growing and learning

food shortages

02:34 PM, Monday, May 5, 2008 .. 6 comments .. Link

A lot of people are talking about the rice/ grain shortages. I feel a lot of peace about it. At least for my family. See, after we moved into our new house with the huge empty basement, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to start buying a years supply of food. I took some extra cash we have every month (we have been blessed with that) and started buying food storage items. I quickly bought a 5-gal (60 lb) of honey from a honey store here, and slowly bought wheat or sugar at Costco.
Last spring, I would guess about a year ago, I walked into my normal grocery store and saw that they were having a "food storage" sale - 6-gal buckets of rice, wheat, oats, etc. So I splurged and bought 9 buckets at $13.99 each. I thought I was doing great, and continued with my allotted amount a month otherwise. Oh, if I had known then, I would have bought MORE at that time, we could afford it, but I already felt like I was going over budget...
Fast forward to today. We have a room downstairs filled with buckets (these are 6-gal and hold various weights, depending on the item):
8 Soft White Wheat
8 hard White Wheat
4 Hard Red Wheat
4 reg oats
3 quick oats
6 basmati rice
2 brown rice
2 black beans
2 white beans
2 white flour
2 popcorn
1 each of:
white sugar
pinto beans
kidney beans
cornmeal (which has SHOT up from $23 to $84 in 2 months)
lentils
bread flour
Gretchka (Kasha/ toasted buckwheat)
raw buckwheat

still on order (with my prices locked in!):
1 bucket spelt
4 buckets egg noodles

and yet I wonder if I have enough! I read these news articles, like those posted by "the Intentional Peasant" and Deanna and fultoncountymama. and I wonder if I have enough to last the coming storm! ai ai ai! fret not, I also have some canned and dried fruits and veggies, but not near what we need. I do have 200 empty canning jars all with the screw-top lids for whatever my garden might give us. I am hoping to do tomatoes and peaches again for sure! I am studying ways to store potatoes and hope to have a bumper crop of those as well! I am getting a split half of grass-fed beef in July (which is a quarter of a cow, splitting the whole half with a SIL and a BIL)
we are taking gun classes this month and next and will start on an arsenal as well as food storage. I think that if you have a supply of food, that gun may well be what keeps your food yours in a crisis. Is that a mercenary way to think? I do not feel so. I would gladly share my food with those who cannot afford to stock up right now, but I think there may well be a lot of angry people who lived for today and their toys and did not plan for the winter ahead, for the coming "seven years of famine" (not that I am saying there will be 7 years, but referencing the experiences of Joseph in Egypt)
I am trying to cook out of our storage. my children do not like beans, but we have them at least once a week anyway. I think maybe we will go to twice a week, actually. We try to have rice once a week, and I am trying bread recipe after bread recipe trying to find a wheat bread dh feels is light enough (and crust soft enough) for sandwiches. so if you have any suggestions, do let me know!

Dh and I are trying to prepare for the coming storm. I, being a student of history, have seen this coming for years. YEARS. I pray daily we have another couple of years before the storm really hits, so we have time to pay off the house and get an alternative source of energy for the well and the freezers.

This summer I am borrowing my mom's dutch oven and going to start experimenting with that method of cooking. something that I can use and do even if we have no power or no propane in our tanks.

well, off to reorganize that storage room, actually - it is packed and hard to get into!

WA-HOOO!!!!! advice needed.

02:01 PM, Wednesday, April 30, 2008 .. 5 comments .. Link

dh has agreed to chickens!

doing the happy dance here! We get to get chickens! hehehe! the kids are excited to have chickens. I am excited to have a grasshopper control and fresh eggs. A brother from our church said he will help us build a coop, so dh is going to talk to him about which plans to use and what we need to purchase.

but here to come my delimna: what chicken should I get?
I want: layers
cold-hardy
not easily spooked or mean (I have small children)

now, looking at this site, I have narrowed to the following:
Americuana
Austraorp
Delaware
Favorelles
Leghorn
New Hampshire
Plymouth Rock
Rhode Island
Sussex

any ideas or help would be appreciated. i think I want to have 8-10 hens and a rooster. should I make sure they are all the same breed, or would crosses in a next generation be okay? I am so excited! I cannot believe it, but, here we go....

