You never know what you'll find out.

My son, Rubic, would probably be surprised, but I don't hate technology.  I enjoy it in its place.  I have a Facebook account.  I like shopping online.  I have my blog.  The list goes on.  One of the things I very much appreciate is the ability to look things up online.  To have a random question that pops into my head answered with a couple of strokes of a keyboard.  This is a truly vital tool with which to learn more and more frugal things.  While some of my experiences come from my "experiments", much knowledge has been gleaned from "googling".  My latest excursion into a virtual encyclopedia concerned what makes up Poultry Seasoning and Allspice.  This led me to find this  recipe for Poultry Seasoning.  As for the Allspice, I discovered that true Allspice is derived from a berry.  One can, however, make an Allspice substitute by combining equal parts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  The internet, when used responsibly, is a cornucopia of information.  When in doubt, type your question in the box and see what you find.  A great resource. 

Due to our snow storm (hey 3 inches in Ga is a big thing), I have had the past two days off.  I have tried to  make the most of my time off and have been organizing closets.  I have the linen closet next to Rubic and Einstein's room, and my pantry closet.  It is nice to have things organized.  Now if it would stay that way.  I have also been trying to make as much as possible from scratch to keep from having to go to the grocery store.  I have to say it has been fun.  I have made mayo, cookies, granola bars, and a pumpkin pie(Yummm).  I have also been trying to use up stuff I already had on hand.  You know like when you need to use up that last bit of sour cream, or lettuce, etc.  A good thing to do to be sure.  This will also help with getting groceries later this week.  Plus nothing goes to waste. 

In preparation for spring, I have ordered my seeds for my cold weather crops.  They should  be here soon.  I can't wait!  I already have my trays ready to go and am working on a heat source for my greenhouse. 

So that is my update for today.  Not much I suppose, but a little none the less.  

Have a great day! 

Once a month Shopping Part 1

So you guys have my friend Emily to thank for this one.  She called me yesterday wanting my advice on this topic.  Kudos to Emily.  I know her from work.  She is a nurse who chose to become a stay at home mom, homeschooling her soon to be 4 children.  The 4th being due in 3 days.  I want to help her in any way I can.   It is for that reason (and also cause I love to talk) that I am posting this blog post today. 
Buying your groceries once a month has some advantages; less gas used; fewer trips to the grocery store means less time wasted in line, putting up groceries, etc.  It does take some planning, especially in the beginning.  Once you get it down though it is a great benefit.  I have shopped once a week, bi-weekly, and once a month.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each.  I have finally come up with something that works for me and that is shopping once a month with money left over to grab a really good sale. 

THE PLANNING PHASE:

Many of you , if you have read my blog for any length of time, have read about my preparations for "grocery day".  It is a methodical plan of defrosting the freezer, organizing my pantry, cleaning out the nearly empty fridge, and going over ads.  Just as my monthly trips require planning; when you are first starting to transition to once a month shopping, the best thing to do is go back over your last month of grocery shopping to get an idea of how much of each item you used/purchased.  Use that as your guide.  No worries though, you will tweek( no twerking people!) it over time.  I have heard a lot of people say to make a menu for the month, but that means extra work and I always change my mind about what I want for dinner.  Instead I know what meats, etc I use regularly, and I plan to have those things on hand.  Rather than plan meals, I buy staples: butter, sugars, rice, potatoes, meats, flours, veggies, etc.  Then I make up my meals depending on what I have on hand.  This also enables me to try new recipes using what staples I have.   I mean, seriously, the pioneer folks couldn't menu plan when they needed to take a days ride to the nearest general store to get provisions for winter.  They  bought staples and built from there.  If it is good enough for them.....
So anyway, your planning phase also includes going over grocery ads to see what is on sale.  Now while I do get a good bit of my regular groceries at Aldi; I watch ads.  This week I am getting a good bit from Kroger.  I know SHOCK!  My mother once told me that grocery shopping is WAR!  Those sneaky grocery people's job is to take as much of your money as they can. Your job is to keep as much as possible. The only way to be successful at that is planning, planning, planning. 

WATCH FOR SALES!

Some are advertised, some aren't.  I always, always, always (did I say always?) check out mark downs in the meat, bread, and dairy sections of the store.  OK, Before the shocked gasps drag unsuspecting people in off the street, please note:  This food is perfectly safe to buy even though the sell by date is that day or a couple of days away.  It just means the store can't sell it after that date.  It also means you can take it home and either freeze it ,or cook it (can it too).  There are significant savings in stocking up on marked down meats, etc.   When you see a particularly good sale stock up on what you can to keep you from having to buy it full retail.  This doesn't apply to fresh produce unless you are planning on canning it or dehydrating it. 

KNOW YOUR PRICES!

In order to know if a sale is any good, you need to know what prices are good.  If you are someone who has always just gone to the store, picked out what you want/need, and checked out without really paying attn. to prices (Boggles my mind), this will be a learning experience.  Check out the ads for more than one store.  I always look at the online ads for Kroger, Publix, Aldi, Sams, and a local store called J&J.  I may not go to all of these stores, but once I check out the ads I can decide where I am going to get each part of my groceries.  When you look at these ads, you can compare prices for certain items and get an idea of the range of sale prices for any given item.  When you begin to grasp the range of prices for an item, you will develop a personal price range.  You will have your (rare) "AHH I can't believe my good luck I am going to stock up for sure" price , and you will have your " Eh, not great, but I really need this so I guess I will have to get enough to get by.  Maybe it will go on sale soon" price.  I also have my "I guess we will go without, I am not paying that for this" price.   Here are a few examples:

Cereal-  I love to find cereal for 7 cents an oz.  When I find it for that price I get a lot.  Like uh funny looks from the cashier a lot.  I will buy what I have to cause my son loves cereal at 10 cents an ounce, but I am not happy about it.  Anything over that, sonny boy eats something else. 

