Monday, April 23, 2018

Monday Message


"Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store—or supermarket—sustain the needs of the community?" (President Ezra Taft Benson)

I was able to get a few groceries this week and oh my have prices gone high! Not only that but quite a few things have gone away and are no longer in the stores. Plus, the Sam's Club in our area has quit selling cheddar cheese in five pound blocks, now they sell just two pound blocks.  

I did get my one storage item - a 25 pound bag of flour, the price for that was down a bit so that was good. However, I went to Aldi and looked for shortening. They had several brands and places for vegetable oil but no shortening. I asked the checker who went to look then called his boss about it. His reply was that it was seasonal…. No, it's not seasonal. I informed his boss it was no more seasonal than gas for your car.  

I guess the point of me sharing this with you is to show you that a shortage can be from something like this, it doesn’t even need to be a world event. I was just getting it to put in storage, it wasn’t an immediate need but for another person it might be. That was why I bothered to inform them. I checked at another store and they had only about six cans of just the major brand, no other option, and it was $5.79 which I thought was up too much for me. So check your prices as you shop to help you know what they run.

I cannot stress enough that having your storage going is more important than ever. Hand-in-hand with that is living frugally and building on your skills. I heard an older woman say her skills have saved her so much over the years.

http://icandy-handmade.com/2014/07/diy-fun-summer-tee.html - this looks like an easy sew pattern, it would help with your sewing skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXJbrFvOksM - this is fantastic, it shows building skills in using food storage to make great buttermilk biscuits with no buttermilk.

I think it is such great thing to learn how to make do with what you have on hand. For example, you don’t have to run to the store to get buttermilk. But there are so many things just like that if we learn them we could save so much.

As groceries continue to rise in price the more things we can cook from scratch, the better we will be able to manage. Wages rarely keep up with the increase in food prices. This is why over the years I have picked up cookbooks that help in making food stretch and making from scratch. 



I know we have the internet but please keep a hard copy!

How many of you have been killing time in the checkout line? You pick up a magazine turn it to the great looking recipe from the front cover only to find out that there are twenty ingredients listed... this is sadly the case with most. That is why I suggest you get the older church-type cookbooks. Any church or other organization even schools, hospitals, music schools, even radio channels they all have everyone’s favorite recipes.









I just pulled these four, two happen to be from Methodist churches, one from Ames, Iowa, and one from Forest City, Iowa. I have many different church cookbooks. The other two are a women's business cookbook and one from Story City Memorial Hospital. 

I wanted you to see the year on the one 1985 the hospital is 1984 and the yellow one I wanted you to see the price I paid - 25 cents! So look around, even a dollar is a good price. I opened the book to show you how they usually look. Each recipe has the person’s name who donated the recipe… I just randomly opened the book to the page below, you can see that these recipes don’t have twenty ingredients. They usually take ingredients you most likely already have on hand. Real recipes I say.



This recipe for Texas Hash is from the 1985 cookbook from Forest City. I wanted to show you how easy this recipe is, not to mention I could make this recipe with my storage. 

So don’t pass up these types of cookbooks thinking they're old fashioned and with no pictures. I say, exactly! That is why they are the best, it usually means before computers. And pictures that look great don’t always taste good.

I suggest you sit with one of these books and a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows and look through. I can go from front to back but have been known to hit breads then casseroles often times too.

This is just one of the frugal things I do.

Let us know what frugal things you do, we all love ideas!

Do the best you can at storage building and skill building and being frugal.

16 comments:

  1. I like your comments about the church cookbooks. I have several in a drawer that I have used on rare occasions but I don't recall ever sitting down and actually reading through them. And you're right they are simple recipes with few ingredients using things you've probably already got in your house. Thanks for the tip!

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    1. I love the recipes i have found over the years. Thanks for your comment

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  2. I so agree with you. I have thought about what would happen if elc went out, most would never know what to make without pinterest. Even as I write History is being changed, books of all types are needed in the home. Love your blog.

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    1. Thank you for your comment i am glad you like the blog

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  3. Shortening is a seasonal item?? lol I liked your response! I love church cookbooks too. I have quite a few and it is one of my favorite lazy afternoon things to do..... reading my cookbooks. I agree that twenty ingredients for a recipe is just way too much! I'm a simple country cook.

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    1. The best kind of cook scratch cooking saves so much money

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  4. I love those old church cook books. I have several and several are falling apart after years of use. I love your blog.

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  5. I have quite a few of the church cookbooks and just love them. In the first church cookbook that I got the preschool children were asked for their favorite moms' recipes. My son submitted a recipe for my jello with a 'plop' of whipped cream and baked in a 400 oven. Ha, so fun to look back on those days, about 35 years ago. I also have a good collection of frugal books, most bought in the early 90's. I sure do enjoy your blog! Diane

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    1. We sound the samish age i have those cookbooks from first grade the kids did about that that long ago those are a hoot. I am glad you like the blog

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  6. Shortening isn't seasonal. My kids eat biscuits all year long. Glad I have 4 cans on my shelf. I found lots of meat marked down this week. Chicken breasts on the bone for 99¢ a pound, which is a great price where I live. I bought all they had, 5 packs. My freezers are packed. I am trying to get my pantry to 6 month supply on everything. I have between 3-6 months on everything right now. I'm trying to do it without adding more money to my grocery budget. Everything I added to my pantry is here: https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/04/adding-to-my-pantry_25.html

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    1. Great prices i did go o your blog it was a great haul i tried to tell aldis it wasn't seasonal then they said they didn't have room for everything but i said they had four areas with same brand veg oil they never got back to me after that next time you go to aldis check for shortening i would be curious if yours has it. Thank you for sharing your comment and your good deals and your blog with us.

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  7. I have a great cookbook from a town in Florida, it was published in 1995. One recipe that makes me laugh as it starts off: “Skin the rattle snake ( you better kill it first)....” the recipe goes on to complete a dish that it recommends you serve to your guests as if it were lobster, “but don’t tell what it really is until after they’ve eaten it,” There are some recipes I’d love to try in it too, but I’ve never quite got passed that one!

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    1. I could not get passed that one either eeeeew but maybe better recipes further in

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  8. I also love the 1930s and such cookbooks too. Basic foods. Depression eating and then there are the WW2 cookbooks. I went on line and asked what to use for a substitute for eggs and other things then wrote them all out. I have a usual substitute that works great for me but wanted to know what else I could use 'just in case'. Now I have a recipe card listing them all for future reference. Yes get paper copies!!
    I went to Costco to get a new bottle of pure vanilla extract. I am pretty sure it used to cost $6.00 something. I did a double take as the price is now....$34.99 for the same 16 oz. bottle. Same label and still Kirkland brand. Wow! Needless to say I left without the vanilla! I will look other places and also check on the cost of making my own. I have learned so much from your posts. Thank you so much! :) Sarah

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    1. Yes looking to the past teaches us it is good to learn. I use wendy dewit version of egg sub unflavored gelatin google her name she has a pdf if you could print it off she gives the measurements on using also where to purchase in bulk i have a gallon jar of it i often do oatmeal cookies with egg and with this sub to show but have to label as you cannot tell the difference she also has video you should watch if you haven't already she talks food storage i love her ideas. Yes i heard there was a price hike on vanilla as there was a shortage on the beans.

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