Monday Message

"In words of revelation the Lord has said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing" (D&C 109:8).  Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparations as will assure survival should a calamity come.  We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm.  We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day." Gordon B. Hinckley.

"Brethren, I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment... I do not predict any impending disaster ... yet prudence should govern our lives ... We can begin with a one week food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs. ... I fear that so many feel that a long-term supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.  Begin in a small way... gradually build toward a reasonable objective." Gordon B. Hinckley, Priesthood Session, October 2002

Count how many times you go to the store. Now every time you set foot in the store pick up one thing for storage. You will be surprised at how it grows. If all you can get is a jar of peanut butter or a package of gelatin or a box of Band-Aids, it will add to your storage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnhFAhtmEUw&feature=em-uploademail - this is such a great help, I just love these girls.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/02/05/food-storage-blender-wheat-pancakes/ - these blender pancakes are the best thing one can do with wheat. Ok, I am a pancake person. If you have a blender and stored wheat, you can make these even if you are still waiting to get your grain mill. Your kids would love to make these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx352N2foFE&feature=em-uploademail - I like this gal too. This is doable as well.

http://peaceofpreparedness.com/CookingWithFoodStorage.html - some recipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxUQuc6uIWE&feature=em-uploademail - this is the next knitting lesson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzTncNT9VYA&feature=em-subs_digest - she is the other gal who works with the above taco video. Watch this if you don’t do anything else. She is such a great presenter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Aen1ffHpQ - she is doing the needles and yarn big to be better for you to see. You could use size ten needles with regular Walmart type yarn.

This is a double sock blank. I knit two yarns together, I then dyed it.

Because I knit the two yarns together I needed to roll each yarn into a ball. These two balls, one for each sock, will knit the socks identical.

Here you see what the finished sock looks like. I never would have guessed what the finished sock would look like. This is just one of the skills I am working on.

What skill are you working on?

This week I made one batch of peach jam plain and two batches of raspberry/peach jam pictured at the top. I froze the rest except for about fifteen that weren’t quite ripe, we are just eating those fresh.

The peaches are from our two peach trees and the raspberries I picked earlier in the year and froze. I used only two packages of the raspberries, one for each batch. The rest will be made into raspberry jam later. These were picked from a new raspberry patch that started around one side of our back deck.

I have two peaches left on the trees. I want to see if I can grow two more trees, we will see.

Having these to work up is a real blessing to us. Was it work? Yes, it was but one bite and it was all worth it.

I was able to stop at the library in a nearby town when we were there on errands and I got a couple mysteries, cooking magazines, and a knitting book - all free! I do love this service that they do, you need to check out your library and see if they provide it too.

So these were my frugal things this week along with dehydrating ten packages of mixed veggies that were on sale for $0.68 a bag and did ten packages of mushrooms that I sliced and dried. They were on sale for $0.69 a box.

What did you do this week to be frugal?