Chicken breast, boneless-  I love to find it for $1.49lb.  YAY!  I will buy what I have to at 1.99 lb.  I will look for a different cut of chicken when it is over $2 lb. 

Sugar- UGH!  I am not that old, but I remember having a sale price of .99 for 5 lbs.  (Sigh) those were the days.  Now my stock up price is any combination that gives me $2 for 5 lbs.  I have gone as high as $2.87 for 5 lbs, but that is reluctant.  Luckily I store sugar in large volume, so I have the opportunity to wait for good sales and stock up.  I have bought so much sugar in stocking up that I have gotten questions from the cashier like " uh are you making moonshine?".  Really you would think the first thought would be maybe I am making jam, but I guess it depends on who's doing the asking.

Well I am still typing and I am sure your eyes have glazed over, so I am going to end this segment for now.  I will be bringing up part two in a bit.

Oops! I forgot this great yogurt recipe

So your kids like Trix yogurt so it doesn't work for you to make yogurt.  Weeeelllll let me tell ya, I have a recipe for a Trix like custard yogurt you can make cheap and the kiddies will love!

Trix style custard yogurt

1 pkg flavored Jello (or the generic equivalent)
1 cup water
3 cups plain yogurt
1/3 cup sugar

Boil your water and add the Jello, and sugar.  Mix well.  Fold in the yogurt until well incorporated and smooth.  Chill to set.


TIP:  If you don't want  to use the Jello, you can use 1 cup juice concentrate (like grape or juicy juice) and a pkg of unflavored gelatin instead of the Jello and water. 

I did it!!!! Yogurt How to's. Its easier than you think

Many years I have attempted yogurt and have been successful in as much as you would cook with it, but never made yogurt I could just eat straight out of the jar.  Most of the time it was kinda runny and or thin.  I would us it instead of buttermilk in biscuits, cornbread, etc.  I bought a yogurt maker last summer, and while it is nice having one, it isn't necessary for successful yogurt making. My yogurt was still the same consistency as before.  So in frustration and ready to give up I went to the internet to get the answer.  So without further adieu, here is how I did it.

HOMEMADE YOGURT

4 cups of milk (I have used dry; reconstituted, whole, or 2%)
1 6 oz container of store bought plain yogurt (Make sure it has active cultures. I like Dannon or Stonyfield farms.  Once you make your first batch of yogurt, you can set aside some to be your culture next time and you wont have to buy any, SAVINGS!
1/3 cup of sugar (gives the bacteria something to eat)

So first of all you want to heat your milk up to 180 and keep it there for 30 min.  This alters the makeup of the milk to make it more receptive to the culture.  About half way thru the 30 minutes, you need to prep whatever container you are going to use.  I have little 6 Oz glass jars in my yogurt maker, but a glass Mason Jar or any glass jar capable of holding 1qt yogurt; 2 pint jars work as well.  Make sure these are clean and then totally submerge them in water and boil them.  I boiled them about 15 min.  This kills off any unseen germies that could attack the good bacteria. When the 30 minutes is up, remove the milk from the heat and let cool to 110. This won't take long.  When it has cooled to the 110, add your culture.  Mix it well.  Wait a few minutes and mix it again just to make sure the culture is evenly distributed.  Pour the mixture into your now sterilized container.  If you have a yogurt maker, Kudos.  Set it up and off you go.  But like I said before they are not necessary.   I used to take a Playmate cooler (Any cooler will work, but keep it small), fill up a couple of pint jars with very hot water and put them and the yogurt in.  Then I would put hand towels all round.  I once saw a lady who very shrewdly inserted a light bulb into the lid of a Styrofoam cooler and used that as a heat source.  The idea is to incubate your yogurt keeping the temp above 80 degrees but not so hot that it kills the bacteria.  Once it is set up, leave it for about 4 hours.  Check it out and if it has set up, then refrigerate.  You can let it sit for up to 8 hours, but the longer it sits the more tangy it will be.  It will set up more in the fridge.  Mistakes in yogurt making are still great for a substitute for buttermilk, so give it a try.  It is something that is not very labor intensive.  My cost analysis for this initial batch, culture included, is 32 oz for 1.49 and that is because I used a greek yogurt culture and they are more expensive.  Now that I have made my yogurt and therefore my culture for the next time, my cost for 32 oz of yogurt will be .68.  Compare that to the cost of a 32 oz container of yogurt on sale at the store.  The cheapest I have seen is a sale price of $1.99.  Even buying the more expensive yogurt for a culture still put me cheaper than store bought.

NO WHEY!  GREEK YOGURT!

Big FYI here.  You can make your own greek yogurt by simply straining your homemade yogurt.  The whey that is drained off is a great source of protein and it also aids indigestion.  You can add it to biscuits, corn bread, quick breads muffins, etc.  If you are making oatmeal, put your oats in the bowl the night before with 2 TBS of Whey and the water to cook them with  let it soak overnight then cook it up the next morning. A good resource for using the whey is the book " Nourishing Traditions"  by Sally Fallon.

YOGURT CHEESE!

Got some cheese cloth or  other type cloth that will allow you to strain off even more?  Put your yogurt in the cheese cloth and hang it up over a bowl ( of course) to catch the whey.  Once all the liquid has drained off you will have yogurt cheese.  Use it like cream cheese.  You can add fresh herbs to it and have some awesome spread. 

So what are you waiting for!  Go for it!

It has been brought to my attention......

Yes, it has been brought to my attention that I have been remiss in including many of my "make it yourself recipes".  All this time I thought I had included things like my pancake syrup recipes and many others.  Now in my defense, a lot of my recipes can be found in the black belt grocery posts. I have posted about "Taco Seasoning, Season Salt, Choc Syrup, Quick Bread mix, White Sauce mix, Granola, and Salsa". Those can usually be found in the list of most popular posts on the right of my blog page.  Also, for those wanting to find archived posts, those can be found if you scroll down a ways on my page.  So now that that is out of the way, I want to include a few recipes that might help tame the grocery beast.  So without further adieu:

Pancake Syrup recipe:


3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3 Tbs molasses (if you don't have molasses, use 3 cups of brown sugar in place of the granulated sugar and then skip this ingredient)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp butter flavor (I never buy butter flavor.  I just put 1TbS real butter in the recipe)
1 tsp maple flavor (I buy this at Walmart.)

Real simple to do.  Put everything into a sauce pan.  Stir well.  Cook it over med/low heat until it comes to a full rolling boil.  Turn off the burner, leaving the pan on the burner to cool.  Once cool, store in the fridge.  I like to reheat the syrup when I am using it on pancakes or waffles.  Just don't stir it.  It will make it crystallize a little.  Which honestly makes a great candy.  Ooops!  I outed myself. LOL

Wheat thins Crackers

3 cups uncooked quick oats
2 cups flour (allpurpose)
1 cup wheat germ
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water

Mix all together.  It will make a stiff dough.  Take about 1/2 of the dough and roll it thin on a well floured surface or wax paper.   Make it wafer thin guys.  You know what wheat thins look so eye ball it to see.  Once rolled out, take a knife or better yet a pizza cutter and cut into squares.  Transfer carefully to a cookie sheet. Poke the crackers with a fork, sprinkle salt over them and bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on these as the crackers around the edges may get brown first.  I have also rolled the dough out on the cookie sheet and cut them out there, saving the step of transferring the crackers.  These things are really good and very addictive.  We had an ice storm one year, and while we were playing a board game we pulled the bag of these crackers out and, along with some cream cheese,  ate the whole bag.  Price wise these crackers end up being about 1.20 per pound which is a lot less than store bought.

Shake and Bake

4  cups flour
4 cups ground cornflakes cereal (grind these in the blender.  Works like a charm)
2 Tbs sugar
4 Tbs salt
2 tsp garlic
2 tsp onion powder
3 Tbs paprika

Mix all and store.  This makes alot!  I will usually measure out a little to use.  I dip the meat into the shake and bake, then into an egg/milk mixture (1 egg and about 1 cup milk mixed together well)then back into the shake and bake.  Spray your cookie sheet or baking pan with Pam.  When you have dipped each piece and laid them on the sheet, spray them once again with Pam(cooking spray).  Then bake them til brown and crispy. 

So I have a lot on the gardeing/chickens front,but I want to wait until I get my camera working so I can show picks.  So that post will come later.  I also will post more recipes later as well. So until then, SEE YA's!

Spice of Life! (make your own recipes)

Good morning everyone!  It is a glorious spring morning and in just a bit I will be outside playing in the dirt.  But until that time, I wanted to share a post I thought of this morning....

Okay, show of hands (and be honest), who here buys cinnamin sugar in the spice section of the grocery store...come on, you know who you are; Taco seasoning?  Season Salt?  Chocolate syrup?  Well after todays post you will never have to purchase those items again.  Make your own!  And it is sooooo easy!

Taco Seasoning

1/3 cup of onion powder (or 3/4 cup dried onion flakes)
1/2 cup chili powder
1/4 cup salt
3 TBS garlic powder
3TBS of corn starch
3 TBS cumin
1TBS-3TBS cayenne pepper (depending on how hot ya wants it)

Mix all in a bowl and store, or you can do like I do and put it all in a mason jar and shake, shake, shake. 
*** Frugal tip.  When making your tacos, use 1 lb ground beef, 1 cup black beans, and 1 can corn in place of 2 lbs ground beef.  Stretches the meat and makes a healthier taco.

Season salt

8TBS Salt
3 TBS Pepper
2 TBS Paprika
1/2 TBS Onion Powder
1/2 TBS Garlic Powder

Mix all in a bowl and store, or you can do like I do and put it all in a mason jar and shake, shake, shake.
*** GREAT ON OVEN FRIES!


Chocolate syrup

1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp vanilla

In a sauce pan, mix the cocoa, sugar and salt well.  Add the boiling water.  Cook 5 more minutes stirring constantly.  Cool slightly.  Stir in Vanilla. 
What I will usually do, cause I am lazy and don't like washing more dishes than necessary, is;  instead of adding boiling water, I will just add hot tap water.  Stir it once really well.  I bring the whole shebang to a boil and then turn the stove off, letting the syrup cool on the burner.  Add your vanilla then and store in the fridge.  Makes about 2 cups.  *** personal tip.  This is great served with fresh strawberries for a cool healthy treat, or have fun and have chocolate milk or ice cream sundaes.

Oh and it seems I forgot to add cinnamin sugar.  Uh real easy.  1/2 cup sugar to 1- 2 TBS ground cinnamin.  Shake. 

These three little things, made by you instead of bought at the store, add significant savings to your grocery budget which can be used to buy more of the staple items on sale.  See?  There is a method to my madness.

