Mother

Thank you all for your birthday wishes.  I had a very quiet day but will have family coming tomorrow or Sunday to celebrate  my birthday and Christmas.  Illness and weather got in the way of both.   Oh, and thanks for the cake and flowers and balloons and the music.  Mrs S is such a fun family. 

I love that room and that table is beautiful.   I belong to a Facebook blog set up by friends of mine.  It is called Marc and Linda’s Amish Blog.  We have a growing Amish community here and the blog is intended to help people understand the Amish lifestyle. They often have pictures and articles about the Amish, some from Pennsylvania, some from Ohio, some from elsewhere. The pictures of the interiors of Amish homes is a lot like your dining room. The exception is the hats and bonnets are not used as wall decor but are usually on hooks or on a shelf.  I really like your decor.  

Will you be near any Amish communities in Indiana?  DH and I have traveled to a few there, in Illinois, and in Iowa and are pleased we have a growing community of Amish in our neck of the woods.  They already have a small order only Home bakery and a small bulk food store though I haven’t been to either.  I’m told I might be able to order some bulk foods and have them picked up but they don’t have a list of available foods yet.  Someday perhaps. 
 

Thanks for the pictures.  I like your new home.  
 

Nice, Annarchy, 

57 minutes ago, Littlesister said:

It seems sort of like a slow cooker with no electricity or stove.

It is but the heat comes from inside the food instead of from the pot itself. 
 

If you do a search for thermal cooker or ‘wonderbag’ recipes you can use them for your home made insulated ‘haybox’ cooker.  There are hundreds of them.  

Mt_R, the insulating material should fit snuggly around the Dutch with no air space or the temperature won’t hold well enough.  You aren’t making an oven but an insulated cooker.  I use a quilt that I loosely stuff into the cooler and nestle the pan into it.  I leave plenty to cover the top of the pan so it’s insulated all around. Nestled in the quilt or blanket or straw  or whatever it won’t hurt the cooler.  Plus, do not try to cook a whole roast that way. At least the first time until you see how your cooker works.  Cut it in bite sized pieces so it all gets thoroughly hot before putting it in the cooler.  Instead of pot roast you will be making pot roast stew.  I use liquid in mine for the initial 8-10 minute boil and then allow at least five hours in the cooker before I check it. Don’t check it much before then unless you plan to reheat it each time  If it doesn’t appear done bring it back to a boil for another ten minutes and place it back in the cooker to finish.   When it’s done I like to put it on the stove top to bring back to a boil to make a quick gravy.  
 

Let us know how it turns out.   

Euphrasyne, I agree.  It’s a good idea to learn to substitute items ahead of time so there isn’t that learning curve when you least need it.  It’s also a good idea to have a copy of substitutes to refer to. It’s hard telling what would or could be rationed.  Like you, I hope it’s not a dollar amount though in some ways that could be better.  Then we’d at least have choices.  
 

I suspect it will more likely be a Combination of shortages and the lack of funds to buy groceries with.  Kind of like we had during the pandemic. …..  We probably should practice and prepare for both.  

MT3B,  I believe it is a great challenge and it isn’t inconceivable that we could have rationing.  I have been trying to get an idea of what we spend on groceries a week.  At first it seemed like a whole lot more than that but then I remembered that part of my grocery money was for household goods,  

When we camped we often cooked oatmeal overnight by digging hole beside the fire pit where the ground was hot from the evening fire.  It was just the size of our Dutch oven.  The oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts, and sugar were mixed ahead of time and brought along in recipe sized bags.  You just dump it into the Dutch with water, bring it to a boil, out the lid on and place it in the hole.  I covered the pot with aluminum foil or something to keep the dirt from getting o the lid and then filled in the hole with soil or ashes.  Perfectly cooked breakfast oatmeal in the morning.  You can do that with a supper meal too.  Make sure the ground around the fire is warmed, or if you use the oatmeal hole put coals in it to make sure it’s hot.  Place a pot of stew or soup into it, cover it, and by supper it’s cooked. 
 

By the way, these and the hay box cooking are old chuckwagon and trail cooking methods.  

  I found some interesting tips in this thread.  I thought you might too.  If nothing else, revisit some much loved members. 

I bumped a few oldies just to get us all thinking.  I love these old posts.  So much info.

LS, you really don’t need hay or straw to make an insulated cooker.  A cardboard box would work but  A Cooler makes a good one, even a styrofoam one as long as you fill it with something to nestle the pot into that will keep the contents hot.  Quilts, blankets, quilt batting, insulation, and etc.  insulated, thermal, or hay box cooking works best with more liquid foods as they need to be boiling hot when placed in the cooker.  To make sure your food is safe be sure to cut it in bite sized pieces and bring it to a boil and boil a few minutes. I usually don’t leave the food in the cooker more than six hours if there’s meat.  If it’s not done I simply bring it to a boil again and replace it for a Couple more hours.  I love oatmeal made in them or in a wide mouthed thermos.  I use rolled oats, chopped up apples or dates or raisins and/or nuts, bring it to a boil, and place In the Cooker overnight.  Perfectly cooked the next morning.  

