Andrea

ROFL!

The last two nights we've had rice crust quiche. For $2.50 I was able to make onion, garlic, and kale quiche thanks to scoring some outdated cheese for $1,49/lb. So, I'm over kappydell's budget. I'm going to have to try harder!

LOL - Yes, I saw that episode! That's where I first learned about tree collards!

Jeepers - yes, that's exactly what I was afraid of! CGA - THANK YOU. I don't know why I didn't think of that, that could very possibly work! Philbe - Late Fall, winter, and early spring are the only time I can grow lettuce outdoors here. And this year, with the crazy lows at night and the record breaking heat during the day, my lettuce was confused, as were the snails/slugs. My problem with DE is that it kills the good bugs as well as the bad bugs. I try to use almost no pesticides, including organic controls, like DE. The one exception to this is that when I put out my beans and squash, I will sprinkle some Sluggo around the young seedlings. This is the only control I use. I'd like to say it's because I'm such a strong steward for the Earth, but the reality is that I'm a lazy gardener. I don't have time to fuss daily with all the plants I grow. As a result, only plants that are bug resistant tend to have a place in my yard. This year, my one exception are the two types of potatoes I'm planting - as soon as they're done in June, those 8'x4' beds will become empty. In fact, I may turn one into a compost pile. But this is to accommodate water restrictions due to the drought here in California. I'm hoping the potatoes won't need to be watered more than once or twice a week. While the tomatoes and peppers I usually plant, are water hogs. But I digress . . . My garden contains plants that are pretty impervious to bugs. I can't grow spinach either because of the bug problem. So, I grow chiogga beets, kale, and New Zealand spinach (the bugs avoid these plants) as my spinach substitutes. The chiogga beet greens are lovely, btw, and not beety tasting at all! But lettuce is a tricky crop here in Central California, the climate is not really suited for it. And other than the little I manage to scavenge from the slugs, it's the one crop that we would really financially benefit from my being able to produce simply because we eat so much of it. (Produce is cheap here compared to other parts of the country. Or at least it was before the drought ) So, I'm going to try and produce it indoors. I've bought a "grow light" (a clamp on metal work light and a full spectrum bulb) Now I just need to clean off the downstairs porch area and get to work! I love CGA's plastic sheet idea, but because the bathroom is upstairs, I think in the long run if I can set up a place downstairs, my lettuce will stay cooler and be less likely to bolt. Wish me luck - I think I'm going to go and make some headway now!

Philbe - nice to know that Putting Foods By has been updated! I have an older edition that I stopped using because some of the recipes are no longer considered safe (and I had all 12 jars of the apple pie in a jar ooze all over my pantry because of an unsafe ingredient.) Thanks for the update! I'm going to put it on my wishlist.

Sorry, I never got around to updating this thread! I ended up making three batches of lemon balm tincture (triple distilled), which was far more than I need, LOL. I'm not fond of the the smell of the 100 proof vodka and my end product turned the same unattractive shade of brown as the commercial product, but the stuff works. I usually put it in my chamomile tea at night, especially those nights when my mind is racing with a thousand and one things I need to do. The lemon balm actually helps me to relax and focus. And since lemon balm is a fever reducer, I'll often increase the dose and give it to my daughter mixed with a liberal amount of honey and her favorite lemon tea when she's sick. A good thing to have on hand. I really need to get started on making an elderberry tincture next. I've heard though that the tiny stems are toxic, so I need to research and see if I need to remove all the stems before starting the tincture. I have several bags of elderberries still in my freezer that I haven't processed yet because of those stupid little stems . . . Any thoughts?

Yep, 1/2 pints and pints have the same processing time. FYI - I have a problem with jalapenos and other really hot peppers - the fumes from the fresh peppers make my air passages constrict. So, to avoid death , anytime I have a recipe that calls for fresh peppers, I use whatever mild peppers I have growing in my garden and then I add pepper flakes for heat. Works quite well and it's easy to control the heat in my recipes.

http://www.bhg.com/recipes/healthy/dinner/cheap-heart-healthy-dinner-ideas/ http://www.ehow.com/how_10040837_feed-family-six-35-per-week.html

I fear Mountain Man would take over the cooking :-( Neither of us will touch liver (or any organ meats), he won't eat any kind of fish patties, wants his fish so he can see it :-) and lastly (and ghastly) I don't like tuna and barely get it down when I make it into a tuna casserole or tuna salad mixture w/some apples to tone it down. I know, I know...all you others think we're nuts. But, this particular array of meals wouldn't work for us :=( Philbe, come up with your own $3.00 meal plans that fit into your eating style. I think this is a great opportunity for all of us! Come on, I challenge you! (especially if you post your recipes here afterwards -LOL - I'm always on the lookout for ways to feed my family for less) I find it funny when grocery stores carefully arrange their deli items and then advertise them as "Dinner for only $15.00!" Give me a break - Momo can eat dinner for FIVE days on that amount! Again, awesome thread/challenge, Momo!

