Saturday, January 31, 2009

Weekly Menu

I thought I would post my weekly menu's for the month of February. I know its nothing new but in these tough financial times I think any ideas for saving money or making do with what we have on hand is much needed. If you can save time and money tough times don't seam so tough. At least that is my take on it.

I have set a goal for this month. I don't want to spend more than 5.00 a day on food. That will be around $150.00 for the grocery budget. I think I can do this. We are lucky to be enrolled in the WIC program. That helps out to stretch the budget.

As I have said before we have lots in the freezer and I am pretty well stocked up on the pantry basics. So all that is really needed is proper planning. We go through a lot of milk, I think for this month I am going to have to re-intorduce 50/50 Milk, that is half whole milk and half powder milk, since I have milk powder on hand it will give me 2 gallons milk for the cost of one gallon.


  • SUNDAY
Breakfast
HRM Waffles
Sausage links
Orange Juice
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
Chicken Fried Steak 
Mashed potatoes and gravy 
Mixed Veg
Rolls
  • MONDAY
Breakfast
Cold Cereal
Orange wedges
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
Spaghetti With Meat sauce
Green Beans
Salad with Italian dressing
Garlic Toast
  • TUESDAY
Breakfast
Eggs & Toast
Orange Juice / Coffee
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches

Dinner
Deer Enchiladas
Green Salad
Spanish Rice
Jello
  • WEDNESDAY
Breakfast
Oatmeal
Orange Juice / Coffee
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes & gravy
Salad
  • THURSDAY
Breakfast
Pancakes & syrup
Milk
Orange wedges
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
Beef and Bean Burritos
Green Salad
Fruit & Jello
  • FRIDAY
Breakfast
Cereal
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
Dinner Surprise
Green Salad
French Bread
  • SATURDAY
Breakfast
Muffins
Scrambled Eggs
Orange Juice
Lunch
Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner
BBQ Ribs / Chicken
Macaroni Salad
Garlic Bread
Food Budget for the week: $ 35.00
Shopping List
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
2 Gallons Milk
Lunch Meat
Sweet Pickles
Pimento
Olives
Berries
Bananas
Apples

The Importance of Brushing your teeth...



From Hopkins web site
The single best way to remove harmful plaque -- a thin, sticky film of bacteria -- from teeth and gums is to brush teeth regularly and properly.




Blaaa Blaaa Blaaaa.... My kids hear this all the time and do they listen????




"BRUSH YOUR TEETH OR THE SUGAR BUGS WILL EAT YOUR TEETH AND THEY WILL LOOK LIKE THIS!!!!!"
Ok, just kidding..... This is what happens when your youngest child gets into the chocolate chips and big sisters think it is so funny they snap a few pictures not telling anyone. Mom downloads pictures and gets a giggle from this and decides its to funny not to share with the WWW.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Meet or should I say Meat Bella....





Here is the newest member of the critter family. She will be here till the fair. May 13th. Hubby said, "She sure is pretty. Maybe we could buy her back for a breeding project."


Mind you this is the guy who swore we would never have any animals here.


"Can't go anywhere if you have critters!" He does have a point...


But we DON'T GO ANYWHERE anyways, so I don't see a problem.

(I think Mr. Rooster is soo pretty)



I found 4 eggs yesterday in the old dog house. I gathered them up and thought today I would check again.... Darn chickens didn't lay any eggs there. I don't know why they are doing this to me. I find there nest, get all excited about it, then they move it on me. I am all for a good egg hunt but only once a year chickies, please!


Thursday, January 22, 2009

Rain...






Oh how nice it was to first smell, then see the rain come again! We needed this so very much! It was getting so dry farmers where turning the water on there trees to give them a much needed drink!






After weeks of lovely late spring weather ( upper 70's to 80's) I think the pigs have another openion about the rain.
They are in there little shelter under the heat lamp and sunggled up in some nice clean straw.






This morning the chickens where looking a bit worse for ware, but once the rain stopped they fluffed right up and are looking better than ever.




Here is Mr. Rooster keeping an eye on his "Chicks"
OH barnyard humor!
The lambs will be coming next! We need to work on waterproofing our shelters... This morning in the rain I was tarping the pigs bedroom so they could stay nice and dry... The chickens took shelter under the Water truck!
How ironic....

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Update

Oh my gosh where has the time gone? I started working as a Sub in the school kitchens and lost track of everything I was starting or working on. 2008 in a re cap could be summed up in one word HECTIC!

2oo9 is starting out just as hectic as 2008 left...

The girls are still busy with School, 4H, GKA, & Sports. Shannon ( the baby) had her third birthday! They don't stay babies long. On the baby front my little sister had a baby boy on Thanksgiving day!

I posted an add on Craig's List for chickens and became the new owner of 8 chickens ( 7 hens and 1 rooster) They are a lot of fun. A neighbor is hatching some chickens right now and is going to give me a few so my flock will be growing. I think I will need to make a better/bigger pen.

Hubby got on board with the garden, we now have a HUGE winter garden! He is making plans for a nice size spring/summer garden as well. We are going to try and get another good harvest off the fruit trees. They are in bad shape but maybe we can save them with a little TLC.

We just got 2 pigs! 1 for my oldest daughters 4H project and 1 for the freezer. They are so cute right now. They are only 35 pounds right now so they can be cute. I told my daughter we need to work with them now so that when they are 200 pounds they can be handled.

In a few weeks we will be getting lambs for our middle daughters 4H project. Again 1 for her and the other for the freezer. I also made a contact for 1/2 a beef at the end of summer. So as of now all the meat for the year is lined up.

I am still working hard at sticking to a pretty tight budget. The economy is just as bad here in the sticks of Northern California as it is everywhere else in the world. It will get better..... Someday :)