After you’ve mastered beginners recipes and want to take it a step further, I’d recommend these Intermediate and Advanced Cheese making books:

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It (2003). London: Dorling Kindersley. (with Will Sutherland) Budgeting is equally as important; creating a budget helps individuals determine exactly where their income goes each month, so they know how much they are able to save. What Is Energy Self-Sufficiency?

Cheesemaking

These are not for the casual reader, and I’d really only recommend them if you’re going to get really into making cured meats. None the less, they are incredible manuals for doing just that. Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn ~ Takes you nose to tail through preserving a whole pig with charcuterie, part by part. Recipes, techniques, everything you need to know for an absolute beginner.

King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion ~ Nearly as long as they Joy of Cooking, but focusing on just foods made from scratch with flour. Literally any type of bread, baked good, tortillas, whatever you can think of. Flour keeps almost forever, and learning to craft diverse meals from your long term storage food is a great way to rely on your pantry (rather than always running to the grocery store). Simple herbal remedies, homemade cleaning products, from scratch bread and maybe a few canning recipes.The books above cover most styles of charcuterie, but if you really want to go down the rabbit hole of meat preservation there are more detailed technical manuals as well.

Even though the basic storylines start roughly the same – e.g. get fed up, try something new – each person’s experiences from that point forward are totally different. To me, the completely unique ways we all approach the same basic idea of self-sufficiency are fascinating. Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart ~ The best guide on making 100% whole wheat bread taste amazing. Again, as with the Breadbakers Apprentice, most of the recipes involve multi day ferments, but that’s really essential to high quality whole grain breads. Winemaking can be just as technical as home brew beer, and depends even more on the quality of the ingredients. Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning~ A truly incredible resource with historical food preservation techniques that are still practiced in Europe today. I’ve made many of their recipes, including preserving cheese in wood ash, and they always turn out well.These books have plenty of projects to get you started, and they’re perfect gifts for someone just starting on the DIY lifestyle. This is one of the best, most famous books for self sufficient homesteaders, bushcrafters, and all types of people who care about self reliance. Building Small Barns, Sheds and Shelters by Monte Burch ~ A basic guide to building homestead outbuildings. Sixth–Seventh Edition. Half new paging and half old paging; rewrites added. Index dropped due to confused paging; 4,000 mimeo copies started November 22, 1976.

Artisanal Small-Batch Brewing: Easy Homemade Wines, Beers, Meads and Cidersby Amber Shehan ~ A great general purpose guide that will get you brewing right away with minimal equipment and ingredients that are already waiting in your pantry. She focuses on natural winemaking, without winemaking additives, so the recipes are simple and cost effective. I made a truly spectacular lemon balm mead using her recipe.Solar energy is a renewable source of energy that can be used to power homes, businesses and even entire countries. The Boreal Herbalby Beverley Gray ~ A great guide for wild foraged herbal remedies if you live in Northern laditudes. Just about everything listed grows locally here in Vermont, and it’s one of my favorite guides. Not that helpful if you live in the south though. It also helps us understand which areas of the world are most vulnerable regarding essential goods or service shortages. While the world has been growing increasingly more connected through trade, we still have many countries that are self-sufficient in their own personal resources.