Thunderwolf Ranch

Preparing a 30 Day Menu Using No Electricity

Good afternoon Family & Friends! I have been doing a lot of reading over at An Intentional Peasant's blog. She has been letting others know of ways to store food for future emergencies. Stockpiling your pantry is the name of the game. I myself have been wondering how to store food that can be used without using electricity.

 Being in a hurricane prone area,(and knowing that its been a long time coming for another major storm) I wanted to come up with a menu for at least 30 days that would allow me to feed my family.

Now, I have been able (most of the time) to do once a month shopping and get all of my needs. So, I have been able to keep at least a months supply of food on hand. It all requires using electricity to cook with as well as refridgeration/freezing. That's a good thing, but again I am looking to be able to prepare food for my family for at least 30 days electric free. I really pray that this will never happen though. I just want to be prepared.

During one of the last major hurricanes we had (which was about 10 years ago) we were without electricity for over a week. It was NO fun at all. I prepared poorly and needless to say, we ate junk food for over a week! Can you say YUCK! I never want to do that again. I couldn't wait to get some electricity just so we could have a HOT nutritious meal again.

So here I am now wanting to get started on this menu and what it will take to prepare at least one hot meal for my family if we get a hurricane this year.

If any of you have any ideas, PLEASE let me know. Maybe you could come up with your own menu using no electricity for 30 days. I'll post what I come up with once I get a plan set on paper. This is also going to help me, because I will need to start shopping for these supplies before the first threat of a hurricane comes to out area.

Have a blessed day in The Lord!

Amanda <><
II Corinthians 5:7

Simple Budgeting

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Simply Frugal

The Simple Way to Maintain Your Budget

In the last two years it has been noted that Americans use their debit and credit cards more than their checkbooks. In fact, their usage has more than doubled! This is great in some ways, but it can be a nightmare for the budget conscious. When I left the envelope system of budgeting, in lieu of my debit card, something amazing happened. My expenses went up. In short, it is so much easier to spend one or two dollars here and there when the actual paper cash isn't coming out of your hand. It's like we aren't really spending that money or something.

However, you CAN have a debit card AND stay within your budget. Actually, you can do this for all your budgeting needs for the household. The best part, this is a simple process.

Use a separate bank account and debit card for all your household purchases. For the most ease, you and your husband might want to look into opening an other account at your current bank of choice if you are pleased with their services and they offer no fee banking. You will likely ahve to place a minimum of $25-50 dollars in the account when you open it. This is a good thing, because it will enable you to use all of your budget without penalty. Confused? Read On.

One good reason for this set up is that your husband can transfer money weekly or monthly, in an amount that totals your family's total budget for the month. When you go to the grocery you will know exactly how much you have to spend and not a penny more. A way to provide accountability for yourself is to agree that if you go over your budget by $2, then that amount will be deducted from the next month's stipend. In this way, you will have not only an incentive to stay within your budget, but a method of discipline for your budgeting. One extra bonus with this method, is that it is much more simple to track your household expenses.

The beauty of this process is that you will do nothing differently than you do now. You will simply have a separate account with which to do it. Simply Frugal!

These are my thoughts. 

Taco Bell

Friday's happening

Today has been a very nice day so far.  Very  nice weather.  A nice cool breeze is blowing in my window.  Ive gotten all my morning chores done.  Ive also made laundry detergent.  Im thinking of maybe making granola bars later.  I really need to get out and mow my grass but its rained so much here.  Not sure if its dry enough.

Tomorrow I will be going to my sisters house about an hour and 20 min. away.  My nephew will be a year old.  Later I will go to my mom's for a belated mothers day. We decided to keep it simple so none of us moms will have to do to much and have KFC.  We didnt go last week because my hubby had the few days off and I wanted him to be able to enjoy some time home with the kiddos. 

No ball games tonight.  I am glad to have the night off from that.  Seth played last night and seemed to do good with his hand.  I was really nervous about it.  Ive limited his activities today so he want over due.  His next game will be Monday.  He still wont be able to pitch for a while.   But I think he was just thrilled to be able to play again.

Tonight we will have chili cheese burritos.  I will probably put on a roast before going to bed so we can have BBQ sandwhiches when I get back home tomorrow night.

Well, I guess that is all from our home today.

Getting Old

Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: 'Slim, I'm 83 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age. How do you feel?'
Slim says, 'I feel just like a newborn baby.'
'Really!? Like a newborn baby!?'
'Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet myself.'

*****

Hospital regulations require a wheel chair for patients being discharged. However, a student nurse found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he! Didn't need her help to leave the hospital.
After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let the nurse wheel him to the elevator.
On the way down she asked him if his wife was meeting him.
'I don't know,' he said. 'She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.'

*****

Couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a checkup, the doctor tells them that they're physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember.
Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. 'Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?' he asks.
'Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?'
'Sure.'
'Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?' she asks.
'No, I can remember it.'
'Well, I'd like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so's not to forget it?'
He says, 'I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.'
'I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget that, write it down?' she asks..
Irritated, he says, 'I don't need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream - I got it, for goodness sake!'
Then he toddles into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes,
The old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment.
'Where's my toast ?'

*****

A senior citizen said to his eighty-year old buddy:
'So I hear you're getting married?'
'Yep!'
'Do I know her?'
'Nope!'
'This woman, is she good looking?'
'Not really.'
'Is she a good cook?'
'Naw, she can't cook too well.'
'Does she have lots of money?'
'Nope! Poor as a church mouse.'
'Well, then, is she a good lover?'
'I don't know.'
'Why in the world do you want to marry her then?'
'Because she can still drive!'

