Monday Message

"Be faithful, my brothers and sisters, to this counsel and you will be blessed—yes, the most blessed people in all the earth. You are good people. I know that. But all of us need to be better than we are. 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." (Ezra Traft Benson)

This week I have been working on menus for a month, I know it seems like a lot but the way I do it is this...

I make a list with thirty main dishes and it is just a list, so if today I have leftovers, that is okay and if I want something else on the list, that is okay or if I don't feel up to fixing that item today that is okay as well. I do thirty days so I don't have to go out so often, even with a store pick-up. I am happy for that service...It is just easier to get it tended in one trip.

I have a main dish binder that I have that I refer to for the recipes.

I start with a piece of paper on which I have numbered 1-30 but I have a few more on this one.

I start looking through my main dish binder for ideas and meals.

I have another sheet of paper that if I need something, I write it on this and that way I can add it to the grocery list.

I don't have anything assigned to a specific day. So if I have chili written down and don't feel like chili, I look at the list and find something to fix instead...like burritos. Will I use all thirty plus items? Well, yes, but maybe not till later after the thirty days, because a lot of what I have on the list is food storage friendly and can wait till I get to it.

I also know that if I have leftovers I will use those for lunches or even more suppers but rest assured, I will have the whole month covered if needed. This is how I save money as well as most of what I make is frugal and storable.

I know that I can make our favorite chicken and rice casserole anytime I want because I have canned chicken that I canned and even metal cans of chicken, so that is handy. I have cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup and I have rice, both instant and regular, and it calls for chicken bouillon and bread crumbs. This means everything I need is on hand already.

I make bread so bread crumbs are never an issue. I also have plenty of bouillon on hand that I store as well.

So if you have a bad day, and with fibromyalgia that is often for me, this is a great recipe to pull out and use.

So I keep that back for a really bad day.

Did I have help this day on making the menus? Well, in the beginning the cats would sit on what I was working on with the open binders and such and would go for my pen but soon the answer is no...no help.

They slept the whole while I worked once they deemed it as BORING.

This week I have also been sorting and organizing. I worked on the stamps in the map drawer.

I worked in the sewing room a bit.

Mostly I rearranged things that I could in the bedroom.

This was tricky as it is a bit hard to shift things in there. I made it easier to get to the knitting machines and the sock machine. I must be in a spring cleaning mood with all this fine weather that we are now having.

How do you do your menus? We would love to hear! Leave us a comment below.

Gus says stay in and stay safe. It is still a good time to take such precautions. He also says it is a good time to be thinking of what you want to grow in your garden. In his mind we cannot see him :p Stay safe everyone.

Monday Message

"The counsel to have a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and commodities was given fifty years ago and has been repeated many times since. Every father and mother are the family’s storekeepers. They should store whatever their own family would like to have in the case of an emergency … [and] God will sustain us through our trials." (James E. Faust)

It feels like nature just keeps throwing weird things at us. Texas and others having issues in the South - you all are in my prayers. I know how hard it is to go without power, especially this last summer with the Derecho. I always say no one wins against water damage. When their weather continued I knew bursting pipes would follow and nothing could be done to stop it. Nothing is set up down there for the weather they experienced.

With so many things continuing to come at us we need to put some emergency stores in. You saw how fast the stores emptied, that is how fast any store empties when an emergency hits. I say we can learn from these things...store water, store food, store a first aid kit. I’ll add to that to watch the weather and if bad weather is predicted, what I do is make sure I have things for us to eat without cooking if the power goes down. 

For instance, I would make bread because I don't want to get caught in the mob at the store. I watch the weather everyday and I can tell you that at the time of writing this we are expecting a snowstorm tomorrow...so watch your weather. They give a week at a glance but here where we live it can change daily, so keep an eye on it. If a storm that looks bad is coming I make sure laundry is all done and I make sure dishes are done up. I think this has been drilled into me by having frozen pipes so many times.

