Moolie's "is it really that hard?" journal

[Bettacreek]

If you can find dutch gel, it's a lot cheaper than the little packets of it. We pay approximately $3.69 for a little packet (52g), or you can get the dutch gel at about $4/lb, which makes it about $0.46 for the amount that would come in a packet. Savings of over $3 per pack/batch! Especially with wild harvested berries, this really, really helps out for our little lunch/snack budget. Nothing like a $0.07 piece of toast with about a penny worth of jam on it. Making your own bread, it'd be even cheaper for the bread, I imagine.

 

[moolie]

I'll have to look for it! Do you get it from a particular store/kind of store?

We love gleaning blackberries along the country roads near where my brother and his family live in Vancouver BC and try to do it every year or two for frozen berries and jam. So tasty throughout the winter months!

And we do (or rather hubs does!) make our own bread--he starts by grinding the grain (we buy organic and local since we are in the middle of the grain growing Canadian prairies) and goes from there. It saves us lots, he enjoys it, and our kids prefer "Daddy's bread" to anything else out there We only got into the grinding part in the last year or so, but he's been baking for years.

 

[Bettacreek]

I buy it at a mennonite store, they have an excellent bulk section. You might be able to find it online as well. Even with shipping, I'm sure it'd save you a good bit compared to buying the individual packets/boxes. It uses the exact same amount as the packets, as it's really the same thing, you just have to measure it out. I forget the dry measurement for it, but after weighing the dry measure and finding out it was the exact same weight as the packets, I just weigh it on the scale now, instead of messing with the utensiles.

 

[moolie]

Huh, our Mennonites don't have stores. They all live on colonies, far away from the towns, and come into town in van-loads to do bulk shopping at places like the no-membership required warehouse store (Great Canadian Wholesale). I will have to check online

 

[moolie]

Last night was Tamale Rice Dish (recipe in post #16 of this thread)--always a hit with my family

Tonight is Chicken Pot Pie, we had Roast Chicken on Sunday night after which I pulled the leftover meat off the bones and made chicken stock by simmering the bones in water for several hours with an onion and some carrots.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped/cubed
2 cups chicken stock
1 onion, chopped
Rosemary, salt & pepper to taste
2 cups mixed veggies (tonight we'll have carrots, parsnips, peas, corn)
4 potatoes, cubed

Bake in casserole dish (no lid!) until hot and bubbly and veggies are starting to get tender, stir in ~1 tbsp flour to thicken, cover with pastry or biscuit/dumpling top and bake till golden.

Tonight we'll do biscuits because they are faster than rolling out pastry--just mix up and drop by spoonfuls to cover top of casserole dish.

 

[Denim Deb]

Sounds good!

 

[moolie]

It must have been, they emptied the entire dish!

Good thing I made two

 

[moolie]

My breakfast this morning:

I often hard boil half a dozen eggs and pop them into the fridge for later--great for potato salad, just eating as a snack, chopping up for egg salad sandwiches, or just slicing up for toast. I had them warm this morning, but they are equally good cold

 

[moolie]

Still following my menu plan to a T despite the fact that we each pick our own breakfast each day--we haven't bought groceries beyond what I've listed above, so I feel like we're doing really well.

I'm not buying the groceries as we go except for the milk, bought another two jugs of milk yesterday and I also bought a tomato for tonight's Hamburgers, everything else is on-hand and keeping well in the case of veggies and fruits, cheese etc. I find that if you plan how you'll eat your produce, you can buy only once or twice a month and still have good variety as you eat the fresher things first and the fridge/freezer things later in the month.

We are getting a little bored with the veggies, the girls helped me plan and chose their faves but even they are a little weary of carrot sticks, so next month we will plan more variety.

 

[Denim Deb]

Right now I'm trying not to buy anything-unless we really need it. We have all kinds of stuff in the freezer, and I'm trying to use it up.