house on Target.com, as well as shelves for homeschool and other household items.

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Original Shipping Costs

Our first year we spent $5000 in shipping alone via the United States Post Office.  

Additional Shipping Costs

We have probably spent another $1000 each summer shipping stuff to ourselves as we wrap up vacation.

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What They Eat

Our boys eat the homemade bread now,  which means they will eat sandwiches. Hooray!  Making a PB&J is so easy.  It makes lunch so simple.

They also love chicken and cheese quesedillas on homemade tortillas,

Mac & Cheese,

Alfredo noodles,

Cheese hot dogs,

& corn dogs

For dinner we often have lasagna, chili, spaghetti, chicken, porkchops, meatloaf, tacos, enchiladas or golden mushroom soup patties.

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Dishes

We have no dishwasher here, so we love paper plates.  I think doing dishes has gotten easier as the kids have gotten older, and listening to music helps, but I swear that some days all we do is rotate dishes from the cupboards, to the table to the sink and back again.

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Water

As I said, we are sure to stock up on everything, even water.  In the bathroom we have two totes full of water for washing dishes, drinking or flushing toilets.  We also keep the fridge stocked and have water bottles on hand as well.

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Keep Everything

We keep a plethora of batteries, Josh keeps all screws, nails, etc. because you just never know what you might need and whether the store will have it or not.  I can't tell you how many times we have needed something months later and been grateful we held on to whatever it was.

We miss having a Walmart or Home Depot down the road, that's for sure!

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Vitamins 

Vitamins are really important for Vitamin D and for replacing the missing fruits & vegetables in the kids' diet.  Back in January my doctor ran some blood tests for me and found me to be vitamin D deficient.  I recently finished my twelve week treatment and am feeling so much better now!

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Meal planning

Living out here requires some planning ahead, obviously.  Weather can delay planes with ingredients, so I always have a back up plan in place.  But generally speaking, as long as I stay organized and keep ahead of my grocery needs, it's manageable.  Every Sunday I try to map out the week's meal plan, checking for ingredients.  Then each morning I pull out anything that needs to thaw.  Having that menu on the fridge is so nice.  I hate doing it, but I'm always glad to have it done.

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Upon Our Return
For coming back in the fall, I am making sure I have plenty of canned goods, powdered milk and ingredients to make tortillas and bread.  We also recently placed a Span order, so our freezer should be pretty well stocked when we come back as well, which will be a welcome change.  Normally we are living on ramen until our bush order arrives in late August from Walmart.

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Stay tuned for the rest of the Rural Alaska Living Series:
Tomorrow is Hunting & Health in rural Alaska
Thursday is Life with Small Children in rural Alaska
Friday is The BEST and the WORST of life in rural Alaska
& Saturday wraps up with Weather in rural Alaska

Bathrooms

I have decided to continue sharing our home.  

(I started with our bedroom & the linen closet here, 

and you can see the boys' bedroom in this post.)

These first three pictures are from the downstairs bathroom, which is the boys' bathroom. It's handicap accessible, which means it's huge! And it has a moveable shower head, which is quite convenient for rinsing off soapy kids.  

We have a basket of books for the boys on an odd side table we had, and a basket for extra toilet paper rolls on the floor.  I love our new non-skid stool, so Wyatt can wash his hands independently, and I am also in love with the Clorox Toilet Wand.  I have one for each bathroom.

I buy hand soap for the boys' bathroom in bulk and each week I refill their small dispenser. That way I'm not stressing about how many pumps they use.  I'm just happy they're using soap!  I also always make sure they have hand lotion (on the soap bar holder to the right of the sink) because it gets so dry up here!

Above the sink, on top of the medicine cabinet I store air spray, bubble bath, Vapor Bath (for when they're sick) and my favorite night time Johnson & Johnson lotion.

The medicine chest in that bathroom is the only storage we have down there. 

So it's imperative that I keep it organized.  

The top shelf has A&D ointment, Baby Orajel, and a myriad of eyedrops.

