The Homestead Mindset Anywhere: by Donna Miller

You can stretch your budget and your menu with the one basic bread recipe that we send out with every newsletter.

"How?" – you may ask. Simply look at the lump of dough differently. This is a mindset - just start thinking outside the bread box.

Freshly Milled Whole Wheat Hot Dog Buns

The Basic "Fool Proof" Bread Recipe we send out second in our newsletter series can be shaped into:

~ Burger Buns
~ Hot Dog Buns
~ Hoagie Buns
~ Bread Sticks (filled and twisted or just plain, warm and toasty)
~ Bread Bowls for Chilli and Soups
~ and SO many more potentials….

Even once made they can become other things if you don't used all of them up. Just a few left over could become:
~ Croutons (any of the above, even if it's one loan bun)
~ Garlic Bread (best for the hot dog/hoagie buns with lasagna and salad - YUM)
~ Toasted Crackers (slice thin on an angle [if not split for burger or hot dog] and butter/toast) - good with slices of cheese and a salad!
~ Open Faced Cheese Bread (top with mixed cheeses and broil) to go with soups

So even as simple as the ONE recipe may be. Don't get stuck with it ALWAYS just being a loaf of bread! Shape and use it in multiple ways!

Best Blessings!~
Donna Miller

Donna Miller is an author, teacher and entrepreneur. Her favorite roles are that of wife and mother to three home-school graduates. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.

Of all things! My bread machine (of 15 years) finally completely gave out!  Pretty sure it's past its warranty. Oh wait! I think got it at a garage sale so there likely IS no warranty.

I've done my due diligence with it over the years; soldering 'this' that broke, unscrewing and cleaning 'that' that leaked, reconnecting wires when there was a short, so what was different this time when it made that unfamiliar sound of ...... nothingness.....?

Well the time this week has been limited. Frankly, I have it apart already; inside out and everything, but I still can't figure out the problem. Could it be that using something daily (often twice to three times a day) really DOES ware it out eventually?  Nah....couldn't be that.

But alas, the disassembled machine is sitting in my pantry without a chance for revival. I mourn the fact that I cannot repair it. I got it when my baby (now 19) was 4. But bread must go on....with our without a machine.

So if I spend even more time trying to figure out just what might be wrong, I don't bake bread at all! Now that's a problem here in the Miller household.  So, do I buy a new one?  The current answer to that is 'no'.

There always is a third option when the time spent repairing something is not worth, well the time, and buying the replacement (either new or used) is out of the question for the time being. That option is to do without it.  Gasp! Yes. It is an option...although not a very popular one.

I have two hands. These are my 'new' bread machines.  The bread is actually the same and I get some much 'kneaded' therapy (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). 

Go ahead and spend time repairing before trashing and buying a new anything!  But remember, just because something breaks beyond repair - it doesn't mean we HAVE to replace it....there is always a third option.

Best Blessings and Budget Stretching!

Donna Miller

Come listen in or call in to my new Radio Show! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/millersgrainhouse

Our fridge (refrigerator) is a 17 year old, side-by-side fridge/freezer. It's narrow.  The light does not work. It actually won't turn itself off when the door is shut, thus heating up the fridge, which of course is quite counterproductive.  So rather than replace the whole mechanism on this 17 year of appliance - we have a dark and often scary refrigerator.

I say 'scary' because, well, not only is it dark, but the darkness and narrowness of it lends to things being pushed way back into the recesses of the abyss and hiding indefinitely. If I wait to long to dive into the depths of the dark narrow fridge, I find a plethora of 'science experiments' such as: a tiny bag of olives now smashed to oblivion, the last bit of pineapples that are fermented into something at about a 19% alcohol level, home-made pizza that has fallen out of it's baggie (who knows when) and turned to a concrete wedge that could be a wall decor rather than food.  So with the scary thoughts of what I'll find in mind, I do one thing...every week....a Fridge Purge and Plan.

Now it doesn't keep the fridge from hiding things to do this, it just keeps them from growing into nondescript items and thus it saves me money! Yay for that!