*****

Morris, an 82 year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical.
A few days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous middle-aged woman on his arm.
A couple of days later, the doctor spoke to Morris and said, 'You're really doing great, aren't you?'
Morris replied, 'Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma and be cheerful.''
The doctor said, 'I didn't say that. I said, 'You've got a heart murmur; be careful.' 

*****

Cleaning, large houses and what nots.

What a great day I had yesterday. The sun was out and I got more of my garden planted along with some clean up around the yard. I was hoping to have my chicks this year, but the storage shed has taken a back seat to things lately. The other night Hubby and I were discussing the next couple of years and what we wanted to do. In July, our little town has an annual garage sell and is very popular. All of the little towns around us do the same thing, just at different times. It's great because you know when each is held and make you list of needed things.

Well this year we are going to do it one more time. I finally got Hubby convinced that we need to clear out the stuff that we just don't really need. I feel that this might be the last year that people would really be willing to pay for an item that they just have to have. I think that with harder times coming, people are going to hang on tighter to the wallets and that your dollar is not going to stretch to much farther. Plus as we are getting older, we either don't have the time to get all of the holiday stuff up, and as my daughters family grows, we will be spending more time at her home. So in the next couple of weeks, we are going to go through both of the sheds, plus the house and get ready again for a sell. It's funny, but the older I get the less I want around me. I don't want the clutter and storage of things. We are even going to scale back and put in a couple pieces of furniture too! Things that have been given to us and have sat idle for some time.

I am wondering, how many of you in large homes now, remember starting out in a one bedroom place and thought you had the world by the tail? Remember how big it felt to have a place of your own! Could you go back now, with what you have and live that way again? I bet not. Why have we, as a society, believe that bigger is better. There are somedays, that I wish to go back and live in that two bedroom apartment, just for the comfort that it gave me. Yes I wanted bigger in things, but bigger when it can to the land,not the house. I think this is one thing that alot of people need to revisit in their lives and see if change is needed. I can't believe that back in the 50's and 60's, America was raising a family of four in an 900 square foot home, and look at us now!

Well I best get going. I am heading towards town today to have lunch with Hubby at work and pick up some last minute things for tomorrow. Then it's back to getting the last minute things baked and packed.

Have a great day and will talk to you later.

Fruity Breakfast Treat!

Slice banana's and strawberries and layer on bottom of dish

Spoon yogurt on top of fruit

sprinkle granola on yogurt

repeat the process to fill dish

top with fruit and granola

eat and enjoy!

Please leave me a comment--

I wanted to thank all of my faithful readers and to those of you who have referred my site to family and friends.   I really enjoy sharing deals that I find.  I consider it my ministry!  I wanted to ask you all to post me a comment on what you would like to see more of on this blog? What do you find most helpful?  Thank you again. :)

I want a baby brudder...

Our 3yo found a robin's egg that had fallen out of it's nest.  She thinks her baby brudder is inside there.  She asked if we could put it in a nest so she can have a brudder.  My mother had given us some Land Before Time tapes and I didn't realize how quickly kids can be indoctrinated to different things.  Oh, ya, I know some of it, but this little one just gleans every bit of anything out of TV and I am having to watch her so much more closely than the other kids. 

For those that don't know... Land Before Time tapes are cute little dinosaurs that teach values.  However, it also teaches evolutionism (and yes the 3yo picked that up... so I am doing reverse training now on teaching creationism which was so natural to my other kids... but not to her, she just doesn't get the confused messages... yes she's three, but the others got it by this age... Jesus made the sunshine... Jesus made the green grass...etc.).  And, they personalize the little dinosaurs, in that, my little one thinks we lay eggs and put them in a nest and watch them hatch. 

While this is so cute... she went on and on about having a baby brudder.  She even sat down with a sad look with the egg in her hands waiting for it to hatch.  She went on for several days asking for her brudder... which Dh was just at ends with because as most of you know... Daddy's like to fulfill their daughter's requests and this was one he could do nothing about.  LOL.  (Trusting God, here!) The egg finally disappeared out of the house and she then was sad that someone took her brudder and threw him out.  Guess who she blamed???  Yup... MOM!  (I didn't take it, but  she still didn't believe me). 

Anyways, it was cute, but I learned a huge lesson, that I have been lax on the training of my 3yo... My other kids watched "Little Foot" (one of the dinosaurs) but it was when they were much older and already understood about creation and basic aspects of life... So, Mom got her hand slapped and is getting on with fixing her errors.  Yes, I know the issues with TV... I also know the issues my family has with NO TV.... especially Dh.  I also know that it isn't just our family, but our entire social circle at church and extended family that also are endeared to the TV.  So I won't get away from the TV as much as I'd like to... but I know that it can be combatted with a firm stand on what is OK and what isn't OK and limiting it at home as much as I am able.  I learned that with my other three kids.  But, I haven't been watching so closely with this little one.  I need to do better. 

Warmly, ~Melissa 

Spring Hill Nursery: $20 off $20 purchase!!!

SpringHillNursery.com is taking $20 off any purchase of $20 or more via this link. It's the largest dollar-off coupon we've seen in over a year from SpringHillNursery.com, which sells plants, bulbs, and other gardening items. Shipping for most items is $7.95.