Homemade Applesauce

I used to can my own applesauce. I would go to my local discount style fruit market and they have boxes of apples that are bruised but still good. I bought these for $2 a piece. Two of these boxes made a very good supply of applesauce. I am going to do this again this year.
Making and canning applesauce is probably one of the easiest ways to get your feet wet in the canning department. Plus about a years supply of applesauce for less than $10 isn’t bad either.
Get the kids involved. They can peel the apples, and can help stir while the apples are cooking. They can measure the sugar and cinnamon. They can help label the finished cans with the date and what’s in the can. They can put away the finished cans. Kids really
love to help do stuff like that. Well the
peeling and the cooking part. Maybe
not so much the putting away part.
I usually cook the apples down
(without any oil) til they are pretty
mushy. You can add sugar and
cinnamon to taste. I like mine chunky
but if you don’t then just puree it
til you get your right consistency.
Follow the directions from a canning
book or guide for applesauce. Viola!
Applesauce. You will have something to be proud of. Saving money, a great time with your kids, and learning a new skill. I believe that these things are all imperative to good household management.
Mission Impossible: saving money, quality time, and some good old fashioned know how…. Mission Accomplished!

Plant a Victory Garden

January is the time to start thinking about gardens. It’s the right time to order some catalogs and browse through the gorgeous pages of flowers and vegetable plants.
I believe that a victory garden would lessen the strain on your wallet and our fuel consumption. Our fuel consumption, I believe, has a direct correlation to the wars we have been fighting. So, a victory garden, has to be a small way to provide support to our troops. And to your family.
There are a lot of ways to make a garden grow. There are the traditional row style planting, raised beds, trellises, hanging pots, etc.
You’ll need to evaluate your space, your needs, and to some degree,
your capabilities.
SPACE: Even on tight city lots quite a bit of food can be grown. A great resource is the book Square Foot Gardening. There are many diagrams and pictures to help you plan your own garden.
CAPABILTY: If you don’t have a
rototiller you can
grow plants in
bags of dirt. A great resource for all types of garden styles is Mother Earth News magazine. I believe this particular style would be very helpful to renters and people who may have some physical handicaps.
NEEDS: Evaluate what your family likes to eat and use that as your planting guide. This year will be my first year back to gardening since my husband died. I have been away from it for so long. I am looking forward to trying my hand at growing strawberries this year. Enough for table eating, freezing, and making into jam. I also want to grow enough tomatoes to make a years supply of salsa and spaghetti sauce. I want to make pickles of all sorts. So cucumbers and cauliflower will be a number one priority. I also want enough cauliflower and broccoli to freeze. I think I’m going to plant some rhubarb. Green, red, and orange peppers. And hot peppers. Sweet onions and green onions. Sweet potatoes and fingerlings. And maybe some Yukon golds. Yellow grape tomatoes, too. Pumpkins and various squashes. Watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. I would like also to plant some raspberries, and blackberries. I will probably do all of this on a relatives land and in exchange will provide her family with a share of the produce. And maybe some of the canning that I do.
If you can’t “borrow” some land from a relative, and you don’t have any of your own (obviously), try to find out about a community garden that you may rent space from. Maybe your church might be interested in putting in a garden for the benefit of the congregation. I see a decent sized hoop house at a church near my house starting in early spring and running up to late October. Ask a neighbor. Ask a friend. A lot of people might not mind, especially if they’re going to get free and delicious fruit and veggies.
Try it out and see if it’s not only a balm to your finances but your spirit, too. There is something magical about working the soil and watching the fruits of your labor grow.

Taking Care of Yourself

I have been feeling pretty tired the last few days. I have been going to bed too late and then getting up too early. My daughter in high school keeps missing her stinkin’ bus.
This made me think about how I missed one day of cleaning because I was so darned tired. And the house went to h-e-double hockey sticks! In one day! ONE DAY!
Nothing seems to go smoothly when I’m tired. Or sick. A 10 hour day at work, then dishes, laundry, and dinner. Who wants to do that after 6 hours of sleep? Not me.
I am not a good sleeper. I get up about a hundred times a night to run to the little girls room. Any noise wakes me up. My back starts to hurt or my hip and I wake up from that. And then I have a hard time going back to sleep.
It’s important to go to sleep at the
same time everyday. Early enough to get a full 8 hours. So on that note, good night.
Mission Impossible: Get 8 hours of sleep.
A smooth day= Mission Accomplished