garden notes

05:30 PM, Tuesday, April 29, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

garden:
have 4 4'x18" SFG raspberry beds ready for starts tomorrow. I will be getting these from a neighbor.
have 3 4'x18" SFG strawberry beds ready for starts tomorrow. from a different neighbor. of course, one already has some plants from last year.
my potato garbage can is ready for that experiment. I axed gashes in the bottom and buried the can 6 inches into the ground. We get some mighty strong winds here and I do not want them being blown over. I filled it with water yesterday to see if it drains effectively. It stood there last night as I was watching it (clay soil) but it was drained and dry this afternoon. I think that should keep it moist enough once I start filling it with soil and straw and potatoes. I am getting two more gabage cans off of freecycle thursday, so I will get those ones ready this weekend. I will plant red, russet and yukon in different cans.
I have 12 squares of peas. some are coming up and some are not. I am worried about these - they should be big by now.
1 SF of beets
1SF of onions
1 SF of spinach
1 SF of romaine (I will plant more next week for a staggered harvest)
and 3 SF of carrots in an extra tall 3'x1' box

I think I will do 4 SF of tomatoes, vertically. My other tomato plants I want to experiment with the upside down in a bucket idea.
Also, 16 SF of corn. the SFG book says that you can do one plant per foot or four. one seems not really worth the effort, but 4 might get kind of crowded. maybe I will do two....
oh, cucumbers... where am I to put those?

12 of melon/pumpkin/cucumber.... gee, these get fewer and fewer each time I think of them! I keep remembering something else that needs to grow vertically up on the north face of my beds....

let the punishment fit the crime, I always say

11:17 AM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 .. 6 comments .. Link

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,348171,00.html

and why not? can't give 'em the death penalty (even if we did, it would never be carried out); they cannot live within so many feet of parks, schools, bus stops, churches, etc where children congregate in many cities, so where can they live? they have a hard time finding work.
so, if this would help, I say why not. I like the option there too - drug-induced or physical. let them choose....

yogurt cheese

03:28 PM, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

have you heard of this? I never had, but since my family will only eat the extra thick and creamy custard yoplait. so when I bought a healthier yogurt from a goat dairy, we had a problem: 1) too sour; 2) too runny. the first is fixed by honey, the second? so I rigged up a quart canning jar with cheesecloth folded in three layers. made a yummy treat w/ 1 T honey to 1 c thickened yogurt. and ds6 can eat a batch in a day! I use the whey for smoothies or for the Simple Loaf of Bread posted by Jen Ferris. anyway, a few days later, I heard of yogurt cheese- which you make by draining the whey from yogurt! LOL!
unfortunately, the cheesecloth method means a lot of yogurt is lost between the layers. so I started to look for a better way. I found this. and at the same time I found this yogurt maker. I received both yesterday. I am making my first batch of yogurt, and the yogurt cheese is draining. I read that homemade yogurt is runnier, so it is harder to get thicker cheese. I took a suggestion from a user and placed a coffee filter over the strainer.anyway, I will let you know how they work!

later!

team bettendorf?

09:04 AM, Friday, March 28, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

does anyone know how to get to team bettendorf's site?

the links Katie left here are not working for me and I HAVE to find her and ask her a question

freeze goat milk?????

08:55 AM, Thursday, March 27, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

all right you goat milkers - can you freeze raw goat milk? and have it turn out okay? I need more in the next week, but I am afraid that if I buy some today, it will be bad by the time we get to drinking it. I would wait, but I live so far away and I can get my brother to pick some up for me tomorrow. But I would need to freeze it I think. or could I just keep it in the REALLY cold part of my fridge?

grease removal in a hurry!

04:56 PM, Sunday, March 23, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

I had a great idea this afternoon to remove the fat/grease from my lamb broth so we could have shredded lamb sandwiches. I poured all the liquid into a glass bowl, then put some good cling-wrap (I like the old Costco brand... they do not sell it anymore, but that is okay - I do not use it often!) on the inside of the bowl, touching the broth (or rather the grease on top!) then put some ice cubes on the wrap. the first application removed half the grease in about 5 minutes while I shredded the meat.
then I folded the plastic over on itself, dumped the ice and water into the sink, and folded the trapped grease into the plastic and stuck it in the freezer (I will give it to the dog/cats later)
I am doing a third application, but I could have skipped it, I think - a little bit of fat improves the taste of the broth....

anyway, thought I would share

Buckwheat Crepes

11:49 AM, Monday, March 17, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

So ds6 wanted crepes. can I say I HATE making crepes? the recipes I have made before require an hour of the batter "sitting" before you can cook them. and it is a pain to stand over the stove and cook one after another. but dh told him that if he asked me nicely, I would make crepes for lunch today. so Bug asked me very nicely, and dh "encouraged" him (and me) by setting a timer for when I needed to start these. so I rolled my eyes and pulled out my King Arthur Flour Whole Grain cookbook.
and what did I find?
the best crepe recipe EVER!!! So I am going to share.... my ~~notes~~ changes in red

1/2 c spelt flour
1/4 buckwheat flour
2 t sugar
1/8 t salt
3/4 c milk (I used dry milk - mixed with the dry ingredients and water in the wet)
2 T brandy (I don't use alcohol, so I used 1 t vanilla)
2 large eggs
1 T unsalted butter, melted (I used reg. salted... tried to leave out the 1/8 t salt, but it needed more salt, so I added it after I had cooked one crepe)

add dry ingredients to blender and mix thoroughly. seperately mix milk, eggs, vanilla, melted butter, and pour into running blender. mix until smooth. cook as you do crepes.

I doubled the recipe, and got 17-ish crepes (some are thicker than they need to be)

these were great!

ps - my tomato pot (which has 8 seeds hidden in there) suddenly had two TALL - like one inch - seedlings this morning.... I hope they are tomatoes and not a weed. we will see....

A Christ-Centered Easter

09:20 PM, Sunday, March 16, 2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

Gloria, blessedmotherof10, recommended this book last year, and I do have to say THANK YOU! Already my kids are celebrating Easter and enjoying the activities listed, and it has only been one day. Today we talked about Palm Sunday, and what symbolism the palms had for the Jewish people. Then we made palm fronds out of that puffy craft foam-stuff. Dad read the scriptures (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19: 28-44, John 12:12-36) about the Triumphal entry while we glued. the kids loved it, and they have been waving around their palm fronds all day.

in gardening news:
I have some broccoli poking their heads out of their little homes. they are so cute!
I also have a few peas that have sprouted. oh happy days!
no tomatoes yet, but we will see. If these do not sprout, I have time to try the rest of my seeds, and/or buy seedlings in May. Either way - we will have tomatoes come summer!

garden notes

09:46 AM, Wednesday, March 5, 2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

Why didn't anyone warn me last fall that if I want to start some seeds inside before the end of winter, I need to bring some soil inside, at least into the garage. I went out yesterday to get some of my SFG soil mix because I could FINALLY see the dirt - and it was frozen solid! I could barely scrape off enough to call it good. I pulled in the pot for my dog-eaten avocado tree and mixed the soil there with the Mel's Mix I was able to scrape up, and that is what we used today. I need to keep a garden journal so I know what worked and when we did certain things, and what we did, and why it did or did not work.
okay - we planted:
36 pea seeds in (2) egg cartons. we will contrast these peas with those planted in the ground sometime in the next month - whenever we can a) find the garden boxes under the snow and b) dig up enough dirt that said seeds will be able to grow
32 broccoli seeds in 16 toilet paper tube planters. we will cull the seedlings when we know that we have at least one beautiful and hardy plant per tube.
9 Italian Paste tomatoes in 9 tubes (I wanted to do 2 in each of 6 tubes, but as these are leftover seeds from last year, we did not have enough). I want at least 3 of these plants tall and bushy and giving LOTS of paste tomatoes!
8 Rutgers tomatoes in 4 tubes (I want at least 2 of these plants)
8 Bonnie Best tomatoes in a hot chocolate box. When these get big, I will transplant them to separate containers, but for now they can germinate here. oh, I want 2 of these in my garden eventually.
8 cherry tomatoes in the other half of the cardboard hot chocolate box. I had planned on just one of these, as they are such prolific producers, but I recently found a recipe to make sun-dried tomatoes out of cherries, and I liked that idea very much, so I might make it 2 cherry tomato plants, depending on how these seeds do.