My Fridge Purge and Plan is on the calendar each week the day before I make my weekly menu and list from the sales flyers.

It consists of having these items handy:

· Tupperware, Freezer Bags and the Perpetual Freezer Soup Container

· Room in the Freezer (we have two other than the side-by-side, one for meat the other for...other)

· A crock-pot ready and plugged in to GO ...

I pull out all of the shelf items and find what I have that needs using first. These items go onto the earliest menus for the next few days and we use them up. I put them now at the FRONT of the fridge so I know where they are for using early on in the week.

Anything that can be made into a soup or stew (two nights of left-over green beans, corn, potatoes, squash, peas, so on) goes right into the crock pot and dinner is now also made.  If I don't want to do the crock pot that night all this goes into my perpetual Freezer Soup container (see this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBWx-SPRobQ&feature=PlayList&p=B895EFDBC11107FB )

Last, if I know we won't use it soon, it goes to the freezer. I usually re-package/label it so I know what it is and when I need to use it from there.

So once a week, doing the Fridge Purge and Plan or the Freezer, Fridge and Crock-pot Shuffle helps me in a few different ways. First it helps me to plan a frugal budget for the week’s meals, but then it also helps me keep my fridge less scary and stretch what I already have on into more meals. We can’t use them if they had 'rotted' back in the obscurity of the deep dark chasm that is my frightening fridge.

Clean out your fridge and save money. How cool is that?

Next post - I think I'll tell you what cleaning the OUTSIDE of it does for our budget!! Tune in again soon. Same bat-channel, same bat-station, same bat-time.... 

But, before I list and try to explain them.....If you would like a visual aide (I learn better by doing and seeing than reading!) then follow this link to this certain playlist on my youtube channel Quick Tips for saving time and money!

Using Aluminum Foil to the Max - Wash it and reuse it. Multiple times it can be washed and reused.  We often have our 'final' use of aluminum foil for raw meat (that is first wrapped in wax paper) THEN and only THEN after being used several other times do we toss it in the trash.

Organize on a Dime - Finding lids to your pots and pans can cause delay and waste time.  Those 'organizers' cost way too much.  Just two thumb tacks and some 1/2 inch elastic across your cabinet door gives a great place for these to store for easy access.

How to reuse a plastic ziplock bag - If it hasn't had raw meat in it (again, it's our last time of re-using it, like aluminum foil) then wash it and air dry it.  Just turn wrong-side out and wash with soapy water, rinse and hang to dry.

Freezer Soup - Keep a large glass container in the freezer for loading up all the small veggies and potatoes that are left over. Then thaw and add to soup or pot-pies.  Don't freeze meats with it so you can have more choices when you're making the meal. Also don't freeze rice or pasta with it as they go in at the end of cooking time.

Save the burnt toast - This is hard to explain, but unless you've burnt it through and through (which would likely mean you had a fire) you can scrap off the top layer of toast on both sides and have a perfectly good piece of toast.

Donna Miller is an author, teacher and entrepreneur. Her favorite roles are that of wife and mother to three home-school graduates. The Millers own and operate  Millers Grain House  which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.

• Use less detergent than required. Often you won't need as much as the box recommends so play with the amounts.
• Make your own detergent for pennies.  There are numerous recipes for this on line. Everyone has their favorite.
• Learn stain removal tricks. From getting out grease with flour to how long and in what to soak grass stains. A little extra effort can save money.
• Line dry. Four loads dried a week, saves over $100 a year! One other thing this does is keep the wear and tear down on the clothing. Where exactly do you think that lint in the dryer catcher comes from? It’s cloth break-down.
• Re-wear. Hang up and use again any clothing that is not actually soiled or smelly.
• Buy at thrift stores. This is especially good for children's clothing. They grow so fast that what you bought this month may not fit next month. This goes for shoes too!
• Have different sets of cloths. Have some you only wear around the house, some that are for nice events and others for the garden. This will save on stains that don't come out for things that don't matter.
• Learn to stitch and sew at least a little. Even just some slight alterations or mending can keep an article of clothing usable for quite a while.
• Hand me downs. Save what one child may out grow for the next. If you don't have a next, maybe a friend, relative or neighbor does and also has an older child you can GET hand-me-downs from!

