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)

At the time I am writing this post we just have gotten four inches of snow.

It is to get very cold with a polar vortex to come a day after my b-day which is the seventh of January.

So I will be putting blankets on the upstairs windows to keep out any of that harsh cold - I remember that last year...very cold.

It helps with heating costs since they are saying there will probably be several more polar vortex events, I will just leave the blankets up.

What do you do to get ready for weather events?? Comment below.

We all learn from each other.

I still feel difficult times are coming, not just for our country but all countries. So try to put aside some extra into your storage, if no hard times come you will be set for any event that may come.

Missy says she feels safe hiding under the rug loom.

Tippy Longstockings says she likes to keep warm by the fireplace.

Even if we all don't experience the same trials at once, there is always something coming around the corner, a car repair, medical bills, weather event the list is endless but putting some away for that rainy day takes off some of the stress while you work through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KLCHkTooY - this can help you see how to stretch your food. I think I would suggest measuring the spices though to help save.

https://www.youtube.com/@JuliaPacheco/videos - this will give you other videos she has, it is always good to see what one can make for less.

https://www.plantoeat.com/blog/2023/10/maximizing-leftovers-how-to-make-the-most-of-your-meals/ - uses your leftovers.

https://premeditatedleftovers.com/naturally-frugal-living/how-i-create-menu-plans/ - the buffet sounds yummy, we love leftovers.

https://www.slenderkitchen.com/article/12-ways-to-use-leftovers-in-your-weekly-meal-plan - making a meal plan sounds not fun but you know what leftovers you have from meals, so while you are making your plan and you decide to have chicken and you know what you have left after the meal, you can boil the carcass and take out the bones. Any meat can be divided, you now can make a soup and a casserole.

https://avirtuouswoman.org/planning-101-how-to-plan-for-leftovers/ - use those free calendars from the bank to be your menu planning aid plus save them for ideas in the future.

How do you plan your menus and list for grocery shopping?? Comment below.

Take time to go through cookbooks, look for frugal recipes. I don't like recipes with tons of ingredients. I find we never liked them as well as simple recipes.

Also, look at your store sales flyer. Use these hand-in-hand together along with your family favorites recipe file.

Write your meals on that calendar. You can figure out what days a faster meal may be needed like Wednesday church nights would be for easy meal prep or your leftover like chili.

One of our favorite easy meals is hobo dinners. I have no idea where that name came from but it is a foil dinner. You put a hamburger patty on tinfoil then slice a potato and a carrot salt and pepper. I like to sprinkle dried onion on this just a little, fold foil up, set them in a pan and cook for an hour at 350 degrees.

Remember, while you are being frugal-minded, try to continue to add to your storage.

I keep a running list that when I use from my storage, that I write down this item on the list, like when I am nearing the end of a bucket of flour, it goes on my list so I can refill the bucket as it gets emptied. Then remember the two bay leaves on top, put on the lid, then I cross off the old date, add the new date, and rotate it. This goes into storage and another bucket comes up with the oldest date next in rotation.

Lets say you are about out of mustard. You write it on your list but you should get two if you can and one will go into storage.

I know this sounds hard but when things are tight, you will be thankful that you have done this. We were very tight over Christmas even though I made gifts, shipping is awful in price, but I spent nothing on groceries using what I had in storage and this worked great. In our case, it is medical expenses that have been eating a huge part of our check. So be sure to stick things into your storage. It probably seems hard now but will bless you so much when you need it.

Missy says keep working on your skill building, says her momma made this pillow. I think skills are nice and comfy.

Tippy Longstockings says remember to save your tissue paper, you can press it as seen here, she is demonstrating. You can reuse it for many things.