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How very exciting about saving on the grocery budget! I can't wait. :) 

My original meal plan worked well for a couple of weeks but I kept having too many leftovers. Now the weather has changed and it's very hot, so I'm trying to think of cold meals and things that don't require much cooking. I'm not turning on the air conditioner during peak electric rates. When the sun goes down, I open the windows and turn on the central air conditioner to vent all the hot air out of the house because our house holds in the heat. It only takes a few minutes and then I turn the air conditioner off and use the ceiling fans and the box fans. We have cold water in the fridge, and I found I have a couple of scented sprays to spray your face with when you're hot. I don't remember when I bought them, but they still smell nice. We have a lot of mulch on the plants in the yard and garden so I don't have to go out in the heat and weed or water. 

I'm still working on my deep cleaning, and I'm trying to put together an exercise program. Exercise videos and streaming are out. 

We have a propane powered generator.  We store 6 tanks of propane so we are ready.  After Hurricane Helene we were able to have it up and running right away while most in town were looking for gas.  A yank lasted us two days running it twelve hours a day which was enough.  We had to put the generator in the garage at night to keep it from being stolen.  We were so thankful we had prepared because we did not lose any food including our large deep freezer.

I haven’t even finished reading the article yet, but I had to write and say that I have those same dishes! I bought a 4 person setting in 1970 and only have some of my original set. They are my favorite cup for morning coffee. I think I also have the same kitchen counter that you have.

Those candles look very interesting!  I have a supply of beeswax tapers, but as you point out, it isn’t always safe to have a candle lit — here if there is a bad earthquake we aren’t supposed to light anything at all for fear of natural gas explosions.  In the campervan we have 4 rechargeable reading type lamps that we bring inside when there is a power outage.  They all have the ability to shine warm light, which is important to me

I like what you write about doing things in ways similar to the 1930s but with what we have or what is safer.  I’m pressure cooking beans today in my electric pressure cooker.  I figured it doesn’t make any sense to replace the electric pressure cooker with a stovetop model when the stove is also electric.  I am sticking with the mindset of using what I have unless it is unsafe.  If I do need to replace something, I am choosing simple products that would have existed in the 1930s, the kind of things that last for life, and I try to find them used when possible.  Recently I threw away the plastic cutting board my husband had been using, and replaced it with a solid board that hasn’t been glued at all (with glued cutting boards I don’t know what that glue is made of and I know it can end up in our food microscopically just like plastic does).  I thought of all the cutting boards we have had over the years — plastic, wood, bamboo, the compressed paper kind of — they all break or warp and I realized I wanted to buy one for life, made in the USA.

One thing I am working hard to rid my kitchen of is plastic!  I can’t do it perfectly because I do freeze bread and baked goods, but we aren’t buying things in hard plastic.  At the beginning of the year we stopped buying pretending we could recycle plastic, and as such noticed how much was in the trash, so we switched to buying things in glass.  But then the recycling was filling up with glass, so now I am washing the jars and removing the labels.  I don’t need all these jars!  I can give away jars on my Buy Nothing group — people are far more likely to take jars that have been washed and don’t have the labels.  But just like the plastic, I am now considering what I buy and trying to make more from absolute scratch — ketchup and mustard are on the list, and eventually, lacto-fermented pickles as my husband likes those, and hopefully he and I can make and can salsa so we can stop buying it.  I don’t eat it, so I will need his help with making it.

I’m holding fast to the decision to not do errands in the evening.  It’s good to have a slow, simple evening and get to bed early.  I am happily waking very early most days (6 a.m. feels like sleeping in now!).  This means my husband and I now go to sleep at the same time, and most nights now we only use one bedside light.

It is 90°F right now, at nearly 5 p.m.  I’m sitting in front of a fan, which I have been reminding my son to do as well.  All three of us now sleep under light woven cotton blankets and will until October or November.

