Freezer Meals - Great Easy Way to Feed a Large Family

I have to admit. I've been large scale cooking and freezing meals all my adult life. There are days I just don't feel like cooking. Now that I'm living alone, I still like to buy a big pack of meat or veggies on sale and make a huge crockpot of whatever.

This week I made a massive serving of Ratatouille. Well, there actually wasn't much of that left over, but enough for a lunch. I love Ratatouille.

I really would love a small chest freezer, but I think I just ran out of room in the laundry. I guess If I got one small enough, I could have it in the kitchen and just have more "counter" space. Now I have to look for a tiny chest freezer. See what you made me do?

I was browsing on pinterest and saw this blog by an amazing woman who has it down to a fine art. She spends one day every 2 months making all her meals ahead of time. They just need to be cooked and they are ready to go. I admire her commitment and the free time she must have to spend with her family on a daily basis.

You can click on the picture to go directly to the blog, or this link A Turtle's Life For Me - Freezer Meals on the Cheap

The Month in Review - Unexpected Expenses

I had it all planned out. Last month I managed to save $100, so if I saved another $100 this month, I'd almost have enough for the Computer I so desperately needed.

I did have to buy a big order of trims. $80, but I was expecting that. Then the kid came over and wanted to eat out, and there was the family birthday celebration at a nice restaurant, but that kind of thing is expected.

What I didn't expect was my daughter talking me into creating a new line and all the expenses that come with that. Even though the line is awesome cosplay aprons, and I love them, I needed new fabric and had 3 new designs printed on fabric, (one is on the way).

Oh, ha, and the iron on fabric that took 3 weeks to arrive - I had to buy more.

What I didn't expect was for my kicks to blow a
hole in the toe, so I had to order a new pair. I got the cheapest ones I could, because I have little square feet that must be special ordered from the square foot store. Oh, and the cheapest pair just happens to be Banana Yellow.

I still have to buy my usual pair, but I have a $10 discount and if they have 20% off, I might be able to get them next month.

Then there was the spare ink for the Printer, which was good, because it ran out of ink. The color was name brand and a good price, but the black was generic and lasted about a week each, and it's not even busy season.

Ready to print labels and no ink in the printer, no one in town carries Dell so I had to order more online, better brand so 2 (one for spare) for close to $20. Fortunately I could print at the library, of course I have to walk to it to print, but I use the mailbox there a lot and I had movies on hold.

Then I thought, I can't have this happen again, so I had to buy a spare printer. Not a bad price, $34  with a 2 year warranty and shipping. It was a really cheap printer. But I checked and I can get cheap ink, if they work. Not a great printer, but it will be OK for labels in an emergency.

OK done with my rant. Hope you had a better month that I did.

Economy - Changing Your Perception

The goal of Marketing is to make you believe that you really need something. It would be unfair of me to say that I don't try to persuade you, that you need my lovely flowers. I don't do a very good job at it though. Maybe I don't sell my flowers much, because I truly believe that they are a luxury and not a necessity. (See akaCINDERS over there --->)

I was watching a commercial for a NuWave oven and thinking to myself, that that monstrosity that we have taking up half our kitchen is a totally unnecessary thing. We have the tiniest kitchen, and we could use more storage. If we had a cupboard, with a counter top oven and electric range, we would have more room, and more counter top. OK, maybe you can't cook a large turkey in it, but I've cooked them out on the grill in the middle of winter before, and they're great. The perception is that you NEED an oven with 4 burners to feed a family. We NEVER use more than one burner at a time. Do you?

Now lets look at your house. How much does it cost to heat your house in the winter (cool in the summer)? Look at your family all sitting together watching TV. How much space is there around them, and between them and the TV? Is all that space necessary. The bigger the gap between them and the TV, the bigger the screen needs to be. Now look at the TV, hold your hands about 15 inches away from your face and frame your TV. How big is that?

I usually watch shows on my laptop. We have a tiny house with a 36" HDMI. My laptop screen at viewing range is 4 times the size of the TV. I usually watch TV on a teeny tiny portable TV. Last night the boy wasn't in the room and I thought, what a great thing, I can watch on the big bedroom TV. As I was watching I did this measuring thing. The big TV at it's distance was half the viewing size of my teeny TV when I watch it.

I realize that some of these suggestions are impractical for a larger family. You can't all sit around a laptop, but you can consider a smaller, not larger house if you are buying. They are easier to maintain and cheaper to climate control. And you can use a smaller TV.

Consider alternatives to your kitchen, or bath to make them more economical and spacious. And my very favorite, hang your laundry and fluff in the dryer to soften. You can even do this in the house in the winter. After all, you have all that extra space.

My point is, that we've all been brainwashed to think that we NEED certain things. We need extra space and a larger TV and a large capacity dryer and a smooth cook top range and the biggest fastest newest car. It's not that I don't think that if you have the money, you don't need to spend it to help the economy. It's just that if you don't have the money, you should check your perception of what you're actually using and need. Then you'll have enough money to come to my new shop and buy my lovely flowers.

Putting it Together - Spool Knitting

Most of you must know what this is. We used to make these out of wooden spools and 4 nails when I was a kid. You make a rope or tiny knit tube with yarn and this little gadget.

I got this for Poppy's 7 year old. The fascination was short lived so I swiped it thinking I could make some nice neck chains for my Felt flowers. The other night I thought I would experiment with it. I "watched" a Dr Who that I had already seen and worked on the chain. I say watched, because I found that I had to keep my eyes on the craft constantly, otherwise I might not "pick up" all the bottom threads. I've seen some homemade ones that use little paddles instead of posts and I'm wondering if that might be easier to use.

Not only was this more concentration intensive than I imagined, after the 1 hour show was over, I had only 12" of chain done. As I have said in yesterday's post, at an average of $6 an hour for minimum wage (I know, not all states are the same, and I wouldn't want to live in Kentucky), that's not great money. I'd need a much longer piece for what I wanted to do, long and doubled, at least 60 inches. That's 5 times my original piece! At that rate the chain alone would be $30 not including material or other fees involved.

Maybe it was me. I could make it faster, I'm sure! So I tried it again, and again and still the same results, no matter what I did. I'm pretty fast at crafting too. I would probably have to charge at least $35 for that darn 60" rope chain with nothing on it, just to make minimum wage. Would you buy it?

I think I'm going to try some more timing experiments like this. Would you like to see more? Let me know if you can do this faster.