Blackbelt grocery savings part 4

S-T-R-E-T-C-H  what you have.  I was born in 1967 and so was old enough to remember the high inflation, prices, and misery index of the late seventies.  I remember bits and pieces of news reports about the oil embargo and pictures of cars lined up to get gas, the odd /even system in order to get gas, but I didn't have a concept of how that affected my parents until I was grown.  I have spoken to my mom about it over the years.  She once told me she was really scared at that time.  She was a SAHM to 5 children in ages from 17 o 4.  My dad worked for IBM but take that salary and spread it across 5 kids and it is thin indeed.  My mom tells me that grocery prices went up over night.  On day she says she could get ground beef for .25 (I think that was it) a lb and over night it went up to .99lb.  Now you and I might look longingly at .99lb for ground beef, but that was alot back then.  There were other things that jumped in price such as sugar, oil, etc.  As a result of a rise in price like that my mom, in order to make ends meet, mastered the creative art of stretching what they did have.  She used to make meat patties and gravy with chopped onion and slices of bread torn to bits.  I loved it when she would make those.  What I didn't know was it was a way to take a pound of ground beef and make enough to feed seven people.  She tells me now that ground beef had more bread and onion than beef.  That is one example of the type of things she did and we can do.  Research WWII recipies and you will see how families got by with certain items being rationed.  It is the same rational.  Now I know you want to do right by your family nutritionally, and that can still be done, but to save money in really tight times you need to stretch what you have.  Tonight the plan for our dinner is to make chicken pot pie, and I will stretch 1 chicken breast to make it.  When my dd and her family were living with us, I had to make dinners that fed 6 adults and 1 toddler well. Money was an objet though and so I had to get creative.  I learned to make a pot pie with very little chicken.  That night I took 2 4 oz chicken breasts and made 2 9X13 full pans of chicken pot pie.  I just doubled everything else; the potatoes, peas, carrots, onion, celery, broth/gravy.  I made a 2 crust pie crust recipe and put one on the top of each pie.  Now there were no left overs when I was done, mainly due to the fact that 4 of the adults in this conversation were full grown men.  However, each  ate their fill and I only used 8 oz of meat for 6.5 people.  Meat is always going to be your most expensive ingredient.  The great thing about meat though is it is easy to stretch.  I have also taken 3 chicken breasts, cut them in half, pounded them flat, and double breaded them for fried chicken.  Adding potatoes, green beans from the garden, and rolls and everyone had pleanty to eat and no one the wiser.  I rarely fry chicken, although it is popular here.  It is not the healthiest choice, but fine for a treat once in a while.  Soups, casseroles, stews, and spaggetti sauces are great things to make to try and stretch the amount of meat you put in it. 
Also along the lines of stretching what you have, is to not waste anything.  If I make french toast for example, I will take the leftover egg/milk mixture and make up a batch of muffins.  I may need to add a little extra milk, but usually not much and with the price of eggs being what they are, I get double duty out of that egg.  Once the muffins are finished I put them in a freezer bag for a quick breakfast item or to eat along with a soup for dinner.  Left over mashed potatoes are used to make potato soup.  I just add some chicken broth, celery, and onion, cook it til the veggies are soft and then blend it up.  Once blended up I will put it back in the pan and add some sour cream maybe, or chives, a little cheese  Maybe a combination.  Leftover veggies from dinners get put in a large container in the freeer to be made into veggies soup later.
As you can see there are ways to make each doller work its hardest for you at the grocery store.  Yes it takes some creative juices, and maybe some elbow grease, but it is well worth it especially if you are having to make the most of what you have on hand.  The past posts deal with ways to save when money is tight, and these do help, but these tips are good for when money isn't tight as well.  They are just good money/home management. I hope these have helped in some small way.  If I think of anything else I will certainly share.

Blackbelt grocery savings part 3

Today is my favorite type of weather.  The sky is crystal clear but for low clouds from yesterdays rain scurrying across the sky.  The wind is very breezy and the temps are in the 40s with a high today of just around 57 degrees.  I love love love this type of weather.  I will go and stand on the back deck and just feel the breeze on my face or take a walk.  Maybe I will do both!  I accomplished some of my final garden wrap up day before yesterday.  Basically I pulled up my tomato plants because I knew they weren't going to be producing anymore.  It is now just a matter of letting the ones on the vine ripen, so I pulled them up and hung them upside down to let the tomatoes ripen.  I also turned under some of the rows, pulled up some weeds, and also picked squash and beans for about the last time this season.  The tomato plants were covered with unripe roma tomatoes and I am hopeful if they ripen I will be able to cann up a few more jars of my spaggetti sauce.  Speaking of canning........

LEARN TO CAN- Okay, so you aren't to the point yet where you are willing to take on pressure canning.  I realize that.  It will come in time.  There are so many things you can put up in jars with just a deep pot, jars lids, rings, and water!  You can make jams, jellies, fruit butters, salsa, tomatoes, tomatoes sauces(without meats), pickles of many types, peppers, apples sauce, or canned fruit.  That is an awesome beginning.  The sound of the little "ping" as a jar seals successfully is music to my ears.  My kids laugh at me cause they can hear me through out the house as I count off each jar as it pings.  Canning frees up freezer space for other items like meats and dairy on sale.  If you grown your own tomatoes and peppers then salsa is cheap cheap to make.  It is also awesome.  I will include my recipe here:

MY SALSA

10 CUPS CHOPPED, SEEDED ROMA TOMATOES about 6 lbs(I like Romas cause they have less water and seeds and are a little sweeter.  I also don't peel my tomatoes cause you lose alot of the nutrients that way)
5 CUPS CHOPPED AND SEEDED GREEN BELL PEPPERS about 2 lbs
5 CUPS CHOPPED ONIONS  about 1 1/2 lbs (use the food processor you will thank me)
2 1/2 CUPS CHOPPED SEEDED HOT PEPPERS about 1 lb
1 1/2 CUPS CIDER VINEGAR
3 CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED
2 TBS CHOPPED FRESH CILANTRO
1 CAN TOMATO PASTE
1 TBS CUMIN
3 TSP SALT
1 TSP HOT SAUCE (OPTIONAL IF YOU WANT IT REALLY HOT)

COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS IN A LARGE POT, ADDING HOT PEPPERS SAUCE IF DESIRED.  BRING MIXTURE TO A BOIL.  REDUCE HEAT AND SIMMER 10 MINUTES.  LADLE HOT SAUCE INTO HOT JARS,  LEAVING 1/4 IN HEAD SPACE.  WIPE RIMS AND PLACE LIDS THEN RINGS.  PROCESS 15 MINUTES IN A BOILING-WATER CANNER.  YEILD IS 6-7 PINTS. 
*when chopping hot peppers be sure to wear gloves.  You will regret it if you don't especially if you touch your eyes.  Trust me on this.  I have had this happen before.  Fun!

