Time To Plan For Holiday Grocery Shopping

 Good morning!  Or Good "whenever you are reading this".  Down by two cats YAY!  Still have 7 left.  This week is kind of a odds and ends type week.  I'm trying to get things organized and accomplished.  I canned some dry pinto beans.  It's a nice convenience to just have to open a jar.  I also made some sweetened condensed milk for the holidays.    
I think I've undertaken a daunting project in that I'm attempting to restore a hand sewn quilt my grandmother made probably 75- 80 years ago.  I've washed it on the gentle cycle and am now waiting for it to line dry.  Having to do that inside as we have cats outside too and want to make sure nothing gets damaged further.  If anyone has some tips on how to go about this, please comment below.  I need all the help I can get.  The only thing I know is if I do nothing, the quilt will continue to disintegrate in my trunk.  See what I mean?

                                         

So that's the local chit chat on the homestead, but I have a much more exciting thing to talk about!  Holidays are coming!!!!  With that comes the best grocery staple sales hands down.  This would be the Super Bowl of the grocery shopping sale season.  Now don't get me wrong; there are good deals to be had through out the year, but this time of year you can get really good buys on things like flour, butter, turkey, ham, evaporated milk, nuts, chocolate, canned vegetables, cranberries, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, spices, extracts, and sugar to name a few.  Everything a growing pantry needs.  

Even Walmart and Aldi are announcing their holiday dinner plans!  Now they aren't really telling me anything I don't already know.  Every year grocery stores vie for our holiday dinner dollars.  Walmart and Aldi are just advertising what every store will be doing.  So don't just focus on Walmart and Aldi.  Scan those other ads for the deals too.  So, just in case you didn't read the article, it's Nov 1st -Dec 26th.  You will see some good staple item deals.  Stock Up!

Here's a tip.  You're deals are usually found on the first and last page of a store's ad.  These are called Loss leaders and they are that.  The store takes a loss on these things in order to draw you into the store and hopefully sell you other things maybe not as great a deal.  Your mission should you choose to accept it; is to shop these loss leaders and not get suckered into other things.  Now if you find a good unadvertised price on something in the store, we can talk, but know your prices going in.   

Now is the time to start laying a little extra aside.  If you can't lay a little extra aside, start cooking more from scratch and using less processed foods in order to have the extra dollars to stock up on these deals.  Go thru your pantry and make a wish list.  Go thru your grocery list and nix anything unnecessary; soda, junk food, processed foods.  Push comes to shove make the junk food!  Only if you make it; it's no longer junk food, but homemade goodness with no funny business.  Seriously, some of the junk food will also be on sale!  Buy it then!  

You're welcome!  😁

https://fox8.com/news/walmart-aldi-to-offer-thanksgiving-dinner-options-at-lower-prices/

I'm Not Supposed To Be A Crazy Cat Lady!

 Yall I'm losing my mind!  All the things we have going on and add 9 baby kittens in various ages and it's an insane asylum!  Remember the feral mom and  kittens?   Well HER mom was also pregnant and had a litter, we know not where.  This was about 4 weeks ago; right after I posted on the kittens we had then.  Anyway, we knew she had a litter of kittens, but not knowing where they were, we just started looking everywhere we could think of. The idea was to get the kittens and then use them to lure her into the house; much the same way as we did her daughter.  So with that thought in mind, DH went under the house to see if he could find them.  So the good news is DH did find a litter of kittens.  The bad news is they were too old to be hers.  We suspect they belonged to another one of her feral daughters.  We haven't seen that particular daughter in a long while.  In fact.  We had only seen her a few days before we found what we believe to be her litter.  We believe something happened to her, unfortunately.  For that reason we're so glad we found those kittens as they wouldn't have had a mother to feed them and would have died.  

So now we have 9, count them 9 kittens running thru this house and still have no idea where the, uh, grandmother mama cat's litter is.  I expect she'll bring them to us to feed in a couple of weeks.  We can't end this over abundance of cats unless we can get that grandmama cat fixed.  She's the one who keeps having kittens.  This would be her 5th in about 14 months.