Making a Price Book

Making a price book is something I was first introduced to in the book The Tightwad Gazette. Basically you can make one from an old day planner or a binder. Whatever you have handy. Make a sheet each for things you buy regularly. Like one for chicken, and one for ketchup, and one for toilet paper…you get the jist. So write the item in the left hand corner. Draw a line down the page beside the item and more lines spaced out a bit parallel to that first line. In those extra spaces write in the abbreviation for each store you shop at or might if the price is good. Then in the spaces underneath you write the date of the sale and the prices. Such as 1/12/12 $2/lb. at Meijer.
Chicken|MJR| KRG|CCO|SAMS|ALDI|
Date |1/12 |
Price | $2/LB|
The reason for a price book is so you can track the best prices. After awhile, for instance, you may see that every three months
chicken goes on sale. Now you know that you should try to purchase enough chicken at that sale to last the three months til the next sale.
I used to do a price book and it very much helped me to know when I was getting a good deal or not. One time cereal went on sale at Kroger’s at
$1.25 box for their brand. That was
half the regular price and .50¢ off the
sale price. I bought all I could afford
to buy which I think was 40 boxes. I
just kept them under my bed because
it wouldn’t all fit in my small pantry.
That was about a 6 month supply for
my family of 6.
Mission Impossible: Make a new price
book. I am really committed to saving
an emergency fund. This will be the
beginning of that effort. Hardly
anyone has enough in savings to make
it one month without a paycheck.
One month is my first goal. I can forgo
McDonald’s for a little security…
Security= Mission Accomplished.

The Hillbilly Housewife $45 Emergency Menu

I like the $45 emergency menu idea. I think that hillbillyhousewife.com has done an incredible service for folks that may be struggling in this economy. Even if you can afford a bit more it’s a helpful plan to start from. There’s also a lot of good recipes on this site.
I am going to follow the menu with a few changes this week. I have leftovers from the rice casserole and the beans for this weeks lunches. I have fruit and veggies to go in my lunchbag. I have store bought yogurt for a snack. I made Russian tea. I saw this recipe on an episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.
RUSSIAN TEA: 1part Tang, 1part powdered lemonade, 1part powdered iced tea follow the directions on the container for how much water.
I’m going to make veggie burgers at the end of the week with any leftover beans and veggies. I might try to make homemade buns too.
I am going to try to make the homemade bread from the $45 menu.  Usually my homemade  bread is like a hard brick. But I’m gonna give it another go.
The $45 menu is heavy on the beans which is OK for me because I grew up on beans  (my family is from Kentucky) with either biscuits or cornbread. The day in the menu that calls for hot dog and veggie stirfry I’m going to make fried potatoes and kielbasa. Fried potatoes is another Kentucky staple. I bought kielbasa from Kroger’s for $1.49. I got a 5lb bag of potatoes for $1.79 at the fruit market.
I’m also going to check to see if there are anymore $1.17lb hams at the grocery store. That will go in the freezer.
Another idea in being frugal is the freezer jar. Leftover bits of veggies and sauce goes in the jar. I have a tomato-ey jar and I have an everything else jar. These you thaw and make into soup. You could put leftover bits of meat into these jars too. Leftover rice and beans. Whatever little bits you have leftover. When they get full make a nice bread and a salad or if you’re southern you’d probably have wilted greens.
If anyone wants to try it out with me let’s compare notes. I’m interested in how other people make frugal meals.
The breakfasts on the menu may be a problem for me because I get up at the last possible minute in the morning and I’m unwilling to get up early enough to cook or bake. I made extra rice for breakfasts for this reason and I’m going to have rice with a bit of sugar and cinnamon and maybe raisins and milk. I also have some hard boiled eggs and I’m going to eat some of the beans for breakfast too. The menu calls for pancakes a few times during the week I think I’ll reserve that meal for Sundays.
It also calls for orange juice each day except for Saturday because growing bodies need the vitamin C. There’s a recipe on this site to stretch the can of orange juice to a gallon if that’s something that might help you.
I kept a gallon jug that I’m going to take to work with me to fill up with water to drink throughout the day. I work outside so this is good for me so I stay hydrated. Without drinking pop.
I have cookie dough for desserts. I may also make the muffins that the menu calls for. I especially like greek yogurt for a snack. I’m going to look for a recipe for Greek yogurt because it is EXPENSIVE!
So anyone out there want to do the menu plan with me? Out of curiosity or necessity? Write to me and let’s try it out together.

