When frugal's not so fun anymore....

Today I'm hearing of more and more families who are living frugal because of circumstance rather than fun or planning. Yes, parts of living frugal can be fun, especially for those who are creative and who like to save a buck here to spend it there!

But- what if you've found yourself in a place where circumstances mandate frugality and well-

frugal's just not fun anymore?!

Well, some would say- go spend a little, it'll make you feel better....but you know if you do that then you are either cutting into your light bill or indebting yourself more on a credit card.... which is NOT going to make you feel better in the long run!

So- what do you do?

Well, here's some ideas that I've been pondering over for the last several weeks and I sincerely hope, that if you are one of those that has found that frugal's not so fun anymore, that you will find a little hope and encouragement in something below!

***

-Keep learning! I mean through free means, such as the internet or library. Keep educating yourself through blogs, books, and even talking to others. The net is a great way to meet others who are struggling and who are delighted to offer advice. But keep seeking new ways to be frugal and stretch what you have!

-Look for more ways, to make more things, from what you have on hand and from the things that are the most frugal. I always buy the most frugal sacks of plain and self-rising flour that I can find. (Most of you know that I prefer wheat, but we do eat white too from time to time and/or a mix of wheat and white.) Make your own funnel cakes, donuts, and even dog treats!

-Look at your children! Yes- look at them- go on - Now, YOU, dear mother, can make life so amusing for them that they may never know (or at least not until they are older) how tight the money is in their home. Have some frugal summer fun or an indoor picnic. Make home made play dough, sock puppets, finger paints, paper toys, airplanes, science, leaf prints, and cookies (or crackers)! (Let them 'mop' the floor!) Try to keep your children busy and happy! We can make them feel that life is normal and good. We can show them how to respond to trials and tough times- right now! (..By how we respond.)

-You be happy mom! The Bible tells us in Eph. 4:24 to "put on the new man". Mom, did you know you can "put on" a happy face? Look, just like this :-) See how easy that was! Colossians 3:14 and 15 tells us to "put on charity (love)" and also to "let the peace of God rule our hearts....and be ye thankful". If we are thankful, and allow the peace of God to rule our hearts, and we put on "love" for our children; we certainly can be happy! We may not be able to give them every thing that they want, but we can give them what they need; love and a sense of security! But we have to "put on" strength for our children, even if we don't feel so strong! It can be hard, but it can be done. (Phil 4:13)

-Stay busy! Keeping busy, finding ways to be frugal, cook from scratch, make foods in advance for a day you may need to be out, or make a homemade picnic for the yard! School work, home work, house work, kitchen work, yard work, yes busy work, little projects, baking, playing, making up stories, reading stories, coloring in old coloring books, building card houses with a deck of cards, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might! (Eccl 9:10) When you are busy and you keep your children busy, there's not much time to think and fret. They see you busy, they see you happy, they will want to be busy and happy too!

-Be careful what you say! While I think its reasonable at times to make our needs known or even give a little testimony as to how your family makes it without keeping up with the Jones- you still have to be careful how and to whom you share with. We never want to make the providers of our home look or feel bad. Every family goes through hard times and every adult has a grandparent that made it through the depression! Right? So we'll all get by, and we'll manage what the good Lord gives us as well as we possibly can! But there are those crafty souls out there who might turn what you say into something that it is not, so, let us be wise as serpents and harmless as doves! (Matt 10:16)

-Give thanks! (1Th5:18) Yes, I know sometimes it seems strange to be thankful for what you have, when all you can think about is what you need! But, by making our minds up to be thankful for what we have, we re-route our thinking back to the One Who can supply all our needs! We also teach our children to be thankful, rather than bitter. If we allow ourselves to get bitter, won't our children see that and mimic the same pattern? It is hard- but in giving thanks- we force ourselves to focus on the wonderful blessings that we do have every day! Its so easy to let them be covered up, by despair, worry, and yes, doubt. Would you read this?:

2 Cor 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2 Cor 9:9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
2 Cor 9:10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
2 Cor 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

- Now, one final thought! (Aren't you glad!) That is- focus on the things that are eternal! It will help you! You see- there's always going to be a light bill to worry about, there's always going to be new dust every morning (does this stuff come in 20 gallon buckets!), life's always going to have some sort of stress or worry, but - children aren't children very long! And we have precious precious cargo in our hands as we shape little souls that we desperately desire God to use for Him one day. That job alone is no small task and deserves our utmost attention! I know it can get hard, but when we focus on eternity one day, rather than the water bill being due tomorrow, God can help us to be faithful to our duties, as we wait for Him to be faithful to our needs!
May God help us to run our race well!
This post is linked to Frugal Fridays/Life as Mom, It's All About the Savings, Tuesday's Tips

Have garden impatience? me too!

