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)

Home production and storage is huge and it is different for everyone. People with a lot of money may go for the freeze dried foods or other already done for you options and that is fine, so long as you taste it and your family is okay with it. No problem. I encourage having storage in any form.

Then you have those with very little funds, I fall here on the scale.  And then you have everywhere in between.

Working with what you have is good on any level. I find the less funds you have to work with, the harder you must work. And that is okay, there is nothing wrong with that, it is what it is...

Because I am on the bottom of that scale, I tend to write what I know but you choose what works best for you and your family.

I have gone to thrift stores and yard sales when I could over my many years. This has helped me stretch our limited funds. I asked myself is there anything here that would help us, i.e. canning jars and equipment, that sort of thing.

And now with even less funds we are benefiting from those thrifty items! What a blessing.

I can what produce I can get. Without having to purchase much to do so. When I have to go to the store I try to pick up a box of canning lids, it all adds up by canning season (actually, I can any time of the year).

I dehydrate all year long. If I have a few potatoes, I peel, slice, and blanch them and put in the dehydrator. That last bit of grapes no one eats? Well they make great raisins. Shred those last carrots, blanch and dry or dice or slice - you need to blanch or else they'll turn black.  

I mentioned before how I saved the tomato skins from canning tomatoes and dried them and blended them into tomato powder which is a costly item. 

I was able to make it for free from something that would normally be tossed. Did it take more work? Only slightly. Everything takes work, so best not to be afraid to work.

One of my favorite things to dry is frozen mixed veggies. The hard work of preparing the veggies and blanching was done before freezing so you only need to a open bag and dump it on trays.

So watch for sales. This picture shows three jars. In these jars are ten lbs of veggies. I know what you are thinking...how do I use them? I use these in a fantastic veggie chili soup. I just toss in what I want and these shriveled bits turn into veggies that taste like I just picked them...yummy!

Used dehydrators are normally three dollars. I saw one last year just after we all had those floods for $3.99 just like this one, I almost got it but I have three so I was trying to decide if I should I get it. Just as a lady spied it in my cart, I said I love this kind a lot. She said she use to have one before but lost it in the floods. I made up my mind right then and there. I picked it up and put it in her cart and said it works I just had the guy test it. She was soooooo happy, it had it's manual and was a great purchase.

So if you are serious about finding one, just haunt those thrift stores. You will find one eventually and if you have the money, just buy one new, they often have sales 40 - 50 dollars new.

But like I said I had to get mine on a tight budget. I am sure that lady was on a tight budget as well. We both were in the thrift store and very few flood victims had insurance that covered these floods.

The jars pictured above will be vac sealed and they will be stored in the basement.

I was looking in a used cookbook I had gotten a few years ago and saw a bread recipe. It had vinegar in it and then I remembered yes, vinegar is a dough enhancer.

What your recipe calls for in yeast...let's say it called for 2 1/4 tsp of yeast, then to the water you would add that same amount in cider vinegar.

To make your own bread flour - use 1 tsp. of vital wheat gluten to one cup of your flour. This is what I do as I have to stretch my dollars. I have stored vital wheat gluten so I have it on hand. It comes in a plastic bag inside the box. I take out the bag and poke it once with a pin then I put the bag with contents into a wide mouth jar that I then vacuum seal, now I have a supply on hand but as I use one I need to get another, this is what I do for a bucket of flour - use and replace!

Remember to rotate constantly.

https://www.traditionalhomemaker.com/homemaking-skills/ - this has some helpful info.

I go to the library to get magazines and books that they have in a free area. I also get free Kindle books from freereadfeed.com, this has saved so much money.

Also freecycle.org you can find useful items there.

So share with us some of the way you save...