now, it might seem like I am over-planting these tomato seeds, but I am nervous about growing tomatoes from seed. no one does it; these seeds are from 2-3 years ago; you have to harden off the plants; the last time we did this, we had no fruits, just a bunch of weak, skinny, sad-looking plants (of course, that was also the year we added manure to the garden, and NOTHING grew, so that might not have been the fault of the seeds, but it may have been a factor, and I am nervous)
Right now, all of these seeds are on the windowsill in the living room, but I think I need to move them to dh's office windowsill - less likelihood of little hands "checking" on the seeds or tipping them over. besides, I think he gets more sunlight, and it is generally warmer in there.

oh and on the apple-gouda stuffed chicken, it was way too onion-y for my family. way. that was all you could taste. maybe if I had sauteed the shallot first, or cut it out all together, but as it is, I will probably not make it again.

a costco heart attack

06:10 AM, Monday, March 3, 2008 .. 4 comments .. Link

We went to Costco on Thursday.   We had our AmEx rebate check to spend - some $300 or so. I planned to do a bit of stocking up (cheese, frozen veggies, butter, batteries).   And, the usual Costco buys (baby wipes, eggs, bread, etc), and some things which we needed for which we had coupons, but would never have thought to buy at Costco (packing tape was $10 for 8 rolls; rawhide gloves). okay, so we bought:

12 D batteries
12 C batteries
72 AA batteries
3 45-lb buckets of hard white wheat (not on my list, but when I saw that Costco still had these for $17.99, I grabbed them. the other place from which I buy wheat just increased their price to $28 for the same buckets. I wanted four to complete my HWW storage, but the 4th - and last - bucket there was not sealed. So I will have to get that at a later date)
8 20-lb bags of basmati rice (which I have sitting in my hallway, but later today will buy some dry ice in town when we go for piano lessons, and will pour the rice into 6-gal buckets for long-time storage)
$70- 75 worth of fresh chicken breast, which has already been processed into:
           5 chicken cordon-bleu (I already have 4 packs in the freezer, so I only made enough for 1 more)
       5 greek chicken     (I already have 3 packs in the freezer, so I only made enough for 1 more)
           5 apple-gouda chicken   (this is a new recipe, so I only made 1 pack- I also changed the cheese from the recipe here)
          12 spinach chicken (this is also a new recipe, so I only planned to make 1 pack- it made a lot more! and I had already cut the recipe to 1/3!)
          20 chicken kiev (a tried and true, and we were out!)
          a lot of breaded homemade chicken fingers
          (now on these stuffed chicken breasts/rolls - I cheat. first, there is NO WAY one person in this house would eat a WHOLE chicken breast stuffed with stuff. I cut off the fat ends of the breasts and cut a pocket with my kitchen scissors. second, I shred my cheese and crumble my bacon or ham, and make an easier-to-stuff-filling that I use to pack the chicken pockets, and use a toothpick to close them up.    I use the skinny end of the breasts for my breaded fingers. I use a yummy rosemary olive oil bread that I get from Costco for the bread crumbs for all of these chicken dishes. I freeze them individually then I pack them 4-6 together in a freezer bag and label for later consumption. voila - instant gourmet meals)

6 4-lb packs of butter - based on past experience, this will last us 6 months. and it seems to me that butter has come down a bit since its high. I sometimes see it cheaper at teh grocery store, but I like the flavor of the Costco brand, and the store brands (which are usually on sale) are not as good.
frozen veggies (2 peas, 1 broccoli)
frozen smoothie fruits (1 strawberry, 1 mixed berry)
4 4-packs of applesauce (they are family-sized; the only kind dh will eat - doesn't even like the homemade!)
3 packs of wipies (I buy for my friend who has a Sam's card instead - Costco wipes are the BEST!)
lots of cheese - we like the extra extra sharp cheddar, and costco has this yummy white cheddar from the coast of England that we use for snacking; also a bag of mexican cheese blend that we use for scrambled eggs. I wanted a pizza cheese blend, but they didn't have any this time.

what else? I do not know off the top of my head, but the total came to $500 or so. I was unsurprised. I had wanted to come in under my rebate check, but the wheat and the rice were just too tempting. how is that - I get tempted while shopping to buy FOOD STORAGE! ah well, there are worse things to go crazy over.   so anyway, the total was about what I expected, but dh about croaked (he doesn't shop at Costco with me often). He grabbed the receipt to check the math, and when he was done, he disappeared the receipt. It is not in the car, in his pockets, his wallet, nor in any of my pockets, purse, etc. it is just gone.

