We - as a family - have become very dependent upon sandwiches of some sort - on bread, in pita pockets, wrapped in a tortilla, or even on crackers. I can bake bread, pita pockets and tortillas look do-able (though I have yet to try them)....but lunchmeat? How am I going to make that? It's not practical or economical to substitute a hunk of chicken or turkey breast for the thin-sliced stuff I buy at the store. And tuna? Well, one can only stand so much tuna. There's egg salad, but only half of us
Up at 5:00AM. By 3:00PM, I was really missing my Coca-Cola! I nearly fell asleep on the couch, but the clicking of the mouse (by Dd2) kept rousing me.
Breakfast for the kids was cold cereal wtih milk. I had more of the Greek Chicken Pasta Salad and Iced Tea.
We nibbled some home-dried apple slices before we left to meet with a couple of other families to do a craft project. We were served some pretzels as a snack while we were there.
For lunch, I took leftover BBQ chicken, choppe
I'm not going to continue blogging every single thing we eat...too much effort. Though I will mention a couple of things. Today we had a small snack of berries from our own yard. Yesterday, I ate a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich; it was REALLY good!! At this point in the journey, I am using up odd items from the cupboards (and freezer). It will be a bit of time before I am seriously into preps. I am also spending a fair bit of time being more imaginative and creative about what I'm fixing. In
Soak and cook in the usual manner:
2 cups small white (navy) beans in 4 cups water.
Add to the mixture:
1 Tbsp dry minced onion
3 Tbsp Tomato powder
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp basil
and cook on low for at least an hour or two - until the flavors are well blended. Alternatively, you can make this recipe in a crockpot.
Serve in bowls, garnishing with parmesan or mozzarella cheese. Goes well with homemade garlic
I'm starting this blog to record our journey as we begin to live on our preps. Our finances are getting tight. We still have enough cash around to maintain the status quo, however, that seems unwise. Beginning today, we are on a spending near-freeze. We will be eating down our stores - which also stretches to paper products, soaps, detergents, etc. I am hoping this will be a temporary, short-term thing - maybe three to six months. I will share our menus and recipes with you. Hopefully, you will
This has been a crazy-busy month, with travel, home improvement projects, extreme weather...you name it.
I've bought things I don't normally buy - even when money is okay - such as frozen corn dogs (for the kids, not me! gag). Life is settling down again now, and I started really cooking again yesterday. Look for more posts next week.
Here's something to think about: beverages.
Oh my...
A real recipe for Mommy Mush (dog food)?
Must I?
Buy 5 lbs chicken leg quarters. Pressure cook them (which makes the bones crumbly). Run them (bones and all) through a grinder (I use my KitchenAid Grinder Attachment). Stir in a 29oz (large) can of pumpkin puree, two 15oz cans of tomato sauce, and 2lbs of frozen mixed vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, corn). If your dog is picky, you may have to grind up the vegetables. Process at 10lbs for 75 minutes for pints or 90
I'm noticing that I "stop by" the grocery store a lot. I used to have a specific day that I shopped (while the kids were in an activity - which they no longer are), but now I tend to go whenever. I need to get back into menu planning. Anyway, here are my recent purchases, a combo of the store and the fruit market:
Gallon milk, bananas, roma tomatoes, spinach, a single jalapeno pepper, 5lbs chicken thighs, fresh cilantro, green onions, head lettuce. Total $19.21.
I made some pico de gallo
You know ... I love my husband. He really is a good guy. But he sure pisses me off sometimes!
Here we are in this financial pinch. We talked. We agreed that we needed to be prudent and really avoid spending money. I've been doing the things I've described here. Yet, a few days ago, he stopped by the store and bought tortilla chips, breakfast sausage and a comic book for the kiddo. How are those necessities? I'm beating myself up over a jar of PNB (which I did NOT return), and he's buying co
Disclaimer: I do not routinely stock "Spicy Habanero Tuna;" it was given to me. You could substitute regular tuna plus taco seasoning, canned chiles, or other spicy seasonings of your choice. Frankly you could just omit the tuna, but I was looking for a way to use this up. You could also probably substitute rice for the orzo, but again, the orzo was given to me and I'm trying to use it up.
Soak and cook
1/2 cup dry beans of the Mexican or chili sort of variety
in the usual manner. Drain
Double success today!
I made refried beans!
And homemade flour tortillas!
I took my refried beans recipe from Rodales Natural Foods Cookbook - out of respect for their copyright, I won't post the recipe. Next time I'll cook the beans "to death" - even after running them through the Cuisinart, they still have more texture than store-bought. I do, however, like the seasonings and flavor.
My tortilla recipe came from the Make-A-Mix Cookbook...I was maybe going to use the one fro
Earlier this year, I went to the warehouse store and stocked up on easily portable snack-type things. We were gone all day today, so I packed a "lunch" of these portable things: fruit leather, granola bars, applesauce cups, single-serving chips. I also packed some home-dried fruit and PB&J sandwiches. We didn't eat all our "lunch" so the kids ate the rest in the car on the way home. Guess who doesn't have to cook dinner! All those convenience items aren't cheap, but are healthier and cheaper
1 cup dry macaroni
2 Tbsp dried celery stalk
1/2 cup home-dried zucchini slices, broken into quarters
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 carrot, sliced thinly
1 cup frozen (or dried) peas
1 cup home-dried kale
1 can tuna
1/2 tsp dried parsley leaves
dollop of mayonnaise
salt & pepper to taste
Bring water to boil, add macaroni, celery stalk, zucchini, onion, and peas. Return to boil & cook until macaroni is done. Strain off cooking water, using a small amount to soften k
Let's see...
For breakfast, the kids had the last of the cold cereal. I had more of the Chicken Pasta Salad.
For fun the kids went to a friend's house; they got lunch there.
For fun I got solitude while the kids were gone, and I nibbled while I cooked.
I made a tuna pasta salad and prepped a mexi-salad (with orzo, beans, etc). I'll follow up with recipes for both tomorrow.
Dinner was soft tacos with store tortillas & shredded cheddar, home-canned ground beef, a can o
This is an adequate copy-cat of the same item sold in the deli area at Costco. This recipe has been dramatically altered to use what I have on hand.
In a large saucepan, bring water to boil, then add:
3 cups dry macaroni
1-1/2 cups home-dried halved cherry tomatoes
1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp dried celery stalk
Return to boil, then simmer until macaroni is cooked as desired. Strain, retaining about one cup of the cooking water, to which you add:
1 cup home-dried kale
4 tea bags
1 gallon warm tap water
1/2 cup sugar
Fill a glass gallon jug with warm (or cold) tap water. I'm impatient, so I start with warm water. My jug was originally sold with organic apple juice it in, but I've kept it and reused it many, many times.
Add tea bags to jug, making sure they are under water. Place jug in sunshine for a few hours until tea is brewed to your satisfaction.
Remove tea bags. Pour off a bit of tea (to make room) and add 1/2 cup sugar. Place jug in f
Today, things are normal.
The animals got their usual processed, purchased feed this morning. The dog will be getting "Mommy Mush" (see separate entry under recipes) for dinner.
For breakfast, the kids had cold cereal with milk. I had the last five potstickers from the freezer - and a Coke...the very last Coke in the house.
This morning we spent some time working on a service project with others. We were rewarded with a free lunch and excellent fellowship.
When we came home,