As for the daughter we currently have in the house and slated to be fixed, she did take in these extra 4 babies and mother them...or a bit. It got to the point they got their teeth and started biting her.  So we had to step in and start hand feeding them some.  They're staring to eat dry food, but still want the milk we've been giving them.  Mini Me , the mother cat that is raising them, does still allow them to nurse a little, but not if they start fighting for a spot.  With 9 kittens that can be all the time.  We're just happy when she can and do our best when she can't.  

Without further adieu:  

If you're near North Georgia and are interested in a kitty, just comment and let me know.  The gold one is taken, as are the two black males and the black and brown long hair female.  

Update on Mom and reworking things

 Good morning all!  It is a good morning here.  Tonight's low is forecasted to be 43.  Fills my heart with joy.  That there is good fan in the window sleepin weather!  Now in January, when it's lows in the 20's; pay no attention when I complain about how cold it is.  Not going to think about that right now.  

Temperature isn't the only reason for my good morning.  Looks like my mom will be coming home from the hospital Tuesday.  She has a long road back, but she's doing so well.  

This particular hospital stay actually started almost 15 weeks ago.  15 weeks tomorrow.  Back in July, my mom fell in her driveway.  She had just returned from walking her dog.  When she pushed the button to open the garage, it startled her dog and he bolted, pulling her down.  Although an ambulance came, she refused to go to the hospital because she didn't think she was hurt.  She thought she was just jarred from the fall.  We won't mention what all of her children thought.  Ahem.....Moving right along!  

To her credit, she did finally go to an orthopedist about 4 weeks after the fall.  They took x-rays and said no fracture.  So she's been operating under the knowledge that nothing was broken.  However she wasn't getting better; only worse.   She was living in constant pain.  Finally she went to another orthopedic surgeon. They did a new set of x-rays and a scan to confirm, but there it was big as day, a hip fracture. Fast forward about a week due to having to make an appointment to see the surgeon for result and finally being told she could just go thru the ER and they would admit her to fix the hip.  So we took her a week ago this past Thursday.  They did surgery on her hip that Friday.  She did great for a day or two and then her knee swelled up and was causing crazy amounts of pain.  They drew fluid off her knee and sent it off to be tested; infection.  Yep, now we have that.  So she's started on antibiotics.  Now she's up and moving around.  She's working with physical therapy and walking down the hall some.  I'm so glad to see her out of pain.  She hasn't needed much for pain in the last couple of days.  She's primarily still in the hospital to finish the antibiotics and because she's on blood thinners to avoid clots.  

We did have a concerning (to put it mildly) moment during her stay.  It seems she has lesions on her pancreas.  They did an MRI to rule out Cancer.  When a doctor says "cancer" to you, it's easy to go to a very dark place.  Fortunately the MRI found no cancer.  We believe the lesions are damage caused by extended use of Tylenol.  We're hopeful, as she heals and isn't taking the pain meds, her pancreas will heal some.  So bear that in mind guys.  You shouldn't need to take any pain med for longer than 2 weeks.  If you're still in pain, see a doctor!!!  Your liver and pancreas will thank you.  

So, as for reworking things;  My siblings and I and banding together to help her during her recovery.  It's probably going to be a 6-8 week journey.  As she progresses, she won't need us as much, but for now, I'll be splitting time between My house and hers.  That means making meals ahead for when I'm gone, but also maybe purchasing things to have here and there to make things more convenient for both myself and my family when I'm away.  The garden is the least of my worries at this moment.  It's finished for the most part anyway.  I have a few cold weather things, but not much.  Clean up will have to wait til later.  Maybe it will give me something to do during the bleak winter months.  I plan to take my sewing with me for times when she doesn't need me.  That way I can keep up my Etsy shop during the holiday shopping season.  

It's what all of use should do in similar, and by that I mean "Crisis" situations.  There will always be things that rear their ugly head at the most inopportune times.  The way to plan for these things is to always recognize they will happen and so be willing to lay aside schedules, processes, and priorities to address them.  My mom is my priority. My family is also a priority.  That means I will do as much as I can to take care of my family and my mom.  I also need to be a priority.  If I'm not a priority to myself, then I won't be able to be there for my mom and family.  So while I will make things ahead primarily:  I will also buy healthy (operative word is healthy) things at the store that I don't have time to take care of at home.  I will also set things aside that don't have to be a priority.  

I'll do my best to post some frugal tidbit, but it may be a repost of something relevant to the season. Please be patient.  I'll be back at the writing desk sooner rather than later.  