I told my daughter who lives in the South and was expecting an ice storm to put water in the tub so they could flush if they had issues. I saw one man say that was an issue. So watch, learn, and pray for those who are dealing with the catastrophe and give aid if and when you can.

A note here - do not store the water that is sold in milk jugs, those are meant to break down so you will get leaks of water and what did I say? No one wins with water damage.

This vortex has been hard on me this week with the fibromyalgia. We had very low pressure from it and still have it. For me it has caused sinus pressure which affects my ears and that makes me dizzy and makes me nauseous plus I’m super sensitive to motion so I have been living on meclizine - what a miracle drug. This is under four dollars at Walmart and pharmacies. If that was all that was going on I would be okay but it isn't, I’m having very strong pain everywhere and it’s still going on...boo :(

So I did what I could to push through...which means crockpot meals.

I keep pushing on but will be glad when this system is gone.

Missy says she would share a mouse with you.

I did get a little spinning done this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH_LRBYuHSU - this gal does wonderful work. She shops thrift stores for clothes she can make over and vintage sheets to make dresses from. She does not make patterns but I love getting inspiration for sewing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2B_ojkdVBY - this gal shows laying out pattern pieces, very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXZEV3toMhg - here she tells how to darn...that book is older than me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aox_rCMTBE - this gal is one I watch, she has a house full of littles and yet she has quick fix meals she keeps ingredients on hand for fixing in a pinch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytycX4bsGlg - this gal shows how to make the most of your vacuum sealer, she did a great job explaining.

Missy says continue to work on your storage and skill building.

Gus says please stay safe.

Monday Message

"I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment may affect any of us. We have a great welfare program with facilities for such things as grain storage in various areas. It is important that we do this. But the best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary." (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

This advice is good for all people.

We never know what is around the corner but we can lessen its grip on us by having things ahead in our pantry and other areas.

Think car repair. You would stress less on that bill if you knew you had things on hand to use for meals and you could use grocery money towards the bill.

There will always be something, so it is just prudent.

One area I try to be prudent is saving seed. In the picture is the butternut squash I will plant this year. The butternut squash that I have is from seeds I saved the year before.

It is cold out, on this frosty day I snapped some pictures. Even though it is cold, we can have warm thoughts by planning a garden.

Gus says he is keeping his eye on you to see if you are wearing your masks.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/classic-homemade-soup-recipes/ - soup hits the spot

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/215378/classic-dinner-rolls/ - rolls are great with that soup.

This is how Missy sneaks up on your knitting bag...

One night I had a hard time getting to sleep so I got up and made this project bag. For just making it up, I think it turned out pretty well.

I was able to finish my cowl. This was a free pattern from Tin Can Knits.

I have been putting out leftover popcorn and stale bread. Yes, I could use these in things for us but it has been so horridly cold I give to the wildlife to help them stay warm. This also gives the kitties a big screen wildlife show. This day Peter Rabbit came hopping up the deck stairs, he comes everyday now and brings two rabbit friends.

Keep being safe, they are saying four more months at least of wearing masks. Let us do our part.

Gus says everyone be safe!

Monday Message

"You do not need to go into debt, may I add, to obtain a year’s supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Definitely don't go into debt.

I have mentioned many times when you get your groceries, pick up something extra like a jar of peanut butter or a bag of flour or even a box of Jell-o. Over time this will add up and before you know it...you won't HAVE to go to the grocery. When you are tired you will be able to open the cupboard to fix supper and go the next day.

Remember to use, replace, and add. Use means rotate, using the oldest first. For example, if you use a can of green beans, write on your list a can of green beans and then add a pick up item to add to your storage like a bag of rice or beans, whatever you pick.

There will come into your life times when you will not be able to add to your storage and you will need to use it to get through a rough time...that is after all why we do this. And when things improve, start again to build.

So make a list of what you eat. What ingredients go into making them?

http://igetready.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EVERYTHING-UNDER-THE-SUN.pdf - I have this printed out and in my food storage binder.

If you are just starting this is the place to do it. She has great ideas and measures it all down to a teaspoon of salt, it is amazing. She has great recipes as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOLuIApyNPc - here she is giving a seminar on food storage.

I would encourage you to watch all her YouTube videos. It would be the best on food storage you will find.

Here are two pie making tools I got long before the pandemic happened at my thrift store. The red tool I almost went on by, as I have a pizza cutter that looks similar but I picked it up and noticed it was different and since it was very cheap I picked it up. I quite like how it does the edge of the pie while cutting off the excess crust.

The other you can see in the picture, you roll on the dough then slightly pull on the dough as I show here.

Think about what gadgets you have, pull them out and play with them. Also, can you use them for other things?

We were able to get our vaccine shot. It was painless. I was still waiting for the shot when she was putting on the bandaid - amazing! I always feel the flu shot and of course the needle looked so long on TV but it really was great.

Even though getting vaccinated we must still take safety measures.

We have been getting winter storm after winter storm. I am thinking that groundhog is getting no blanket this year!

We must all continue to be safe and do what we are told are safe practices is what Gus and Missy have to say... P.S. they are glad they aren't that groundhog.

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)

I always think of the story of the fat cows and the lean cows in the scriptures and how many years they had a famine but Joseph warned and helped to store up ahead… I sure hope we will not have a famine for seven years in our time but how many of us thought Covid-19 would not last this long? I know I sure didn't. It looks to be going on quite a while yet.

I would point out that we all must try to be as frugal as we can be during these times.

Don't waste anything. Learn to be frugal, use your searching skills to find more ways to be frugal and how to stretch what income you have. Turn to the first depression to see how they managed. What skills did they have to have? What skills do we need to have to get through our times?

They are saying don't spend a lot of time in a grocery store now. I saw something on the news that showed a lot of people NOT wearing masks…if we all don't do better than that it will prolong this and the virus will continue to grow and mutate.

I made four more masks for us last night.

Winter will soon give way to spring and people will want to be getting out again. We just have to do the right things to be safe and to keep others safe.

I am ready for winter to end. This picture is of the big storm we got, the snowfall was over a foot! I am not a fan of that much snow.

From this booklet I made from one batch of bread, rolls, and these hotdog buns. (Get the recipes HERE).

I continue to try and build skills right along with you.

I am trying to better my skill of tatting, to do this I have some shuttles wound and in this basket to learn different patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiVwzga-nyY - this will show someone tatting. My mother-in-law first taught me to tat but not till I saw it on the internet did i fully understand how to tat. So I wanted to show this to let you know you can learn how to do things, just look for free classes they are out there.

https://www.prudentpennypincher.com/super-cheap-recipes/ - this has lots of recipes from different sites.

https://www.themoneyprinciple.co.uk/52-practical-frugal-living-tips/ - there are helpful tips here.

Gus and Missy say please stay safe!

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)

Right now we all need to pull together to help each other more than ever.

It looks like we will be at war with this virus for a while yet. So we need to do our part to keep ourselves and others safe. I know it is so very hard but we can do hard things, right?

We need to keep praying for all that are suffering with it or affected in any way by it. And for the healthcare workers. And do this for all around the world.

https://yoursiteneedsme.com/37-diy-coronavirus-tutorials-cloth-face-masks-face-shields-face-coverings-covid-19/ - This is a fantastic site that has masks and face shields you can make.

We need - let me say that again - WE NEED to find fun at home...a lot of us have been staying in our homes now for a year.

Add to that we are in winter where I live. So I feel we need to find fun! As we know that we have extra work to do so we will need to make time for fun things to enjoy. I think I could and have moved from room to room and something needs doing, we could do that all day every day noticing this needs doing or that and you are tired by the end of the day, too tired to have some fun. This has a wearing effect. We need to find fun things to recharge our personal batteries.

I watch a podcast… Craft House Magic - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY2WS1_3gA33Z_PJZX3qKCA This gal is in the UK, she makes these beautiful project bags. Alas, purchasing one and having it shipped to me in the US is not in my budget at all but when watching her before Christmas she was showing herself making a bag, I then heard her say if you want to make your own you could purchase the pattern, so that was affordable and I did.

This was fun for me to make. I did a pretty decent job, I wouldn't want to do it for a living but she does...she also does a lot of things I do, so I find her very inspirational.

Sometimes reading is what relaxes us - www.freeread.com I have mentioned this site before but free fits my budget very well. There’s children's books, cookbooks, I like mysteries, knitting, canning, dehydrating, sewing books - these are just a few that I get but there are so many. They put up pages and pages and pages with different ones each day. I know I sound like a commercial for them but with everyone's budgets so threadbare right now free is good. They are ebooks to read on your devices, I have even noticed books that can help you with homeschooling.

In the last Monday Message I gave you a site with a video to do a no-knead bread and I thought you would like to see what I made from the video. Yum! I made one loaf of bread and two hard rolls. This was yummy so go back to last week's Monday Message and watch that and give it a try.

The main thing is to work on something fun everyday to recharge.

Work on exercise as well. Gus decided he is not a fan of the treadmill, he wasn't hurt but having the ground move beneath his feet was not for him.

If you like to knit Missy says she can take over your knitting bag as well...

Gus and Missy both say now is the perfect time for taking up synchronized napping!

Monday Message

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others." (All is Safely Gathered In pamphlet)

We have been told this will get worse before it gets better. What can we do till then? Wear masks, wash our hands, and keep social distancing.

I think wearing masks will be with us for quite a while...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-make-cloth-face-covering.html - this is the easiest pattern to make but there are others, just search, but this is a good start.

Missy says we need to tighten our belts!

The stimulus will help but we will still need to tighten our belts and some don't have any belts left so we will need to tighten up our budgets. This means now isn't the time for those extras. I know some will say, what extras? It has been none of those for a long time now. I mention this to help you to stretch what you have.

Those who need to use food pantries, use them and get things that will stretch further foods like the basics, canned fruits & veggies, beans, rice, peanut butter and jelly, etc.

You get the idea. There are some restrictions and not a lot of choices so make what you do get stretch the furthest and if you get food stamps make those items go the furthest as well. Like you may want soda but think what could I get for that money? More meals. Use some to get basic items flour, yeast, shortening, salt, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar and baking powder… This way when the bread runs out at your house you could make more and you could make cookies instead of buying ready made ones freeing up more funds for other needed items...oatmeal instead of cold cereal or rice with sugar and cinnamon, pancake mix complete - if you run out of eggs and milk you only need to add water. Make sure you have eggs for protein… I think you get the idea, it is all about the basics. Storing those will make it so you can stretch the rest.

This will help with other bills.

Collect recipes that don't take a lot of ingredients. Groceries are going up in price.

Did you know you can use pasta sauce for pizza sauce as well as lasagna and for spaghetti, so purchase pasta sauce and drop pizza sauce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbr6uYIjL4M - this will help you make a great no-knead bread that you could have with soup. She even uses it for pizza crust. Sometimes it is better to watch how then to just read how, she is great.

Get some great and easy homemade bread machine recipes in my friend Liza's cookbook, check it out in this post - http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2019/08/monday-message.html

We had a blizzard here this week so I thought we needed a nice green picture to remind us spring will come.

I also wanted to remind you that we should be thinking and planning our gardens.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/extension_curall/119/ - I wanted to include this once again. I  keep a jar of this on the counter at all times, it is the best ever. It takes as long to make as it does to cook a can of soup. Yes, I did time it. It’s much cheaper and you know what is in it.

https://chickensintheroad.com/?s=Hamburger+helper - this is less expensive and yummy.

These are my two favorite sites. I have both recipes printed and have them in a binder.

Gus says to keep working hard at being safe!