Stephanie G, our house holds in heat as well, being a stuccoed house with lathe and plaster walls.  While this works in our favor in winter, when the days warm up into the 60s most of the time and the house needs little heat overnight, it’s not so good in summer.  Turning off the A/C in the evening and opening windows only makes it hotter inside!  I’ve resigned myself to using the A/C in the evenings and overnight if need be.  Then in the cool of morning (before it hits 72°F outside), we open the windows and run the fan portion of the A/C unit to bring in the cooler air.  I too need to find some good cold supper meals that everyone would be willing to eat, especially for the next few weeks when my son will be away from home at supper time.  I was thinking potato salad with eggs would be a good choice, or perhaps a pasta salad.  With my son away at work for lunch time, he doesn’t love to just have a cold sandwich in the evening (and he eats a plant based diet plus eggs but no other animal foods).

Oh my goodness!  I just saw the dishes!  My Mom had 24 place setting of those and I inherited them.   

Meat is expensive and a small joint can shrivel to a tiny portion so I cook it as an old fashioned pot roast in a cast iron casserole with a well fitting lid. The meat is seared quickly then put on a good layer of root vegetables with onion, celery and barley, with just enough water that the meat is clear of it. The joint is cooked then allowed to rest in a warm place, so it is tender and easy to cut thinly, and I serve it for Sunday dinner with potatoes and steamed vegetables and gravy. The rest of the meat does dinner and sandwiches with salad for a few days. The pot roast vegetables make several good hot meals with the flavour from the meat dripping.

Our portions of meat on the plate are very small, the flavouring in a plate of good vegetables and gravy. Stews are padded out with pulses and dumplings, an English breakfast has the thinnest small rasher of cooking bacon, with plenty of fried mushroom, tomatoes, courgettes, an egg and bread. A Cornish pasty has plenty of potato, onion, and turnip with the beef. 

We learned to cook offal at school, liver, kidneys, stuffed sheep's hearts, the local butcher made faggots and sausages. I used to raise chickens for the table, and meat rabbits, and keep ducks and quail for gourmet eggs, and the butcher would exchange a large rabbit for a carrier bag of meat, and stock bones, and tell me how to cook the cheaper cuts I wanted. He retired and I do miss him. The supermarket had duck livers on offer this week and it seemed very few people were buying them. I think because it was something unknown. 

I fit a baked pudding, a cake, and some rock cakes in the oven while the casserole is cooking. 

I love softer light at the top and bottom of the day. Right now, it’s light enough when we wake that we don’t need it but usually I light a candle in the morning.  Also, I have (oh so slowly) been trying to simplify our rooms. I have done this before but with the move and with time things seem to creep in. Especially the bedroom seems so much more relaxing when there is less in the space.  
In addition, I do have the garden going and am tending it as much as possible.  It’s looking promising:-)

Funny how many recognize the dishes. 

I am paying more attention to turning off lights when I leave a room and/or not turning them on in the first place.  Temps hit 90 today but I still have not turned on the a/c.  Inside temps got up to 80.  I have not been uncomfortable so see no reason to turn on a/c.  Temps are forecast to drop to 60 tonight, so I will be opening windows when it cools off and closing windows and shades in the morning before the sun hits them.  We were supposed to get rain, but it has missed us again.  The garden is quite dry, and I cannot afford to water it.  

My water bill has gone up $24 due to work the city is doing, lights/gas went up $19 and health insurance is up $31 this month.  These are permanent increases.  Since my income has not gone up, I must cut from other areas to cover these increases.   I am attempting to use less water as well as electricity.  My house is primarily natural gas, including stove, furnace, water heater, clothes dryer and generator which is less expensive than electricity.  I'm really dreading property tax increase in September.  The state has a freeze on property taxes, but counties get around that by increasing the valuation of your property so even though tax rates don't go up your taxes do.

When the weather cooperates, I'm hanging laundry. Knit tops are going on plastic hangers inside as line drying pulls them out of shape.  I probably won't use the clothesline for a week or two as my neighbor's mulberry trees are currently loaded with fruit.  Mulberry stains do not wash away!

