Okay, I will admit, I sometimes get lazy.  I get lazy when it comes to shopping.  It sometimes seems easier to just buy cans of beans or to buy pizza sauce already made. Plus the fact that I love when my pantry is full or at least looks like it is full.

But the reality is that my “full” pantry was just a bunch of cans and boxes of store bought items.  Not much of it was homemade and good for my family.

For many years, when I had lots of little ones, building my pantry with wholesome, homemade, not filled with preservatives or additives foods, was not something I was able to do.  But now, it is something I MAKE time to do, because I can.  Plus we have the resources, it helps to have a large freezer to freeze things in, otherwise I would have to can them.

One of my goals this summer was to cut down on our grocery bill by making items that I could and usually do buy.  I also wanted to improve the nourishment that I was feeding to my children.  I had to start somewhere.

I started the summer by making our own popsicles and frozen treats.  Were they all totally healthy???  No, some were not, but it sure made our needs to go to our local ice cream shop disappear.

It was also nice when we had guests over this summer to be able to share a frozen snack.  At the beginning of summer we made enough to last us 2 months worth, well worth my time.  Plus with a family of 12 it saved a bundle in frozen treats this summer!!

You can click here to see all that we made.

I have been saving my Parmesan cheese containers and have been wanting to fill them with some staples that I buy at the store.

I purchased all of my spices at a Bulk Food store rather inexpensively.  Don’t buy them from Walmart they will cost much.  Look at buying them online in bulk, to save a bunch.

Here I made my own Taco Seasoning—which my family loves because it is super spicy–don’t worry you can tone it down.

I made this 2 months ago and have not bought another packet of taco seasoning.  Click here for my recipe.

Ok my other HUGE weakness when it came to preparing food was chicken bouillon.  I added chicken bouillon to everything to make it taste better.  Put some in my macaroni and cheese, added it to black beans and rice, I am afraid to even look through all my recipes because they all probably say to add 1-2 Tablespoons of chicken bouillon!!!  It just makes it taste better.  Well I know that the stuff I was buying was loaded with salt, and many additives, it was one of the first things to go.  I made a batch of this up and I honestly LOVE it!!!  I sprinkle it on everything and don’t feel guilty at all!!  The cost is relatively about the same as the chicken bouillon base I was buying, but you are getting a much better healthy alternative.

Try this, you won’t go back to the other additive loaded stuff!!!

Ok next we made our own baking powder WITHOUT aluminum.  I know everything is bad for us in some sort of way.  Aluminum is something I would like to avoid feeding to my children.  And  if I know that there is an easier alternative I will try it.  We have been using this and it works great.

I also have replaced our iodized salt with sea salts. The internet is full of information of why you should switch.  Decide for yourself.

I have also been busy this week cooking dry beans and then freezing them for later use.

These are the kinds that we use in our family:

black beans–for Haitian rice and beans

garbanzo beans–for hummus

pinto beans–for taco soup and chili

kidney beans–for red beans and rice

northern beans—for baked beans

red beans–made into chili beans–for lots of recipes

pinto beans pureed into refried beans

 

How I cooked them  was in my big roaster oven and crockpot.  I would pour bags of beans into the oven and crockpot and cover with water.  I made sure that the beans could double in size and still have plenty of water.  I turned them on high to boil and then down to a simmer and let them run.  I would test the beans every few hours until they were done.  Very simple to do and when finished, I scooped them out and put them into plastic containers and froze them.

This saves a bunch of money on canned beans.  Plus it helps me to be prepared for my days otherwise I have frozen beans when I need to make a meal.

 

I also buy lots of tomato products.  I will buy tomato juice, tomato paste, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes, pureed tomatoes, salsa, tomatoes and green chills.  I know pathetic right????

Well I decided to just buy a large can of tomato paste.  I can get the super size 10 pound can for about $4.  With this I separate the can into smaller pint sized plastic containers and freeze.  If I need to make tomato soup and need tomato juice, I just get out my tomato paste and add water to it. I do the same thing if a recipe calls for tomato sauce, just add less water.

This week, I have been busy making my own pizza sauce and then freezing it.