If there is a topic you'd be interested in my addressing, please comment below and I'll address it, or post something from a previous post to address it.  Thanks guys!

I know I'm running late with a new post

 My mom is in the hospital, so I may be next week.  Thanks for understanding.

Look Behind You!

 Hello, Hello!  How's everyone doing?  We're good here.  Have some kittens needing homes due to a feral mama and her brood we're housing.  She's due to get fixed end of October, but she has 5 little babies needing a new place to live.  Garden clean up is in the works.  Putting the garden to bed is hard work, but very satisfying, especially if it's been a good year; and it has.  I'll be behind the sewing machine adding stock to my Esty store soon.  The holidays are on the horizon and I need to have a lot of doll clothes for gifts.  Gifts for children, and gifts for people that are children at heart.  Many of my customers are doll collectors.  Weather it's due to nostalgia from their childhood, or they just happen to have an antique doll that needs dressing; those customers prefer the vintage style of the clothes I create.  Child or child at heart, I got it covered.

I can understand the attraction.  I too have dolls from my childhood.  Being 56, those dolls are now bordering on antique, but definitely vintage.  I also have a few old, old dolls, around 80-100 years old, and they need clothes too.  I don't collect, these are just ones I use for models or am refinishing to find new homes.  Have to include a recent restoration in this post.  She's about 80 years old.  I'm guessing you can tell the before and after.  She's up for adoption to anyone interested.  She's $75.  

Vintage items are attractive, and in a practical sense, can be a really good buy.  They're really a great choice when it comes to small home appliances.  In some cases, large home appliances.  I know.  It sounds weird, but it's true.  At the risk of sounding cliché, things were just made better then.  My mom once told me people would know how long a couple had been married by the age of their appliances.  I guess the same can be said these days, but for an entirely different reason.  Appliances, then lasted way longer.  They were built to last longer.  

I was in an antique store a while back and saw a old Westinghouse stove similar to the one below.  1928!  I was told by the dealer that the stove was still working the day it was taken out of the original owners house a week prior.

I myself recently lost my Iron.  That iron, purchased at Walmart and from a allegedly reputable company, gave me fits from day 1.  Being a seamstress; especially one who has a shop needing stocking, I needed an iron that would be a work horse.  This one wasn't.  It gave out after only a few years.  I know I could have returned it right after I bought it, but I didn't have time.  I needed an iron. So when this iron went out I knew I wanted to look vintage.  I found a vintage GE steam and dry iron made in the 1970's.  I've had it now for 14 months and it's been wonderful!  It cost me $26.  I did pay for priority shipping because I was in the middle of a custom order and was on the clock, but even that only made my total, taxes and everything, about $45.  This iron is one purchase I know I don't regret.

I used my grandmothers pressure canner, manufactured in 1946, up until this year.  This year I noticed a small crack in the bottom.  This makes it unsafe to use as a pressure canner.  77 years old!  I still have it though.  Cant bring myself to throw it away.  

The vast majority of my cookware is cast iron.  I have a few new pieces, but prefer the old pre 1960 pieces.  In a side by side comparison, the older cast iron seasons easier, and is lighter than it's modern day counterpart.  Not to mention I love the history behind each pan/pot.  To get these sometimes means restoring them from a rusted clump, but this isn't too hard.  Many times a good scrub with vinegar and 0000 steel wool does the trick, but for really bad ones you can put them in your oven and set your oven to the self cleaning mode.  Let the cleaning mode run it's course and you'll remove a good as new pot that just needs re-seasoning.  While most of my cast iron is around the 1920-1940 era, I do have a couple that are late 1800's.  Those were my great great grandmothers.  I cherish those.  The piece seen below was a mess of rust.  I restored that one using electrolysis.  An engineering friend helped me with that one.  Basically it was submerged in salted water and a current was run through the water.  The rust followed the current away from the pot.  Not sure of all the scientific particulars, but that's the jest.  I then washed and seasoned the pot.  This pot is actually a humidifier.  

I'll find vintage cooking utensils; knives, spatula, ladle's at thrift stores that hold up better than current "high quality" brands.  My washing machine is an older gear driven machine.  Makes it easier to repair if needed, and runs great. 

