This past week was insanely busy for me. It seemed that everyday we had something we had to do and somewhere that we had to run. I just kept thinking….”I look forward to staying home NEXT week.” Hard trying to be a keeper of the home, when my life has me running outside of my home in different directions. Thank goodness it is only for a time and we got through it.
This week was a big week for us. We were given extra produce the week before and did our corn BUT we still had all those cabbages. 
I was determined this week to finish up ALL of the cabbage and did so. Of course we made 2 big pots of cabbage vegetable soup to eat during the week for lunches as well. FREE soup is good!!
We also had many homemade jars of yogurt in the refrigerator and opted to serve it with at least 1 meal each day.
My daughter likes to make smoothies to serve to the children. We add a jar of yogurt, a half of container of our strawberry sauce, and some hemp seeds and chia seeds. Thanks to my friend who recommended adding them.
We had some old hotdog buns in the freezer, I made them into homemade croutons. Sprinkled them with some butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese. Toasted in the oven at 400. When cooled, cut into pieces.
I was low on laundry soap and had to make a batch of this. It lasts us for about 2 months worth of laundry. Super easy to make and very inexpensive.
I was cleaning our refrigerator out and was counting how many eggs we have and realized that we have 22 dozen chicken eggs!!!!!They have been laying very well lately, I figured we would stock up, because last winter they decided not to lay for awhile. Plus it was a FREE breakfast food. Each morning, I woke up and made scrambled eggs for the children with yogurt.
I cracked a dozen eggs and added some powdered milk and water and whisked them up.
I also decided to cook up some whole chicken that I had in our freezer. I bought them from Aldi’s for about $5 a chicken.
I put them in my roaster with some chunks of carrot, celery, onion, garlic, pepper, thyme, and basil. Then I let it slowly cook. Overnight is best on a lower heat.
This is what you come up with. Chicken that is so tender it just falls off the bone. I scoop out the vegetables, throw to my chickens and then separate the meat from the carcass. The dog and cat get a nice treat and we are left with some tender chicken for dinners. We made chicken brushetta with some and used the rest on top of our salads.
I save the broth for a base for our soups. Bone broth far exceeds chicken bouillon, nutritionally for your soup base. I put into either glass quart jars or ice cream buckets that I have saved.
This was all done earlier in the week. I then went to our Mennonite/Amish bulk food store and got a bushel of tomatoes.
I pureed these and froze for later use. Very simple and easy to do.
Then we got apples. Lots of apples. This year we went with a different kind. I usually like getting Jonagolds, but was getting impatient waiting for them, especially when the store had so many others for cheap. I opted to get Fuji this year. My Jonagolds were getting soft by Christmas time last year. Fuji’s are supposed to last very well in the basement. We will try and see.
I decided not to start on my applesauce this week, instead we decided to dry some apples.
We washed the apples and cored them. I then sliced them into thin slices. I put them into a bowl with water and lemon juice to prevent browning.
Placed them on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and put into the oven.
I put the temperature at 250 during the day, when I could watch them and just put more batches in as they dried. It took about 4-6 hours to dry.
Since I do not have a food dehydrator and do not have ever last bit of liquid out of them, I opt to put them into plastic bags and then freeze them. That way, they won’t spoil if there is any liquid left in them. When I want to eat them, I take out a bag and enjoy.
Since we have many apples, snack time consists of APPLES everyday. Today, I took and sliced the apple and added homemade peanut butter in between the layers.
I served it with some homemade granola and the children loved it!
This is what my kitchen counter looked liked most everyday…sauerkraut and dried apples. Those two smells combined in the mornings…..different.
Oh and I promised my messy house pictures……..
When you are busy food preserving, you just let other things go. My children had lots of fun just playing outdoors and in the house.
This is the dining room after snack time and it sat like that until dinner time.
Oh, and the bedrooms were total disaster. But that is okay, I had no expectations except for what I had to get done. We could clean later.
This is the kitchen during cabbage time. Lots of mess. This week, I put my expectations way low. I made sure to wipe the bathrooms each morning and I kept up on the laundry to ensure clean clothing for everyone. Every thing else took a back seat. I have dust covering my tv stand for about 2 weeks. My refrigerator was in dire need of wiping out, 2 weeks later. My plastic cupboard was shoved full of plastic containers from my canning and use. Windows and mirrors were filthy but it is okay. My children ate, healthy meals and snacks. They of course included apples, corn, and cabbage to some extent:) Plus they got to play unstructured. I was thankful for a beautiful weather week.
Everyone survived and I am here to say that a week later( I write these a week behind) the refrigerator has been cleaned, I sorted through the plastic cupboard, I dusted my tv, and I cleaned the windows. My schooling is caught up and I feel much more at peace then I did last week.
I had one more important thing this week….my daughter had her final ceremony for her year long purity event. She was involved in this bible study concerning modesty and sexual purity. It included things like saving your first kiss for marriage, the importance of waiting for the “one” God has for you, and she was able to fellowship with girls her age that have the same ideals.
The event was a beautiful extravagant dinner. All the girls were dressed up in prom type dresses. I don’t know if you know how impossible it is to buy a modest prom dress now a days?!?!? We went to our favorite Goodwill, we scoured the racks and grabbed every dress that we liked. She tried them all on, about 30 of them and came up with 2 she liked.
She chose this dress, it cost us $10 and we got a great pair of shoes for $5 to go with it. What a deal!!!
The girls received crowns, bracelets, and purity rings for choosing this path. Here she was with Dad. It was a great night out for just the 3 of us. Special times, a good way to end our busy week.
I look forward to a low key stay at home week next time. What about you…any frugal accomplishments this week?
