Week #47 Reduce, Reuse, Re-Leftovers!

So The Government Did Care?

**We are interupting your regularly scheduled blog for this short history brief. **

Well, yea, a long time ago in a not so far off land. 

World War II was on the horizon, it was the spring of 1942, and the federal government put the food rationing program into motion. They needed to control supply and demand. Rationing was introduced to avoid public anger with shortages and not to allow only the wealthy to purchase commodities.

Can anyone tell me what happened 72 years later?

I try to have no real political opnions but if you really want to know check out "Food INC" on Netflix, you can decide for yourself.

Oh, That Explains SO Very Much

That just happened to be the eria my Nana & Papa grew up in.

Having spent a large part of my childhood with Nana,  "We don't waste food" was not only something that was said but that was imparted in most every form of food that was eaten. If it had mold on it, don't worry, just cut it off. Well that one kinda didn't stick, something about that just doesn't settle well with me. Giving something multiple uses, however, did. Today we are going to explore the 3 R's of cooking

REDUCE - REUSE - RELEFTOVERS

Can you believe this still applies today!

You may think, my God that women must have an unlimited supply of time to plan everything, prepare it, oh yea, and blog about it. Well I hate to burst your bubble but I really don't. Buying something with thought to me just means how many uses can I get out of this thing. For me, that is cooking with care.

I can't believe the number of times I hear nay sayers tout that to buy fresh food is too expiensive. Really? Well maybe we will just have to get into that in future blogs. I can't afford to purchase endless amouts of prepackaged food that lasts only days in our house but I can stretch one $0.99 squach into 3 meals. You do the math friends.
OOPS, I think I just slipped off my soap box and busted my ass. Serves me right.

Serve just enough & use what is left, now I call that a golden rule. If I left a whole roast of anything setting out I guarentee my family would eat the whole darn thing. Portion control didn't seem to trickle down the generations in this country nor my home. So before I holler "DI-NER!!!" from the bottom of the stairs, I take just a moment and hack out what I need for later. By the way it helps to save on clean up time.

"NO, Pork Again, Please Make It Stop"

Think of this as great practice for turkey week. 

Why on this green earth would I make my family eat pork all week, that seems a bit excessive! October was national pork month, there were amazing pork sales and I waited until they were all sticker marked down. In budget talk, a $20 hunk of meat only set me back $11. That and, honestly, because I have an enormous Pork Shoulder in the freezer and pretty soon we will need the grocery savings to restock staples for the year like butter (freezable), flour, sugar, and the like. Which all get price marked down during the holiday season.

If you are a little shy about plaqueing your family with night after horrific night of pork, don't bail on me now. Once you cook the big'ol hunk of meat there is a few things you can do: 

Shred up 3/4 or 1/2 of what you've cooked and freeze it. When you want quick BBQ sandwiches or Lunch Wraps, simply place the freezer bag in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to revive the meat. This will help to keep it moist and you can go about steping on lost legos as your searching for that matching sock.

OR

If you have a few extra minutes, try the soup rescipe below. Place it in a freezer bag, and repeat the above process when your ready for a meal on a hectic night.

This Week We Purchased The Following: 

I KISSED the Budget this week  (kept it simple stupid).

We didn't need much of anything, just what I call the fillers.

Coffee, milk, eggs, some fruit, and bean sprouts

 The total spent was $55.18

Our aloted budget is $130 but the goal is to stay under $100

Anything not spent gets rolled into the pot for restocking

or end of the year reallocation, like vacations! 

Or, more realistically braces, college, prom.

Breakfast Options For The Week: 

• Cinnamon Rasin Bread (machine)
• Land Of Nod Cinnamon Buns
• Pumpkin Spice Buttermilk Scones (last weeks LO's or what's in the FZ)
• Autum Apple Cereal Bars (great to add to school lunches too)
• Apple Rasin French toast (made from last weeks LO Bread)
• Banana Bread

Wow, that seems like A LOT of breakfast, well, we have

much left from last week, and anything I make that

doesn't get devoured goes to the freezer so I don't have

to make it later.

Monday:

Lunch - Chicken Salad Wraps (using LO's)

Dinner - Chinese Chop Suey, Rice

Tuesday:

Lunch - LO Chop Suey

Dinner - Grilled Lemon Pepper Pork Chops, Grilled Onions, Mashed Potatoes 

Wednesday:

Lunch - Pork Sandwiches

Dinner - Italian Sausage Subs

Thursday:

Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches (this link has an easy index of 18 differant ways to make egg salad)

Dinner - Pork Picnic, (in the crock pot) mashed califlower, pickled beets

Friday:

Lunch - Pork Carnitas (there is no recipe - take hashed up pork, a tortilla, and whatever else makes a good mexi-wrap)

Dinner - Southwestern Pork Soup, Cornbread

Saturday:

Lunch - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Dinner - BBQ Sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans

Sunday:

Lunch: Fend for yourself (there's usually plenty in the fridge and it needs to go)

Dinner: Thanksgiving Dinner at a Friends - Cranberry relish and mashed Rutabaga. 

Snacks:

• Apples, Pears, and bananas
• popcorn (air popped)
• Granola Bars
• Cheese Dip and Tortilla Chips

Drinks:

• Coffee and Hot Tea
• Water - that's a biggie here
• MYO Arizona Green Tea
• MYO Lemonade Concentrate

I Don't Leave Home Without It

I generally plan on Wed when I have 30 minutes  before mass chos begins.

I shop on Fri so our family menus (posted on the fridge) run from Fri to Thur.

How do I keep it all straight without pulling my hair out? I use Pepperplate.   

This site/App keeps all my recipes, super easy to upload from other sites, 

my shopping list which automatically uploads, my weekly/monthly planner, 

AAAND  (with best infomercial voice I can muster)   So Much More! (Nope I 

didn't get paid to say that either.)

Proverbs 31:15

She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls.