START SMALL

Hello dear friends!   So sorry to be away for so long, but have been busy doing this:

Not only the canning, but Ran and Jamie built  a pantry in our upstairs landing, which required a complete reorganization of the house.  The shelves are about ten feet long, five feet high and a foot and one half deep.  That's a lot of jars!  Ran calls it my grocery store.  When we put the last jar on the shelf, I held my breathe, lest all that weight cause the floor to give out.  So far, so good, these old houses are built like arks!  Finally, I can see what I have.  The little pantry under the stairs just wasn't doing a proper job.  Every time I went to get something off the shelf, jars would fall on my head.  One time, one conked me hard and I lost my sense of taste for about a month. (which is a easy way to diet, but I wouldn't recommend it) I guess that's better than going blind, though.  An old family friend, Lucille All, went blind when she bumped her head, so it's no laughing matter.  Anyway, as you can see, we won't want for food this year.  Just have to buy some milk, cheese, butter and coffee once in a great while.  We buy sugar, flour, shortening and oatmeal in bulk twice a year, just as the pioneers did.

RECIPE FROM THE PANTRY

Since I can finally get a good idea of what I have, I noticed that I have a lot of jams and jellies.  I just can't resist making them in the spring when the fruit ripens.  I also found my favorite recipe for jam bars while reorganizing, torn from my own handwritten receipt book and stuck to the back of a drawer.  It's an old-fashioned economical recipe that is simple to make and one of our favorites.

Frosted Jam Bars

1/2 C. butter, melted
1/2 C. corn or cane syrup (we use Lyle's Golden Cane syrup)
1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 C. jam (any flavor)

Stir in syrup into butter in a medium bowl.  Stir in egg and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread half of the batter in a greased 8" square pan.  Spoon jam over batter.  Carefully cover jam with remaining batter.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the top is set.  Frost while warm with powdered sugar icing. ( confectioners' sugar combined with a bit of milk to make a thin frosting)

Economical Soap Making

We made soap this week.  I won't explain how it's done, because there are many books and videos that can better explain it, than I,  but I will tell you ways that we cut the costs.  First, when I can meat, we cut off all the fat and render it outside our on rocket stove.  That keeps the grease and the heat out of the house.  This gives us several pints of fat. We feed the cracklins to the stray cats.  We supplement it with coconut oil that we buy at the bulk food store  at  $12.72 for 1 gallon.

Got to love the bulk food stores!  We set the fats inside of our car to melt, to save on some of the electricity.

Just have to use the stove long enough to heat the grease to the proper temperature.  All of our equipment comes from garage sales.  Ran made the mold from scrap lumber.

The fancy molds came from a thrift store.  We also use rain water that we collect in washtubs around the yard.  Just be sure to strain it before using.  At the end of the day, it cost about $15 for ten pounds of  pure non-paraban soap.  I priced non-paraban soap in the store recently and they were asking over three dollars for one bar, so I think it pays to make your own.  Now, my grandparents made their own lye from wood ashes.  I haven't become that adventurous yet, but who knows? maybe one day.  In their day, soap cost nothing to make because they rendered their own lard from the hogs they butchered and made their own lye.  We really need to study the old ways of days gone by, people didn't waste anything.

Start Small

People always tell me that they want to be thrifty and simplify their life, like we do, but I always caution them to start small.  Just as when you learn to cook, you don't start out making a seven course meal or when you learn to knit, you start with a dishcloth or a simple garter stitch scarf before moving on to socks and mittens, lest you become discouraged by the whole thing. Becoming frugal is best done in small steps.  I'm always reading about "no-spending" challenges on other blogs.  While the concept sounds good, what do you learn from it?  As soon as the challenge is over, the people go back to spending.  Hurrah!  We can spend again!  It's better to take baby steps and master them, then move on to the next lesson.  First set up a budget, a realistic budget, live within it a while, then cut back some more.  Become comfortable with less and cut back some more.  Learn a skill, such as soap making, master it, then move on to another skill that is needed for self-sufficiency. One day you'll discover that you are a maven of thrift.

Quote of the Week

"The meaning of life is to find your gift.   The purpose of life is to give it away."
~William Shakespeare~

Don't Buy It, Make It

I've been canning a lot of chili this year from fresh tomatoes, peppers, and onions from the garden.  If you have never tasted chili made with all fresh ingredients, you are missing out!  You can make our own chili powder, and it's especially economical because we dry and use our own herbs.  We make our own paprika by drying paprika peppers in the dehydrator, then grinding them into a powder, ditto for garlic  and onion powder.  Here's the recipe for homemade chili powder:

Chili Powder

1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp.  oregano
2 Tbsp. cumin
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder

Combine.  It's a matter of taste on how much you use, I'd say start with about a tablespoonful then add more if you like your chili spicier. Save the rest for another day.  I've found that add just a bit of sugar to chili really makes the flavors pop.  Canned chili can have a flat flavor, but is easily remedied by adding more chili powder or taco seasoning when you open the jars.

Thrifty Things We Did This Week

Canned apples.
Built a pantry in the upstairs landing.
Refinished a chair that we purchased at a garage sale for $5.
Bought the stripper to refinish the chair at the the thrift store for $1.50 a quart.
Ate out of the garden.
Mended a pair of Ran's jeans.
Dried tomatoes and peppers.
Harvested tomatoes, peppers, broccoli (we never cut them down, the offshoots have produced quite a bit of broccoli) and blackberries.
Worked on a penny rug with wool purchased from thrifted wool.
Got rid of our cable since the "free" offer ended.
Planted saved seeds from the hollyhocks.
Neighbor Sandy gave us four yucca plants that we will be passing along to our daughter-in-law.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!
Jane