Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well.” (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Start now to create a plan if you don’t already have one, or update your present plan. Watch for best buys that will fit into your year’s supply. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying, but we do need to be careful in purchasing and rotating the storage that we’re putting away. The instability in the world today makes it imperative that we take heed of the counsel and prepare for the future.” (L. Tom Perry)

How are you coming on your skills? We need to keep building on basic skills and expand from there. Baking bread, knitting, sewing, cooking from scratch, living within our means, getting out of debt, canning, dehydrating food, all kinds of home production, gardening, crocheting, budgeting, this list goes on and on.

I push skills on you all the time. Having skills helps to stretch your budget.  It helps your family.  It is not busy work. There is so much out there that is trying to grab your attention. If we try to learn these skills whether you feel you need them or not it will be a huge blessing to you and others.

Living frugally is a goal we should all want.

When we have needed things, we looked for them used first. This has been a huge stretching of a budget and a blessing for us.  

Trying to be frugal….

When our girlies were just tykes the sewing machine I was trying to learn on was in just rotten shape so we looked for a used machine. We found one in the paper. The lady could not take it with her as the place they were going was a different electrical. It has been a work horse for me for years and years and years and it's my favorite still. It was ten years old when I got it and since which is thirty more years.

Look at yard sales and thrift stores…

Here is my thrift store blender. It was like new. A couple weeks later I happened in there again and still in its box (pictured on the left) was the food processor attachment. I'm still using them now. If you look under the jar you can see my waffle iron which came from a yard sale. 

I have found two food savers at different yard sales. This one was brand new and still in the package. The other is like new and is a newer one. So you see buying used has served me well.

All my canning supplies are bought used except for new lids.

I found a shower curtain at a yard sale and turned it into kitchen curtains that cost fifty cents. This definitely saved us money.

Every one of my bread pans came from yard sales, most for ten cents. Which brings me to another skill, making bread….

I pushed on learning to make bread. I watched others how they made bread and made it a priority to learn.

So when I push skills it is because I have learned them and they have blessed us. I keep on learning!!  Also buying used has helped us over and over through the years and when I use my ten cent bread pans I feel happy that over the years I got them at yard sales.  I would get the kids’clothes for school used. My reasoning was you can buy a brand new pair of jeans for your kid and one romp outside and they are used jeans. So a quarter beat ten dollars in my book and if you knew how to sew you could be creative in sewing on patches as the need arose.

What frugal things have I been doing this week? I was blessed to pick apples from friends.

I made apple rings. If you have a peeler like this you know it peels and cores and slices the apple in a coil. If you cut top to bottom on one side you get individual rings if you cut in half you get pie slices. After doing the rings I put them in water with lemon juice then into dehydrators. Yes, this year I had 23 trays on two different dehydrators going.

If you look at the top pic the basket is empty. The apples from this bushel fit into this bucket. I did this three times and have three buckets of dried apples.

I picked the peaches and they were about 3/4ths of a bushel, yum! So I will be having to start jam.

These things have kept me busy and sore but remember my deal, if Heavenly Father sends me produce I will happily put it up as my own gardening did not net much for us this year.

I found these great videos to teach you to knit in time to make a knit scarf for winter…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3uEnbYqZSk - slip knot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn3V2KHZSIc - this shows how to cast on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBx5PTdcXdg - how to knit 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j3oOv-ygQk&feature=em-uploademail - purl

So this will help you build a skill. Practice it and make scarves for gift made by you.

So this blog post was heavy on frugal and skill building. I hoped to show things can be gotten used that are very helpful to us and our budget. 

When we first moved here we had no refrigerator and no stove and no money. So what we did have was a microwave, a crockpot that sat on a base, and a freezer. We went along like that till we got some pay. We could spend a hundred dollars for a stove or a refrigerator but not both. So I chose a stove. We borrowed a truck and I looked in the paper. There was a yard sale that had refrigerators for fifteen dollars. They were perfect for worms they said. We bought the better one. It was so old it was from the fifties. So we got the stove and this worm fridge, cleaned them up and felt like we arrived. So you see used things have blessed my family

Keep working on storage. Frozen veggies are on a really good sale. They are my favorite to dehydrate as all the hard work is done for you. Just open and dump on trays and dry. Mushrooms are on sale again. I will do more of those, dehydrating them as I showed before.

I will be doing peach jam.

Tell us what frugal things you are doing :)

Do the best you can!

Monday Message

Apples are a great addition to food storage and can be used in so many recipes!