I had to take a peek at the radishes the other day so I pulled up a hand-full! Aren't they cute? I chopped them up on our "haystacks" - and the other day I smuggle some in a stir fry! Beside them is a jar of the violet jelly. Its the prettiest color, but I added too much pectin and its so thick that you can't hardly spread it! But very tasty! You can taste the tartness of the lemon juice and the sweetness of the sugar, and there's a hint of something else, but its not wacky at all I don't think- but my older kids are quite skeptical of jelly from something they pulled from the yard- 'magine that!

Just wait til I try dandelions!

I see trees of green- woo hoo!

Last year, we put in these trees. There are 2 Winesap, 2 peach, 1 plum, 1 cherry, 1 pear here and another towards the center of the yard, and we added a granny smith this year.

This year though- right now!- many of them already have fruit! Woo hoo!

God is so good- to bring them back from the brown of winter, make them green again, and give them fruit!

What are you grateful for this week? Please see visit Heavenly Homemaker's for more about Gratituesday!

Menu Plan...

Here's our menu below and be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday for more meal planning ideas!

SATURDAY:
-oatmeal for some, waffles from the freezer for others
-meatballs and veggie noodles, cookies
-pb and j on homemade bread, carrots, grapes, Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Spelt cookies (picnic)
Snacks: 10 grain muffins, chips and salsa, carrot sticks
SUNDAY:
-oatmeal
-leftover meatballs and pasta, spinach salad, cookies
- eggs, hash-browned potatoes, turkey bacon
Snacks: cookies, boiled eggs and mustard, milk and cookies
MONDAY:
-peanut butter granola and milk
-Salmon Loaf, mashed potatoes, fried cabbage, banana pudding
-Roast, potatoes, carrots,mushrooms cornbread, blueberries and cream
Snacks: grapes, celery and carrots, popcorn balls (its going to be cold, so I will let the kids in on this one for fun!!)
TUESDAY:
-peanut butter granola and milk for some, oatmeal for others
-Shredded Chicken Sandwiches-on homemade buttermilk buns, spinach and romaine and radishes (from garden) salad, grapes
-Creamy Chicken Spaghetti, cabbage, green beans, cornbread rolls
Snacks: leftover popcorn balls, homemade pretzels (supposed to rain, so another kids project)
WEDNESDAY:
- coconut rice
-chicken stir fry, Blueberry Cake
-veggie-beef patties, baked potato wedges, lima beans, whole wheat dinner rolls
Snacks: Cherry Berry Cream Shake, chips and salsa
THURSDAY:
-eggs and applesauce
-beef and bean burritos, brown rice, marinated veggies, cinnamon wedges*
- Turkey, homemade dressing, green peas, corn on the cob
Snacks: carrot and fruit salad, boiled eggs
FRIDAY:
- grits
-Fried liver and onions with biscuits and gravy, blueberry slush
- beans and fried potatoes, corn bread, cabbage, sliced radishes
Snacks: cheese melts, raisins
____________________________________________________
*cinnamon wedges: cut tortillas with a pizza cutter as you would a pie, fry in a little hot oil or fat of your choice, drain on paper towels for about 1 or 2 minutes, shake in bag with cinnamon and sugar mixed- serve warm!
**This week I hope to try Brandy's yummy-looking homemade Fortune Cookies!

Have you tried Homemade Raisin Bread....

I love Raisin Bread! So yesterday when I made some for snacks- I made two- one for me and one for them! - Just kidding! (note to self- be sure to give this to kiddies often so you don't eat all of it!)