The benefit of looking to vintage brands is the opportunity to get a product that works better at the same, if not lower, cost.  I'll tell you there isn't one vintage item I own that I regret purchasing.  Plus I love the idea of giving something old a new life.  

Do you have any favorite trinkets?  I'd love to hear about them.  

The power of DIY cooking.

 Good afternoon everyone!  

Today's topic is one near and dear to my heart.  It's something I, and almost everyone else is contending with in our world; How to make do with higher food prices.  I've waxed philosophically about watching for sales, gardening, canning, bartering, shopping mark downs, and cooking from scratch.  All of these are amazing skills you can use to help you not only make do, but come out on top when prices hit the roof.  I wanted to dive in a little more to the scratch cooking, if I may.  What I'd like to show is how, not only are there savings in cooking from scratch, but there's a greater degree of control in what is put in our families bodies.  It's healthier!  

So with that thought in mind, I looked up a few items on the Walmart webpage.  These are Walmart brand items.  I want to price compare the Great Value brand, which is usually the least expensive, with what I spend making that same item at home.  The savings is more than just a few pennies.  The cost of ingredients I'd use to make this at home comes from Walmart's site as well.

Shall we begin:  Great Value Biscuits: Ingredient list

Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Palm Oil, Buttermilk, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate), Contains Less Than 2% of the Following: Sugar, Whey, Salt, Sodium Caseinate, DATEM, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzyme

Could be worse.  In all the wordiness, I do see Flour, Water, Buttermilk, Baking soda/Powder, Salt, and Whey.  But I also see Palm Oil, DATEM, Mono and Diglycerides.  So still not as good as what you can make at home in my opinion.  Plus, this package contains 20 biscuits for the lovely price of $4.52.  That's .23 per bisuit

Compare To My Frozen Biscuits:  6 cups of Unbleached Flour (you can still use white; it will be a little cheaper.  You can also do half white and half wheat): 3 tsp Salt,  3 TBS Baking powder, 1 cup of Butter, 2 cups Milk. 

My recipe makes 27 good size biscuits.   The Cost of those 27 biscuits? $3.10.  That's .12 per biscuit.  That's almost half the price of the store bought.  To have 27 Great Value biscuits would cost you $6.10.  

That's a $1.42 savings!  My calculations are based on Walmart prices for standard sizes.  Should you choose to use Buttermilk, you'd add a little bit more, due to price difference in buttermilk and the addition of a pinch of baking soda; but not much difference.  These are incredibly easy to make.  My recipe is on my recipes page.  

In fact all of these recipes are included on my recipes page.  Have a look!

Great Value Chocolate syrup.  Cost is $4.18 if you buy the value size.  Which is the better price between the 24 and 48 ounce sizes. 

 First red flag is the High Fructose corn syrup, then more corn syrup?  Xanthan Gum? What the heck is Vanillin?  Chocolate syrup was one of the first things I began making at home due to my son's allergy to what we then thought was corn, but later found out it was any corn product grown in the standard industrialized farming method.  Organic Non GMO corn products caused no reaction.  

Compare to my homemade chocolate syrup.  Ingredients:  1 cup cocoa powder, 1 1/2 cups sugar, dash salt, 1 tsp REAL vanilla, and 1 cup hot water.  Makes 24 oz.  Cost to make: $1.69 for 24 ounces or $3.38 for 48 ounces.  While the savings isn't astronomical at only .80 ( not bad though) the homemade version is a much healthier alternative.  No ingredients where you need to look up the definition.  Plus I get the added benefit of knowing there isn't a trace of anchovies( gag) in my chocolate syrup.  Ways to reduce even this cost is to make your own vanilla.  Incredibly easy to do.  

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN VANILLA:  Buy 10 vanilla beans and 1.75 liter of Vodka or Rum.  I have mine in Rum.  Run a knife down the length of the bean, putting a slit in one side.  Submerge the beans in the vodka/rum.  Just stick them down in the bottle.  Put in a cool dark place and shake once a week.  Vanilla can be used in 6 weeks, but it's best if you can let it steep about 6 months.  Once you start using your homemade vanilla, you can just top off the bottle with additional vodka/rum.  I usually will pour off 2 ounces into a separate container, and then add 2 ounces of vodka or rum to my big bottle of homemade vanilla, and just let it keep on making vanilla.  No need to buy beans again for a long while.  Real vanilla at Walmart; their brand, is $5.98 for 2 ounces.  My homemade vanilla is .83 for 2 ounces.  That's a significant savings.  

Okay, last example lest I bore you to tears:  Great Value brand Hamburger helper.  I'll admit this one is hard to compare.  Mainly because the only ingredient our recipes share is the pasta.  I do have to buy pasta and that's where similarities end.  One box of their hamburger helper, which somehow doesn't have tomato in it, is $1.28 for one 5.5 ounce box.  I'd need 2 boxes to feed this crew.  That would cost me $2.56.  Plus look at the chemicals!  Yikes.  

My hamburger helper is 8 ounces pasta, 1 lb ground beef, one medium onion, 1 28 ounce can tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, pepper, and whatever spices strike my fancy.  Minus the ground beef, my hamburger helper comes in at $2.23.   While not a huge savings, it's a much healthier meal.  It also takes the same amount of effort to prepare.  I simply brown the ground beef with a chopped onion.  Add the pasta, salt, pepper, and tomatoes.  I fill the tomato can about half way with water and swish it around then add that to the pan.  I stir it all together.  Put the lid on and let it simmer til the pasta is soft.  That's it.  No mystery.  Also, since I grow my tomatoes, this is cheaper than the $2.23 I've calculated based on the price of a can of tomatoes.  Mine are pennies.  Watching for sales can make it even cheaper. 

The point of this post is to give an idea of how to save even more at the store by making your own.  I have way more recipes on my page and try to add new ones when I find them.  The savings for just these three items, not counting the vanilla, is $2.55.  If you do an equal comparison of the biscuit prices you're looking at a savings of $5.65.  What else can you buy that you couldn't before with a few more dollars in your pocket?  Think of the things you buy prepackaged at the store.  How much do you think you could save by making it yourself?  I'd hazard to guess it could be significant.  It's a huge way to save without ever worrying about a garden or livestock.  It's a huge savings without the added benefit of a sale.  It also has the benefit of feeding your family well.  

Check out my recipe page and see the things I make here.  Maybe some of them will be useful to you.  What are some things you make from scratch?  

 

STAIN REMOVER RECIPE!

   This is extremely good for baby clothes, but really, any clothes with food or grease stains.  I've used this recipe for set in stained clothes for years( ahem decades).  Set in meaning they were accidently dried, and therefore permanent.  

1 cup of liquid Cascade dishwashing soap- just your normal cascade liquid; doesn't need to be fancy.  1 cup of Clorox color safe bleach.  Mix these in a  gallon bucket with Very Hot but not boiling water.  Fill the bucket about 2/3 full of hot water.  Then add the clothes that need stains removed.  I like to set aside clothes until I've gathered enough to make this worth while.  Once added just let them sit over night or at least 12 hours.  Then dump the whole thing, clothes and all, in your washer and wash as usual.  You won't need to add more soap though.  Double check each item as you place them in the dryer to make sure they're clean.  Some really tough stains may need a second go. 

This won't remove red mud stains, rust, bleach stains, or ink(especially black marker).  

Tip for removing stains in general: treat them before they're dried.  Once dried these stains can be set in and hard to remove

Ink stains can be removed by spraying with hair spray before they have been dried in the dryer

Blood stains can be removed by soaking in peroxide; again before they have been dried

Grease stains can be removed with dish soap ground into the stain before washing.  

Beef Tallow

 

Putting up beef tallow this morning. Once cooled, this will be solid and white. This is very easy to do. Kroger had beef brisket on sale last week for $1.99 a pound. I bought two. I trimmed off as much of the fat as possible. I chopped it up and added it to my crock pot, with nothing else. Added the lid to the top, but tipped it a little to the side. Then I allowed it to cook, on high, for quite a few hours.  As this cooks the fat will liquify, and what's left will sink to the bottom.  This cooks until it's no longer bubbling. It will go from looking like it's boiling to a smooth surface with seeming no activity. At that point, the liquid is ladled through a strainer into warm jars. Wipe the rims with a clean cloth dipped in a little white vinegar. Add your clean lid and ring and let cool on the counter. As it cools it will seal. This fat is now clarified, and shelf stable. This fat would normally be thrown away as waste. Instead I get the benefit of the beef $1.99 a pound, as well as a cooking fat for $1.99 a pound. I also ended up with one quart of beef broth. Very little was wasted. What was left after rendering the tallow went to my dog as a treat over the next few days. This is getting the most out of everything I buy at the store. Waste as little as possible. I do not fry food. This will last us a long time. It makes great oven fries.  This can be used anywhere you'd use lard or another fat for high heat cooking.  

