Amishway Homesteaders

well I guess we KNOW what we all are! as to the toothpaste............. when all is done and it seams there is none left? take scissors and cut up along the tube on one side. Open and looky - looky at least 3 or 4 more times of brushing in there!

Love cooking this way! We always 'shop' for deals and then come home and have a 'cooking fest' and can and freeze the whole day. Makes the house smell so good too! But last Saturday when we were canning Turkey ( great deal on it this week) the house smelled like Thanksgiving Day and now we both what a big Turkey Dinner! I Also love my Cockpots! (3 qt. & 6 qt.) If we know we will be late getting home and no time to cook it will save the day by making Supper as well as greeting us at the door with just the best smells. Winter is coming and that means lots of stews, soups and crockpot meals for us! Makes the cheaper cuts of meat go a long way and also makes them tender. Man I am Hungry NOW! and we are going out at 5:15 and get back late.

a gad stove would be better as you can turn it up and down as the gauge changes but electric will work - you just have to find the right temp to 'cook' it at? After the first time it will become easy each time you can. Just remember to NEVER leave the place you are canning so you can watch it! Pull up a chair and read a book so you can watch it closely and don't leave the room - even to just run out and check on something because that is when something willl happen. Pick something that will be a short canning time for your first batch, that way it will be over soon and less of a stress on you.

Good Advice! Same as when using a pressure canner NEVER leave the room you are canning in! To easy for something to happen - in seconds! I always do like you said - I pull up a stool and read a book, looking every few minutes to check on things or watch the gauge.

well........................................ Seeing we put pennies in our birdbaths to help stop the water from going bad? Stops the mold from building up on the plastic trays and IT WORKS! I don't see why it would help here too? I think I would just bury a few in the ground when I plant so it gets into the plant sooner ? Will be trying this next year as ours are just about over with. We plant in rebar cages and I have found over the yeas not to plant so the cages touch each other but leave a bit of room so air can get around the tomatoes as they grow. But some of mine don't listen and they grow so big every year that they get over 6 feet tall and way outside the cages !

1 Lb. Ground Turkey in tubes (Frozen) 10 for $10. So far we have 20 of them! We let them threw out in Refrigerator then raw pack -pressure can in Jelly jars (1/2 Lb. in each). Great for gravies and soup or even to make turkey salad sandwiches. Come Winter Time.

.................. STILL waiting to see if it worked?

............. but wasn't it nice that you had a plan and stocked that shed way back when. Then as you 'needed' it , it was there for you. and NOW you can slowly restock it again. COOL!

with all the weird weather we have been having of late- ANY Harvest is good ! Ours is winding down for the market as we are starting to get colder nights - looking for a early freeze?

A Cheap Meal !............................... Michael's "UNstuffed Peppers" seeing Lori doesn't like the whole stuffed peppers I have been making it this way - using peppers, onions from garden and meat bought on sale. This will feed 3 - 4 people depending on how hungry you are - serve with bread. fry (in large skillet) 1 pound of chop meat chop and boil (a minute or two) some peppers (both red and green) - I do this while meat is cooking chop onion and add to meat in pan, along with peppers Cook rice (about 3/4) and add to pan add Pasta sauce (homemade is best!) until 'thick' ** tonight added leftover corn cook until hot and serve in bowls ................................................................................................................................................................................................. Here is how I do my chop meat: We buy it on sale and then freeze in 1 pound bags. I use Ziploc sandwich bags and then put them into gallon freeze bags so I can take out 1 pound at a time. = = here is the 'trick' = = Measure out 1 pound of meat and put it into the sandwich bag and close most of it - then I push the meat flat in bag to get out most of the air. Use a rolling pin to get it nice and flat in bag and then seal the Ziploc bag. I write the date with marker and then 'stack' them into the large bag and freeze. When you 'need' a quick meal - take out 1 bag and seeing it is flat it will thaw out fast (or put it into a bowl of water (still in bag) while you get other things ready)

save those little bits of soap left from washing hands and other parts until you have enough to make the dishsoap! THAT will make it FREE!

Well it sounds like you are doing all the right things so not much to add? Your Budget gives you about $8.00 a day and that ain't bad so keep it up. Now........................... adding bread to each meal will help fill out a meal, if you can eat that (homemade bread is the best! And cheapist) For us it really helps to have a garden (even a small one as part of your flower beds will help) so you can eat meals for FREE! Veggie night is a cheap was to go, also cooking more than 1 meal at a time. Our crockpot works overtime make meal out of a cheaper piece of meat and even the cheaper cuts come out moist and tender! Can whatever you can and plan meals around that so you can save money for the things you need.