Most of my kids love it- except for one little silly billy who has an aught against cinnamon that I can't understand for the life of me! How could you dislike cinnamon!?! Oh well, he says it irritates his tummy so... more for me! ;-)

Making two loaves, one was a little bigger than the other so it had to be baked about 5 minutes longer. The trick is not getting it too dry, since its a sticky dough. But its so worth the trouble!

It smells just like the kind at the store in the red bag- 'cept only better! ;-) It's whole wheat and its loaded with raisins! What could be better- think I'll have some for breakfast! mmm!

Strawberry Frothy....

Coming in from the garden tonight the kids were doing the "I'm hungry" "I'm thirsty" "what's for supper" "how much longer" and all the other things that I know you hear at your house too!

So- out comes the blender for a "make do til supper drink"!

I put in one box of strawberries after removing the tops. 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt, about 1/4 cup honey, and one quart of home-canned apple juice. I whirled it for several minutes until is was all bubbly, then tossed in a quart full of ice and whirled until the ice was fine and it had a nice froth on top. This made 8+ servings and was so refreshing!...and it held them over til I could get supper finished and on the table!

More about the Food Saver...

I've posted several times about the Food Saver and I wanted to update you on a little "test" that I did with some fresh herbs, specifically thyme.

I bought this thyme about 7 weeks ago! Yeah- no kidding! When I brought it in, I sealed it up with the food saver, taking all the air out.
I used some with a turkey 2 weeks ago, sealed it back, then got it out tonight for lamb.
It was almost as perfect as when I bought it! A couple of leaves looked a little sad, but as you can see, overall it was still very green!
***
If you OAM cook or shop very infrequently like I do, these are great! If you have one just sitting around- it really can help you to preserve your food! You can also pick them up from ebay pretty cheap too.
I know the bags aren't cheap, and I haven't bought any in a long time, but just in case you're interested, here's a post about keeping their cost more frugal.
****
Wonder if I can keep it to use for two more weeks since I bought a turkey for each week?
Methinks I can, sealed up! ;-)

The Frugal Fish: pollock

My last shopping trip I picked up a couple of bags of Pollock at our local Cash-n-carry. One pkg had 4 large fillets and the other had 5 fillets- the price- $2.46 and$3.36. Each bag would feed a normal sized family with small children but it takes both to feed mine- but still- pretty frugal for fish!

I love this fish breaded and fried- today I'm baking it.

LOCAL SALES...

ALDI:
bananas .39lb
carrots .49 2 lb bag or 1 lb baby carrots
broccoli 99 16oz pk
strawberries .99 16 oz
(you can get on their mailing list and get emails once a week of their sales too!)

Food Lion and Kroger can also be viewed online and always remember to look for in-store sales and markdowns and manager's specials!

IGA doesn't run an add every week, usually just the first of the month so they didn't have an add this week.

LEO'S MARKET:
Kellogg Cereals 1.99
Bottom round roast 1.99
pork loins 1.69
rib eye 6.99 (Food Lion or IGA often run these for 4.99)
10 lbs leg quarters 4.29
ground beef 1.49
Wampler sausage 1.69
O.M. bologna 1.49 1lb
potatoes 50 lbs 6.99
cantaloupes 1.49
cabbage 4lbs $1
jumbo eggs .99
grapes .99
grapefruit 5lbs 1.99
(in store apples are 3lbs for 2.99)
Hormel 5oz meats-ham turkey chicken .99
Suddenly Salad 99
Inst potatoes .99
May-field Ice cream 2.99
Duncan Hines cake mixes .99
hamburger helper 4/$5
baked beans 4/$5
1/2 gal orange juice 1.69

Food Lion has whole chickens this week for 79 lb

Kroger has Smithfield bacon 2/6 (I think they have a nitrate free)
turkeys at .59
sockeye salmon 6.99
Perdue sl bl chicken breasts 1.99

Easy Dump Chicken

I didn't measure this but sometimes you can just sorta tell "by looking'', right?

After coming in from shopping last month, I "dumped" some chicken quarters in a food saver bag...then "dumped" some more stuff over it:

the juice of one orange

the juice of one lemon

the juice of one lime

cumin

chili powder

black pepper

dash of cayenne

and several shakes of salt

I sealed it up and tossed it in the freezer. When I was ready to cook it, I place the food saver bag in the sink with cold water for several hours to thaw just enough to separate the pieces.