Also:  You can use any type of beef with separable fat.  

Rebel Canning

Rebel Canning!  Okay, let me preface this by saying the USDA would probably frown on using unauthorized jars and lids as well as the lids being REUSED.  SO!  Should you decide to be a rebel, think long and hard.  

Now!  That being said;

Lately, I've been buying 100 percent organic lemon juice in 32 oz glass bottles.  I'm a bottle freak.  I love glass bottles.  I hate to throw them out.  I know they can be "recycled", but I've seen way to many exposes showing all the recycling we do ends up in the landfill with all the other trash.  I'd rather find a use for them.  

Now in order for these to qualify for canning use; they have to be the right size( 32 or 16 Oz), glass, have a metal lid with a rubber lining that can seal, and that lid has a little button in the center that will pop down when the jar is sealed( you canning folks will know what I'm talking about).  These jars met all criteria.  In fact I was very pleased with the thickness of the rubber lining.  

Now I would only do this with high acid foods that can be waterbath canned. There is no way to know if these bottles would hold up to pressure canning anyway.  These jars were intended for juice, so juice is what I used them for.   I followed all other instructions offered by Ball canning for canning tomato juice.  

And Voila!

Sourdough Starter; Not as Hard as I Thought!

 Throughout my 30 some odd years of running my own household, despite taking on challenges of bread making, canning, etc; one thing always struck fear into my heart: The dreaded sourdough starter.   I'd tried a few times and they all died.  Just like those that say they have a black thumb, I stopped trying so as not to become a serial starter killer.  I'd resigned myself to always needing store bought yeast and baking powder to have a successful result.  

BUT!  All is not lost!  My wonderful niece in Tennessee gifted me some of her starter.  Her starter had come from someone else's, and so on and so forth all the way back to Italy centuries ago.  It was a really strong starter.  Surely I couldn't kill that!  Yea.  Not so fast.  I did!  Mrs. Ox, if you're reading this, don't hate me!  Totally not my fault!  I kept it going for a while.  So much so that I needed to take a rest from the starter.  I checked online and it said you can freeze sourdough starter.  So I did.  Problem is when I took it out it was weak!  

I fed it and worked with it and finally got it back to okay, but it wasn't the original starter.  It never was right again(Sigh).  So the bad news is that starter has gone to that big crock in the sky.  Fortunately, my niece still has hers so it goes on through the next century.  The one thing good that came out of this experience was the feeling that I could, maybe, just maybe start my own starter!  So I did.  Apparently I had learned enough in keeping him alive( yes, he was a guy; Ceasar.  Et Tu Brutes?) to begin again.  I say ALLLLLL this to share how and also the fact that sourdough doesn't have to be scary!  Let me save you from that worry at least. 

 

So here goes!  

1.  First off, I didn't want to have to buy distilled water to do this.  With having city water, I'd need to do that first.  Or do I?  I'm into saving money and convenience.  So since I didn't want to buy water, my first step was to fill a glass jar ( any size with a lid, but even that is optional. Plastic wrap is an option as well) with water from the tap.  Sit the lid on top or loosely cover with wrap.  Let sit out on the counter overnight.  This allows chlorine to dissipate from city water treatment.  This water can be used anywhere distilled or filtered water is called for.  

2.  The next morning, measure out the flour.  Doesn't have to be much; about a half cup or so.  Put the flour in another glass jar or crock( not the one with water).  A quart size mason jar is a good choice.

3.  Add the "distilled" water to the flour you just measured out.  Add enough water to make a batter about the consistency of pancake batter.  Start with a little water and add more as necessary.  It just needs to be the consistency of pancake batter.  

4.  Cover loosely with either a lid, wrap, or towel. 

5.   Let it sit on the counter about 12 hours.  I've always heard 24, but it stays warm in my house during the summer.  As a result the yeast forming is very active and needs food.  When it stops bubbling, I feed it again.  In colder months this will be longer.

