Monday, March 4, 2019

Monday Message


"The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes..."We can begin ever so modestly. We can begin with a one week's food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months...I fear that so many feel that a long-term food supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all.

"Begin in a small way,...and gradually build toward a reasonable objective." (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, Oct 2002 and quoted again in April 2007)

This week I have been giving some thought about building storage and having storage. I talked before about getting green beans one can at a time. Each time you go into a store get one can, that would be almost painless to do. But I wanted to take things a bit further.

If you had seasonings and spices and flour and sugar and brown sugar and the basics like baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and other flavorings and vegetable shortening and baking cocoa, raisins and nuts...just a few things to get you thinking.

I know I tell you many times how we need to cook from scratch. Well what goes hand in hand with that is having the supplies on hand so that you can cook from scratch. Yeast is important. I get my yeast at Sam’s Club, I get the best price there and you get two packages. I open one and put it in a jar, I put the other unopened package in the freezer. The one in the jar i keep. That jar in the refrigerator is my using jar. I keep as many packages as I can in the freezer.

When it comes to the basics try to get one item when you go to the store like rice, oatmeal, cornmeal, beans, different flours, powdered milk, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic. I also have black pepper and garlic powder and onion powder, also onion salt and garlic salt, bouillon cubes, cornstarch, etc.



This way you would be able to cook if you had a low pay time or some other crisis.

Having these basics on hand helps you to save money.

Just to let you know some of the things you can make from this list...


bread
cake
pancakes
syrup
oatmeal
rice for cereal
rice side dishes
gravy
cookies
biscuit
cornbread
cinnamon rolls
rolls
donuts
flour shells

And it does so much more. Add other things to the basics and you will be able to make many things.




I am just saying that sometimes we go for the Rice-A-Roni when, if we had these basics, you would not have to pick it up.

It gives you freedom and they are usually the less costly things to get in your storage.

So work on getting in the basics. I just threw a few out there for you to build on.

Those of you who are gluten free need to spend a little more and stock those items and store properly to keep them.

Did you know you could make oat milk using gluten free oats?

Oatmeal Milk 
4 c. water
1 c. gluten free oats
Blend together for only one minute

I feel it is very important to have the ingredients on hand to cook from scratch.

Someone gave us croutons from a bakery in a bag, maybe a cup and a half and the price was $2.99. This is stale bread oil and spices. It's so much cheaper to make your own. 


Croutons
(Our favorite from the Tightwad Gazette, you can double this) 
4 slices bread 
2 Tbs. parmesan cheese 
¼ tsp oregano 
¼ tsp celery salt 
2 Tbs. oil 
Cut bread into cubes and place in bowl. Add seasonings and oil. Toss well. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degree until crisp. Let cool and then store in glass jar.  

This recipe tastes sooooo much better than any I have tasted. If you have seasonings on hand I think it would cost a nickel for the  amount they were selling. For that amount of money that is a huge difference

Look for things you like and learn to make them yourself, learn to store those ingredients.

Store things to make your own soups. Freeze leftover veggies and broths and meat in tubs in your freezer. 

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_Cooking&Baking_2011-02pr.pdf - here you can get the soup or sauces called SOS. It is so fantastic to save on those canned soups and every bit as convenient.


http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/search?q=cooking+from+scratch - read around on these Monday Messages, there's great info there on how to get started. 

Keep working on your storage and building skills.

If you have anything like a mix or recipe to share put it in the comments, we all learn from each other.

14 comments:

  1. I'm really enjoying reading through your blog. Thanks for all your hard work

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  2. I make naan which is a nice soft bread hubby and I enjoy when the meal is not so big. I planted garlic this month but I also purchased a 5 pound bag of garlic and minced it. Now I have enough minced garlic in the freezer for the year. I bake our hamburger and hotdog buns and these last several weeks. I invested in a food saver system and I can now freeze so much more food. I grow pigeon peas which is a earthy Spanish pea. When I freeze them I freeze them in small batches enough for hubby and I. I love your blog. It’s a true frugal blog about being resourceful and planning ahead. A lot of frugal blogs now are actually about spending money not saving it. Thank you

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    1. Thank you I have to say you must not live near me we still have tons of snow. When you don't have very much money you have to get creative I have had lots of experience still goes on but being thankful for what you do have and stretching every penny and finding those creative ways helps one make do.

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  3. I love The Tightwad Gazette. Still read all my issues over a couple of times a year. Reminds me of good ideas I might have let slip.

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    1. yes I love mine too should be a course on them in high school

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  4. My son brings home tons of bread, bagels and pastries from his job that would otherwise be thrown away. I have been making croutons out of the everything bagels. The plain, poppy and sesame bagels have been made into breadcrumbs. We eat the other bagels. Why pay for items that I can make myself for free.

    My youngest daughter went GF last summer for stomach issues. It has been a learning curve for sure. My friend got me a 25 pound bag of GF flour from Restaurant Depot (I'm not a member) so I am good for a while now. I try to keep a 100 pounds of regular flour in the house at all times. I buy my yeast at BJ's and do the same as you. I have never had it go bad. Lots of sugar, salt and baking soda/powder are stored as well. Oil! Lots of oil. I can make so many things with these few items.

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    1. I have never had my yeast go bad either. It is a wonderful thing having the things on hand to know you can make a lot of things good you are being so frugal thanks for sharing

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  5. Funny, I can make all of those things and often do. Very seldom do I use any mix as they are too salty for us.

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    1. It is amazing we do many things without thinking that we did it from scratch it is such a habit. good for you. yes the longer they sit the saltier they get too.

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  6. I love croutons on soups as well as salads. Once you have homemade croutons, it's hard to go back to the store bought. They're like mini bricks!

    My grandma used to give me warm rice and milk for breakfast, if she was out of oatmeal. It tasted delicious with a little sugar and cinnamon. I loved it with hot buttered toast. All so basic.

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    1. rice with sugar and cinn is one of my favorites and yes I find the mini bricks taste bad but I am spoiled by this recipe in the blog and yes they make soup special. thank you

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  7. Hi Becky! I love all your jars and mixes. We are just out of summer here and just into autumn. My putting away food now is dealing with fresh pears and apples. I will be working all day tomorrow on apples!xxx

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    1. wonderful I did pear rings by putting the pears thru the apple corer slicer I did not think it would work but it totally worked we have more snow coming here tomorrow but I hear the birds so I know spring is coming I have missed hearing them all winter also our temps finally are improving

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