My paternal grandparents raised their family during the Depression.  They were tenant farmers.  They farmed with horses.  Grandma often said they hardly noticed the Depression as they raised most of their own food and animal food.  Three sons were free labor, and they all had to work hard.  Grandma always had a large garden and canned much of her harvest.  They raised a hog or two to butcher and also had chickens for eggs and meat.  I'm sure they also had a milk cow for milk and butter.  When you are extremely poor to begin with as they were, nothing much changed for them.   One thing that was extremely important to them was that their sons graduate from high school.  The boy's road ponies 4 or so miles to school and stabled the ponies at their grandmother's during the school day.  I don't know what my dad and his brothers did to earn money off the farm, but I know they did.  They participated in sports which their parents would not have had the money for, and they had decent clothes which I'm sure they would have had to buy themselves.  The farm where they lived was on a state highway and they had electricity to some degree.  They also had running water after a fashion -- once a week they had to pump water into an attic tank which provided gravity flow running water to the house.  It is unlikely that the well had an electric pump as most farms had windmills to pump water.  A barter system existed where farm women would take eggs and cream to the grocery store and trade for store credit to purchase supplies.  

Thanks so much for the new post! I have been sick for about a week, so when I saw the new post, it was the treat I needed. 

Since I have been sick, I haven't been getting much of anything done. I started to realize today that even if you are sick, you have to try to be committed to getting the most crucial things done. There was no way I could wash clothes this week. (I use a wringer washer, so more effort is required than with an automatic washer.) It was o.k. about not washing clothes since I have plenty of clothes, towels, and bedding. However, I did run out of clean dishes and pans. I decided that even though I rarely ever use paper plates and bowls, I should keep some of them handy in the kitchen for emergencies. My garbage is full, too, and needs to be dumped. It is hard when you live alone, are totally exhausted, and don't have anyone to help. So, I guess whether you are sick or not, you have to make an effort to get the most important things done.

I am making a change in line with the study. Today, as I was walking to the compost bin, I was looking at the grass. I started inspecting it and realized that there is a whole lot more there than just grass. I started taking pictures of things and asking Chat GPT what it is, if it is edible, whether you would eat it cooked or raw, and recipe ideas. It will also tell you any medicinal benefits of the plant. So far, I have discovered that probably at least 40% of my lawn is Plantain. I also have clover and Lamb's Quarters. It is beginning to seem that very little of my lawn is actually grass. Chat GPT said that a Plantain and Mint tea might help with the cold or flu, or whatever it is that I have. I tried the tea. It is very mild, so next time I will try it with the honey, lemon, and ginger it also suggested you could add to it. There are plenty of other wild plants out there, too. Chat GPT suggested that I dry the Plantain leaves for future use. Even people who don't have a garden might be walking on food every day. This is an exciting concept to me because my spinach already went to seed, and the Malabar Spinach isn't up yet. I hope I will feel up to going outside again tomorrow to see what else I have growing out there. Chat GPT suggests that since I have a lot of Plantain, I could can or freeze it just like spinach. The only thing about this now is that I feel like I should pick the Plantain and other edible greens from each section before I mow it. Of course, it will grow back, but now it would seem wasteful to just mow it down without harvesting it first.

I imagine that the people in 1932 were probably much more knowledgeable about what wild plants were safe to eat. I remember reading an account about a little girl during the Great Depression. Her mother gave her a paper bag and a little knife and told her to go to a certain business and ask them if she could get the dandelion leaves. She was very proud that she could contribute to the supper meal. 

I am enjoying reading all of the comments, and I am looking forward to the next post.

Have A Great Day, Y'all.

Becky Sue

P.S. I attached a picture of my Plantain.

Kimberly F -- potato salad with eggs is a wonderful idea! I switched out my cutting board a few years ago. I bought some treenware from Allegheny Treenware, and a good, solid cutting board was one of the things I got from them when I was getting rid of plastic. They have handmade wooden kitchenware for very reasonable prices. 

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We decided to keep some regular candles for power outages when there's no sun for recharging. We're going to see if we have the right sized c-clamps for the garage door this weekend, so in a power outage we can manually close it and then lock the c-clamps on the automatic door tracks to keep someone from opening it from the outside. During our last winter power outage, the hot water bottles were very nice, and it was handy having the hot water to refill them in the Thermoses. I got some larger Thermoses recently for food and beverages since my smaller ones will be used for the hot water bottles. I'm trying to plan for days of outages instead of just hours. 