6.  TO FEED IT:  You don't have to discard starter to feed it again, but realize you will need to add enough flour and distilled water to match the amount of starter you have already in the jar.  If you don't want to discard, I suggest moving your starter to a bigger glass container or crock.  If you do plan to discard, I have some easy recipes to use the discard.  Discard or not, to feed the starter simply add enough flour and water to match the amount in the container and keep it about the consistency of pancake batter.  Repeat this process for a few days until your starter is good and strong.  You will at some point have to discard and use it, but see below for two things to do that aren't bread.  They are very good, and easy.  

7.  DON'T USE METAL.  It reacts for some reason to the starter.  Keep it glass or a crock.  

8.  If you don't want to have to use/ feed it daily, you can put it in the fridge for up to a week between feedings.  

USES FOR DISCARD

1.  Sourdough Pizza.  Easy!  Put cast iron pan in a cold oven.  Preheat to 375 degrees.  Once your oven is preheated so is the pan.  Remove the pan and pour in a little olive oil.  Spread it around to coat the pan.  Pour about 1 cup of sourdough starter into an 8-9 inch cast iron pan.  Use a fork to help spread it if needed, but sometimes you can just angle the pan to spread it around.  Top it with a little salt.  Put it back into the oven to bake.  It won't take long, maybe 10 minutes.  Prebake it until it's no longer shiny.  Remove from oven.  Top it with whatever toppings you want and put back into the oven to bake as usual

2.  Sourdough crackers -  1 cup flour, 3 TBS olive oil( or oil of choice), 1 tsp salt, 1 cup of starter.  Mix all together.  Put in the fridge a few hours.  Roll out as thin as you can.  I use silicone baking mats to roll mine out and then pick up the mat and put it on my cookie sheet.  So much easier this way.  Cut the crackers before baking.  Salt the tops and roll the rolling pin over lightly to press the salt in.  Bake 350 for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.   I've varied these a lot.  I've added  Tbs of my homemade spaghetti sauce mix to the crackers instead of salt.  I've used cornmeal instead of the cup of flour to make a tortilla chip substitute.  I've used coconut oil(in place of olive oil), 1/3 cup of sugar, and a tsp of cinnamon to this recipe then made graham crackers.  Just use your imagination.  

I'm still learning about all t his, so any tips or trick would be appreciated.  Please comment below!  What works for you?  

One of the Best Things to Save Money

 FRUGAL TIP!  Make your kitchen a place of projects!  Whatever you're able to make yourself, saves money and is healthier over what is bought at the store.  I had this thought today as I was making coffee, feeding my sourdough starter, mixing sourdough cracker dough, grinding wheat berries for flour, making yogurt and sweetened condensed milk ( for coffee creamer), plus putting up the jars of tomato sauce and tomato juice I canned last night.  These were projects in my kitchen.  Many of these projects were short in time.  Others were short in hands on time.  All of them save me in some way at the store. 

Your grocery needs aren't mine, but the more items you can make from your grocery list with basic ingredients, the better off you'll be.  I also understand time constraints.  Working a full time job can make this hard to do, but it isn't impossible.  Everything I do now was done prior to quitting my full time job to come home in 2015.  We had to know we were going to make it on my husbands income, which was around $35,000 then.  We lived off of his income alone;  Mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc. came from his check.  Mine was used to pay off debt; a car, credit cards, and a student loan. In addition, many of the things I've learned I've learned from online research, BOOKS, and asking questions.  There are so many things we just assume we have to buy at the store in order to have them for our use.  That just isn't the case.  Time doesn't have to be an issue to get started.  

Short in Time

Chocolate syrup

Pancake syrup

Making spice mixes;  Spaghetti sauce mix, Taco seasoning, Pumpkin pie spice, Poultry Seasoning, White sauce mix, Biscuit mix, etc.

Mixing up freezer biscuits (way better than store bought)

Making mayonnaise/ or salad dressing

Feeding sourdough

Mixing sourdough crackers

Making coffee creamer( with already prepared sweetened condensed milk)

Short in Hands on time

Mixing bread to rise.  It will have two rises.  One 30 minutes, then punch down, rest 10 min, shape, and final rise to double in size.

Making cookies or crackers- these doughs can be mixed ahead of time and then wait in the fridge for later baking

Making granola (to replace cereal)- takes minutes to mix up.  Then just a matter of 20 minutes in the oven. 

