The aspect of Tim's job loss that has probably affected me the most is in the area of our food budget. I am a stay at home mom, so I am constantly preparing meals and snacks. And when we don't have the money to buy the food that I would normally use, things get a little hairy. . well I get a little cranky. ;)
Over the last few months, I have been working to develop my baking and cooking skills to better use foods that are inexpensive: read: whole foods, fresh food!
Now, I had already been cooking mostly all of our dinners from scratch for some time, but our baked goods and snacks were a different story. Good bread and healthy snacks are expensive! So I had to make a choice. I could either buy cheap "wheat" bread at the dollar store, or I could learn how to make wholesome and tasty bread for my family for a little less than a dollar per loaf.
As I have been perfecting my skills and baking away, one problem kept arising. . . . where can I fit this into my schedule??!?! And then I remembered a great post written by Abbi at Proverbs31 living: http://proverbs31living.blogspot.com/2009/09/baking-day.html
What a concept! Most of us are either home everyday, or we dedicate a day of the week to stay home to do laundry or other household chores. Why not use that time to bake as well? Really. Most of the time involved in baking is in letting the dough rise or baking it in the oven. During those times, keep on going with your normal tasks. :)
Monday is my baking day, so I thought I'd share with you whats on my menu for today:
-Banana muffins
-Honey wheat bread
-Wheat sandwich rolls
-Molasses Cookies
I usually try to make one breakfast item for those mornings when I don't have time to cook breakfast. . . . err, when I don't get out of bed on time. ;) Loaf bread is made every week, and this week I am trying out these sandwich rolls. And then I make one or two sweet snacks for lunches and for hubby's sweet tooth. :)
Really, I can't express to you enough how much this has saved us! I'll write more about this again, and provide recipes. But start thinking about items on your grocery list that you can replace with homemade goodness.
Now, I'm off to go take the umbrella out of the patio before it flies away in this crazy wind! :)
~Larissa
Yum! Can you post your favorite recipes?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I'm also hoping to get something together with a bunch of "tried and true" recipes from Cornerstone ladies. If you would like to participate, just email me your recipes. :) I was thinking we could ever just get a pdf file going and then if anyone would like it, we can just email it. What do you think???
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I read your post last night. I had bread rising at the time. Monday is my "preparation day." I slowly throughout the day prep most of my main meals for the week. That way they are still convienent and still made from scratch. I started it this fall and it has been a life saver. Have you ever added glutten flour to your bread? It was something that I started using it this fall as well. You can buy it in the bulk bins. It has allowed my WW bread be extra squishy and my kids really like it. I can honestly say that I now prefer the WW bread to white bread. But I am impressed that you make the bread all from scratch. I usually use the bread machine to make it up to the first rise, and then I transfer it to the pans. I don't usually have the patience for kneeding it- but Meredith is pretty good at it:) See you tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to talk to you more about using gluten, Kim. So does that take the place of bread flour? For the rest of the flour, I use whole wheat.. . .Just can't afford to buy the wheat bread flour. :)
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