Joyfilled

Oh, good! Yes, growing stuff indoors will save on our grocery bill. We love eating salads in the summer months, and hubby likes to blend lettuce and spinach with orange juice and blueberries. It's an acquired taste, trust me, haha! He buys those tubs of greens, but growing our own will be so much cheaper!!

So...I'm not sure I'm understanding the challenge correctly, but let me see if I am: challenging to grow something where you have it, even if it's small, indoors, on a ledge, porch, etc? We will have a larger garden this year, and we are hoping for a lot of produce. Probably will all be ready right at wedding time, haha! But I think I can still participate in the challenge! We are wanting to keep some plants indoor for multiple reasons, and it's always been a challenge for me. Does that work? Lettuce and some herbs, mainly.

Lots of great ideas, ladies....keep 'em coming, please! 😊

So...I have an idea, but I'm not always sure it's a good one. Our church has a good sized kitchen with a gas stove. I was thinking about asking if I can use it for canning and making it a community event of sorts. Has anyone done this before? If so, what does it look like? Do people bring their own food, jars, kids, etc? Combine it all together or is it better to do all this separate? Any thoughts or ideas on this?

I came to Mrs Survival to post a question about biscuits...and look at this that I found! Thanks for reading my mind. 😊

That's awesome!! I think worth it to know what you have and be able to plan!! 😊

Yes!! I like the idea of knowing that I have a month worth of easy breakfasts, not just flour and baking powder. I want to know that a good meal can be put together with little to no preparation, for at least the first part of an emergency. I'm for long term storage, too, of course. But a month or so of ready to go meals I think would be good. Space, though.....🤔

A lot of good ideas here....thank you!!

If you have goat's milk available, I believe that's a good option, too. Something to research, anyway!

Aww....you guys are so sweet!! I just saw this now. I appreciate your thoughts!!

I think adding a cute tag would do it. But truthfully, it's in the basement where no one sees, so....I may need to stick with practical. What I want is to KNOW that I have a month or so of decent meals, ready to go, not just carrots and pasta and meat. I want to know that it will all blend into a meal, something good, nutritious and comforting.

I'm a bit like you....I like to see what I have. But for the three weeks that I want to have easy meals put aside, it's really attractive to think of having it all in one bag. Bonus points for making it attractive! Do you know where you found that? Pinterest perhaps? Thanks for the idea!!

Well, I guess I need to behave now....oldest DD is on the board now! She's young and wanting to learn, so I suggested she join the board. She's getting married in mid-July!! We're all excited, and wondering if we will have WW3 full blown before then, but for now we're just enjoying the process. Looking forward to learning with her!

Not sure if this should go here or not, but feel free to move it if it doesn't. So....storage of food. We have long storage (dry beans, rice, wheat, etc) and short term (canned goods, both homemade and store bought). My question is for short term storage, mainly. I'm wondering how you store yours. Do you put all your tomato products together, your soups together, your fruit together, or do you make meals? Put some canned tomatoes with pasta, etc. I'm now wanting to prep for a nuclear event that I pray will NEVER happen, not just for our sake, but the world's. We estimate that to be safe, we need to be in our basement for about 3 weeks, as we are downwind from Denver area, but don't live in an area where we would worry about a direct hit. We would worry about nuclear winter after. I want to have 3 weeks of easy to make meals, as we don't have easy access to cooking in our basement, and having a camping stove down there would be dangerous. We would come up to use the stove if we have electricity or use the grill or outdoor kitchen if not. Not ideal, but what we have. What are your thoughts? I am a list maker, so have lists with meal ideas that would be relatively easy to put together. I plan on making dry mix for pancakes, biscuits, etc. I appreciate your ideas, you always seem to think of things that I don't!

I've been shredding our zucchini and freezing it for the last couple of years. I then use it for chocolate chocolate chip zucchini muffins, and it's worked just fine. So nice to have them in the middle of winter knowing they came from our garden! That said, that's the ONLY way we've used them, so I don't know what they would be like if used some other way.

Recipe, please. . . . . . . . . . . .

How about toothpicks and mini marshmallows? Lots of shapes can come from there....and yummy, non-healthy snacks, too!

Thank you, ladies. He just passed away about half an hour ago. Our family appreciates your prayers!

...he's 85, has stage 4 cancer, has recently had 4 strokes and tonight he coded in the hospital. They were able to bring him back, but he is DNR. Hubby is okay....he's been expecting it. He was a rock for me last fall when my mom passed away, I hope I can be one for him as well. We went to see him today with the kids (about an hour away). It was tough to see him like that, and he was barely with it and has lost a ton of weight. We were able to tell him that we love him, and he was able to tell us he loves us. I feel for my hubby. He's a strong man....but it's his dad. And he's having to carry this on his own, as his sister has no relationship with his dad. If you think of it, please pray for us. It's a lot for the kids, too, as they just lost their grandma last fall. Just needed to vent. Thanks for reading.

Thank you, MtRider....makes me tired just thinking about it. I'll rest in Him.

As most of you know, my Mom passed away unexpectedly in Oct of last year. Then earlier this year, my Dad went to Africa to visit my missionary sister there, and has decided he would like to go back there, long term, as a missionary. At 79 years old. And now my oldest daughter, 21, will be getting engaged soon, and married most likely in the fall. All in all, it's a lot, and then add potential of WW3 to all this, and it's just a bit crazy. All in all, God is on His thrown, and I will not be shaken.

Thank you all so much. I'm convinced that prayer help carry us through this difficult time. @Snowmom, it's good to hear from you. I feel like I've known you forever. Hugs! Joyfilled aka HappyGirl.

We had terrible wind today in Central KS. We have quite a few downed branches, but other than that, are okay, praise God! About 3pm we lost power, and it didn't come back until just after 5pm. While it was out, we stayed warm (almost too warm) with our new wood cooking stove....and, I made supper for the first time on it!! I'm so excited! I did almost all of it, but DS (10) wanted to help and melting cheese was involved, so I had him do it over the "real" stove as he can be a bit messy. It was WONDERFUL!! We baked cookies too (at the same time, and they came out so, so yummy. I need to practice more, but I'm so excited!!

He is a smart man....good looking, too! I'm thankful for that, as he comes up with good thoughtful ways to care for us. And....I wasn't sure if I should have laughed, thanked or loved your response! He liked being called Mr. Joyfilled.

He wants you to know that instead of buying wood, he got the chainsaw running and was able to get some wood from an old dead tree and branches from years past . He has taught our 10 yo DS to make the fire in the stove, so now he's the one that gets it going in the morning. We have a whole row of wood now and he will get more today, I hope!