Pound your own well

Fill your pantry-an insurance policy

I am a believer in keeping my pantry as filled as I can afford. It really is an insurance policy. If you can learn to buy in bulk when things are on sale you can be able to buy only sale items.

For example: Last year we bought and canned chicken breast when it was at the lowest price we had seen it, in this case it was 1.79lb. I canned enough to last at least until the next sale. In our case the best price came a whole year later. This time I was able to purchase boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 1.48 a pound. Of course I canned at least another years worth.

I buy flour in 25 or 50 lb. sacks and store in icing buckets I get for free at bakeries. I make bread often enough that I don't worry about bugs because I go thru it fast. Flour seems to go on sale about every 3 to 4 months. At least the price I call a good one. This time I purchased 25lbs for 4.99. This is about the best price I can find.

For my whole wheat flour, I bought a few bushels from a neighbor who grows organic wheat for Bob's red mill. I paid what they got from Bob's. It was much cheaper than buying from the store of course. I then froze and refroze the wheat. It now sits in the basement in 5 gallon buckets. I usually grind 5 to 10 lbs. at a time and store in the extra fridge we have in our garage.

My favorite price is free or close to free so I use coupons.

A couple of days ago I went to United in Guymon for some salad. We like spinach in our salad so I picked up 2 packages of Dole spinach and one package of Cesar salad mix. I noticed they had a recipe booklet in a little rack, I looked at it and sure enough there was a 1.00 coupon in it. United doubles coupons up to 1.00 so that meant I could get 2.00 off per bag. United will only double one like coupon per transaction so I just made 3 separate transactions. I saved 6.00 and paid 2.00 total including tax for 3 bags of salad. Not quite free but pretty good.

I realized I sure could have saved even the 2.00 if I were to grow my own salad mixes. That is why on my side bar I have it listed to plant that. After my initial cost of potting soil and seeds, all of my salad will be free. My favorite price.

This year we all need to plant as much of our food as we can. It may mean a couple of tomato plants, some lettuce and a pepper or two but anything you can grow is more than you had before.

In times past nearly everyone had a garden and I think we need to get back to that. Food doesn't magically appear in the grocers.

Anyway back to my original post.

I buy only things my family likes and we will use. If we never eat sardines even free sardines are not a bargain. Unless you have a friend who loves sardines. Why be a waster?

Another good thing to keep on hand are several kinds of dry beans and rice. Both store well and are good dishes for yummy meals.

I tried canning dry beans but the process was so long, soak, cook and then can it was more time then I wanted to spend. What I do now is soak, cook package into meal sized freezer bags and freeze. When I canned the beans we ate them so fast it wasn't worth the time and bother. So I just cook about 3 to 4 meals worth and freeze. I try to have navy, black and pinto beans frozen for a variety of dishes.

On my birthday a couple of years ago I received a very nice rice cooker. At the time it seemed silly. I started using it and now I love it. Don't buy the cheapo kind get a good one. I have used my rice cooker on mission trips to cook many things. I even took it to a craft day recently filled with canned stew items and it was a hit. I used canned beef, potatoes, carrots and then added beef stock and some barley. We gobbled it up.

Do you have pantry stocking ideas to share?

Bandanna in your purse

Every lady should carry a bandanna or large kerchief in her purse. Why? Because they can be used in so many ways. Here is a list of a few ways they can be used.
1. in place of disposable Kleenex
2. to keep your hair out of your face while working
3. to wipe your hands or arms, etc.
4. wear like a bandit to keep dust out of your nose
5. wet and wear like a bandit is even a better filter. It also helps a wee bit if chemicals are around or spilled.
6. can be used as a bandage, for instance if you cut your arm or leg and don't have anything with you to use, just wrap the bandanna around it until you can deal with it.
7. can be used as a tourniquet (use a tourniquet only as a last resort)
8. can you think of other uses for a bandanna?