The above was grilled but you can cook them in the crock for 7 or 8 hours on low, 4 on high, or you can bake them in the oven for about an hour at 375.

Very tasty! And easy! And super frugal since they were on sale at .29 a pound- ten pounds for $2.90!

*Served here with grilled zucchini and brown rice.

The Frugal Steak...and other things you can do with a roast!

For the past several months, I've been buying up roasts when they were on sale. Now, my family is no different than yours and they can EVEN get tired of roasts! ;-)

So- I've found several ways to use them- and they never know that its a roast!

^

One is above. I simply sliced the roasts up and grilled them as steaks- do they tastes like roasts? No, they taste like steaks! Textured like roasts? Nope, textured like steaks! ...I do suggest that you marinade them in a little cooking wine and/or small amount of vinegar and your choice of seasonings or seasoning salts. But they REALLY are good. These only had Lawry's and black pepper on them and they were fabulous! (And the price- under $2 a pound! MmmHmm, the Frugal Steak!)

*

I am blessed to have a grinder attachment on my Kitchen Aid and I've ground some of them up into hamburgers. They are extra lean this way so I suggest that you leave ALL the fat in or they WILL be dry. What if you don't have a grinder? Well, you may not be able to get them a good consistency to pat out into patties, but, you could cube it and pulse it in a food processor and use it in soups, chili, spaghetti, and homemade hamburger helper style dishes, etc.

*

I cubed some and tossed it in about 1/4 cup of cooking wine and Worcestershire sauce and sealed it in a Food Saver bag and froze it for beef stew.

*

Some I sliced in strips for a yummy and easy frugal stir fry! I tossed them in a little soy sauce and a dash of cooking wine, some ginger and garlic and sealed it in bags for the freezer. Quick meal!

*

My dh's favorite is Sliced Roast Beef Sandwiches on Homemade Buttermilk Buns. I simply sliced the roasts into fairly thin strips. I placed them in food saver bags (or you can toss straight in the baking dish), added about 3 T cooking wine, 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce, (other seasonings of choice), and a little fresh black pepper. I shook the bag well to coat all the meat and then sealed it. Bake these low and slow and they will be great and tender! Like 300 to 325 for 1.5 to 2 hours.

I also ground up some and made a couple of meat loaves! Almost forgot about those, as they were also tossed into the freezer to cook later. :-)

***

Tip:

you can often have your local grocery butcher slice your roasts for you- but if not- a $10 electric knife will do the trick with a little work!

***********************************

Visit Tammy's Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays!

How Firm a Foundation...

"How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord"
by "Keen," 1787, alt.

1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

2. In every condition, -- in sickness, in health,
In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, --
The Lord, the Almighty, they strength e'er shall be.

3. "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

4. "When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy troubles to bless
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

5. "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

6. "E'en down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

7. "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never, forsake!"

MENU PLAN MONDAY...

Here's breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus snacks, for all 8 of us!
Happy Menu Plan Monday!

SATURDAY:
-kids choice
-meatloaf from the freezer, lima beans, beets
-frugal steaks, potatoes, green peas
Snacks: banana-nut muffins, vanilla yogurt
SUNDAY:
-homemade waffles from the freezer/and or quick flavored oatmeal
-homemade whole wheat pizza, cookies
-veggie plate (because someone burned up the chicken on the grill- and this time it wasn't me!)
Snacks: popcorn, carrots and dip, leftover muffins
MONDAY:
-oatmeal
-frugal stir fry, brown rice, homemade cookies
- Fried Calf Liver-n-onions with biscuits and gravy, blueberry-cherry slush
Snacks: cupcakes, carrots and dip, bagel tops with cream cheese
TUESDAY:
-grits
-salmon loaf, green peas, yellow squash, cookies
-lil' Roasted Chickens, potatoes, carrots, turnips
Snacks: chips and salsa, fruit salad, bagel bottoms with violet jelly
WEDNESDAY:
-kamut English Muffins
-pollock, chick pea salad, buttered broccoli
- semi-boneless leg of lamb with potatoes, carrots, onions- whole wheat dinner rolls
Snacks: Cinnamon Raisin Muffins, homemade crackers, home-canned pear juice slush
THURSDAY:
-oatmeal with blueberries from the freezer
-leftover lamb stew, cornbread muffins
-Sliced roast beef on homemade buttermilk buns, steamed veggies
Snacks: leftover muffins, crispy almonds, popcorn
FRIDAY:
-yogurt-berry smoothie, scrambled eggs
-red bean-buffalo chili, cornchips, fruit (from freezer) crisp
-Turkey, homemade dressing, corn on the cob, green beans
Snacks: rugelach, fish eggs, raisins

An Ultimate Hamburger...