So guys you will forgive me please if I use all caps to post my recipes.  I am lazy and hate to have to use my grammer tabs more than I have to.  My dh is worse than me he posts in all caps all the time.  At least I only do it when I am posting a recipe. Plus I find all caps helps me in reading a recipe cause my eyesite tends to be going.  Either that or my arms are shrinking.  Anybody get that joke?   Anyone, anyone? 

Anyway, back to canning.  I know to buy jars tends to be costly, but first of all you can look at it as an investment because you will use these jars every season.  In addition, there are ways of saving on jars.  1) buy at the end of the season if you find them on clearence.  This does happen periodically but not consistently. 2) whenever you are at a thrift store or yard sale,  look around for these.  You can usually find one or two.  I am always on the lookout for jars.  Estate sales are a great resource for canning jars.  I got jars for .25 a piece this summer at an estate sale; about 48 pint size jars. 3)  Let your needs be known.  Let people around you know you are wanting to start canning and need jars.  Someone who no longer can do it may have the jars you need.    Rings can be used more than once as well so save them when you remove them from a jar when you store it.  Lids however have to be bought each time.  I have tried to reuse lids, but only on items that are water bath canned.  I do not reuse lids that were previously on meat jars.  I do not reccommend reusing lids for anyone else.  I chose to try this for my own needs, but it is a personal decision.  Most county extension offices will tell you DO NOT REUSE LIDS.  Okay there is my disclaimer.  So there is my wrap up of part three in black belt grocery savings.  I hope this is helpful.  Have a great day guys!

Black belt grocery savings part 2

Good morning!  So money is tight for you?  It is here.  This morning we had a surprise in that all of the sudden we are informed that it is time to buy cap and gown for my oldest son's graduation.  I was expecting that little surprise in the beginning of the year not now.  $60 deposit and the part remaining will be another $200.  YIKES!  It is bitter sweet though.  I am happy that my son is able to graduate.  He is my child on the autism spectrum.  For a while there we weren't sure he would be able to make it.  While my youngest is being homeschooled because he fell thru the cracks of the public school system, my oldest son had the benefit of an I.E.P and as such had co-taught classes, timely intervention, tutors, etc because the school system wanted to make sure his scores were high.  I hold his teachers in high regard.  The system not so much.  So I am proud that he will be able to graduate, but the timing of said payment is not good.  But if you think about no time is good to make a $250ish payment.  In addition to that surprise, I finally got my groceries Monday and I am sad to say I went about $80 over.  Had I not restocked my pantry I would have been right on target, but I am concerned that if I don't keep it restocked, then when  I do restock it will be so much more expensive.  What I added to my list were flour, sugar, tea, coffee, oil, canned fruit, and canned peas.  I was totally out of peas and the canned fruit is hopefully temporay until my fruit trees start to produce. While my grocery list did go over in order to keep my pantry stocked, the items I stocked were staple items.  In fact the vast majority of my grocery shopping is primarily staples.  Speaking of fruit trees, that brings me to my next blackbelt grocery tip:
Grow Your Own - Grass seems like such a waste of space.  LOL.  I am sure my dh would have no problem with me using the entire yard for my garden so he wouldn't need to cut grass.(smile) In my back yard I have blackberries(thornless yay), blueberries, peach and apple trees.  I also have my garden in my backyard.  In mygarden I grow tomatoes, corn, green beans, lima beans, navy beans, squash, pumpkin, spinach, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, beets, and cucmbers.  I will not lie to you.  Forget the picture of the cute, clean, lady with her pretty gloves on, her floppy hat, long sleeved shirt, and unsoiled jeans.  Gardening is a hot sweaty dirty business, but satisfying ohhh so satisfying.  I live in Ga and we have the red clay in our dirt.  I have good dirt, and properly prepared isn't too hard to work with.  However I don't use hand gardening tools.  I use full size hoes, cultivators, shovels, tiller, etc.  I will go out to the garden wearing my sunscreen and a sleeveless top and shorts(I know don't try to think of it too hard).  I take my radio to listen too, and am out there for a few hours.  When I come in I am a hot sweaty mess. You haven't felt a better shower than when you have just come in from a garden.  Oh yea, there are bugs.  Yea I know ewwwww, but there are bugs.  Just remember you are bigger than they are.(smile).  SO I think I have portrayed the garden sufficiently.  Now for the good part.  There is nothing better han veggies or fruit fresh from the garden or tree.  The savings is awesome as well.  My blueberry bushes put out over 35lbs of blueberries just this year alone.  I have six bushes that cost me about $10 each years ago.  Each year the bushes put out blueberries, lots of blueberries.  Those bushes have paid for themselves over and over.   The same gy garden.  It makes the produce pennies on the dollar compared to  bought and might I remind you, the taste and nutrition is so much better.  Work hard in the garden and few hours and skip the gym membership.  For those who may not have a yard to plant, look into container gardening, or raise bed gardening.  It is so satisfying to be able to walk past the canned veggie  produce because I dont need anything.  So all things considered gardening is hard work, but well worth the effort.  Trrry it you'll like it! 
Okay so since you went thru all the hulabaloo of listening to me wax on interminably, I will reward you with another recipe:

QUICK BREAD MIX

12 CUPS FLOUR, ALL PURPOSE
3 CUPS SUGAR
3 CUPS BROWN SUGAR
2 TBS BAKING POWDER
2 TBS BAKING SODA
1 TBS CINNAMEN
1 TBS NUTMEG
1 TBS SALT
1 TBS GROUND CLOVES

MIX IT ALL TOGETHER AND STORE UNTIL USED

TO USE:
3 1/2 CUPS MIX
1/3 CUP OIL
2 EGGS BEATEN
1 CUP FRUIT OR VEGGIE PUREE(THIS IS WHERE YOU USE ALL THE ZUCCHINNI YOU'LL GROW)
1 TBS MILK OR LEMON JUICE IF MAKING BANANNA BREAD

MIX ALL TOGETHER THEN BACK IN A 325 OVEN TIL DONE.