 (LDS Church Handbook 2, Section 6.1.1)
“Church members are responsible for their own spiritual and temporal well-being.....To help care for themselves and their families, members should build a three-month supply of food that is part of their normal diet. Where local laws and circumstances permit, they should gradually build a longer-term supply of basic foods that will sustain life. They should also store drinking water in case the water supply becomes polluted or disrupted."

What is your normal diet? Could you store it? Can you fix it for your family? Will it store well? Can you rotate it? Will it last in storage for a year?

It's important that food storage is part of your daily food. Just work storage things into your menu planning. Don’t wait for the emergency to use your storage, your family won’t eat it. Do you know when the church goes into other countries to give aid they ship in food they are used to eating?

It is winter - make oatmeal for breakfast put it in cake cookies and bread, apple crisp... see these are perfectly normal foods, so this makes oatmeal a great storage item.

This is what I am talking about, not oatmeal patties or worse.

When you use your storage it is just like a big pantry, use and replace.

Having dried apples is wonderful as they don’t take much room. Now add some to that oatmeal, use them to make apple crisp any time of year. Dried apples are a great item to store too, drying your own cuts that cost a lot.

This is what I am talking about. Whoever said food storage had to be icky?

I notice prices going up every month on groceries, not only here in the US but outside as well. Having storage helps with the pain of price increases.

I know you are all on Christmas right now but keep working on your storage.

http://www.simplyprepared.com/gifts_from_the_home_storage_kitchen.htm - ideas here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM5XPC1O6eU - part four of the crochet 101 series.

https://blog.colettehq.com/tutorials/21-sewing-terms-every-beginner-should-know - I think this is so helpful in building your sewing skills.

Now for fun I saw these…

http://delightfulemade.com/2014/12/09/penguin-cookies-perfect-holiday-recipe/ - too cute

http://www.simplisticallyliving.com/santa-nutter-butter-cookies/

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/79620/40-fun-christmas-treats - I love the marshmallow snowman in the hot cocoa. I think you will have fun making and eating these with family. I can see a family night making a pretzel manger and stable - fun!

Mostly keep in mind your goal is stay out of debt. Don’t be that person in cold dark January with excess bills coming in. Stay within your budget! We all want to do things for others, it is who we are, but others you do for don't want you further in debt.

This is a hard time of year for many people, there are so many acts of kindness that cost nothing.

If you are someone having a hard time know That Heavenly Father loves you and is aware of your circumstances and people around you love you too. You are never alone. Pick yourself up, smile in the mirror, I know someone will smile back. You will get through this test in life! Really, we do learn from these times. I am not just saying this. I have had hard times and most have, we learn from them, whether it is to make a cake from scratch to taking a family walk in the snow looking at all the lights - most memories are free.

Let others know you are having a hard time.

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/blog?view=entry&id=88 Everyone should read this.

Instead of feeling bad for your situation, change that to a challenge. Roll up your sleeves and tackle it.

If anyone needs to have a great feeling give service, simple as that. Look for someone to help. They won’t be flagging you down, we tend to suffer in silence so pray who needs my help today.

Remember … don’t feel bad, you may be far from home, you may be struggling to just make it through the month. Whatever the problem, don’t feel less - you are not. Things happen in life. We may not have what others have, that is okay. Not everyone has those things either. Instead, remember why we celebrate Christmas. It isn’t giving or receiving gifts that matter at all.

On a lighter note...

I have a cat named Gus. He lived outside and we brought him in. He at first was skittish with every noise and would run and hide. We would watch a Star Trek movie and he would run and hide. I would watch a YouTube clip, he would run and hide. But as time went on noises don’t bother him and he is addicted to TV and really addicted to YouTube, he comes running to watch it.

But he is a smart cookie too…you have no idea. I will be working on the Monday Messages and out of nowhere comes a paw. He stretches it out and moves my screen. Yes, he has watched me swipe the screen and has learned how. He stretches those toes out and with the pad of his foot slides my screens, a stinker to be sure but he now knows how to start or stop YouTube clips. Sooo if Gus can learn things by gum so can we, so push on and be the best you can be. 

Apples!

 

 I'm working up apples off of our apple tree. If you don't have a tree, look around your town and if you see a tree with apples, knock on the door and ask if they plan on using them. If they say yes, as a thank you, clean up under the tree of apples that may have dropped before you got there. Throw them in a garbage bag, either put it in your compost or put in your garbage this way you make them feel happy for letting you pick. 

These apples are from our tree. When I get through all that I have picked it will be two bushels. I like to put up five or six bushels since the trees do well only every other year.

Apples!!