What makes this an ultimate hamburger? Well, the patties were made from roasts that I ground myself with the KitchenAid, they were also grilled!

This made for nice lean patties. (Tip: if you ever do this, I would suggest you leave any fat on the roasts and grind it into the meat as well. If you take out all of the fat, they cook up a little too dry.)
...and the buns...

My favorite homemade Buttermilk Buns!

=An ultimate hamburger!

Frugal Trellises, Works for Me....

I told my kids I had a "project" for them.....they were relieved to hear me say "fun project" but were still very skeptical because "project" usually implies a little work of some kind...perhaps they thought I was going to make them eat something weird?! Or clean?!? I dunno.

But- a couple of miles down our road is a wonderful place, that we simply call "the creek"!

Its surrounded by ridges and yes, it has a creek running through it. Lots of people from our county come out here and bring their horses and trail ride. Its also a great place for 4-wheeling. We always see 4-wheelers and rhinos out there, which the boys love to watch.

But this time I went on a mission....

...not only to see the beauty.....
...and play in the creek.....
....and cool our feet in the clear water.

This time I wanted to "harvest" a few things.

I sent the oldest two boys up the hill to get me some small branches...I'll show you why :-)

"Uh, boys, don't go so far that I can't see you cuz I don't think I could get up the hill to come find you!"

We had some wonderful company:

The younger kids wanted to build a dam in the creek with the river rocks:

This is my favorite of all the 80+ pics I took.

Don't you just love it when kids are kind and sweet to one another, and thoughtful without a reminder?!?! Here the bigger boys are trying to help the youngest get to where he can swing on a vine....

...and boy did he ever swing!

Tarzan #2:

Here's what I'm working on with some of those branches:

Frugal trellises for the garden!

(I know its a little rickety, but try to imagine what it will look like covered with a vine loaded with food! ;)

We also brought home some river rock to line the shrub bed and I had the boys dig some wild phlox and these other little tiny flowers to transplant in our shrub bed.

-and you know what? even with all the "work", the kids are begging to go back tomorrow!

'magine that?!
-

Our frugal weekend, making use of natural resources, enjoying God's creation, Works for Me!

Kitchen Tip: Bread Pans

Ever turn your bread out of your pans to cool, only to find a little piece stuck here and there???

Me too! But not anymore...

I've mentioned a tip before about cast iron- not washing it, just wiping it out, or "washing it" with a type of fat. Well, this same notion works for bread pans too!

I always butter my pans before I bake in them and now, I've stopped washing them and only wipe them out with a dry cloth or paper towel. This leaves a little fat in the pans- which is MUCH better than leaving little chunks of stuck bread! ;-)

Now, my bread slides right out, every time!

(and I get to skip washing a couple of extra pans, hee hee)

For more Kitchen Tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

Menu....

After doing my "once a month shopping" (day one, day two); I'm ready for Menu Plan Monday for at least four weeks!