Black belt grocery savings Part 1

I have been without a computer monitor since friday before last.  We finally got a monitor Friday, but I had to work this past weekend and  so was unable to post anything.  So finally it is monday, I have 2 loaves of bread rising and the dishes are somewhat done(can't wash my bread bowl yet) so I am on here catching up.  Not much to tell I guess.  Last week was grocery gettin week and so I spent a lot of time oranizing my fridge, pantry, and freezer.  I tried using up as much stuff as possible so nothing would be wasted and I believe I was successful.  I have to tell ya, I have sticker shock everythime I go to the store.  Even at Aldi I was rethinking just about every purchase.  I still need to go to Sams today, but even that I am having to pare down my list to stay in budget.  Pretty soon my tricks won't work as well and I will have to increase my grocery budget again.  While at Kroger Thursday I saw a lady with about 8 kroger all natural peanutbutter she had purchased.  I said something about she must like peanutbutter or something to that effect, and she said she had heard that peanutbutter and peanuts (and pretty much anything that has peanuts in it) is about to spike due to a bad harvest this past season so she thought she should get some extra.  Very prudent I must say.  I am thinking I might grab a few extra.  I use alot of peanutbutter and I also buy the all natural.  Not cause I am a food snob, but I have one child allergic to HFCS and another that is on the autisim spectrum.  I want to be careful with what they eat.  Can't do it all the time, but I can do it with what is feasible for us.  Can I share some money saving tips on groceries?  I hate those magazine articles that say they can cut $100 from your grocery bill.  I laugh at thier tips: buy generic, don't shop hungry, shop with a list, stuff like that.  Those are fine for someone that has never tried to save on their grocery budget ,but what do you do when you have done all you can and still the ends aren't meeting.  These are the blackbelt grocery saving tips.  These are tips for when you are willing to put the time and energy into saving money.  Your abilities and your willingness to put effort towards providing food for your family are free to you.  It is what you do when you have nothing left to spend. 

MAKE YOUR OWN-  Alot of the items we buy at the store we can make ourselves.  The resources to learn are abundant and easy to find.  It is much more cost effective to buy a 5 lb bag of flour at the grocery store, and a 1lb bag of yeast at a warehouse store (keep it in your fridge or freezer it lasts longer) to make about 6-8 loaves of bread per 5 lb bag of flour as opposed to spending the same amount of money for 1 loaf of bread.  The pay off is awesome tasting bread(storebought can't compare) for pennies, strong arms (from kneading), and you know what things are going into your families body.  Things like bread I understand are labor intensive and you need to aquire a knack for making bread.  If you are nervous about making your own bread, go to a thrift store and aquire a bread machine to start with.  I used to use mine for making pizza crust, but when it finally died I just went to making the crust by hand.  Breads I make are: sandwich, french, quick breads, dinner rolls(cinnamen, hamburger and hot dog, donuts, etc, ), as well as my pizza crusts.  The easiest way to begin making your own breads is to start with something easy like white bread and /or a pizza crust.  Here is my recipe for pizza crust:

PIZZA CRUST

1 1/3 CUPS  WATER SLIGHTLY WARM (ABOUT 105 DEGREES)
1/4 CUP DRY MILK
1/2 TSP SALT
1 TBS SUGAR
2 TBS OLIVE OIL
2 TSP YEAST
4 CUPS FLOUR

You can put everything into a bread machine on the dough setting or you can do it like I do.  Take your water and put into a large mixing bowl.  Add your dry milk, sugar, oil, and salt.  Sprinkle your yeast over the top and let it bubble a second or two.  Add about 2 cups of flour and whick it really well, then stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a spoon.  Turn onto a floured surface and knead a couple of minutes using just enough flour to keep your dough from being sticky.  Pour a little bit of oil back into your mixing bowl.  Take you dough and put it back into the bowl turning a few times to make sure you cover the dough well with oil.  Let rise in the bowl for about 25 min.  It won't rise too much, but punch it down and knead it a little more.  Cut into two crusts.  Press the crusts into the pizza pans.  This will take a bit cause you will press a few minutes and then let it rest a few minutes, then press some more til the pan is covered with the crust.  Put your sauce and toppings on and bake at about 425 for about 10 minutes or util the cheese is good and bubbly.  This is even more economical if you use your own homemade tomato sauce.  I will include mine in the next post. 

Other items I make are pancake syrup, choc cyrup, granola, ready to bake biscuits, spaggetti sauce, salsa, wheat thin crackers, doggie treats, english muffins, as well as the normal things most people would make like pancake and biscuit mix, muffins, and white sauce mix (use it in place of cream soups).  Aside from the bread which I will say takes a litte more time, but I haven't noticed a problem on my end, these other items take literally seconds to minutes to make and I believe well worth my investment of time and energy.  It is because I do these things that I have been able to keep my grocery budget as low as I do and still  maintain a pantry; which is another tip I will go into at a later date. This is becomming a long post so I will continue this in my next post and include more recipes for those interested.

Ever been in "the zone"?