Have fun saving and Best Blessings!

Donna

Water is one of the most reasonable beverages for a tight budget. We drink a LOT of it. We have a faucet filter and use glass or stainless steel bottles for carrying the water around with us. Bottled water is too expensive and not good for either our own health or the environment, so none of that plastic, bottled water for us. Filtered tap water, as good and cheap and pure as it can be, can still get.....BORING.....and sometimes you just need another flavor. With a little creativity and stretching you can add variety without breaking the budget.

 Tea: Herbal, Green or Black types, tea is one of the other most reasonable beverages to use.

Coffee: I am a coffee addict. Yes it's true; I need my coffee in the morning. It really is the warmth more than the caffeine, so decaf works the same for me. Either way, it can get expensive to delve into the 'specialty' coffees and flavors and creamers and lattes and so on and so on. There is NO WAY I will regularly pay for a $5 coffee at the local (okay, hour away) Starbucks, but my tastes are still that high...so I've learned to improvise. 

For regular morning coffee, I add half the amount of grounds the second day to the previous day's grounds and make as usual. So if I used 4 TBS on Monday, then Tuesday morning I use 2 TBS and make the same 4 cups.  This stretches the 'el-cheapo' grounds even further.

For that special flavor I've been known to sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa on top of the grounds before setting the coffee pot to 'on'. A little vanilla, maple or almond extract to the water makes a nice switch as well.

At times, when the small samples of flavors I cannot make go on sale (for $.50 a pop) I use a TBS of that to my regular grounds. The flavor is actually just as strong.

Concentrated Frozen Juices: These are often a less expensive and healthier beverage choice than the bottled or powered mixes. Look at the ingredients and compare if there is high-fructose corn syrup and additives.

We also tend to dilute the frozen OJ or other fruit juices to stretch them longer and the taste is just the same.

Lemon juice is high in vitamin C. We make our own lemon-aid with two slivers of lemon (for looks and freshness) 1/3 C lemon juice, 1/4 C Organic Sugar and 20 drops of liquid stevia. Put all previous ingredients in a 2 quart pitcher and fill the rest to the top with filtered tap water. This is a great treat over those powdered mixes! It's lower in calories than most lemon-aides and still a great beverage for anyone!

I hope you’ll give these creative budget stretching ideas a try and broaden your beverage variety without broadening your kitchen budget!

We have so many conveniences and comforts now-a-days, compared to people in years past, that we, as a society on the whole, often delude ourselves into thinking that ‘such and such’ is a need when really it is a want.

• Each child has his/her own room?
• Designer (or new) clothes/shoes?
• The up-to-date fashion?
• Meat at every meal?
• Three meals a day?
• A remote control?
• A TV, Computer or Cell Phone?
• Over 199 channels to choose from?
• A plasma TV?
• Central Air Conditioning?
• Two income household?
• A car for each driver in the house?
• Fast Food?
• Pre-made boxed foods, sliced veggies in the store?

Where do I draw my dividing line between want and need? I'd like to say I don't need ANY of the list above....but the line gets blurry at times. Doesn't it for you? Truthfully most (if not all) of the above items are newly acquired 'needs' of the last 50 years.  Did my parents make it fine without them? Well, yes, they did.  Did their parents do fine with even less? I dare say they may have even been better-off than we are in many ways.

Frankly, I almost want the clarity of a massive financial collapse that will force me to having to choose only to meet my needs over being confused that my wants are needed.  A good financial crunch might put the want/need dilemma into perspective for some of us. Other people may think that it's the end of the world as they know it.  Well, if it is, the end of the world as we know it then I'll feel fine.

If that were to happen, I could draw the line.

Aside from the Spiritual needs, that short list is the end of all physical needs on earth.