This is so simple to make, I don’t know why I was WASTING the money buying jarred sauce.  Here is the recipe that we use.  It has sauce and paste in this recipe, but I have just been using paste and adding enough water to a consistency that is suitable for my family.

We like to have our pizza buffet nights and this recipe goes great with that.

I also get canning tomatoes and puree them.  I use them in our spaghetti sauce and sausage red beans and rice recipe.

Did I mention my weakness of chicken bouillon?? Well my children’s weakness is ranch dressing!!!

 

They could put ranch on everything.  We have to limit this much.  I know the dressing is not good for them when after the little ones eat it, they are messier and it leaves a red rash on their face.  I started buying the ranch packets and mixing it with sour cream, thinking I was being a “better Mom” by making it “homemade.”  Silly lady, well I decided to just make a mix of it and then  make it as we need it.  It is much harder to use it, if it is not readily available in the refrigerator:)

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Here are some other ideas that I am going to make this month as I rid my pantry of foods that I can make from scratch:

cream soups–I use this when I make Salisbury steak

pita bread–every month we goto the bread store, I grab all the packages of pita bread.  This is great for quick sandwiches, pizzas, or cut up to eat with hummus.  But I know that I can make it and am excited to do so.

homemade salsa–click here for an easy version to make anytime of year.  We decided to do away with jarred salsa, and as soon as we are out this month, will be making this one.

We are going back to making yogurt each month again.  I make it with powdered milk—cheaper and we like to make it into a smoothie drink.  I can make enough for 2-3 weeks at one time.

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These are some items that we are going to eliminate from our food rotation, starting this month.  Will we bring any back?? Maybe,but for now, I am going to see what we can use as a “better” alternative.  Will keep you posted over this month.

canned vegetables—replacing them with fresh produce—I realized my little ones do like salad when offered.

white saltine crackers—my go-to when I am rushed–crackers and peanut butter—no more, we will replace with some other snacks—will keep you posted–I am thinking of making my own again like I have done in the past.

garbage bag snack mix-—oh my children love this, I do too!!!  But I am refusing to make this at least for a few months to see how we can do without another one of our favorite snacks.

No more canola or vegetable oil—-I would get lax and buy it for making boxed brownies or cupcakes for birthdays —meanwhile it takes only a few moments to melt my coconut oil that I have when I make my breads.  Just need to take the time, after doing some reading on how they make that stuff—yikes!!! Not good at all–something about Drano?!?!?

No more margarines– only butter.  I would buy it for making cookies and things—well than if you have a little bit in the refrigerator it will get used for other things as well, this goes along the lines of the bad rap for canola/vegetable oils and drano?!?!?  Need to avoid, even if it means more money.

No more weekly chips and pop.  My husband and I enjoy a favorite snack on the weekend—well everyone does but this is mainly for us.  He would get Doritoes and I would get those wonderful Kettle cooked salt and pepper chips—oh so good and I can eat an entire bag!!!! So bad.  We are skipping out on that and going with fresh fruit and vegetables.  We said if we were craving and needed something salty, we would go back to our favorite of winter time—air popped popcorn.  Super inexpensive–I still have 25 lbs in my basement.  Why am I wasting?!?!?!?

bacon bits—some might think this is weird, but we buy many of these and used them in breakfast burritos, or just to top our eggs off in small portions.  But the reality of it, is that this stuff is NOT good.  My alternative—-I bought turkey bacon and will be baking it in the oven and then food processing it and putting it into small containers to freeze for use.

We will also be buying less ground chuck each month and making Bulgar burger–something I will post on soon.  I did it before, I must do it again!

Okay, did I write a novel or what?!?!!?   I promise not to be away so long, I feel like I have to get it all in.  If I have more that we are replacing, I will be sure to write about it this month.

Do you have any store bought foods that you have replaced with your own homemade ingredients??

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the quick departure without any reason why….I have taken these past two weeks and have been busy preparing my children’s schooling for the entire year.  I have scoured the internet looking for FREE resources so that I didn’t have to spend anything on education:)  If it is out there, and you have the time, I think its wise to use it.   Look for it later this week.