I occasionally used them camping for the topping on top of a cobbler. Fruit on the bottom, sprinkle the mix in the top and dot it all over with butter.  Bake until golden brown.  I’ve used them to make ‘cake mixes’ for the kids easy bake ovens and I would imagine you could make individual microwave mug cakes with them.  You wouldn’t have a big cake to use up that way.  If you can do waffles with them you could also do pancakes. And of course there are the cookies. 
 

I’m sure you could use them as the flour part of quick breads (Sorry Euphrasyne, I didn’t see your post) and perhaps even yeast breads.  Baked donuts, maybe even fried ones or   Dumplings on fruit.  You might need to add regular flour in some uses as cake mix flour is usually finer. 

The container meals do not store as long but they are convenient for when cooking is not an option.  The containers are usually freezer to microwave.  I figured in a power outage I could transfer them to tins to be heated in my Dutch oven on the wood stove.  

That cutting board sure helps. 

7 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Actually more like I'm His co-pilot. He seems to know a little more than I do.  

That is so true.  We always seem to be reading His map and trying to see His path for us.   Good thing He knows where we are going. 
 

Safe journey, Jeepers.

Jeepers. 👍. I was pretty sure you wouldn’t leave it to chance.   By the way, I love the vision of God being your copilot. 

Euphrasyne, been there done that.  Mine were 18,17,16, and new born, back in 1980.  By the time I got to go to the bathroom on my own I had a service dog Ho never left my side.  Just wait until the grandkids come along.  By then you are afraid to go alone. 
 

Since my fall I have been using short cuts in the kitchen like precut veggies, and already washed and finding it does help but I’m not sure the cost is worth it.  I do like frozen veggies though. 

Jeepers, I am sending prayers with you.  Be safe   Ine home feeling much better. 
 

um, did you turn off the water just in case? 

I am envious!!!  🤢  We eat a lot of fresh produce and it is especially pricey now in the Midwest.  Even frozen is costly.  Organic is even higher.   

  While I can’t eat.a lot of the food you will be having, your Walmart list has really opened my eyes to possibilities for lower costs on the foods I can have.  Walmart doesn’t deliver out here  but I will sit down and compare prices from my last HyVee order and see if there would be a significant savings.  Already I know I pay $1.09 each for small avocados?  Twice WM.    Then I might have to have a grocery challenge of my own to lower our costs.  
 

With the prices of food I was skeptical of your $20 per person per week at first but it really does look possible. 👍

MT3B,  That’s a great weeks worth of menus.  The Walmart buys are good but even better if you find some bargains.  Will you need avocado?  I have found them really pricey lately .  Wondered if they were cheaper at WM.
 

Great start!

Thanks for this thread.  It will help make us all aware of our grocery spending.  
 

I actually did set myself a challenge last year to cut our grocery bills by 20% and managed to do that even though I have special diet needs.  (Gluten free and etc.) I did grow quite a bit of greens, tomatoes, and beans last year but not more than the year before so I didn’t have to take that into consideration. Because I keep records of my grocery spending I was able to compare last year with the year before and found I did save about 23%.  
 

Strangely enough I believe it came about more because I was not in the grocery store very often.  Since May neither DH nor I drive any longer so our DD did most of our shopping from a list and I ordered more from Amazon and other web sites.  Later in the year I was able to get set up to order groceries delivered from our local HyVee grocery.  Even with the delivery fee I saved because I could compare and more importantly shop online at my leisure.  
 

Here are some random thoughts. 
 

Spend less time in the store to limit impulse buys. 
 Plan menus ahead, basing them according to the sale items for the week.  

Conversely, make dozens of menus and choose what fits the sales that week. 

If there is a good buy on what you might use in several recipes, ( like rice) buy extra and subtract that amount from future weeks

Compare prices between sale items and buying in bulk.  
Try to stick to a list ( you will have to decide if you are going to use some of your preps like condiments or staples) 

Frozen veggies are much healthier but sometimes canned veggies will be cheaper, ounce for ounce, and are good for soups. (I admit I don’t care for them but keep them on hand.)

Make your own pasta, bread items, wraps, tortillas, etc. Be sure to compare prices of bought to homemade.  A good sale might be cheaper.  

I also save by growing sprouts in a jar on the kitchen sink.  Designated sprout seeds are pricey but go a long long way and they are sooooo easy. I also grow sunflower and pea shoots.  They only need a window sill and peas like the cold. I use dry whole green peas from the grocery store for the pea shoots. Most stores only carry split ones, which does not work, but if you can find whole ones they are cheap and will give you weeks of shoots for salads and stir fries. (You can find lots of info about sprouts and shoots online) 

I probably don’t have to say this but don’t waste anything.  Use every part of a product.  Veggie peelings for broth, root ends can be regrown to make greens, bones make broth, leftovers make lunches or breakfasts or reformulate them into another meal.  
 

Unfortunately many of these ideas take work and time. They might not always be doable for some.  But planning ahead will probably be key to cutting spending.

I wonder, too, if some of the Mrs S threads for stocking up cheaply might help.  Maybe those by Nana?  
Good luck….
 

👍