My garlic is ready to harvest already. It's the earliest ever. And our early potatoes are looking suspiciously ready to harvest too. We dug up a plant yesterday that had died, thinking disease got it, but it had nice potatoes all ready for harvest. This is very early for them to be done. I dehydrated some onions and garlic last year, and it makes good onion and garlic powder when ground with a mortar and pestle. 

I cooked a meatloaf in my slow cooker so I wouldn't heat the kitchen. It's a modern appliance, but I can't seem to find a good solar oven. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. 

I enjoy reading all the adventures in reducing.  I was startled to see those taper candles all over.  I thought they were wax!  They're so real looking.  But much safer!!  They add a nice homey touch to everything, as well.

I think our Spring is about over here in Kansas.  The air has been on solid for several days now.  Between the heat and humidity, even the nights are icky.  I've done the olden days trick of misting the sheets and turning on the fan to cool off enough to get to sleep.  It helps.

I have a question about oven cleaning. Even with the self-cleaning, I still have to wipe it off.  How on earth do you get the back?!  My arms aren't long enough and I'm like an orangutan!!!  My husband does it for me, but he's over 6 1/2 feet tall!!  Any advice would help.  I much prefer my old wall oven.  It's on my wishlist for Lotto.... assuming my best friend ever wins ????.  I'm too cheap to play.

I've started to notice lights I've left on and go back to turn them off.  One caveat, I read that if you will be back in five minutes or less, you save nothing turning them off just to turn them back on.  Most of the time, though, I try to turn them off.  My dad was a stickler about turning off lights - I'm surprised to find I leave them on as much as I do.

Our house has deep eaves and a wide porch running all along two and a half of the sides of the house, and the side the half-length porch is on only has one unprotected window, so we don't get a lot of natural light inside.  It's good for keeping the heat out, but it means I need a light source pretty often.  Maybe that's why I leave lights on a lot, but I'm getting better.  I use all LED bulbs, though, which save money and don't put out the heat of incandescent bulbs.  

We have propane for our dual-fuel (gasoline & propane) generator now, and I know you can get some portable generators that are tri-fuel:  gas, propane and natural gas.  We have no natural gas available at my house, so propane was the choice.  We also realized how easy it is to run out of gasoline in an emergency!  With our generator, if it runs out of propane before it can be refilled, it can be switched to gasoline, though, should that be available. 

It's hot, rainy and steamy here, so the air conditioning is running, but I have it set higher during the day when I'm gone, and at night, it is set on 78F; with a ceiling fan, that is doable. I can't open the windows at night to cool the house, because the temperature at midnight is usually in the low 80's and the humidity is 99%.  The utility company is offering me a chance to sign up for their usage plan to save "up to $141 a year".  I'm not doing it because that isn't much savings - they do say "up to" - and because we tried that sort of thing years ago, and it failed miserably.  They would cut off our water heater at their discretion for "never more than an hour or two", only it ended being off almost all day at times and my poor husband would come in from work hot and dirty with no warm water to shower in and I couldn't wash the evening dishes without heating water on the stove.  

I have a gift card coming to me, and I plan to get some solar and/or rechargeable lights with it.

I'm simplifying meals, although I'm including meals that weren't known to my family back then, such as picadillo, which is good to stretch ground beef since it's served with rice and takes few ingredients. I am working on my late garden, hoping to get some produce before the bugs take it over.  I cover the plants at night to keep some of the night bugs off, then uncover during the day for pollination.  Sometimes I find a bumblebee slept in a blossom at night and is very ready to be free when I uncover the plants!

I've been living a quiet life and really enjoying it. I'm someone who usually listens to a lot of music and podcasts through my phone with headphones and when my headphones broke a month or two back I didn't replace them. I'm preferring the quiet and my own thoughts and when I had a spare 15 minutes yesterday I headed out into the garden to sit in the sun for a little while and read. It was lovely. 

It's below freezing this morning and still dark so I am using the time to make a batch of feta cheese. I'll make gozleme with some of the cheese with silverbeet and shallots from the garden. The rest can be eaten with eggs and kasundi, or in a quiche or on pizza. 