On to the fun that we had……………………………….

 

I also took the time to plan our 4th of July party.  Our daughter, Jadyn has her birthday at that time and this year we decided to have a big party to help celebrate with friends and family.  Jadyn is in the pink star shirt, she  turned “9” this year.  Her good friend on the right, Jediah also turned  ” 9″ a day after Jadyn.  They have celebrated their birthdays together ever since they were “1.”We had much planning and making to do, to get ready for this party.  I made a list of all that we had to get done and then broke it down daily over a week and a half that we had to get ready for the party.  That way things weren’t overwhelming and it made for an enjoyable time.  Plus it was “fun” doing it.

 

The only bad thing that I did wrong was to not take pictures of all of our creating.  I wasn’t really thinking at the time, I was just trying to get it all done.  I will make do with the pictures I took and then include links to other sites of ideas that we did as well.

For our inexpensive decorations we decided to make poms.  I did them for my daughters 16th birthday party and they were super easy to make.

I think we made 9 total and used the colors red, white, and blue.  We bought the tissue paper at Hobby Lobby and they were less than $1 a package.

We also had an abundance of hoops that we acquired  so we decided to make streamer hoops.  It cost me the price of streamers $3 and we made 10 of these to hang around the yard.  We used fishing line to hang everything.

Click here from spoonful for directions 

We also made this American Flag out of a FREE wood pallet and some spray paint. Found it here on Pinterest.  We put ours at the road as a marker for guests to arrive.

Our tables we covered in red table paper–which we picked up at a Garage Sale a few years ago for 25 cents.  We also made people cut outs for a school project from this same roll.

I received a flyer in the mail for Gordon Food Service and they had heavy duty plastic colored plates and cups for $2.99 for 50.  I was able to get red and blue for our table wear.  They also had silverware and napkins inexpensively also.  I had never shopped at that store, I will definitely be going again.

click here for instructions

Another inexpensive decoration that we decided to do was one I found off pinterest.  These votive candle holders were perfect.  We have an abundance of canning jars and we picked up 3 bottles of acrylic paint which cost under $3.  My girls had fun designing and painting them.  They did stripes, polka dots, and flags.

We placed them on the window sill in front of the house and along the tables for night time.  They added a nice glow when the sun was down.

We also hung Christmas lights outside around our hammock and sitting area.  This was one of the best things we did, because as soon as it was dark, out here in the country, its dark.  This enabled us to be able to sit and swing on the hammock and sit around and enjoy talking late into the night.

 

For our games, my daughter was set on wanting to make a pinata.  Last year we made one, as you can see here and it went quite well.  Was messy and took some time, but it turned out.  Well this year, when I went to make my pinata I only had one girl with me and I had little ones to watch.  We started making them and of course everyone wanted to help, well it turned into quite a mess.  They started making hand prints across the tables—which just an FYI, flour and water will stain the table tops and will take a few extra hard scrubbings to come off.  I hurriedly made my first layer, let it set to dry and went about scrubbing off the paste from my picnic tables.  Well during that time, our balloons popped.  Too much weight on them.  We had made 3.  Another one, a child got a hold of and dropped it, popped.  The other one was being examined and dropped, then popped.  I gave up.  Said not a big deal we don’t need to do them.

Then while doing our birthday party shopping with my daughters Jadyn on left, Brooklyn on right we were looking at pinatas in the store.  I felt the box and it felt to me like posterboard.  So I get the great idea of, “I can make this.”

 

We decided to make a present box pinata.  We cut four rectangles and made a box.  We folded the sides to create a bottom.  Taped it with packing tape all around it, a million times.  Then my daughter decided to cut strips of tissue paper and put them on the box.

Here she was, late into the night stuffing toys and candy into the box.  We filled it with:

• fruit snacks
• Smarties
• Dum Dum suckers
• party poppers
• necklaces
• slap hands
• party blowers
• mini bubbles
• glow necklaces

After reading on the internet, we found that they recommended alternating bunches of tissue paper and candy/toys.  To help balance out the box.  Definitely worth doing.  We made a pom for the top bow.  We just used multiply pieces of colored tissue paper and folded the pom in half.