The zone in regards to any topic that is.  I get in the zone usually close to grocery day.  I am usually having to get creative, having to use up stuff and cook from scratch.  I actually love this time.  It becomes a challange for me to see how much I can accomplish while watching my refridgerator get emptier and emptier.  My mind works sharper.  I come up with great ideas for casseroles, soups, etc. Then when it is time to get groceries I can easily clean out my fridge.  I always defrost my freezer right before grocery day as well.  I am right now down to my last loaf of store bought bread.  As a family we don't like store bought bread as much as homemade, but last month Dh wanted to count calories so I bought store bought bread.  I think we are all in agreement that we are going back to homemade bread.  It just tastes better and really  is more substancial than store bought.  I am so tired of trying to make a PB and J and the bread keeps tearing.  Grrr.  I am looking forward to making more homemade bread.  Maybe tomorrow. 
I am happy to report that I finished the baby blanket and once I am done with the matching hat I will take a pic of both to show everyone.  I was also able to not only do some housecleaning yesterday, but I began to sew as well.  I started on a pair of pajamma pants for my grandson.  I will little by little knock out the pants first then turn to the tops.  I think that will go faster since I will be doing like seems for the pants.  You know kinda like assembly line style.  I will take a pic of the finished produst when the time comes. 
I am looking forward to tonight at church.  We are starting a new series by John Brevere called "the fear of the Lord".  I love to hear John Brevere preach.  The whole series deals with having a more intimate relationship with God.  That is something I need to hear.  It is something I have always wanted, a closer relationship with God, just haven't been sure of how to go about it. 
Well that is my update for today.  If I think of anything frugal I will surly post away.  You guys have a great day.

I'm a baking and i'm a thinking.....

Yep, I was wanting to be so productive yesterday.  I had plans to sew and crochet, teach, clean, and bake.  Well I taught, crochet, an baked.  I did a little house cleaning but not much to write home about.  Mainly dishes and a bit of straightening.  I also did no sewing.  This is a problem cause I have to get these jammies made.  I am hoping to get some done today.  What I did do was make butter toffee crunch.  Here is the recipe.  Believe me you want to make this!

BUTTER TOFFEE CRUNCH

1 cup butter


1 cup sugar

3 tbs water

1tbs corn syrup

1/2 cup chopped nuts

3/4 cup semi sweet choc chips



butter a 9X13 pan really well and sprinkle the nuts on the bottom. I tend to keep them clustered in the center of the pan some cause the toffee you put over them wont make it to the edges. Anyway, melt your butter in a pan (I use my iron skillett) and add the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stirring constantly bring to soft crack stage (290) keep careful watch after the temp get to 280 cause it will a)rise the rest of the way pretty quickly and b) could burn if you aren't careful. Once it reaches the soft crack stage, immediatly pour over the nuts in you 9X13 pan. Sprinkle the choc chips over all, wait a second then spread them out will a spoon or knife. let cool completly. Break into bite size pieces. This is the most wonderful stuff in the world! I usually make it for christmas, but made it yesterday I guess a little early. (smile)
I am also in use up mode and so I used up some leftover hamburger buns and roast beef for BBQ sandwiches and oven fries made from cut taters.  I used an eggplant I needed to use and made eggplant lasagna for my ds and my lunch, and today I am using up some fresh mushrooms for stuffed mushrooms.  I am hoping to get some sewing done as well as house keeping.  I won't do any baking except to make dinner. 
Okay, heres what I am thinking.  One day I am hoping to be able to open my own little store called "Time for Tea".  The whole premise is a little girls tea party.  In the back of the store I will sell coffee, tea, pastries etc, but the front of the store will house doll clothes made by me as well as other vendors of the same doll theme.  I already have the front window planned out with dolls at a tea party.  I will also do doll repairs of all types of dolls, new and antique.   In order to do this thing I need to get more training in doll repair.  That will cost me about $4000.  The class is two weeks long, cost $1750 and is in Ilinois.  The rest of the money is for living expenses for two weeks.  The advantage is once I complete the class I will know everything I need to know to open a doll hospital.  I am thinking of getting going on making the doll clothes and selling them online.  I can save up the money to eventually do this class .  I recognize it will be a few years before I am able to do this.  Any thoughts?  Anyone ever done any selling online not counting EBAY?  Tips would be very useful.  I already have some outfits cut out, I just need to make them.  Well, I guess that is my update for the day. 

Pullin out my frugal blackbelt

Ya, I tell ya in this day and age I really need to keep my frugal black belt out on the counter.  Money has gotten tighter in our neck of the woods.  At mine and Dhs employment, we probably won't be getting a merit raise this year, and they are hoping not to lay anyone off.  To get that info from a hospital is a little unnerving.  That puts us no where near someone without a job, but it does mean we will have to tighten the belt to offset rising prices in all areas.  Add to that medical bills, needed home repairs, Christmas, helping family, and a needed trip to see family at the end of the year, and we are in a tight little area.  We have suspended our YMCA membership for now and maybe permanently, as well as selling some things.  I have thi funny tendency to work on the home when I can't do anything else to rasie money.  The other day I repaired a sofa cushion one of our dogs ate.  Amazing what duc tape can do.(smile).  I also repaired a sugar coffeecreamer set that was broken.  Add to that general cleaning for the house,laundry, and ironing.  It also changes your focus when it comes to cooking.  I am looking in the fridge and saying what can I do with this more often than not.  Really these are all things I should do on a regular basis.  I should repair items in a timely manner, I should make good use of leftovers, use less meat, less sugar, etc.  I have always tried to be frugal as a general rule.  I keep a garden, grow fruit trees and berry bushes, make alot from scratch, keep the power use down etc, but when the belt needs a little tightening, you always find other things you could be doing.   Yesterday while working in the garden I picked my first zucchinni of the season, Sounds funny to be saying that in the fall, but these are late planted squash.  Makes for a pretty zucchinni I guess cause it is cooler.  Anyway, I have this zuchinni so this morning I took my zuchinni and made a crustless quiche for breakfast.  Yay, way to get a veggie for breakfast!

