Hamburger patty, homemade gravy and onions, fresh picked tomatoes, brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes.
Charles and I eat one main meal per day. Normally we eat a light breakfast unless it is a weekend and we know we will be busy and we will then have a heavier breakfast. In the evening we eat very light, sometimes just a bowl of popcorn. I say evening but we try to not eat after 6:30 or 7:00.
So our main meal which is noonish we eat a more hearty meal.
We did some pressure canning this week. Ground beef and onions is what we canned and froze as well. We do not have much freezer space so we canned seven pints and froze three pint and half containers.
The canned beef has been put up on the home canned meat shelf and is sitting next to the chicken. Some may think this looks yucky but meat that is in a tin can looks the same, with home canned I know how this was canned and what is in the can.
The day we canned the ground beef we used leftover beef and made a beef mac and cheese and salad meal.
I moved a chest of drawers to the end of the bar to keep boxed and packaged food items. This was part of our pantry reorganizing. We are getting ready for hurricane season and so we pulled items from the pantry and cleaned the shelves and checked dates, rotated items and topped off any items that we need for possible power outages which is good to do in any area that we live.
We have been practicing eating with shelf stable items for power outages. Here is canned chicken, mushroom gravy, rice and canned asparagus. We have a camp stove that we use to cook on when the power is out.
July is a big birthday month for our family. We have many family members with birthdays. I made a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting.
Cakes do not last long at our house. I do not bake as often because we try to limit our sweets but we can still enjoy them in moderation.
The peach trees are being harvested now. I will use these to make peach butter. I use the ball canning book but I control the sugar amount.
This was one of our recent big breakfast. Quail eggs, rice and a delicious salad with avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro, onion with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. We have added quail eggs to our diet for health benefits.
Each week my goal is to make our home easier to clean and maintain. It is getting better but there are areas that are more difficult such as our small storage room and Charles work shop. Inside I still have to go back under the kitchen bar area to see if there are more items we do not need. Last week we did part of that area under the bar. I need help with this area because I get dizzy when I bend down.
I have been thinking about our kitchen and ways to make it more functional because I cannot reach but one shelf in the upper cabinets without having to use a step stool.
In my pictures and videos one thing that does not show is that often I am standing on a step stool at the kitchen counter. I will link one of the videos that I did that you many have noticed that parts of it I am short at the counter and then tall and that is because when I am making something and it requires rolling out such as a pie crust I need a stool.
Bernadette put her green ball on the window ledge of their look out window. She is waiting for the postal lady.
Our home is our refuge, it is a place that we make it like we want it to be. We do not have to spend a lot of money to make it comfy and interesting. Many of our items came from thrift stores and yard sales. Some items came from the curb where people have put something out for trash and we repaired items. You can do this too.
The most important advice I can give you at this time is that we should take care of the things we have. Don't waste money, turn off lights and fix drips or leaks.
Practice spending little money and try not to use a credit card. Empower ourselves by learning how to find ways to spend less at the grocery store.
If we buy basic food we can stretch meals very well.
If I went to the grocery store today and bought these items below at our local large WM store I could make many meals.
32 oz rice, 5 lbs Potatoes, 3 lbs onions, 1 head lettuce iceburg, 1 fresh slicing tomato whole, 2 cans tomatoes, lite olive oil, 1 lb butter, head of garlic, 1 box penne pasta, 1 doz eggs, bag corn meal, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen brussel sprouts, frozen green beans, box of cereal, box of oatmeal, 1 lb grass fed organic ground beef, 1 lb bacon, quart half and half milk/cream, flour 5 lbs, sugar 1 lb, 3 pks yeast, 1 whole chicken, bag of fresh carrots, 1 can sliced peaches, 1 jar relish.
I searched all the prices today and compared prices to get the lowest cost and all of the items above totaled these items. $66.91 This was compairing prices from store brands and other brands. As I added it up several times, I thought it would be much more than $66.91 We will be shopping a little slower and doing better with checking prices in the future. Keep in mind not all of this was store brands because some popular brands were actually less than the store brand and the beef was organic grass fed.
We use half and half because we thin it down with water for milk and use it as it comes for cream for sauce. There are probably better dairy options.
You have seen many meals on my blog, the list above would make the boiled buttered potatoes with crumbled bacon on top with a side of brussel sprouts, one of our favorite meals. I could make several loaves of bread and many other things from the flour, I can make cornbread, a vegetable soup or a vegetable beef soup with cornbread. Dumplings, pancakes, have oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. I have not figured out all I could make and how long these groceries would last us.
Many things can be made with the use of the eggs such in baking. I can make a couple of pasta meals, a salad, a nice creamy penne pasta. I could make hamburger patties with onions and gravy with mashed potatoes. I could make stir fry rice or tomato rice and green beans. The whole chicken can be boiled and add onion and carrots and the broth can be used for dressing or soup.
The chicken meat could make a meal plus a chicken salad. Homemade crackers can be made with the flour, a peach cobbler with the one can of sliced peaches because we have flour, butter and sugar. So many combinations with these ingredients, this is just a small example. Using different items there could be chili, different noodles, many different items.
We already have items in our pantry but this is to show that if we think it out we really can still get a lot of meal makings for less money than we think we can.
Homemade flat breads are a good way of stretching a meal.
People are spending a lot of money at the grocery store right now and it is hurting their budget but you can see above that with the right ingredients good wholesome meals can be made and we can stretch these meals.
Some of the items above I would not purchase because I most likely would already have some of the items such as relish and onions, peaches and rice because I keep those items in the pantry but this was a list of items if you started with nothing. We also keep canned and powdered milk in our pantry and we have spices and flavorings such as vanilla.
There are people that can stretch much better than this with only $25.00 using beans and lentils and such as that. It is getting more difficult to do and it seems each week prices have gone up.
Some of you can make wonderful casseroles that can feed many people. We are a family with food allergies so some items we cannot consider.
I am posting the link to my video about herbs and the pear pie and when I am making the pie I kept standing up on a stool to get up high enough to roll and cut the dough. I was up and down off that stool during the making of the pie because I am short as you will notice in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xeccNL8hpY&t=5s
I hope this helps to give you some ideas. Grandma Donna
