Hanging Laundry

 

 

I have always enjoyed line drying our laundry, but I haven't had much of an opportunity except for drying a little here and there over the doors or occasionally using the shower curtain rod in the bathroom.

Our dog is in the back yard with the clothesline, and until he is moved, there won't be any laundry hung out there with him.  I have imagined some interesting visuals of him running through the yard with specific pieces of clothing. 

I saw a comment on a blog post about frugality where a girl said that her mother hung an extra long shower rod over her washer and dryer.  I was thrilled to read that because I had never thought about doing that.  Laundry hanging problem solved, and I can do it rain or shine!  Plus, if I use hangers, it will save time for those things that I would already hang up anyway.

Why I think it's a good idea to hang laundry as much as possible:

• Less wear and tear on clothes
• Less wear and tear on the dryer
• Saves money on the electricity bill

I ordered my shower rod from Amazon.com.  Click here for the link.

Time savers & frugal tips: Baking & Cooking ahead

In an effort to make mealtimes easier & cut down on the cost of convenience foods, I try to have a cooking/baking day occasionally.  Mondays is my assigned day.  I feel that by assigning myself a specific day to do it, I am more likely to actually do it.  Some ladies do once-a-month cooking, and I think that is great.  However for me, just having a baking/cooking day allows me to not feel so overwhelmed.  I try to do it every two weeks.

My cooking & baking day usually consists of making some breakfast foods for the freezer, cooking a few pounds of hamburger meat, and cooking a whole chicken and freezing it into meal-sized portions.  Sometimes I fix a large pot of beef stew or something similar and freeze into portions so that we can have some easy & healthy lunches. 

Here are a few ideas for breakfast.  Click highlighted words for a link to the recipes:

• pancakes
• cappucinno muffins
• breakfast burritos. 
• Sometimes I also make a quiche to heat up for the next morning. 

Baking & Saving Money

It's the first year I have had the opportunity to plant a large garden, and I have enjoyed it so much.  It's time-consuming, but very rewarding.  I have the mindset that as a stay-at-home wife & mother, that I need to do whatever I can to help the family economy.  Part of that means gardening & baking from scratch.  Those two things do so much to save money.

Today I made butternut squash pies using pie crust from the freezer recipe I found online, and I also substituted powdered milk for canned evaporated milk.  Those links are below.  I recommend printing them and placing them in a recipe binder.

From Pantry Eats:  "Stocking Up.  Bulk Freezer Pie Crust Recipe". <----click

This is so economical because it costs pennies and you can have several in the freezer for quiche & pies!
The only thing I did differently was that instead of making "bricks", I rolled the pie crust out like I normally would, and then rolled it up like you find it at the grocery store. 

From Hillbilly Housewife:  " Saving Money with Powdered Milk"  <------click

I used powdered milk instead of buying cans of evaporated milk.  Much more economical!   

Home-made Crockpot Yogurt!

I enjoy making yogurt in the crock pot.  Ryan could eat it all day, so it's nice to be able to make an entire quart of it. 

(Ryan's caramel syrup yogurt right before he stirred it)

Instructions:
Pour 1 quart of WHOLE milk into the crock pot.  Turn on low for 2 1/2 hours.  Then turn the crock pot off and leave for 3 hours.  Take 1 cup of store bought PLAIN yogurt and 2 cups of milk from the crock pot and stir together.  Dump this back into the crock pot.  Wrap a heavy towel around the crock pot for insulation and let sit overnight.  Chill in the refridgerator.  Before you eat it, mix in fruit, honey, or any type of syrup.  We love to add strawberry, caramel, or chocolate syrup to ours.  It is a little thinner/runnier than store-bought yogurt... this is normal and how yogurt is naturally.  Thickeners are added to get the store-bought consistency.  If you use less than whole milk, it will still turn out, but it will be runnier.  I'm thinking.... drinkable yogurt.  Either way it is very yummy and healthy!