I've had a mending pile patiently waiting for a cold day and yesterday was the day so I sat with a quilt over my legs and hand sewed the mending. I have an electric sewing machine but I was in no hurry and enjoyed the quiet and stillness of the task. 

We have been doing a lot to simply for our lives, consume less, spend less and be better stewards of our resources.  I'm on a mission to use up what I already have on hand before going to the store.  Using materials from my fabric and notions stash I made flannel shelf liners backed with calico for my kitchen cupboards instead of using that awful plastic contact paper.  They are machine washable too.  I also made myself an apron to wear when I am cooking and canning so I save my clothes from stains.  I am going to make another apron, which is already cut out, so I have a backup for when one is in the wash.  Both are made with fabric from my stash as well.  I've been working on making a small stash of homemade gifts to give for birthdays, holidays and other occasions when a gift might be needed, again using items I already have in the house.  Along with all of that I've been going through my home and removing items I no longer need, want or use anymore.  I only want to keep things that are useful and enjoyable.  Progress is being made!

Dana M., your pink Pyrex collection is amazing!  I have a collection of turquoise pieces (refrigerator dishes and the chip & dip), plus many pieces of the Daisy pattern — the yellow and orange colored pieces, not Spring Blossom Green which often gets called “Crazy Daisy”.  In that I have oval and round casserole dishes, the refrigerator dishes, and the large rectangular baker.  I do have a pink 8” dish that I used frequently.  My everyday 8” x 4” loaf pans are opal Pyrex found at the thrift store (separate trips).

Your idea to sew cabinet liners that can be washed is brilliant!  I have every intention of following your example and using some of my stash to do the same thing!  They won’t all match but I bet I can coordinate them pretty well.  I have the fabric and pattern for a new apron, but haven’t started on it yet.

I usually have a stash of hand knit dish cloths for gifting, along with a couple of knit hats although right now I only have a baby sized one.  They are easy knits and I like to have my hands busy in the evenings and when we are camping or at races.  I learned to sew beautiful pillowcases with a cuff and coordinating accent, and I plan to sew up a few sets of those for my gift drawer, and definitely to keep them in mind for wedding gifts (nice florals) and children (I sewed Mickey Mouse pillowcases for my “Disney Adult” son.

Grandma Donna Wrote, 

Debby B,  Charles and I remove our oven door.  Most stoves have a way to remove the door and normally unlatch at the bottom.  We had to youtube our type of stove/oven to see how to do it and then write down the instructions. We clean the inside well while the door is off and then we can even take the door apart and clean between the glass on our oven door that gets so grimy.  I think that I have put this on my blog but not sure, I will check and see.  It is a bit fiddly to do this but we just take our time and remove it and lay it out on an old large cloth sheet on our table and clean the door good before putting it back on.  I hope this helps, Donna

I really like what you did to line the shelves! I actually need to line my shelves since we just moved to a new home, and I would much prefer what you did than contact paper! 

I know, isn’t that just a fantastic idea?!?!  I use scrapbook paper now because it’s what I have and it’s cute, but I do have to reline them.  I am thinking I will use a stabilizer between the cotton and the flannel, so they are a bit stiffer.

Becky Sue K,

You have to be really careful asking AI for recipes, because all it's really doing is hashing together a lot of pieces of writing by real people, and then spitting out something that "sounds like" a recipe.  Not an actual, tested recipe that has been used in the real world.

Sometimes the results are merely impractical (like baked goods where the dry ingredient to wet ingredient ratio is way off because it compiled the result from recipes of very different sized batches) but it can also generate "recipes" that are outright dangerous, like telling people to mix bleach and ammonia in homemade cleaning supplies, because those both appear frequently in (separate) cleaning recipes gleaned from the internet.  

Basically, you would do far better to make up your own recipes, based on common sense and actual experience of the world, than to follow random "recipes" generated by AI, which possesses neither.  (Slightly unrelated, but the use of generative AI is also absolutely horrible for the environment!)

On the topic of edible wild foods though, yes, there is so much out there!  At least where I live, more of the plants are edible than not, and even most of the "not" list is medicinal for some ailment or other, if used carefully.  