oh, and I had my dad pick up some food storage for me from blue chip group that I had ordered and forgot to pick up (long story).   So anyway, I got that this weekend from him while we were in SLC. It was 5 6-gal buckets: 1 white sugar (50#), 1 small white beans (43#), 3 white flour (40#). I had wanted unbleached, but it was the bleached. AGGHHHH! oh well. too late now, and I am not that much of a fruitcake over that.   I think that is all the flour I want in storage, so we will just have to use that before we buy more.

ATTN: yogurt makers

11:37 AM, Wednesday, February 20, 2008 .. 8 comments .. Link

my family needs to make the transition from yoplait-thick custard (with lots of corn syrup) to a healthier yogurt. eventually, I want to be making my own, but for now, I am buying from a goat dairy nearby. I have strained it through cheesecloth, using the whey for smoothies, and the thicker creamy stuff I want available for them to eat like they do the yoplait stuff. but is has that tangy yogurt taste, and I need to cover that.
so my question: how do you sweeten your homemade yogurts (or do you?)
do you add fresh fruits or jams or honey or other yummy things to convince your children to eat it?

thanks!

bulk canning seals

04:17 PM, Monday, February 18, 2008 .. 4 comments .. Link

order online in bulk? is it worth it? I got 6 responses to my query on this. 2 people (fultoncountymommie and wstoller) buy theirs from local Amish stores, but were not sure on whether or not they ship. 3 comments (maa and mountainmama and Jonash2004) were from those agreeing that it was a good question and requesting an update on my findings. farmgal35 sent me to a website I had found with a google search. I actually found a few places that sell and ship canning supplies, but this one, canning pantry, was the cheapest for a lot of 60 dozen or 60 boxes.
Let's look at their prices, shall we? 60 boxes of a dozen seals each: $90 plus shipping and tax, which for me raised the price to $107.62. that puts me per box cost at $1.79. today at my normal grocery store (which I like to patronize not only for its good prices, but also because while open 24 hours a day, they are closed from 10pm Saturday night to 6am Monday morning), I priced the individual boxes at $1.59. During canning season at the end of the summer, they have sale prices on those. I cannot remember the sale price, but already, they are cheaper than online.
So, my conclusion: next summer, I will just go in to my local grocery and buy 60 dozen on sale.

also, I did look to see if canningpantry had a place where I could sign up for newsletters with sales, but it did not look like there was a place for that. so either they never have sales or they do not advertise it. either way, I am not going to be ordering from them any time soon.

changes around here

02:48 PM, Sunday, February 17, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I have changed my template, or rather, dh did while explaining the process to me. so, now this is just the beginning, stay tuned for further updates.....

ATTN: canners

04:00 PM, Thursday, February 14, 2008 .. 6 comments .. Link

does anyone buy canning seals in bulk online? I could buy at my local grocery, but the amount that I want in my food storage is 36-48 dozen (432-576 - which I figure would do me for 2 years of canning) just seems like I could order them online somewhere for cheaper. I would like to have a supply for times of need.
I am thinking a lot of Joseph in Egypt - Pharaoh was given a dream of seven years of plenty during which time the people were to prepare for the coming famine. We are being extremely blessed right now, and I am hoping I have more than 7 years left. but if not, what good to have a garden full of fresh produce if I cannot preserve it for my family during the winter? So I want the canning seals for my storage.
if anyone can help, I would appreciate the suggestions.

thanks,
Sunshine

from the HSLDA case files

11:58 AM, Tuesday, February 12, 2008 .. 7 comments .. Link

I was reading the top stories only to find this:

Family Accused of Having ‘Too Many Kids’

The Smith family (name changed to protect privacy) was contacted by an Austin social services worker who stopped by the house. When Mrs. Smith answered the door the social worker demanded to enter the home and to talk with the children. Instead of allowing her entrance, Mrs. Smith contacted HSLDA.

