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)

This week I had to do some grocery shopping, a smaller amount than normal due to having to replace the water heater. I was cutting across the store and just happened to be in the frozen pizza aisle, I am usually in a hurry and looking at my list, when the lighting seemed to change. I looked up and realized it wasn't the lighting at all, it was shelf after shelf totally empty. Wondering what might have been on them, I went close and could see frozen pizza closer to the end. I noticed the spot where the kind of pizza we like had empty cardboard cases except for one pizza in each box pushed to the front to hide how empty it was but with the way I was walking I could see there was nothing, just bare shelves. I went on since I needed cat litter which was the reason for cutting over by frozen pizzas. When I got to cat litter, I noticed no canned cat food (we don't use canned). There wasn't a lot of the dry either but just empty shelves where canned cat food had been. Because I was in a hurry and hurting bad from fibromyalgia, I couldn't go down all thee aisles. But I did notice the shelves with pasta cleared off too.

My hope is by this time you have enough stored to carry you over a rough patch.

One thing I saw was a lady picked up a package of Charmin supposed to equal 96 rolls for $31.15. That Charmin guy is rolling over in his grave.

Missy's reaction to higher prices.

Remember to store what you eat, not what you don't like to eat.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/easy-rice-recipes - rice is very versatile and very basic.

https://www.onceuponachef.com/inspiration/basic-recipes-everyone-should-know.html

https://www.thespruceeats.com/best-bean-recipes-4777086 - recipes for beans.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/50-things-to-make-with-oats - great ideas here.

What we need to start doing (if we haven't already started) is to live below one's income.

https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/easy-recipes-and-tips-to-help-keep-food-costs-down

We need to be filling up our binders with recipes we love using our storage. Throw in tips as well. For example, I have several versions of how to substitute for an egg. Which is good, as the bird flu is hitting at a very bad time driving up egg prices. My sister lives in Minnesota and sent me a picture of the price of eggs near her - $2.99 a dozen. So when you find a good tip, put it in your binder. When you go through your recipes, look at the ingredients. I bet you will be surprised that a lot of your recipes are storage friendly. You can use the recipes to see what you can put in your storage. For example, one of our favorites is green bean casserole.

Green Bean Casserole

Brown one lb. of hamburger and drain, put in a greased 9x13 pan

Add:  1 can of drained green beans (I sometimes double these) and1 can of tomato soup.

Mix and spread in the bottom.

Mix up instant mashed potatoes. You can drop spoonfuls over the top but I like to spread over the top.

Bake 350 degrees for twenty to thirty minutes.

Note - if I have leftover taco meat, I will use it in place of the hamburger. If you have cheese you can put it on the mashed potatoes. You can also toss dehydrated onion in when you are mixing together if wanted.

Can I do this recipe from my storage? Yes, I can totally make it from storage because I can hamburger and store potato pearls which I only need to add water to. I also have green beans and tomato soup.

So go through your recipes.

https://www.budgetbytes.com/meal-planning-101-how-to-make-a-meal-plan-that-works-for-you/ - now more than ever you need to plan your meals and your grocery lists and utilize every leftover.

https://ivaluefood.com/resources/cooking-eating/creative-ways-to-use-leftovers/

We need to do these things more than ever to help offset the rising costs of everything.

Gardening will help save as well. Now is the time in my area to be getting ready to plant a garden after May 10th but if you still see cold weather wait till warmer.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/live-below-your-means-without-feeling-deprived

Missy says that more than ever we need to work on being frugal.

Gus says, if you aren't frugal, you might find your basket is empty.