The Thrifty Lady

“Contentment: Being happy with I have.”

Contentment is not easy to obtain. There are things in all of our  lives that we would love to change, things that we just aren’t happy with.

I ran across a great quote this week:

“Whenever I’m in the kitchen smelling the aroma of beans slowly cooking for our evening meal, my mind goes back to my childhood when this food was vital to our survival. We may not have had many material things, but we never went hungry thanks to beans and corn bread.

This simple meal reminds me that the essentials of life need not be extravagant. We often think that to be happy, we need bigger and better things. And yet, when I was growing up, there was so much love in our family that we just didn’t think about needing anything more.

I’ve never forgotten that period of my life, or that depression-era meal. It remains one of my favorites, and I still enjoy cooking up a ‘potful of the past”‘

~ Oneta M. Whitlock, excerpt from We had Everything but Money: Priceless Memories of the Great Depression

“But Godliness with contentment is great gain.” I Timothy 6:6

When we lived in the city I did the bulk of my shopping at Aldi’s. I loved it! We had a great pantry system set up and we would shop once a month.

Actually, it became our date night. The kids went to Grandma’s and my husband and I went grocery shopping!

When we moved to the farm, I suddenly realized that since we were now 2 hours from Aldi,  It was no longer practical to use it as my main source of food.  The first few years were hard as I adjusted to shopping at a regular grocery store.

Then the Amish began to move in. A new colony was started and with it came some new stores, including a discount grocery store.

We lovingly named it “The Scratch and Dent” but other neighbors have dubbed it “The Redneck Wal-Mart”. The store is full of groceries and toiletries at a discount. Some of the jars have been dented, some of the boxes a little smooshed, but the cheap prices help you overlook those small details!

You can find everything from organic to Aldi brands and you never know what they will have on any given day. It’s like a treasure hunt!

Today I found the special face soap that my teenagers use, a birthday gift for a niece, a big bag of shredded cheddar, a package of dry erase markers with an eraser, and enough other stuff to fill a cart to overflowing!

With careful buying, a discount grocery store can be a great way to stretch your grocery dollar!

During the hot summer months when I don’t feel much like cooking, stir-fry is a great and thrifty way to use up left-overs.

I start with any cooked meat I have and add in left-over, frozen or fresh vegetables. Sometimes if there isn’t a lot of meat, I’ll also throw in some nuts like peanuts or cashews.

I’ll even throw in onions and peppers if I’m feeling brave!

Once all the vegetables are cooked and the meat is heated, I pour the sauce over and cook until it is thick.

Stir Fry Sauce:

Mix together 2 Tablespoons corn starch, 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 2/3 cup water, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1 tsp. garlic, and 1/2 tsp. pepper.

If there isn’t enough sauce, I just make another batch and throw it on and cook a little longer!

It’s a delicious and light summer meal that my family loves. Well, not all of them. One child would rather have a root canal then eat anything  with lots of weird vegetables mixed up together. I always serve this with bread and a salad so when he has eaten his allotted portion he can fill up  with those!

Ahh, the joys of motherhood!

Everyone is looking for a deal when grocery shopping.  My mother-in-law  has always claimed that you get the best prices by shoppng the same stores regularly.

She was right! By regularly shopping one store you learn the routine of price drops and the rotation of sale items. For example, my favorite local grocery store does a great sale on pastas every 4 months. I know to stock up on enough pasta to last until the next great sale.

You also learn where the “reduced for quick sale items” are kept. These are items that are greatly reduced in price because they need to bought quickly and used before they expire or go bad.

A thrifty shopper can pick up some great bargains if they know where to look!

I recently picked up several large bags of baby carrots for 99 cents a bag. We had company at the time, so finishing off that many carrots before they went bad was not a problem.  If I had more time though, I would have bought a few more bags, blanched them and froze the carrots in zip lock baggies ready to throw in soups or heat up as a vegetable.

On the same shopping trip I also bought two cartons of reduced price cottage cheese. One we ate fresh right away, the other I’ll make into a casserole and freeze.

We buy almost all of our fruit this way. With a family of seven, it isn’t hard to finish them before they spoil! If for some reason we don’t, I make a fruit salad for supper and use up the odds and ends. Or dump them in my vita-mix with some yogurt and make a smoothie.

Finding the hidden “reduced for quick sale” spots in your local grocery store is a thrifty way to feed your family!

Breakfast is always the hardest meal for me to do when I have company. For starters, I am not a morning person. My prefect day would start about 9:00 (would someone please tell that to my children?!)

Planning ahead is the only way I can function at breakfast, especially when there’s company expecting a meal.

These simple muffins are a snap to put together in the morning, even when I’m not quite with it, and taste great.

They go wonderfully well with scrambled eggs or egg casserole, either at breakfast or for an easy and cheap supper.

I often double the recipe so we have enough for another meal.

Cinnamon Topped Muffins

Mix together: 1 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 3/4 tsp. salt. Set aside.

Combine 1 well-beaten egg, 1cup milk, and 1/3 cup oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. Drop in greased muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

While muffins are baking, melt 3 Tbsp. butter in a shallow container and set aside.

In another shallow container combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

When the mufins are done, remove them from the muffin tins and quickly dip the tops in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Makes about 1 dozen.