Thanks Momo! I think this is an awesome challenge! Don't forget the stir-fry - this is my go to, super cheap meal! I sprout my own mung beans, sliced celery (it grows all over the yard - almost as prolific as lemon balm at self-seeding!), jerusalem artichokes, cabbage or kale, sliced onions, sliced peppers (rehydrated from last years garden),a can of chicken, and lots of spices. Serve over steamed rice and dinner is done! I'm guessing that it is easily under $3.00: $1.75 canned chicken (optional - I've been known to use cooked white beans as my protein, you could also use your 59cent/lb chicken legs) .50 rice .75 (whatever vegetables I don't grow) $3.00 max I'm going to look at my schedule and challenge myself to a week of this after all of our out of town trips are out of the way. I'm pretty good about sticking to this anyway, we eat lots of soups/stews, salad, and homemade bread for dinner which fits nicely into the $3.00 budget. But, I'm afraid I have to side with Philbe on the liver & onions. I couldn't stomach the idea of eating another animals poison filter even when I wasn't "mostly" vegetarian. Now, it pretty much gags me. Thanks again for the challenge suggestion! Except for the liver & onions, this is awesome!

Awwww, you have to get well as quickly as possible so you can get back to your little guy! (((Cat)))

It's bad, dogmom. The flies have already hatched and the slugs have already eaten all of my lettuce. AUGHHHH!

I've given up trying to raise lettuce outdoors where I live. It's either too hot, the perfect temperature for slugs and snails to feast, or too cold to get any growth in the leaves. I even mounted plastic gutters to a trellis I have against the fence, several feet off the ground last Fall. The snails and slugs found it. AUGHHHH! The lettuce had finally started coming back, I went outside this morning to harvest it, and it was GONE. Something devoured it. So, after a bit of research, I've decided to try growing lettuce indoors with a full spectrum light. I researched hydroponics but it needs too many specialized products, so I'm going with shallow beds of soil. Question: I have a perfect spot. It's a tile counter 4'x2', with a place to hang a light, and it's a flat surface that pretty much is unused in our house. BUT, it's in a bathroom that is used constantly and has 2 cat litter boxes in it. I'm concerned that there could possibly be contamination from cat box dust and other things that float around in bathrooms. Since I plan on growing cut and come again varieties of lettuce, I'm not sure this is a good idea? Thoughts? The second spot is a place that is prime real estate in our house. It's the pantry/service porch counter top where everything gets thrown (sometimes it's stacked several feet high!) as we come into the house. But, it's tile as well and would hold up well to having growing beds placed there. There is also a place to hang a light and plenty of electrical outlets. But, it would require training my family, something that I'm not sure is possible . . . Then there is the option of simply continuing to purchase lettuce from the store. But we eat salad daily (I've been known to eat two salads a day) and while I supplement the store bought greens with home grown sprouts and other veggies, I would really like to find a way to grow our own lettuce. Especially this year with California in a drought - I can see the price of lettuce shooting out of reach. I've already planned to reduce the amount of annual veggies I grow and I've gotten rid of almost all of my non edible ornamentals, but lettuce and salads? I'm not willing to give those up. 85% of our diet is nondairy, vegetarian based with salad being the main course for most dinners. Part of the reason we eat this way is for cost savings as well as health reasons. But if prices respond to the drought the way I think they are going to, I'm not sure I can justify spending more for a head of lettuce than for a whole chicken or a beef steak. Any thoughts, insights, opinions greatly appreciated! P.S. There is also a budget constraint here. I researched the aerogardens and have been looking on craigslist, ebay, and thrift stores but no luck. Besides, those require special (i.e. expensive) supplements and growing mediums. I'd like to stick with dirt if possible. Dirt is free - I can make as much of that as I need!

While looking for some herbal recipes, I came across this site: http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/ Including some free ebooks. Here's one on Dandelions: http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Things-to-do-with-dandelions.pdf I've invested far more time today than I really have, but what a beautiful site! Great ideas and recipes, especially for those of us interested in herbals. Just thought I'd share, and remember, you've been warned about how much time this site will suck from your day!