Christmas is coming and this year is going to have lots and lots of homemade gifts. A christmas tradition I started with my kids is PJs for a christmas eve gift.  When the kids were young their PJs were made by me.  Mainly cause we had no money to buy Pjs.  Each child had a custom designed set of pjs.  They get their jammie on christmas eve and we would watch "a Christmas story" before going to bed.  That tradition holds today.  Even my dd who is grown still believes she gets Pjs on Christmas eve.  They know it is Pjs, but they always look forward to what kind of PJs each year.  Over the last few years I have opted to buy said PJs, but this year I believe I am going back to the old way of making said jammies.  I am also going to make goodie bags for coworkers, both mine and Dhs.  Extended family will be getting ornaments for trees.  So I am in the process of starting my christmas list.  There are many other things you can do to let someone know you care during the holidays.  This site has some great ideas for christmas on a zero budget.  She is the Prudent homemaker.  Her story is awesome as well.  Take some time and look around her site.  Anyway, I am real big into Christmas.  I love that time of year.  It is the celebration of the birth of My Lord and Savior.  I hope I can always do it up big, but that doesn't mean I have to go into debt or stress myself out over it.  It shouldn't be a burden that you look forward to being over.  Make this Christmas an blessing to observe, and serve  the one who deserves all Glory and Honor.

We are running out of wiggle room

Being in the healthcare industry, my husband and I have only felt the economy thru the higher prices at the pump and the grocery store, as well as thru the struggles to keep a job and food on the table of our daughter and her family.  They lived with us for about 8 months until her Dh was able to find a job.  She found a job as well except had trouble with her hours being cut again and again until she told the manager she needed to find a job with more hours.  At that point the manager cut her hours completely.  Nice.  She has since found another job, but won't get her first check for another three weeks.  So they have enough to just cover rent but nothing else like gas and groceries.  Needless to say she came over last night to "shop" from our pantry.  There is a reason to have a pantry.  No conspiracy theory needed, no "end of the word" scenario, no economic collapse except a personal one.  More than likely the use of a pantry comes in a personal way not a global one.  Yes, it is needed for things like a snow storm and you need things for if the power goes out, but more often than not your pantry will see you thru things like a layoff, either of yourself, spouse, or a member of your family.  You may be asked to give help in the form of food or money to a family in need in your community or church.  That is the more reasonable, practical reason for pantries.  I am glad that as a mother I can help my daughter in this way and she knows that maybe one day she will provide this kind of help to her children or someone in need.  While I am glad to help in anyway I can, it does take more money to replace these items now and I am rapidly running out of wiggle room in my current budgeted amount to refill said pantry.  In addition we have received a letter from the hospital we are employed with that has told us there is a chance we won't get our merit raises and they hope to not have to lay anyone off.  Those raises don't even make up for the increase rise in prices across the board, but they are some help.  I know beyond a shadow of doubt there are others worse off than we are, but this seriously curtails help we can give to other including family. This is something to pray about.  Jesus says not to worry about the things we will eat or wear.  The Father knows we have need of these, and if He will provide for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field how much more will he provide for us.  So this is something I will lay at His feet.  It is all I can do.  I will admit to feeling a little safer in this great recession due to the fact that we are in healthcare.  Our hospital serves 18 counties and is the anchor employer of our area.  For this hospital to now be affected gives me concern for this recession.  I will lay it at the Lords feet.  That is my first line of defense so to speak.  I will cut the corners I can, but in actuality, I am limited in what I can do.  That all being said, for those of you in similar or worse situations, there is a great website call http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com/.  Her family lives in Nevada and her husband is a real estate agent.  Their income has dropped over %70 since 2007.  They have 6 kids.  She has wonderful recipes, tips, etc on how to fill a pntry and how to live out of one.  She also has tips on homeschooling, crafts, christmas ideas on a zero budget, sewing, etc.  Thses are all things she does to provide for her family with little or no money.  Hers is an amazing story.  Check it out. 

Getting ready for fall

I already feel the dryer air and we have actually had some days in the 80s.  Today will be in the low ninties, but after today it looks like at least a week long stretch in the low to mid seventies for highs.  I love, love this time of year.  Cool weather means baking (not good for my waistline), but fun none the less.  Two days ago I made my first ever batch of english muffins.  In the middle of the process I had a light bulb (or should I say Duh) moment and thought I should take pictures to post on my blog!  So next go around I will do two things.  First is take pictures of the process so those of you that want  to know how can, and second, make the muffins larger.  The recipe was supposed to make 18.  Mine made 22.  I used a biscuit cutter to cut them out.  Next time I am going to just divide the dough into 18 pieces to make a decent sized muffin.  However, this batch did turn out really good.  I will use half wheat and harlf white next time as well.  Since this was my first try I wanted to make sure they had the best chance possible of succeeding.  Using white flour is easier to me anyay.  I know they reccommend using white flour to learn how to make bread so I just extended that to cover english muffins. 

Grocery day is Friday and I have plans today to get my fridge cleaned out and organized.  I also want to organize my refridge freezer.  I need to make my list and check it twice.  It is harder to get the good deals out there right now.  Hence the reason I am making our bread products.  Whatever I can make from scratch saves money to be used to buy other things that are still rising in price right now.  Items I make from scratch include: loaf bread, french bread, pizza crust, hamburger and hotdog buns, english muffins, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, Cream soup mix (aka white sauce mix), chocolate syrup, pancake syrup, salsa, wheat thin type crackers, spaggetti sauce, cake mix, frozen biscuits, season salt, granola, yogurt and shake &bake mix.  There are other items I have recipes for, but these are the ones I make consistently.  It is an amazing savings to be able to make these things as opposed to buying them.  The ingredients are much less than the premade item.  Plus I know what is in it and that makes me feel good giving it to my family.  And dont think I dont have conveinence.  It takes seconds or minutes to make these things up and then I have them on hand.  I get the benefits of conveinence, but cost savings as well. 
I will be waking the youngest offspring momentarily so he can get breakfast and be ready to begin school.  This is the first normal school day we have had this week.  He had a mild asthma attack Sunday night, which kept him up, so I let him sleep in and we had a light day on Monday.  Yesterday was test taking and we had school at my mothers.  So today is back to the routine. I hope everyone has a great day. 

Psalms 104 vs 33-35

"I will sing to the Lord all my life;
 I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
 as I rejoice in the Lord.
But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord O my soul.
Paise the Lord"