The second shelf has bath body paint, nail cutting supplies & pads.

The third shelf has bandaids, neosporin, a thermometer, Desitin & Aquaphor (which we use constantly for dry skin!)

The fourth shelf has more bath paints, Vicks Baby VapoRub, chapsticks, tylenol & ibuprofen, toothpaste, Lubriderm lotion (my favorite!) and our BandAid brand antiseptic.

And the fifth and final shelf has floss as well as the boys' toothbrushes.  

In this picture you can see the other thing I store in our bathroom: Water.

Yep, those two huge Rubbermaid totes are filled to the brim with water.  I learned after our first time without water (for THREE everliving days), that having some on hand, in case of emergency, is a good idea.  I wish I had a better place to keep them, but if I kept them in the arctic entry or laundry room, they would likely freeze, which wouldn't be very helpful!

I also have a little bit of fun art in the bathroom.

I love this one that my friend Kristina made me. It puts a smile on my face each time I read it.

And this one from my mom cracks me up.

"Aim"

(head shaking)

Only a mom of little boys would have a sign in the bathroom that says, "Aim."

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The upstairs bathroom is our bathroom.  

It has a bit of a beachy theme, and it's lovely in there.

It is much smaller than the downstairs bathroom, 

but it has under-sink storage, which is awesome!  

Curlers, toilet paper & Clorox wipes,

A basket of bath items & a basket of make up,

Feminine products, hairspray & a basket of hair things:

brush, hairbands, mirror, blowdryer & curling iron

 In the medicine cabinet I have:

On the top shelf, lotion, ProActiv & cotton face pads.

On the second shelf is nail accessories (files, clippers, tweezers, scissors) Josh's Rx, Bandaids, Vaseline (a must for noses when the boys have been sick) eye cream & Tylenol.

On the third shelf, floss, a small jewelry box, A&D ointment, and chapstick.

On the final shelf we have deodorant, cologne, body spray, oil, face lotion & Q tips.

It's taken a while to figure out what I need in the bathroom, and what can go in the linen closet.  It's also been a bit of a learning curve discovering what I can order online (say, from Amazon or Walmart) versus what must be bought in person over the summer.  

For prescriptions we found a mail order pharmacy that makes my life super convenient.  And Amazon & Span Alaska provide nearly all the groceries we need.  The most difficult things to get are drug store items.  Cold medicine, facewash, hairspray, chapstick and nail polish remover, for example.  What I wouldn't give for a Walgreens on the corner!

Let's Chat

Good morning!

Happy Friday!

It's been a while, so this hodge-podge post, with bits & pieces of everything should catch us up.  Grab your morning coffee, I'll slice you a piece of apple cake & let's chat!

Tuesday we spent two and a half hours at the clinic getting Logan, Wyatt and myself checked out.  We have all had coughs, Wyatt's being the worst, for about two weeks.  Logan and my lungs were clear, but Wyatt's are super junky, so he was given albuterol nebulizer treatments. 

Thankfully our friends Joe & Krista, who have four kiddos of their own, have a nebulizer on hand that they don't mind loaning out.

Wyatt has been really good about his treatments, and slowly he's getting better.

We are in full swing with homeschool, working into our seventh week back from Christmas break.  The twins' focus is back and their skills are constantly amazing Josh and I.

Reading in particular is going great.  They are sounding out words all over the place, on TV, in magazines and of course in our bedtime stories.  I am so proud of them.

 Their ability to read more has reignited their love for their Tag readers, and I love finding them listening and reading along all over the house.

We have so much more sunlight these days. It's very exciting. 

When Josh leaves for work in the mornings, I can see the sunlight peeking, barely, over the mountain out front, and it is so happy to me!  Our sunrise is at 9:14am and the sunset is at 6:50pm.  

The boys have been enjoying two new shows as of late. 

Wallykazaam

and

Sheriff Callie's Wild West

I particularly love Wallykazaam, pictured above, which teaches rhyming words, sounding out and other reading skills. The boys sit, shouting answers at the TV, Wyatt mimicking them, and it's so adorable.