 

Now after you make the pinata, I didn’t think of how to hang it?!?!?!?  Thankfully my wonderful husband, Mr Visionary can figure that stuff out.  We went to Menards and bought some eye bolts and washers and screwed them into the top of the pinata.  We hung it up with hemp twine and let them give it a whack!!

 

We didn’t want it to be too easy, since we were dealing with an “older” crowd, so we blindfolded and gave each child one swing.  

After it came down, it was a mad dash to get all the goodies.  I think having packing tape on it, helped keep the box together.

It was all in good fun, no one was injured. Everyone shared their goodies with all the children to make sure everybody had something.

Lauren, is our daughter in the pink with friends.

 

It was a perfect day, the children enjoyed swimming.  Here is Jadyn in the blue ring.

Here are my two oldest daughters, enjoying some relaxing time.

Then it was time for another game:)  We did a water balloon toss.  Well, whenever you have a large group of people, especially teenagers, and water balloons it usually will result in a water balloon fight.  They tossed it for a few minutes and then they attacked the cooler full of water balloons and had fun smashing them on each other.
Then it was time for Dad to get out his pride and joy—–his homemade potato gun!!!  This is much fun to shoot. He made it out of PVC pipes.

He made sure to let everyone, who wanted a turn, have one.  It was great seeing the younger children, realize that ,”Wow, I can shoot this.”  Was a fun time.  Thankfully no neighbors across the street from us:)  Guy on the right is my son, Collin.

 

Then the last activity that we do every year is an obstacle course.  Now usually it involves just our family.  I can tell you that being 9 months pregnant and trying to do an obstacle course is not much fun.  I was glad to just be a spectator in this event:)  We just had them pick partners and they did the course against each other.  No winners or losers, everything done today was in great fun.

For the first part of the course, you had to ride the razor 360 down the hill.  It doesn’t matter that these bikes are made for about a 10 year old, not a 16 year old.  Fun watching the older ones try and pedal down the hill.

Next you had to take a water balloon and smash it on the ground.  We had pre painted a large target on the ground for them to hit.  Here Lauren was tossing her balloon to Austin.  I believe she was supposed to be hitting the target?!?!!?!?

Next you had to make a cup tower out of stacking cups and then put them down again.  Then crawl under the table.  It didn’t matter if you were 3 feet or over 6 feet, it had to be done:)

 

The next event was to take the water from the bucket and transfer it to the cup opposite your chair.  You had to use only the sponge and it had to go past the marked line on the cup.

We then made some cute bean bags out of jean pockets.  We took and cut around the pockets, filled with rice and then sewed shut.  
We painted some pie plate tins with different red, white, and blue designs and the children had to try and make it into at least one tin.

Right before the finish line, we put the kiddie plastic slide.  It is hilarious watching a grown child try and slide down it—I remember trying to do it 9 months pregnant:)  fun, fun, fun.


Then they ran through the finish line.  Good times.

For our food, which I cannot believe I did not take a picture of!!!!  It was a busy time:)  Here is what we had:

• BBQ chicken
• hamburgers
• hot dogs
• baked beans
• taco salad
• macaroni and cheese
• potato salad
• italian noodle salad
• hummus and pita
• brownie strawberry skewers
• sliced up watermelon
• chocolate popcorn
• gluten free chex mix
• garbage bag snack mix
• jelly belly jellybeans, licorice, taffy
• cupcakes and Popsicle for birthday

Then when the sun was beginning to go away we started out with firecrackers and sparklers.

 

With so many children it made for a smoky area.  We had bought some candles for them to light their sparklers onto.  It made things much easier then lighting with a lighter.We all lined up waiting for the big event.  It was the first year that I was able to stay outside the entire time.  Most years, I have a little one that does not do well with the noise.  But everyone enjoyed it.  It is the little milestones that makes having so many little ones much easier.

Most of the teenage boys helped light the fireworks, it was a beautiful show.  Daddy really likes to go all out for them.  Here is a video of our grand finale.

Thank you for understanding why I wasn’t here. I am excited to be able to share all of the FREE goodies that I found for school later this week, stay tuned.