SATURDAY-
kids choice
tuna salad on homemade buttermilk buns, homemade pickles, golden cauliflower salad, no bake oatmeal cookies
beef stir fry over brown rice, strawberries and cream with fresh pineapple
Snacks: homemade pretzels, grapes
SUNDAY:
kids choice
turkey bacon, egg, pepper, onion, and cheese wraps with poppy seed muffins, grapes
turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade dressing, green peas, raspberry ice cream
Snacks: poppy seed muffins, pretzels, grapes, bananas
MONDAY:
butterscotch breakfast cookies, eggs
leftover turkey and dressing casserole, marinated vegetables, smoothies
meatloaf (from the freezer), cole slaw, steamed broccoli, cookies (from dough in the freezer)
Snacks: leftover homemade pretzels, dried cranberries and apricots, homemade pickles
TUESDAY:
10 grain muffins and milk
oven fried chicken legs, potato salad, leftover slaw, chocolate meringue pie
Sliced roast beef on homemade buttermilk buns , leftover potato salad, fresh pineapple
Snacks: leftover muffins, fruit salad
WEDNESDAY:
kids choice
Shredded chicken sandwiches on homemade buttermilk buns, salad, berry smoothies
roast potatoes carrots, cornbread, cranberry slushie
Snacks: chips and salsa, carrots and dip
THURSDAY:
soaked oatmeal with coconut sprinkles
salmon loaf, mashed potatoes, asparagus, fruit salad
Spicy dump chicken, brown rice, black bean salsa, sour cherry pudding pie
Snacks: carrots and dip, Raisin Bread
FRIDAY:
omelet wraps
popcorn chicken, potato wedges, steamed cabbage wedges, strawberry smoothies
Cranberry beans, kale greens, cornbread, corn on the cob, blueberry cottage pudding
Snacks: homemade graham crackers, kefir milk shakes

Why mow, when you can have these....?

There's a hill on one side of my house that I always hate to see dh mow in the spring!

It is covered with these little violets and dandelions!

I hope to try this with them one day.

And make some dandelion fritters soon!

The Frugal Stir Fry....

Who says a stir fry has to contain this vegetable and that vegetable?

Well, in your own kitchen- they can contain ANY vegetable!

This month's shopping trip left me with many several different veggies, fresh and frozen.

This stir fry had;
-one bag of frozen Broccoli Normandy, which is a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and sliced carrots. (I think this is also called a Dutch Blend in some places.) This bag was like .89.

-a bag of green beans (cuz everybody likes green beans, right?) which cost me about .40 (after coupons and sale).
-an onion,
-and a few chopped peppers from the freezer; pennies.
-Oh, I tossed in some mushrooms, about half a container, .50.
-And the meat I had already frozen from my shopping trip, which was under $2 a pound.

(I also use chicken sometimes, especially when it goes on sale.)

I had pre-seasoned the meat with a little soy, cooking wine, ginger, and garlic.

I served this with a little extra soy, over brown rice.

-Another frugal meal, for about $5!-

*Depending on what you have on hand, what's growing in your garden, and sales that you find on meat and veggies, this can be made even more frugal.

Family: fun and economics

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Fun for the Family!

If you've ever been shopping with small kids, you will find that's the wrong time for explaining economics to kids. When they want something at the store, it is either a question of you buy it for them or you don't. However, if you are a mom who wants to be more frugal, you plan your kids' activities not only so they're fun, but they teach your kids to be frugal too!

Explore DIY Creativity

One of the best ways to get kids interested in becoming more productive and saving what they earn, is to have them create things that they normally just buy. For instance, play dough costs them more money and is less fun than buying the ingredients and making it yourself. There are many crafts that are easy to do with free materials from pinecones to beans, and they will help your kids to express their creativity while learning how to save a buck too!

How Skills Make You Self-Sufficient

Any game you choose to play can also be a way to learn skills that make your kids self-sufficient. Maybe you can make gardening a fun time for your kids, and at the same time they're learning how to feed themselves. Cooking in the kitchen is always a crowd-pleaser and is a great way for kids to learn how to spend less at the grocery store on processed or convenience foods. Teach skills that are frugal and money smart.

Sliced Roast Beef on Homemade Buttermilk Buns

I've found yet another great sandwich for my Buttermilk Buns!

I made a batch and a half for enough sandwiches to feed my crew and have a couple extra.
With some of the roasts that I bought, I sliced them up when I brought them home. I tossed them in a food saver bag with a marinade of Worcestershire Sauce, a dash of cooking wine, and a sprinkle of marjoram. I tossed them in the freezer and thaw them the night before.
To bake, I simply dump the meat in a baking dish ( I spread about 2 tablespoons of rendered beef fat in my dish, opt.) and cover. Place in the oven at 300 for 1 1/2 hours.

I removed the meat from the oven to heat up at higher temp to bake the buns and then tossed it back in to re-heat. You could keep it warm on low on the stove top.

You can see I didn't take much care in shaping the buns in simple sub rolls.

I spread this "special sauce" on the bottom bun. Its simply mayo, mustard, and a little horseradish.