My anxiety was bad Sunday, Monday & Tuesday.  But the rest of the week has been looking up, and this morning I feel more like myself than I have in months. I attribute this to a myriad of things, primarily exercising, counseling, and using my gratitude journal.

Having a few really good days gets me excited for a future that is anxiety-free, or at least less anxiety-filled!

This week I have been very focused on organizing the house.  Primarily I think I have been doing this to avoid doing the dishes... But whatever motivates us, right?!?

Jack and I worked very hard on the pantry and I was pleased with the results. It's much more user friendly, plus I have a better idea of what inventory I have.

Part of what spurred my kitchen organizing was placing a Span Alaska grocery order.  The school is placing an order, and if we place one at the same time, we can save on shipping, which is normal $1.63 per pound. (That adds up quick when you are ordering two 50lb. bags of flour, plus other groceries!)

So I needed an idea of what we had and what we needed, and the only way to do that was to jump in the deep end.  It's a painful process, but I am always so happy to have it done.

In addition to organizing the house, I've been working on re-reading Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids by Dr. Laura Markham.  Peaceful Parenting has been so good for our family, but is a challenge to my old ways, so I have to constantly remind myself how to better handle situations.  

The three basic tenets of the book are:

1. Regulate Yourself as a Parent

2. Foster a Connection with Your Child

3. Coach, don't Control

The hardest part for me is to slow down when I'm overwhelmed and take the time to listen to the boys, hear what they're saying (feeling) and acknowledge that.  It's also hard for me to keep my own temper in check and be the example they need.  Remembering to "breathe" and "choose love" also helps.

We also talk a lot, the boys and I, about how making mistakes simply means we get to try again. That's been as important for them as it has been for me.  Every morning we talk about our goals for the day- no hitting, no yelling, better listening, etc. -and we promise we're going to try our best to meet our goals and help each other remember.  We haven't "arrived" yet, but we're getting there!

If you remember, a while back, Jack's glasses lost a lens in the snow. Well, his new pair came this week, and I am overjoyed! We ordered him a different pair because we'd been so unhappy with his, and we made the right choice.  These ones stay on his face, right where they should be, and I can tell already his reading has improved with his eyesight.

In addition to organizing and peaceful parenting, we've also been potty training the last two weeks.  It's going pretty well, if slow, but I am confident Wyatt will catch on quickly.  His brothers are a huge help, asking constantly if he needs to go, and cheering when he does.

When he goes potty on his potty chair, he gets a candy corn, and let me tell you-- he loves those things! They are very motivating!

Josh is over half way done with his master's degree (he'll graduate in June) and I think we're both in shock that it's going so quickly!

This week someone from the district came in and recorded him teaching, so I got to see him in action. It was really fun to watch him, in his element, interacting with his students. It made me swell with pride.  He's so good at what he does.

This weekend he's hoping to go moose hunting.  The weather is supposed to be nice, and we'd really like some more moose meat in the freezer.  I'm hoping it's gorgeous so that while he's gone, the boys and I can play out.

Yesterday was a super productive day for me.  I gave the big boys haircuts and made apple cake with caramel frosting, both with great results!

I'm hoping today is productive as well. I have these piles on my computer desk that are driving me crazy, and I'd also like to write a few of my pen pals.

Lately, this little one wants a cat.  When we were skyping with Josh's mom earlier this week, she held her cat Wilbur so Wyatt could see it, and he goes, "Aww, look at that sweet cat! Can I have it?" We aren't interested in having pets out here, so his little beanie baby, named Angel, is going to have to do for now.

And finally, volume. Holy loudness!  My children are so incredibly loud. I am constantly amazed by the decibels reached during playtime.  Wyatt is into screaming lately, particularly screaming at his brothers.  I'm hoping it's just a phase... but with twin brothers, perhaps he's always going to need to be extra loud to be heard.

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I hope your Friday is full of happy loudness, as I know mine will be!

Thanks for stopping by!