It's fall and that means it time for apples!

The dehydrators are loaded with apple rings. Then I made seven pints of apple butter and then cooked the juice out of my peelings. Five quarts and one pint of apple juice from the peels of non-sprayed apples that were washed. I only have one and a half bushels more! I want most of them dried but will also make apple pie filling.

All the waste from the apples went to the compost so no part was wasted.

Monday Message - Apples!

Provident living:  This Tuesday, Oct. 15th, will be our class it has been changed this time. We will be having an open question/answer time and bring binders...we can talk more of them too! Bring questions if you think it is something I need to research on email me the questions. Class will be at 9:30 p.m. at the Shooks.

"As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year’s supply of necessities. . . . I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With the events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness. . . . Create a plan if you don't already have one, or update your present plan . . . We are not in a situation that requires panic buying, but we do need to be careful in purchasing and rotating the storage that we're putting away." (L. Tom Perry, in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 47; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 36)

It's apple season!! Jeff Boyd said to let you all know that Mary Boyd has excess apples to share :)

I did pick some... thank you very much Mary!

Now that you have apples, what to do with them...

You can dehydrate - them to do so you must peel and core and slice or dice and put in a bowl with six cups of water and about a fourth of a cup of lemon juice from this bowl you put them in the dehydrator this prevents browning.

After dried, put in glass jars. If I do more then one using jar, I vacuum seal them but it is not required.

From dried apples I make applesauce, granola we eat plain. Make trail mix.  Apple crisp - yep you cannot tell you used dried apples. You can shake the apples after cutting up in jello powder and dry. Yum! Caution, this is addictive. ;)

You can freeze them using the same method (only after the lemon juice and water you may put in freezer bags and freeze)

You can even make pies up and freeze so a cold winter day you can pull it out and bake it

You can make muffins, cake and pancakes... it is a really good storage item.

You can make pie filling ready to use from the apples. You can make apple rings, applesauce, apple butter... you can fry them, caramel them... eat them!

This year was a bumper crop!

I know it takes a lot to peel and such but I recommend an apple peeler corer slicer. It works fantastically and is way faster, then you have a coil of apple left you can either cut in half from top to bottom and you have slices or just cut one side from top to bottom and you have rings.

You can even freeze applesauce.

Topping for apple pies:
version one:
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/3 c. butter
blend this with a pastry blender or fork and put on your pie before baking

Topping for apple pies
version two:
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. margarine
1/4 c.chpd nuts
mix together and put on fruit pie and bake

The most unusual apple pie
1c. flour
1 tsp b. powder
3/4 c. sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 c. margarine
1 beaten egg
4-5 apples
sugar and cinn
Mix together flour, baking powder sugar and salt.  Add margarine and stir in beaten egg.  Mix everything with a fork.  Slice apples into a heavy pyrex pan. Pour batter over apples and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  bake at 350 for 30 to 40 min.

Apple Butter this is the best in all the world:
make one gallon of applesauce or if it is a not good year for apples you can buy a gallon of it at fareway
to this add:

3 c. sugar
1 tsp cinn
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves
4 c. apple juice

mix all together in a roaster pan without the lid
bake at 350 for 3-4 hrs till thick
process in water bath for 15 min

The Amish make apple jelly from the peelings of apples, so wash them carefully and then peel for what you are doing or use the peeler corer slicer. My kids used to love getting the long peel of the apple from that and that is really fruit by the foot!

http://www.food.com/recipe/apple-pie-filling-122885 here is a recipe for apple pie filling to can.

I made apple pie filling in the past and Laura loved it so much she would eat it right out of the jar.

And now I will end with store when there is plenty for many more times have we had less than more.

So for a sweet ending: another best ever recipe...

Apple cake:

1/2 c. butter or margarine
2 c. sugar
cream this together really well and add:
2 eggs and mix till fluffy

add:
2c. flour
1 1/2 tsp b. soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
mix well and add to the above fluffy stuff

add:
4 c. raw chopped unpeeled apples
1 c. chopped nuts
beating it with the above mixture
bake in a greased 9x 13 pan at 325 45 to 60 min test with a toothpick

Butter Sauce:

melt 1/2 c. butter in dble boiler and stir in one cup of sugar 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 3/4 c. heavy cream (whipping) cook in the double boiler until thick

serve a spoonfull on cake piece then a dab of cool whip

I had this at a garden party the mayor's wife invited me to and oh this is really wonderful!

Keep working on your storage, our ancestors did it and we can do it too!

I am proud of all of you working so hard at it, thank you for doing it.