Leftover Ham Will Save Me $40

I am trying to make dinner everyday. I want to save enough money to pay my bills for one full month. These two goals go hand in hand. I am tired of living paycheck to paycheck. I know I’m not the only one out there struggling to save a little extra. Even $100 can make a nice little cushion. And make a good beginning towards making  saving a habit. Which I need to work on towards the ultimate household management program.
I made 2 different dinners from my leftover Christmas ham. The first one was a casserole and the other a French style bean dish. The recipes are as follows and are flexible and the amounts are like how your grandma would have done…a little of this and a squirt of that.

HAM, RICE, and BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
HAM: I chopped as much of the ham as I could from the bone then cubed it up to bite size. Put it in the bottom of your glass casserole dish. No grease in the pan is necessary. If you are in a true financial bind I would save half of the ham and freeze or make 2 dishes at the same time. One for dinner and one for the freezer.
RICE: I cooked enough rice for leftovers so I made 2C. rice boiled in 4C. water follow the directions on the package. Then when it’s done spoon some on top of the ham. I put about 6-7 big (stirring spoon) spoonfuls. The bulk of this dish will be the rice so use your own judgement. Also leave enough space on top for the broccoli and the cheese liquid mixture.
BROCCOLI: I save the leftover bits of veggies that you wouldn’t usually eat for broth. So I kept the broccoli stalks in the freezer and chopped them up into small bite sized pieces and put them on top of the rice. Salt and pepper all of this.
CHEESY SAUCE: In a saucepan melt 2TBSP of butter or margarine. Add 2TBSP flour. Whisk this add some salt and pepper and a little squirt of mustard. Add 1 1/2C of milk slowly whisking it in a little at a time. Pour some in, whisk, and let it thicken up a little. In the meantime grate 1C of cheddar. After you pour all of the milk in and it thickens up a minute or two whisk in the cheddar a bit at a time. After it’s all combined pour this over the rice mixture. Mix it all in together.
TOPPING: Use up some of those leftover crackers from Christmas by crunching them up and pouring 2-3TBSP butter on top just enough to moisten them and put on top of the casserole.
OVEN: Put it in the oven at 375°F for around 30 minutes. If you like the broccoli to stay a bit crunchier put it in at 350°F for 45 minutes.

FRENCH COUNTRY WHITE BEANS WITH HAM BONE:
HAM BONE: Put the ham bone in the freezer until you’re ready to make this. When you’re ready put the ham bone in a large stock pot.
VEGGIES: Put in chopped carrots. I had a sandwich bag full in the freezer from when I bought a 2lb bag. Put in 1/2 coarse chopped onion. I left it in pretty big pieces. You could put in celery if you wanted to but I didn’t.
NAVY BEANS: I used a small bag. I think it was 1lb. Pour these in on top of all the stuff in the pot.
SEASONINGS: I put in about 3/4 of a spoonful of roasted, chopped garlic from a jar. Salt and pepper. I also used a packet of Sazon Goya. I found it in the ethnic section at my local Wal Mart. Goya is the brand name.
WATER: 8C. Do not cover overnight. After you sort and rinse the beans put the water into the pot bring to a boil with a lid on then turn it down a bit. I started on high then put it on medium. I cooked it for about an hour or so. Cook until the beans are tender. Pulling all the meat from the ham bone that you can.
That makes three meals from one ham. And several lunches. So I probably saved more like $60 or $70.