Are you a scraper or dumper? So as I was making Tomato Sauce to can I had to chop up onions and peppers and add them to the sauce. So I got out our hand chopper thingy and went to it, that is after going out to garden to get the fresh Peppers and Onions. As it got full I would dump it into the pots on the stove to cook down with the sauce but the last one I always get out the spatula and scrap, scrap, scrap to get the last bit out. Now I know the peppers and onions were free from the garden but I am a person that doesn’t like to waste so scrap, scrap I go until most of the food is out of the chopper. Do this with just about everything and peanut butter drives me nuts trying to get the last bit out. Now sometimes I just think it is a waste of time to get the last bit out so I just dump what is left and wash the chopper out. So stand up! Who’s a scraper and who’s a dumper?

................. But other than THAT Mrs. Lincoln how was the play? And hey YOU can’t be worthless? After all you ARE a member of this great forum! So come back often and vent – we will be here for you whenever you need a shoulder!

You did so good on posting photo's................... Even can see them!

well..................................... I bet you will ALWAYS check to make sure you have it from now on. we call that "Leasons Learned" !

well..................................... lost cow WOULD BE A low cost IF I found it and made chopmeat out of it! see, I read it a whole differant way!

to cute!

sorry to hear of your troubles. hope things stop with just this one? Another reason we don't have credit cards!

good to see they are not going to waste.

COOL! This sounds great! I am going out now to find a kid so together we can build the London Bridge so after e splitting up the piece between us I will still have a bunch to add to my collection. I did send a bunch of loose and extra pieces to the local Library last year as they were collecting for the kids programing that has they using them every month on different things.

thanks will try that as he was hoping for something 'home-made' instead of spending money for something that may not work

where to start? No Libraries near you? I always try and get the book to 'borrow' first in case it is not that great or if there are only a few pages that I want I make copies of and save money by not having to buy a book that I only find 1 or 2 things worth aving.

OK, here we go........................... I had a friend ask me today how to get that filmy stuff off his Tupperware? Now seeing we don't use it that much I said: no help but I know just the Ladies to ask. So.................... How do you clean your Tupperware when it gets that build up on it? Leman, vinegar, flame thrower? Or just toss them out and buy new ones?

Just another day for us………………………. Headed out early as Farmers Market started at 7 am! Only had to stay for busy time before heading 40 miles away to buy a new canopy for our Flea market both, but when we got there they were out of them but they called the other store and they had one left, so we asked them to put it on hold and we were on our way there to get it in 20 minutes. So off we went but as we went along we realized we were going through the town we planned to visit on Saturday so we went to the used craft store (great barging place to shop) but they are closed for inventory (good thing we stopped so we don’t have to drive all the way there on Saturday!). Then seeing we were in the area when to the Dollhouse shop that we are doing a dollhouse display for at their Dollhouse Sale for the eastern New York area Sept 9th, 15 dollhouse dealers and our 18 dollhouses. Back on the road to get canopy and when we get there next door was a Joanna Fabrics so of cause I had to go in. Got a few things and started for home, Don’t you know we hit a yard sale! So we stopped and got some cool stuff cheap! We are now running late so stopped at Burger King for quick meal and drove over to the Canal Park for a quick picnic watching the boats go by. Got home just in time for Lori to go to work at the Library and I had errands to run in the afternoon: Went to feed store to get feed to deliver to an Amish Farm, Stopped at car repair place to drop off a part for someone, went to Ruth’s (Amish) to see if her sister Tina made it down from upstate today (she called us very early to say they were leave there and coming for a Surprise visit) and IT WAS for Ruth! She is the Amish lady we worked for at the Greenhouse Business before she got married, Got to Ben’s to help unload from this morning’s market and put things away, Went and dropped off feed and got Chicken feed I have to take with us tonight (more later), Stopped over to the Amish Machine shop to give a message and see if my metal sign is done?, Went out to the Farm where we have eggs to pick them up and let Emma (Amish) know we will be picking her up to go visit Tina with us tonight for Supper, Now I am back home just in time for Lori to come from work at 4:15 pm so we can leave to go back to ‘Amish Land’ but we also have a quick stop on the way. SO other than THAT we didn’t do much today and I only put 195 miles on Morgan the Wonder Van? So how was your day today? <BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break">