One accusation against the family was that they had “too many children.” They were also accused of requiring their children to “do the dishes” and of taking their frustrations out on the older children. The Smiths have seven children, with two adopted through foster care. In response, the family gave 25 letters of reference, a statement from their doctor, and a copy of the home study they had done to become foster parents.

Senior Counsel Chris Klicka contacted the social worker and explained the family's Fourth Amendment rights and explained how ridiculous the allegations were. Finally, the family received a call from the social worker that the case was closed because the accusations against the family were false.

*************************

Good heavens, it is now a CPS-reportable offense to make your children do the dishes! oh dear - my 18-mo has dish duty: she puts away the clean tupperware from the dishwasher and she thinks it is her RIGHT to 1) grab the soap tablet from under the sink, 2) hand it to me to open and put in the soap tray, close the soap tray, 3) throw away the wrapper, 4) close the dishwasher and 5) push the "start" button. my older kids (6 and 4) also have dish duty. they also have to sort the dirty clothes and sort and fold the clean ones. they have to clean up their toys and books, and help keep the house and yard clean. they also help vacuum. shhhhh - don't tell anyone!

How to prepare for Eternal Life (from a 4-yo)

02:37 PM, Monday, February 11, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

dd4, Bear, has been asked to give a small talk in her children's class on Sunday. Her topic? Preparing to live with Jesus again. So I ask her

Me: "What do you need to do in order to live with Jesus again?"

Bear: "Have a funeral."

Me:

Bear: "and die"

Me:

"uh, yeah, this is true, but, uh what do you have to do BEFORE you die?

Bear: "Loose your skin."

Me:

"huh?" then I remembered that when my great-grandma died, we told her that our Spirits-on-earth-in-a-body are like a hand in a glove. when you die, the hand comes out of the glove and can still move, think, BE, but the body (glove) is just dead. it is NOT the person you loved.

Bear: "and then our body gets to be in, like, a bed for the funeral. and then you are with Heavenly Father because you are dead."

well, at least she has got death part down. now I guess we need to work harder on LIFE!

Eaten for a week in January - FINALLY

12:16 PM, Monday, February 11, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I know, it has been over a month since I started this, but wanted to get you the final count. This was inspired by Schatzi and taken into count from Dec 31 - Jan 6 (check my archives for day-to-day amounts)

2.00    5 c wheat chex
3.00    22 eggs
0.50    1/2 grapefruit
0.30    2/3 c mac&cheese
5.00    8 oz feta cheese
2.06    9 granola bars
1.25    43 tator tots
8.00    45 slices of bread
2.30    1/3 lb? Deli meat
0.50    2 slices deli cheese
0.19    2 T mayo
0.24    2 T mustard dijon
1.29    2 heads romaine lettuce hearts
0.45    1 burrito
0.14    1/2 bag (ind.size) Doritos
0.14    1/2 bag (ind.size) Cheese Nibs
1.59    3 carrots,
1.29    2 celery stalks
1.10    ½ bag croutons
0.50    4 T caesar dressing
1.50    8.5 c milk
0.75    2.5 c cheerios
0.75    1.5 c OJ
0.75    8 garlic cloves
2.25    1.5 lbs broccoli
1.00    2 c cream
1.39    3 c frozen peas
6.00    1.5 lbs chedder cheese
2.59    1 lb butter
0.75    2 T yeast,
0.50    2.5 slices bacon
3.00    2.5 b-s chicken breasts
0.40    one package saltine crackers
4.00    6 6-oz yogart,
2.00    1 lb BBQ chicken pieces
1.00    3 ghiredelli caramel square
1.80    2 cucumber,
3.50    1 lb salmon;
5.00    1 deGiorno cheeze pizza,
3.84    6 packs cookies
15.29    large turkey sub at Quizno's, 2 cups broccoli soup, 1 bag chips, 1 cookie
1.06    3 c mexican cheese
0.92    2 can black olives
0.66    6 chicken nuggets
2.89    2 c EVOO
0.25    ¾ c gretchka
0.35    2 T nutella
0.50    ½ c Peanut butter
1.00    ¼ c honey
0.59    3 chimichangas
1.00    4 potatoes
3.60    9 snack packs
0.05    2.5 T salt
0.38    3/8 c dry milk
0.33    1 small can pineapple
0.49    a can of tomato paste
0.55    can of chopped tomatoes
0.70    2 c applesauce
1.79    2 deep-dish pie crust.
0.25    ¼ c whip topping,
0.50    2 T maple syrup,
0.41    6 T oil
0.60    3 c of cocoa puffs
0.33    1.5 c basmati rice,
0.10    2 T lemon juice,
6.00    package of blueberry muffin mix
0.99    tootsie rolls
0.20    1 c golden grahams
------------------
116.39    Total for that which I know the price


