Frugal Measures: Monday Message

"A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity. Work, industry, frugality are part of the royal order of life." (Bishop Keith B. McMullin)

We need to keep working on our storages. I know we all are watching our dollars but even if you could pick up a bag of rice or box of pasta or bag of beans when you go to the store, every little bit will build up your storage. Of course, only get the things you eat. Get staples like flour, sugar, salt, oil and shortening, yeast (store yeast in freezer), jams or jellies, powdered milk is good to have on hand, oats, if you do not plan on storing brown sugar then you will need to store molasses so you can make your own brown sugar.

Think what your menu is and store the nonperishable items to make the item.

Look through your recipes. Find the one with most shelf stable ingredients and pick those items up. For example, I make a chicken and rice casserole, so I store chicken in the can, rice, broth, cream soup or the S.O.S. mix. Then I can make this whenever I need. So look for a casserole that your family likes that you can always have on your shelf.

https://extension.usu.edu/sanpete/files/Soup_or_Sauce_SOS_Mix.pdf - this is the best S.O.S. mix recipe and I keep this on hand all the time with the recipes on a ring by it.

This replaces the need for purchasing cream soups. I have done a test to see how long it takes to make a soup from the mix with making its counterpart in the can. It took the same amount of time only it tasted better, that was a happy surprise.

Same with breads and desserts like my chocolate cake. Get the recipe here - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2020/04/monday-message_20.html

I store the items to always be able to make it but think of other things like hmm...pineapple upside down cake. Store the ingredients and you will be able to make it whenever you want.

The thing I will point out is these are from scratch recipes so by storing the basics and having them on hand, you'll always be able to make one or the other. You can have cake mixes in storage too, it is up to you what your family likes.

Homemade tapioca - all you need to do is have powdered milk in your storage and the tapioca, vanilla, sugar, then just add eggs. You can have everything but eggs in storage but if you store dehydrated eggs, there you go.

So think of the basics and store those up.

Easier on the budget is to pick up one or two items extra when you go to the store. Or...that money you were going to use to eat out, use that money. That would truly make guilt-free meals.

The garden is now winding down. Here is a pic of a morning glory I planted in the spring still putting out the flowers.

Waiting and drooling by the peach tree for them to ripen. Two have been being eaten by wasps. I figure I would leave them. They can have those if they leave the rest alone, which they have.

I just put the dehydrator away. I think I am done using it but if not, it is close enough to get back out. I vacuum sealed the dried tomatoes and the jar of celery and put them away.

Chilly mornings are a reminder that winter is not too far away.

This week I stamped each color ink pad on a card that I put the name of it on and put them on a ring. I saw this on a video. I never thought to do this before but it will make it easier to find what I want to use.