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)

I feel now more than ever we need to be helping those around us who are in need, also show kindness more than ever before.

We need to find joy. It will be harder to do but we must try. Also, at this time here in the US it is hard to not be discouraged but we have to take the time to find joy. There is nothing we can do but pray and try to keep our homea as stable as we can. Chocolate cake time is what I call it. Get my favorite recipe HERE.

Try to keep your home life as normal as you can and tighten your belt, no extra spending! Get out your frugal recipes. If you are afraid no one will like them, do rolls to go with and chocolate cake.

If you buy a lot of frozen prepared food, now is definitely the time to put in the basics instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjb-Of5_jRs - what items to put in the pantry.

https://www.thriftyfrugalmom.com/frugal-pantry-staples-to-help-you-cook-from-scratch/ - staples

https://onepotwellness.com/budget-pantry-staples-list/ - some ideas here.

https://joyfullythriving.com/10-items-to-stockpile-in-a-pantry/ - more ideas.

https://www.unexpectedlydomestic.com/pantry-staples-on-a-budget/ - there are some ideas here as well.

https://www.mommyskitchen.net/2024/02/the-homemade-pantry.html - great help here.

At the time of this writing our General Conference is two weeks away. I love conference and so look forward to it, especially now. You can watch the conference here - www.lds.org as they replay them and I think you will find watching it very calming right now for sure. It is our thing to have chili and cinnamon rolls on conference weekend.

I make these rolls by using the bread dough recipe from this cookbook... get the recipes HERE.

When the dough is done, I spread sugar and cinnamon raisins and chopped walnuts or pecans, roll and then I cut the roll in half and then each half I cut again into six so that you have twelve rolls that fit nicely into a 9x13 size pan. Cover and let rise till doubled in size then bake at 350 degrees for twenty to thirty minutes. Remove from oven and cool. When cool you can frost. I do about two cups powdered sugar, two tbsp butter, and I use 1 tsp of vanilla but it could be what you like. For example, almond flavoring or maple just what you like on your rolls. Then I add very little of the hottest tap water, stir an add more as needed to get frosting consistency.

Cinnamon rolls and chili must be an Iowa thing. We used to have this for school lunches. It was always a hit. So it is a yummy and inexpensive meal. Very much one of my comfort meals.

You just do not know what is coming around the corner.

This week my husband came down with Covid on Tuesday. Paxlovid - the med you need to start within the window of three days from onset of symptoms or positive test costs $1,754.17

This is quite a hit. Insurance did cover some of it but if it hadn't, we were going to have to be on a payment plan for meds that would cost about two hundred dollars a month - IF AND I MEAN IF I do not catch it... If I do, double that amount per month through the end of the year.

So yes Covid is still out there. Thank goodness we kept up our vaccinations.

So that was our unexpected thing around the corner. This makes an already tight budget a whole lot tighter. Having food storage is a blessing to help stretch dollars for us.

Today, while I write this post we are going to have our first potentially severe weather so when it rains it pours.

Missy says to get some storage in to help you over the rough patches. Prices are still higher and talk of going higher. Be sure to rotate your storage, use oldest first.

Tippy Longstockings says try very hard to find joy every day!

They both say to please be safe out there!