HM    2.5 bottle homemade peaches
HM    2 T jam (homemade)
HM    1 bottle turkey broth
HM    7 T lemon vinegar
HM    2 T broth,
L    2 pieces leftover cornbread
L    2 C turkey meat
L    one bowl leftover chili
G    6 homemade caramels
G    2 large choc-covered pretzels
G    1 C nasty-bad-for-you-caramel-covered cheap cheese puffs
------------------
HM = Homemade at a time when I was not paying any attention to cost.... (although the turkey broth was mostly free - free carcasses, leftover veggie peelings, ends, etc but energy costs I have no idea!)
L = from the week before when I was not counting costs (the turkey meat was leftover from boiling down free turkey carcusses - so free?)
G = given to me by my SIL, given to her by neighbors and friends for Christmas. I was doing her a favor by eating some of her sugar-laden foods....

AND FOODS FOR WHICH I HAVE NO IDEA THE COST BREAKDOWN (some of which is so negligible that I do not want to take the time, like the sugar or the oatmeal; and some of which I have not been back to Costco to check prices so I cannot break it down, like the fish and cheese; either way, I cannot imagine this costs more than $10, and probably not even close to that!):

    12 fish sticks
    .5 c grape nuts
    2 clementines
    7.5 c flour (ww, white, spelt)
    6 T sugar
    ¾ c oatmeal,
    ½ t basil
    3 c mixed "pizza" cheese
    various spices and herbs
    1 c hard white wheat berries
    1 T dry onion
    oregano

So there we go - not even close to what that American family from North Carolina ate. Imagine how much families in this country would save by eating homemade foods! If we had not had to take our car in to get fixed on a spur of the moment (check engine light came on while we were en route to a friend's house, so instead of playing, we went to the mechanics), we would not have had to eat at Quizno's and would have saved at least 12 of that 15....

so, let's be generousand round that $116 to $150 just to cover all the unknowns. that is still LESS THAN HALF of the NC family's $340.
I know there are people who feed their family on even less than $150 a week. I think I do, alot of the time - we had a lot of things that week we would not normally have, since it was Dec 30 - Jan 6 and we were doing a lot of holiday eating still.
I try to have beans, rice, oatmeal, cream-of-wheat once a week, and we eat a lot of soups in the cold months. anyway this was an interesting exercise for me. Maybe I will do it again. Maybe not....

GOOT is GOOD

10:59 AM, Thursday, January 17, 2008 .. 5 comments .. Link

okay - with the ravages of several colds around here (that is what we get for going to an indoor jungle gym playground for a birthday last week!), I decided to try making the goot described over at Jacque's blog. I actually originally made it to try on the psoriasis on my head, which some doctors have said is candida-caused. anyway, Saturday night and Sunday nights I turned on the waterless vaporizer which has helped baby girl in the past. She still didn't clear up and added coughing to her symptoms. So Monday night (after I bought garlic), I made some Goot. I spread it on her chest and feet before bed. She slept really well. still had a fever and stuff come morning, but in addition to the cold that everyone else has this week, she is also cutting two molars and two front side teeth. I spread it on her Tuesday night as well, and she slept really well.
but being me, I just had to push my luck, so last night, after a long day of coughing, I decided to see if it was really the goot... and did not slather her chest, back and feet. no one slept last night from her coughing and hacking and gagging. even after I did slather her in the middle of the night, it seems like it took forever for her to stop coughing. Crazy me, huh? stick with what works. Especially since I covered dh with it last night before bed too, since he was coughing pretty bad too. his coughing fits stopped almost immediately! We have managed to put it into sore ears of the older kids, but only after they are sleeping - they do not like the smell and will not let us put it on them.
anyway, we have become Goot fans around here! Thanks Jacque! we owe you one!

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Eaten for a week in January - FINALLY

GOOT is GOOD

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