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Olivia Jones, a mom of four living in remote Alaska, is recognized by her 240,000 TikTok followers under the name “Beyond the Mile Markers”
With the nearest major grocery store being a nine-hour drive away and the road becoming dangerous for six months of winter, she spends about $4,000 stocking up beforehand
During that time, her family relies on hunting, gardening, cooking from scratch and their tight-knit community
Every September, Olivia Jones loads up a 14-foot trailer, a deep chest freezer, coolers and tubs and makes the long drive to Fairbanks, Alaska, for their final grocery run for roughly six months.
The trip takes four days, including two days on the road, but it’s not simply a matter of stocking the pantry for the month ahead. Jones and her husband are preparing to buy enough food to help feed their family of six through the winter, when the road connecting their remote home in Eagle, Alaska, to the nearest big town becomes too dangerous to travel.
Along the first 170 miles of Taylor Highway, the family will crawl along a narrow road winding through three mountain ranges, knowing that once they return home, another major grocery trip may be months away.
And while those unfamiliar with remote living might imagine six months without access to a road would leave them feeling “locked in,” Jones tells PEOPLE that “in Alaska, we like to say that ‘she opens up for us.’ “
For Jones, the September trip is a culmination of months of planning. Her family has no grocery store nearby, and Fairbanks is about nine hours away, making a casual run for forgotten ingredients impossible.
The family typically makes two major shopping trips a year, with smaller orders of non-perishables coming by mail plane when necessary. This year’s food budget for the final trip is about $4,000 — not including gas, lodging or food stops along the way.
Jones family setting up for nine hour drive.
Credit: Olivia Jones
According to Jones, buying in bulk before the road closes is far less costly than having heavy items flown in later.
When it comes to priorities, meat sits at the top of Jones’ list, particularly after the family “underestimated” how much they would need during their first full winter and ended up having to fly in more.
“I did run out of butter as well last year, but this year I plan to double what I previously purchased for butter!” she reveals. “Costco has this amazing thing where we can purchase cases of meat instead of just one thing at a time, so we plan to buy at least two cases of chicken.”
Olivia Jones with her outdoor freezers
Credit: Olivia Jones
The goal, however, isn’t to simply fill every available freezer shelf. Jones has learned that the bigger challenge is making sure the food lasts. In order to do so, she keeps track of what the family has and how quickly it is being used, relying on an Excel spreadsheet to monitor her pantry throughout the winter.
“For example, I will buy eight sour cream tubs, the big Costco ones, and I allot ourselves one tub of sour cream per month with an extra on hand for the holiday cooking!” Jones explains. “I will do the same for cheese, butter, etc. I try to plan out how many I can use each month and do my best to stick to it.”
When it comes to packaged snacks, bread products or many canned goods, Jones says they’re not a priority to keep stocked. Instead, she makes bread, pasta and many condiments from scratch and freezes some of what she prepares — an approach that gives her family a way to replace foods they might otherwise have to wait months to buy.
“One of the best things about making most of our food from scratch is if we are craving or missing something, it’s usually pretty easy to whip up and better for you!” she notes.
Olivia Jones in her pantry
Credit: Olivia Jones
The family also supplements its supplies with what it can produce or harvest itself.
Jones grew potatoes, lettuce, turnips and cabbage in her garden, despite dealing with a difficult mosquito season, and she runs a hydroponic system during the winter to grow lettuce. The family will also continue hunting caribou throughout the colder months.
Even with all that preparation, the family has a backup. The mail plane runs Monday through Friday, allowing them to order necessities they cannot wait until spring to replace. However, flying food in is expensive since the family has to pay by weight.
Olivia Jones with her meat supply
Credit: Olivia Jones
“Everything is worth bringing in before the road closes, just so we can save on the plane costs,” Jones says. “But I am grateful the plane is available to bring food in when we do run out; you just have to pay the price, literally.”
For smaller restocks, Jones says she spends a couple hundred dollars on Walmart+ and Amazon orders for non-perishables, but those deliveries can take about a month to reach the family.
Still, despite the unusual logistics, Jones says the family’s spending can actually be lower than it was when they lived minutes from a grocery store in St. Louis, Mo.
Olivia Jones.
Credit: Olivia Jones
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During this year’s trip, Jones brought her four children to Fairbanks for the final outing before the road closed, giving them a chance to enjoy the city before returning home for winter.
Once they are back in Eagle, however, she notes that the end of road access does not mean the end of community life.
Although the town has fewer than 100 people, Jones reveals that residents come together even more during the coldest and darkest months. The school remains open, families gather for monthly events and neighbors organize activities ranging from game nights to sledding parties.
Olivia Jones.
Credit: Olivia Jones
“Our winters are brutal with the below 0 temps and not seeing the sun for months on end, so it’s a necessity that we are gathering together, spending time with others, and that doesn’t stop just because the road closes,” she shares. “I can easily say we do more as a community when the road closes!”
Instead, winter brings its own freedoms. With snow covering the landscape, the family can travel by snowmachine, ski, snowshoe and dog sled — giving the family a way to move through the wilderness while experiencing the landscape at a slower pace.
“Of course, the food planning is the hardest part of being cut off from the ‘big’ towns, but other than that, we are enjoying life!” Jones tells PEOPLE.
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Dining and Cooking