Plantain is not, in my opinion, very good as a green.  The very young leaves are "okay" but a bit bland, the older leaves are stringy no matter how long you cook them.  I do use it as a first aid pultice on bee stings, though.  I'm not trying to deter you from sampling it as a cooked green, but I think comparing it to spinach is a huge exaggeration.  So you might want to make sure it's something you're actually willing to eat a lot of, before harvesting large amounts to can or freeze.

Lamb's quarters on the other hand really are a lot like spinach, and are probably my third favorite cooked green, after canada waterleaf and stinging nettles. 

I know what you mean about the mowing, because I often let my garden beds get overgrown by lamb's quarters, sorrel, purslane, and other tasties I'm waiting to harvest :)  

We have not been living like the 1930's but I am enjoying seeing what everyone else is doing.  We are trying to cut back on things especially electrical use and gas for the car.  I like the rechargeable candles.  We have some solar lights but the candles are a nice addition.

I like hearing the items that are being made for gift giving.  Every year my granddaughters, now ages 14 and 19, and I make Christmas presents for the whole family.  We have made Christmas ornaments, origami, pillowcases, jar openers, and one year we went to the Dollar Tree and bought small items and canned them in cans that our public cannery uses.  We make the gifts over summer break and we are looking for suggestions for this year.  If anyone has more ideas I would love to hear them.

My young adult daughter and friends craft items for craft markets.  Some fun things they have been making lately are earrings from shrink plastic and beaded eyeglass chain/necklaces.  Supposedly eyeglass chains are very popular now, part of the grandmillenial/grandmacore/granny chic aesthetic.  It totally cracks me up, but I do like the chain they made for me.  The shrink plastic earrings are inexpensive to make and super fun to customize.  They used generic shrink plastic, generic permanent markers (Sharpie style), and basic earring findings.

I love to make handmade Christmas gifts.  I’ve made and given knit dish cloths, woven potholders, knit hats and scarves, olive oil and beeswax salves, bath salts, face care products, salt dough ornaments we stamped with people’s names using letter stamps made for clay), stationery sets (mostly thank you notes as people seem to like those best), knit soap bar covers, quilted table runners, quilted coasters, beeswax jar candles, bath “tea” bags (sewn with lightweight muslin), fire starters from pine cones, fire starters from egg cartons and old candle stubs, and much more.  This year I plan to sew toiletry bags for my MIL and SIL — they very much admired the dopp kit my husband used on his last trip.  I want to sew toiletry bags for my children too, in canvas that matches their interests.  I have the canvas already, and canvas to sew a fun apron for the one who loves mushrooms.  I’ll be sewing the bath tea bags again, because I bought a bulk quantity of an herbal tea blend that didn’t end up working for me as a beverage but is lovely in the bath.

Thanks for the ideas.  Last year was not a good medical year for me so while I was spending a lot time resting I made Christmas gifts including crocheted produce bags, crocheted dish clothes and then I made 17 bowl covers to give away and 8 for me in different sizes.  I will have to get with the granddaughters and see what they might want to do.  I had thought about jam, but we have 2 diabetics in the family and a couple of the border line so that might not be a good option.

The pillowcases are fabulous!  These are perfect for gift giving.  I love the vintage Pyrex, Corning Ware and Corelle.  Enjoy! 

I am not specifically living a 1930s life but I am trying to incorporate the spirit of such a life. Everyone's thoughts give me things to consider.

I try to use only one light in a room at a time if I turn on a light at all. I am working on homemade gifts. If I purchase a gift it is something simple like soap or candy bought on clearance. I make cards or I don't give one especially if I'm giving a gift (I put a to/from tag on the gift).

I was given a gift card to Subway. I haven't used it yet. I want to save it for an emergency and not use it just because one day I don't feel like cooking.

I enjoy visiting with family and friends but I have turned down some invitations if it would not work in our schedule. In the past I would've done it and then suffered stress trying to catch up on chores and other responsibilities. That might not be a specific 1930s thing but I see it as a way of making life simpler instead of cramming every possible thing into our lives simply because that's part of modern life now.