I topped with sliced mozzarella cheese, while meat and buns were hot so as to melt slightly.

Dh said these "must" become a regular on the "rotation"! ;-)

The kids really liked them too.

I made these last month and when I went shopping this month, I bought extra roasts and sliced up in marinades for the freezer, just to make these.

Once a Month Shopping: Day two of two

Day two of my shopping trip proved to be just as exciting as the first day!

Below is my other freezer. This one holds mostly fruits, vegetables, treats, broths, and there's some flash freezing going on in there right now.

Some of what I bought and what's in this freezer;

bag of cherries, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, coconut, some frozen homemade cookie dough, two pans of flash freezing meatballs, a pre-made and ready-to-bake meatloaf and another one on its way down, a couple of containers of whipped topping, homemade whole wheat french garlic bread, pie shells, several bags of bone broth, pizza roll treats for the kids for mine and dh's 'date night', and that second shelf is loaded with frozen veggies- corn, green beans, green peas, brussel sprouts, speckled butter beans, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, lima beans, veggie medleys, mixed veggies, and who knows what else!

But I got lucky (blessed!) and got several great deals at Kroger on frozen veggies. The store brand and the Bird's Eye brands were on sale at $1 and I had several coupons for .30 off one and .70 off two and the coupon fairy had left a few in the freezers, and I also had one for $3 off if you spend $15 in the frozen foods section. Sweet!

Back to the ole fridge:

I added more eggs for breakfast casseroles and hopefully to make up some breakfast burritos for the freezer. (Jumbo 4/$5!) There's also 2 pks of romaine lettuce, 2 to 4 pkgs of mushrooms ($1), a pack of beef fat for rendering (free), a drawer full of cheeses, one drawer full of baby carrots (.49 lb makes for perfect snacks), a drawer full of cabbage (.29 lb), and yeah, there's a little bit of a leftover mess from the meat that I used to make the meatballs with- oops!

Pantry is full again- was nearly empty!
Sugars, cornmeal, plain flour, salts, baking soda, cocoa, canned salmon, peanut butter, chocolate chips, cake mixes (got bdays coming in a few weeks), 4 or 5 kinds of beans, whole grain pasta, corn tortillas, olive oil, salsa, canned tomatoes, and yes, even some naughty cereal for "those" mornings! (remember I told you how cheap it was on the "day one" post;)
Let's go back to the meat freezer! I found ANOTHER turkey! (that's 3 if you are counting!) This was on sale for .59 lb and I had a $3 off coupon! (six dollar turkeys make you full of Thanksgiving even in April!)
I also added 2 ten pound bags of drumsticks at $2.95 each. (We ate one bag for lunch today.)
I bought about ten pounds of hamburger, making another meatloaf for the freezer, and dividing the rest for tacos or taco salads, likely.
I added some other things but I may have mixed them up on day one, not sure. (like sausage, turkey bacon, turkey pepperoni, etc)
Also, not pictured, is my side by side fridge upstairs in the kitchen!
Its loaded up!
Some of the other foods I bought;
8 cans salmon, 3 bunches of bananas, 3 boxes of raisins, one bundle of red pairs, 2 pineapples, zucchini, brocolli, cauliflower, onions, sweet potatoes, celery, spinach, turnip greens, 60lbs potatoes, 3 pkgs of whole grain bagels (less than $3 for all with coupons), canned beets, honey, molasses, 2 bundles of grapes, 4 boxes of strawberries, 2 boxes of blackberries, tomatoes, asparagus, black olives, green chillies, and I'm not sure what else!
I didn't get to buy a big box of apples this time like I usually do but hopefully we will make do with the extra fruit from the freezer.
We normally eat our fresh foods up during the first two weeks and then eat fruits and veggies from the freezers. I like to set aside extra to replenish the fresh fruits and veggies later in the month but this month, I didn't as I am hoping for some fresh food from the garden in a few more weeks. (Looks like we will have kale in no time! And maybe some romaine soon too.)
Now that my food is all here, I have another four or five weeks of not having to fret about what we will eat! Yah!
Time is precious and I'd rather spend it with my family than running back and forth to the store :-) And you wouldn't believe how euphoric everyone gets around here with all of this food in the house! hee hee hee

Wanna see some of how this month's shopping went? day one of two:

Did you notice some of the prices of food seems to be sorta creeping up these days? I'm hoping its just because of Easter specials but things like onions were almost triple price! Ugh!