P.S.  I've never added dried milk, but I've read that you can add it to thicken the yogurt.

Home-made bread?

Have you ever wished you could make home-made bread, but didn't feel like you had enough time? Well, ya know there is a way to make a quick, easy, and healthy "bread" that you can keep on hand.
Guess what it is? Pancakes!

Pancakes do not have to be unhealthy, because you can use healthier flours as you make them. I typically use whole wheat flour. Sometimes I add flax or oats as well.

The boys love pancakes, so I have been making large batches of them on the griddle and keeping them in a bread bag in the refrigerator. When they get hungry, we just toast them and spread peanut butter, jelly,honey, or butter on top. I have also been thinking about how you could spread cream cheese and fruit on top (I'm thinking about strawberries right now).

One really nice thing about pancakes is that they can be made whatever size you like, using whatever flour you like, and you can add whatever healthy thing you want (even ground up nuts!).

Chicken Vegetable stew

Today I made a very large stock pot of chicken stew. Here are my directions:

Ingredients: Chop or prepare the ingredients below (adding to or deleting to your taste), cover with water and boil until tender.

• One portion each of cooked chicken & one portion of chicken broth. *Option: This is roughly one or two cans of pre-cooked chicken or 2 chicken breasts and one 14 ounce can of chicken broth. You could also use beef instead!
  
• 2 diced stalks of celery
• 5 diced carrots
• 7 potatoes peeled and diced
• 1/4 of a red (or white) cabbage, diced
• 1 can of kernel corn
• 1 small can of mushrooms
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and diced *option: you can use a can of diced tomatoes
• Season with salt, pepper, dry onion powder, & dry garlic powder
  

After the above ingredients have cooked to tender add:

• 1/2 - 1 cup of sour cream, or plain yogurt, or milk, or a can of cream of chicken soup!
  
• 4 tablespoons of cornstarch: Get 1 cup of cold water and mix in the cornstarch well before pouring into the pot (after all ingredients are cooked and water is boiling)
• 1 cup of dry rice, cooked according to directions. Dump this in any time after the veggies are tender.
  

This makes a giant pot of chicken stew. If you think it is too much you can adjust by halving the ingredients, or sharing with friends and family!

I usually take all leftovers and freeze into single serving sized portion containers to heat up later for lunches!

How to Stretch a Chicken :-)

I know the title of my post sounds hilarious, but it is a skill of which a frugal Home-maker should be very aware!

Here are my humble instructions:

1. Boil or cook your chicken in a crock pot:

• Make sure your chicken is completely covered in water. Add garlic, onion or onion powder, salt, & pepper and poultry seasoning (optional). Dice fresh celery and add to the water.
  

2. Remove the chicken from the broth. Place the chicken in a covered bowl and refrigerate. Strain the broth and refrigerate in a separate bowl.

3. The next day (after meat and broth have been refrigerated all night), de-bone the chicken and separate the meat into zip-loc bags according to how many meals you want the chicken to be stretched. I usually separate our meat into 3 or 4 quart-sized bags (depends on the size of the chicken).

4. Take the broth and scrape the layer of fat (it will have risen to the top) away into the garbage. Separate the broth (will be a jelly-like consistency) into zip-loc bags according to how much you need. Most recipes will call for 14 ounces... so that is a good amount to pour into your bags.

Freeze all into separate containers. Now you should have at least 3 or 4 ready to go portions of cooked chicken and broth!

Thrifty Thursday: Free Dish Scrubbers

Dish/Pot scrubbers need need to be replaced often (they are breeding grounds for bacteria). But who wants to pay for new ones every week?

I have a tip to make them for free!

When you buy fruit (oranges usually always come in these bags) or potatoes, keep the mesh bag they come in and tie it in a knot. It makes a great scrubber for your dirty dishes. I shop twice a month and buy fruits and vegetables, so I usually have a new pot scrubber each week!


Click here for a link for printable coupons.