$3 a day

I never feel quite prepared for Christmas because I always feel like a I’m a day late and a dollar short. I end up fielding giant financial emergencies that seem to completely derail my plans of a prepared and stress free Xmas. I want my kids to behave perfectly and the food to be just right. I want to get at least some of what they want and I want them to like what I get. This coming year I am going to be (more) ready. I am going to follow along with the Organized Christmas.com site that starts Christmas prep in August. I have a savings goal of $3 a day. That is the cost of 2 takeout lunches a week. Or one pop and a slim jim a day. Or rather one pop and about half a slim Jim. One large coffee from anyplace I think is $3. I don’t really know about that because I think I’m the only American that doesn’t drink coffee.
I’m going to save the $3 a day by making a transfer from checking to savings. As if I had made a purchase. My secondary tier will be saving all change in a big wine jug that I garbage picked from a recycling bin. I’ve never tried this approach before.
I would love to hear other people’s saving strategies.

Dinner is Served, Now Let’s Just Make it a Habit

One of my goals is to make dinner more regularly. I made a scalloped potato w/ ham crock pot dinner tonight. I got the recipe from cooks.com it was pretty quick to throw together. It was inexpensive. It was very tasty and a salad rounds it out nicely. Here’s how I made it:
1.Peel and wash and slice (kind of thin)about 6-8 med potatoes
2.Butter the crock
3.Chop up the ham into nice sized chunks
4.Slice a med onion (if you like onion)
5.A bag of shredded cheddar ( I used some mozzarella and three cheese taco cheese because I had 1/2 bag of each)
6.A can of cream of mushroom soup
Now layer the potatoes then the onion
Then salt and pepper
Then some ham and then some cheese
Then do it over and over making sure to leave enough room at the top for the can of soup which you will put on top directly from the can
Put on low for 8-9 hours or put on high 3-4 hours

It smelled really good when I got home tonight and was very filling. It was also very inexpensive. The potatoes were $2.69 for a 10lb bag. I used maybe 6-8 potatoes. So let’s say 2lbs is .54¢ and the ham was $1.07lb from another meal. I used maybe a pound but probably a little less. The cheese was $2 bag. The onion was .33¢lb so .16¢ The can of soup was $.69. So the total was around $4.50 for a dinner for four. Add the salad which was on sale for $1 and the dressing was $1 so a generous serving would be less than .10¢ that brings the dinner total up to around $6. Wow that’s like putting a $20 in the savings account. That’s what I would have spent at McDonald’s. Tomorrow I’m making baked beans and fresh bread. Simple and delicious.

The Silent Butler

I don’t know about you but I get tired of picking everyone’s stuff up. The SHE ladies have this great ides to get the kids to start to pick up their own messes..the silent butler. What that is is a box that you put stuff into that doesn’t belong out and about around the house. You have a family meeting and explain the silent butler concept to the family. Which is when you announce ‘silent butler’ that is the heads up that in five minutes you are going to come through each room and swoop up anything that does not go in that room, in that spot, etc. The items may be bought back at the next family meeting. the kids can also do this to you. The items can be bought back through extra chores too. I have a bit of an idea on this theme…I’m going to get one of those laudry sorters, with four separate spaces, on wheels, so each kid gets a space and I don’t have to carry anything.  Mission Impossible: Get the kiddies to pick up their own stuff ..Mission Accomplished: The Silent Butler.

Cute Ideas for Christmas

Here’s a recipe for Santa’s Reindeer Munchies: mix together a little granola cereal and some nuts and seeds and some glitter each kid gets some to toss in the yard for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve. In the morning the birds have usually eaten most of the granola and seeds and all that’s left is the glitter. Little kids are just mesmerized by this..
Santa’s boots..I used to make boot prints coming from our fake fireplace (that we made using the instructions from Family Fun magazine) going over to the tree with each step fading a bit. I would use my biggest pair of boots (you could also make a fake from cardboard) and sprinkle a little baby powder around the edges. It leaves the impression like when you walk in from outside and stamp your boots and then pick up your boots there’s an outline of the boot.. it also sort of fades through the day..so it’s magical.
I used to tell the kids that snow
turned to powdery dust on Santa’s
boots so he didn’t get people’s rugs
wet. This used to mystify my kids so
much..they would compare all the
boots with the boot prints and could
never figure it out..because they were
my mukluks. They went over my work
shoes. I work for the U.S. Postal
Service as a Letter Carrier so I work
outside. I think making a GIANT pair
of cardboard ones would work great
too.