But- I searched to stretch my $$$ as far as possible and here's some of what I bought on the day one of my two-day shopping!

I bought 1 1/5 boxes of roasts.When I got them home, dh helped me "process" them for all sorts of meals. I will tell you more below.

I quickly tossed in about 10 pounds of chicken breasts to boil so I could dice up the meat for later on in the month.

These two boxes had chicken. I had about 20 pounds of fryer breasts, about 10 lbs of tenders, and about 10 to 15 pounds of quarters.
For one meal, here is some of the quarters in a Food Saver bag, seasoned and ready to dump in the crock or baking dish, for Spicy Dump Chicken.

With most of the tenders I made Laura's popcorn chicken for the freezer, for later in the month.
This will make for a quick and easy lunch, alongside some potato wedges, and a raw veggie.

Here is what one freezer looked like after day one. This has all meat.

Here's a partial list of what's here along with what we did with some of the roasts;
3 Food Saver bags of marinated sliced roast beef for Sandwiches (pics of these coming soon)
1pkg pre-seasoned beef for stew
1 Food Saver pkg pre-seasoned steaks sliced from the roasts for a "steak night"
2 bags pre-seasoned beef for stir fry (all I have to do is thaw and dump in the pan along with some veggies and serve with brown rice and fruit)
1 pkg of pre-seasoned steaks for dh (this will be for a night when kids and I pack a lunch and go play tennis, etc)
2pks of popcorn chicken
3pkgs of 4cups each diced cooked chicken (If I use this for supper, it will be 3 meals if I use it for lunch then I might get up to six meals.)
1pkg pre-seasoned chicken for stir fry
1pkg chicken tenders
1pkg pre-seasoned spicy dump chicken
2 meals worth of chicken quarters to fry
4 meals of roasts
1 roast for beef jerky
2 meals worth of chicken breasts for oven fried chicken
1 semi-boneless leg of lamb
2 Turkeys
1 meals worth of pollock
1 meals worth of salmon
2 meals worth of calf liver
1 bag of scallops
2 whole chickens
1pkg of ground beef
2 days worth of mini-burgers (shame on me- but I knew these would come in handy during these shopping days for something quick to eat)

In the spare fridge is several heads of cabbage (.29 Leo's), several quarters of butter ($1.50 Walmart), eggs, one gallon of what turned out to be free milk* and the organic milk just cost me $1.50-coupons- (buttermilk and yogurt coming up with these), and the extra ground beef and sausage will be for meatballs....just as soon as I get around to rolling them up!
=
Tomorrow.... the shopping will be on the "odds and ends" , fresh and frozen veggies, and cheeses.

Day Two coming up!

_______

Once a Month Shopping, Works for Me Wednesday!

_________
*Food Lion is running a special on Special K cereal- yeah, I know bad- but with six kids, sometimes if pays to have a back-up in the back of the pantry- and listen to the price ;=)

Special K was 2/$5.
If you buy 4 boxes, you get $5 off, which means you get four boxes at $1.25 each (even cheaper if you have other coupons)- then, on top of that, I got a print out for a free gallon of milk up to $4!
Sweet deal and I couldn't pass it up!

A few shots of our Easter....

Our frugal table! Complete with a flower which was a delightful gift from some friends!
A wonderful, delicious, yummy, mm mm good, leg of lamb!

Blueberry Mini (and low-fat) Cheesecakes

Dark Chocolate Meringue Pie

(I made it "dark" by adding 2 squares of dark baking chocolate to the mix. Yummy!)

We also had Lemon Sponge Cake, lima beans, corn on the cob, and potato rolls.

You know you're a great cook, when?

My dh tells a story of how when he was a boy, that he was supposed to help paint a fence. An older gentleman told him that a "good painter always has paint all over him". So - my dh would paint one swipe on the fence and one swipe down his clothes! -mmhmm

So- I ask you-
you know you're a good cook -when?

Maybe its when you not only burn the element out in your oven after Easter dinner has cooked- but you burn it right IN HALF! ;-)