Monday Message

“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 may affect any of us. We have a great welfare program with facilities for such things as grain storage in various areas. It is important that we do this. But the best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley) 

This makes me think of during the depression people would ask to hunt In people's barns for pigeons for food. They made pot pies and would give one to the owner of the barn to insure they could hunt again.

How well would you do if you had to hunt for pigeons and then cook them?

Can you make a pot pie from scratch, not those frozen ones?

https://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2016/03/best-homemade-chicken-pot-pie.html - making pot pie from scratch is very frugal.

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/perfect-pie-crust/ - this will help you learn to make pie crust.

https://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/homemade-hamburger-helper/ - this is my favorite recipe for homemade hamburger helper. Store the ingredients so you can make them when you want. Watch for pasta sales and stock up. I put a couple of bay leaves in with the pasta, this is how I keep any bugs out of any of my grains.

I like to keep a stock of spices on hand plus dried onion and dried garlic.

It has been a good thing to keep dried onion and dried garlic, I also keep dried celery. I always store these so I can always make soup as needed.

Knowing how to cook from scratch has been a great skill that has helped me stretch my budget. I wish I had known when we first got married what I know now, life would have been smoother but then I needed to learn.

Here is the progress so far with the weird yarn, it is spinning up very nicely. I wondered if any other spinners thought to try it.  

As produce becomes available dry it or can it or freeze it.

I think if you can find a food sealer at yard sales or thrift stores you should try to get it.  

I have gotten two bags recently of white cornmeal each were five lbs. The packages had a small tear in the packaging so they were 99 cents. I vacuum sealed these in quart jars that I have clean and dry. I pour the cornmeal in the jars then I cut a piece of paper towel or a coffee filter, whatever I have on hand, and lay this over the top of the fine dry ingredients. This is a must to keep the finer particles from going into the machine and ruining it.

Vacuum sealing saves us so much because the air is taken out of the jar to keep things fresh lots longer.

I vacuum seal using a canister which means I can use any jar with a lid as long as there is rubber in the lid. So next time you use a jar of spaghetti sauce save the jar and lid, wash it well and let dry. I fill with product like dehydrated mushrooms, wipe the rim and put on the lid hand tight then back it off and place in the canister then vacuum seal it.  

So any size jar will work though I find not baby food jars, save those for nails and screws.

You can vacuum seal chocolate bars, jelly beans...they all stay fresh.

So this is my top pick: a vacuum sealer,
then canning equipment and canners, then dehydrators.

Summer is a great time to find them, these all add to my ability to do. Tis the way to save.

Don't forget jars. I asked for free canning jars around and people are excited to give them to you. These are all reusable except the lids, I get those and I pick up a box or two at the store. Once I use them in canning, I save these lids and use them for vacuum sealing. No waste!

Try first to acquire things frugally. If you are unable then when you can. Consider giving gifts in vac sealed jars.

Keep working on these things as you can.