Week 4

Fridge looking a little bare. We are down to about 1 1/2 dozen eggs, no milk, no fresh veggies or fruit except some onions, leeks, and lemons. Freezer is depleting as well. We have a few bags of frozen veggies, one loaf of bread, no ground beef, a turkey breast, a few chicken breasts, and some frozen beef tips. Cold cereal is almost gone as well. All in all, meals are becoming a little more challenging to put together. We opened several of our freeze-dried and dehydrated cans. The freeze dried peaches are a winner- they were half gone the day we opened them. TVP chicken strips are a good snack food- my daughter LOVES them. They work in stir-fry as well. Banana slices, getting old- no-one wants to eat them anymore. Freeze-dried peas- GOOD. We've just snacked on them, I haven't tried to rehydrate them yet. Dehydrated mushrooms- AWESOME if you like fresh mushrooms. We've actually run out! I'll never buy canned mushrooms again. These wonders hydrate just like a fresh mushroom and taste WONDERFUL. Definitely a keeper. Dehydrated spinach- haven't tried yet. I will though soon. I'm dying for something green to eat!

Eggs- I LOVE fresh eggs. I have several versions of powdered eggs- scrambled and whole. I've used the whole powdered eggs in baking, with minimal variance from fresh egg use. This is the powdered scrambled egg. It cooks up great, and is very simple. My kids haven't noticed a difference yet. I can. It has a slightly salty, not-a-fresh-egg taste. It's tolerable. Not my favorite though. Maybe we'll try another brand to see if there are better options. Too bad we don't have a hen:). But we rely on eggs for many breakfast meals.

March Madness: Week 2

I thought I'd better include a picture of the pantry as well. Here it is at the beginning of week 2. I also want to be accurate- I have a deep chest freezer in the garage as well. Fridge. Shelves are starting to show...some a little bare, but still plenty of food.

This week I fulfilled a goal of mine- I learned how to make tortillas (whole wheat ones to boot!). They were super easy and good. I found the recipe here.

Also, with all ingredients on hand, I successfully made my son's birthday cake! Yes, it does have a cow-pie theme;)

So far this challenge hasn't changed our routine at all. It feels normal. We are using powdered milk (which I have learned that there are MUCH better tasting powdered milks out there- some taste just like fresh milk- if you need brands, let me know and I'd be happy to share). Dinners have been pretty easy and breakfasts as well. Lunches are always hard for me...my kids don't care for left-overs very much.

Also, I am pretty sure of a few areas we will be low if not completely depleted by the end of the month:

1. Dishwasher detergent (Shane's gonna be less than thrilled about that one...)

2. Zip-lock sandwich baggies (hopefully enough Saran wrap will make up for that)

3. Garbage liners (since we aren't shopping, we are not replenishing our grocery bag supply to use as garbage liners)

4. Feminine hygiene (sorry, you are really getting to know me...but I want to be REAL)

March Madness: Week 1

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am all about preparation in many ways! This has stretched into the area of emergency preparation. Over the last 4 years or so, I have collected and organized a large amount of food, dry goods, and home essentials to provide us with a satisfying independence. The goal: to be self-sufficient for months, and eventually years. As an immensely blessed American society, we rely on our retail network HEAVILY. We are, for the most part, dependent on it. Many of us, rely on stores to feed ourselves and our families on a daily basis. I challenged myself to count how many times I went the the store in a week. My typical goal is once or less- but more often than not I go two or three times. I venture to say that there are many that do much more than that. How many times have you run out of diapers at 6pm on a Saturday night? Or realize you are totally out of milk, and your kids will only eat cold cereal for breakfast with milk? Do you have to make the run? I do, often.



So, our March Madness is this: We will rely solely on the contents within our home for food and household items for the entire month of March. The only exclusion will be fuel.



To document the process, I will post a picture of our fridge at the start of each week. I also, will be documenting our daily meals (I won't be posting those).

March 1st:



Does the chaos of the fridge alarm you? It does me...:)

My Little Alien's

Brinly and Cade went to a "Space"-themed birthday party of a friend.

They went as aliens...pretty darn cute ones.

Cade and his weird self.

Brinly with her lushous eyelashes. Adelle had to get in on it. She has one little sparkle on her right check...its kinda dangling there, but she's proud!

Rural Style Valentine

Limited restaurant choices (and limited means) allowed us to continue our home-made Valentine dinner. Brinly and Cade have learned to love the "special" aspect of this dinner. They moved the kitchen table to the middle of the living room and set a little kid table up as well. As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed it. Cade is a bit perturbed because he wanted to be at the big table not the little one.

We enjoyed salmon burgers, potato wedge fries, strawberry shakes, vinaigrette spinach salad, shrimp cocktail, and heart-shaped rolls. We had to save 2/3's of it for another meal:)! It was yummy, and the company was even better!

Shane woke up early (and I mean super early- before his normal leave by 6:45am early) to make these beauties! Side note: if found a big glob of white chocolate in the trash, so I think several attempts were made. They were SO yummy...makes my mouth water just looking at them!!

More Sledding Fun

The outing ended with Brinly and Cade crashing into each other. They are still asking if we can go again:).

Winter Wonderland

We live in the winter wonderland zone, for sure! We made a Saturday outing of sledding one afternoon and enjoyed a local slope (though it was actually quite difficult to find ONE hill in these parts). We lasted for a little while. It was really cold. Adelle HATED it, and bawled the entire time! The falling snow kept falling in her eyes and she couldn't take the aggravation...and I think she was probably cold. It was frigid.

Washer Crud

I honestly have to say, I am very proud of this accomplishment. My washer has been semi-stinking for several months now...and I've done everything from washing with bleach, vinegar, lemon juice, etc. SEVERAL times, to no avail. Fortunately, I have a little bit of appliance savvy (thanks to u-tube and various Internet sites), and was able to take my washer apart and found the culprit of the stank!

NASTINESS in the outer plastic barrel....ewwww (TMI, I know):

So, I did what any frugal fanny would do, covered my nasal passages to save my lungs from the hazardous fumes and particles, grabbed an old toothbrush and started scrubbin.And, wha-la! That was all the way around the washer. Can you see the stark contrast????!!!Now, no more stink! And I saved myself a service call and a few dollars, and got a pretty good work out, if I do say so.

If anyone is interested in learning the HOW of this process, let me know- I'd be happy to share:).