Things that take time

Pressure canning- Prep time, but mainly because you have to stay close to keep the pressure gauge steady

Water Bath canning- the actual prep of the items you're canning.  Then getting it to boil and setting the timer.  Once it boils you can go do other things until the timer goes off.  

Baking the bread, cookie, or cracker dough-  Just in watching to make sure they don't burn! 

Making tortillas-  mostly in cooking each one.  Other than night, not too bad.

Making yogurt.  Have to get the temp to 180 and keep it there for 30 min.  Then it has to come down to below 110.  You can do other things while you check the thermometer periodically.  Then it just sits for 10-12 hours.  The bulk time of making yogurt is in getting the temp right.  The rest is just a culture process

These are just examples.  These can be mix and matched easily.  You can do many of the quicker tasks while working on the longer tasks.  Many things can be done ahead of time such as mixing bread dough and putting it to rise in the fridge until you can get to it after work.  

                                                    Chocolate chip chocolate Pumpkin cake    

                                                                     Canned Carrots

                                                                          Ketchup

                                                                    Refried Beans

Tortillas

Crackers

                                                                             Yogurt

Fresh Bread

I say all of this to emphasize my point that it is possible to save even more at the grocery store than with store sales alone.  Start with the small things and work your way up.  But start!  It's what I did.  The object is to start.  Please share pictures of your own projects!  I'd love to see and read about them in the comments below.  Thanks!

SO NOW YOU'RE QUIET?

   For centuries women the world over have fought to be more than second class citizens.  In many countries that battle is still waged.  I never thought, until this year, that the US was one of those countries.  Oh sure, you can kill your baby up until it's born.  Only now you have been put to the back of the line.  Men are the women now.  

It's the answer every misogynistic boss dreams of.  I mean he can be all inclusive now and still hire only men!   

Okay, so a ho hum beer company has decided to have a Man in a skirt ( I will never refer to them as woman in any form) be their spokes person.  My question is; what's your demographic?  I mean any real man is going to shy away from a beer endorsed by a Man who thinks he's a woman.  I know other than men drink Bud Light, but let's admit who the  majority is: men; MOSTLY REAL MEN.  So  yea, that's really a dumb move for that company.  Go woke go broke is the mantra I've been hearing.  Sales are down for this company 80% from what I hear.  OUCH!  But you know everyone has the right to be stupid!  I eye roll, and move on.

BUT WHAT BURNS MY BUTT!?  When Nike hires the same MAN to model WOMEN'S SPORT BRAS!  The MAN has no need for a sport bra!  Good grief!!!!!  So there aren't enough fit women out there to endorse a Nike Sport Bra?  I guess it's okay as well to don black face and take a Black part in a movie or even a commercial?  How's that get ya?

But the loudest feminists remain silent.

Men "Feel like a woman" and join women's sports teams.  Not only are these real women forced to endure the presence of a naked man in their locker room as they change, but then they have to compete against that or another man of like persuasion who is physically stronger than they are by way of genetics.  

Not a peep from the feminists.  

These girls are told to go to counseling to talk through their problems with men in locker rooms.  Cause it's their problem, not the Man's.  

Feminists SHAME ON YOU!  If you stay silent in the face of this you're as bad as the culprits.  

I will never refer to any man as a her, she, or woman

I will go to jail before I do so.  Happily

Guess what all you guys in a dress.  I can wear jeans, a ratty t shirt, no make up, no jewelry, sneakers, and unshaved legs (it was winter.  Don't judge), and I AM STILL A WOMAN.

You can parade around in whatever caricature you think makes you a woman, you can cut off your junk, and throw some silicone in your chest.  It makes you a MAN with a self mutilated body; to put it mildly.  Genetics don't change regardless of how many hormones you take, surgeries you have, or dresses you wear.  

Feminists have backed themselves into a corner with their mantra of women can do everything a man can.  Now they're trapped.  I've never claimed to be as strong as a man.  I'm stronger than some, but weaker than others.  My brain is top notch though, and I'll put it up against any other man.  Men can do things we woman can't, but we women can do things they can't.  It's a trade off, and one I welcome.  

Feminists are backed into a corner.  I'm not.  I WILL NOT BE SILENT!