I don't mean to be snarky, but did you look at our forum tagline? "Women helping women survive in the real world." There is very little that is "real" about Doomsday Preppers which makes it a show I almost never watch, except when I need a good laugh. I mean seriously, buying a helicopter as a "prep" item? Men Boys burying explosive charges in their own driveway so they can blow up beater cars? Watching two clueless girls spend an hour building a "chicken coop" that a racoon could get into in less than a minute? And the cataclysmic events the preppers supposedly "prep" for? Axis shift? Asteroids? Oh, how about alien invasions? Have you guys done that one yet? Seriously, have you read the site? Sure, we talk about extreme "what ifs" but most of us have a well stocked pantry to deal with the not so extreme events: illness, job loss, divorce, mental health issues, homelessness, elderly parents, death, etc. These events are far more devastating than a stupid space rock. Why? Because these are the shtf situations that have touched everyone of us on this board in a very real, very catastrophic way. These are the situations that are far more likely to happen, and these are the situations that actually do happen. Sure, we may talk about composting toilets, and yes, a composting toilet would probably be a handy thing to have in a post-apocalyptic world. But do you know why most of us find the subject interesting? Because most of us garden. Why? Because food is not always affordable, is not always nutritious, and is quite often contaminated with FDA approved toxins. $hit is one of our most undervalued resources. Do you know how much water we could save? Do you know how much more fertile our soil would be if we composted our waste instead of flushing it away? And more importantly, do you know how much money we would save by making our own compost instead of buying it from the store? Because, you see, I don't think anyone here on this board has the means to buy a helicopter. Many of us struggle to buy compost, which is why homemade composting toilet threads can become quite the interesting topic of discussion here at Mrs. Survival. Again, I apologize for the snark, but I don't think you'll find many "Doomsday Prepper" types here. There is nothing sensationalistic about the very real day to day survival that our members go through and I don't think your commercial sponsors would take too kindly by learning how many of their products people can live actually live without! (You should really check out the thread that discusses how toxic and unnecessary fabric softeners and dryer sheets are - truly mesmerizing television material! )

Thanks but I don't think my 17 year old daughter is going to want to give up hot showers and wifi . . .

The only thing I put in for my winter garden this year was kale, fava beans, and some garlic. I'm late planting my potatoes. I hope to get those in their planters on Monday. I have repotted my raspberries though, and I need to repot my jerusalem artichokes tomorrow afternoon if it stops raining. Of course, I hope it doesn't stop! As for annuals, I don't plan on growing as much this year due to the drought. Instead of my usual 30-48 plants, I'll probably only put in 6-8 tomatoes. I may do a few cukes and squash and that will be it. I plan on using my water allotment to keep my perennials alive.

Wormie, you only have to worry about nitrogen depletion for a year or so. So, if you want to fertilize the first two years, you can. Or, an easier solution is to plant a nitrogen fixer cover crop, and then chop & drop. (Leave the root nodules in the ground) I've experimented a bit this year. I had to repot my raspberries, so in half of the pots I put about 12" of wood in the bottom (3' tall pots) and in half I didn't. I'm curious to see how it turns out! Dogmom, we have heavy clay here as well. I've slowly (9 years) transformed most of my planting beds into really rich soil. I started out by treating every hole I dug to plant something in as a "planter". I would fill the hole back up with compost and planting mix and then plant my seedling in that. I'd throw the leftover clay onto the compost pile. Slowly but surely, my soil is really coming along! You can also compost directly into the clay, especially now that the ground is wet and soft. Dig holes here and there, throw your compost directly into the hole and cover it up and forget it! If you use this method, it's probably best to make sure your compostables are chopped up fairly small. Every so often, I'll uncover the remnants of a banana peel that I didn't chop up! It's no big deal.

Welcome back! Yes, I too get the virus alert everytime I log in. I finally gave up and just ignore it! I am so sorry about your horse. (((HUGS)))

And CONGRATS on the new baby! We need a baby forum down in the protected area of the forum. That way all of us Mrs.S "aunts & granmas" can ooh and aah over all the new arrivals!

Meditate, exercise, computer mahjong, gardening. All served with generous portions of chamomile and lemon balm tea!

Okay, I must request that you find your folder - sourdough chocolate cake sounds YUMMY!

Thanks for the info and recipes! Sourdough is something I've wanted to try and just haven't gotten around to. I'm not sure I'm organized enough to keep my starter happy and fed in the fridge! I make a "cheater" sourdough, which means it tastes like sourdough but really isn't! I use this recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=0 But, instead of using water, I use warm beer. I also never let it sit overnight. I've found that it rises better for me if I mix it in the morning and then bake it in the evening. Keep us posted with your future experiments! WE LOVE BREAD at our house!

Momo, have you thought about renting? No property taxes, no repairs, and in some instances, no utilities. Believe me, landlords would fight for the chance to rent to an established older couple who want to downsize and simplify.

Everything I've read, other than advertisements, has been really, really negative. Here's an awesome article: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/the-ugly-truth-of-reverse-mortgages/lifeandmoney_realestate/ Snip: The Lies RevealedThe U.S. Government Accountability Office last year found dozens of misleading marketing claims about reverse mortgages in materials distributed by several large lenders. We’ve already debunked the first two: Lifetime income – Income from a reverse mortgage stops if you sell your house or move. Never lose your home – You can lose your home if you can’t afford to pay taxes, insurance, or maintain the home. Never owe more than the value of your home – If your loan exceeds the value of your home, you or your heirs will have to make up the difference if the home isn’t sold when the loan is due. False implications that a reverse mortgage is a government benefit rather than a loan – Some lenders even use government logos to convince you to buy.