Water

Water storage is very important for the pantry and to have in case of emergency. I have gone through several different methods and they get better as time goes on because I have more room and am a little better and doing it.

This time I have a few different ways of storing water. The first is taking empty juice containers and fill them up with water after they have been cleaned. This may or may not provide drinking water, but it provides water for other uses. I have a few of these.



I also have a few jugs of water that I bought at the store. I don't prefer buying water from the store, but I will do it from time to time and this is one I was able to do in my last home.



Lastly, I finally broke down and bought a 7 gallon water storage container. I like the small size, over the 55 gallon barrels you can buy, because it is easier to move and handle. For now, I will start with these methods. I hope when I get a more permanent residence I will be able to afford and acquire the larger water storage containers that are out there. In the meant time I will just dream of owning a water super tanker http://www.yourfoodstorage.com/product/852369963.

Grocery Shopping

I took a family member with me to coupon. I was more excited about her excitement than anything else. All in all we got quite a few things free and the total before coupons and after sales was over $80. We spent $30.

Couponing

Since I will probably do several coupons posts, mainly for my benefit of being able to look back and see progress or not, etc. there will just be several posts with the title of "couponing." I mean, I could try to think of names to call the posts, but I just don't want to think that hard.

Tonight I did late night shopping. The store closed at midnight. I turned on the car just a few minutes before the hour. I would have gone earlier but my husband worked late and I would have gone tomorrow or early next week but there is a bad weather forecast and I really don't want to go out in bad weather, not to mention it is great to shop without kids, no matter what the hour.

It was double/triple coupon week again. I think they do this at least every month or two so it is easy to take advantage. I got a lot of cereal and could have waited for the cereal to be on sale but I was satisfied with the price, and it got me pretty low anyway. I even got meat, which I normally wouldn't have done, but we needed some.

My main haul for the day ended up being tons of breakfast foods. I don't mind though. Sure, I could've waited for some things, but I haven't been shopping in a long time and we kind of need some food. Not to mention, I am in a rut right now and can't think of anything to make, so I went for a few easy fixers. All in all, I was pleased. I had people at the checkout behind me asking me if I was going to get it all free and how many papers I get or if I get the coupons from my neighbors. Everyone was impressed as was I and since I really don't want to make it a career to get all my food cheap, although if it happens I'll take it, I will continue to be pleased.

The total before coupons was $137.65
I spent a total of $60.96
Which saved me $76.69

I don't even have to figure this all out because the cash register does it for me and my receipt tells me I saved 56%

Safetly Room Make Over

OK, so it's not an entirely great makeover or a complete one, but it is a start. Since money is tight I have had to do it in a few segments. Yesterday I worked on the safety room (My daughter named it. It started out as the 72-hour room) putting up the shelves. Sure, it would be nice to buy the shelves from Shelf-Reliance that are built to hold cans and use the FIFO method but I don't quite have that much money rolling around. I have plans for building my own can shelf but it has to wait at least a few years or until I have the means. There are lots of ways to build your own shelves and be creative.

I decided to be creative by going to Lowes. They have wide boards that cost around $6 each. I also bought some weight blocks which cost less than a dollar each. They may not look fancy, but they do and it works much better than stacking everything.





Of course, I'm not done with the room yet. I have to clear out junk I don't need and put a few things away (I ran out of blocks, could ya tell?) When I expand my storage area next I will use the same wood boards and blocks and I will make a shelf in the middle of the room of which I will be able to have access from all sides. Which is pretty much like the shelves my parents had in our food room growing up. I sure miss that room. It was a great example of how food storage is to be.

Couponing

I decided to try couponing, or at least attempt it. I have been quite surprised. The only thing I need to do is learn to wait. That's pretty hard. I've gone out twice on 'couponing' trips and have saved more than half each time. My second trip even resulted in items I got for free which totally got me excited because they were instant potatoes and they have come in handy.

I don't want to make couponing a 'job' but enjoy the challenge and being able to get out of the house on an evening when the kids are in bed and my husband is home. Couponing is quite difficult with kids. What I am talking about, shopping is difficult with kids.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the challenge. I will keep it up and have been surprised to see how many coupons exist for foods and things other than refrigerated dough. I even have some for yeast and can't wait to use my chocolate chip coupons.





So, these were my two trips. Sure, there are things in there I didn't normally buy but I am trying to branch out and my couponing trips happened at a time where I was just not motivated to make stuff from scratch. So, I have realized that I will need things in my storage that require little effort even if they don't taste nearly as great as home made.

So, if you want to try it out do it. Just be patient though and some things really aren't worth buying. Just because you have a coupon for it doesn't mean you have to buy it.

Canning

I've been keeping busy. I have not forgotten to update, I just have been busy. I've practiced my canning and hope I am getting better. I've canned strawberry jam, peach jam, peaches, green beans, and tomatoes. Of course, I am almost out of cans now and I did not have many to begin with nor could I afford many. I have also frozen some items as well as dehydrated some things. My next project is to do apples.



These peaches I canned with my friend but I did have a bushel before that I froze almost the entire thing and suffice it to say my freezer is now full, but I will have peaches to can later.

Because of the lack of time and the lateness of the hour I put the peaches in regular ziplock bags. I wanted to wait until the neighbor above was gone before using the foodsaver.





On the left you can see what happens to peaches in a regular ziplock and to the right is what they look like in the foodsaver bag. They will last much longer and hold up much better in the freezer this way.

Shelves

I've decided there isn't enough room on our one shelf to accommodate all the things I keep adding to the storage are, or rather it now is referred to as the 'safety' room by my daughter. I do not have shelves though and for the time being I have had to makeshift some extra shelves with some sturdy boxes. Those will shortly be replaced by real shelves, or at least something more sturdy. In the mean time, I have been using more of my stuff. Those 25 pound bags are coming in handy and I am even trying to make some baked beans today, although I am doing it on the stove not in the oven.

I read an article today about people trying to do things the way their grandparents did to get food to last longer. They mentioned that many people simply will not want to make the effort to switch to food from scratch over convenience foods. I don't blame them, it does take more time to make food from scratch but boy it sure tastes so much better and isn't full of other things. You don't have to add corn or soy to every thing you make. The article also mentioned how many people don't even know how to make food from scratch, and you know what, it's true. Many don't. It's a knowledge that has been all but thrown out for many people as all they need is to add water. I have had to learn a lot about making food from scratch and have a long way to go, but it sure is helping on the food budget and will hopefully help us healthwise as well.

My mother makes everything from scratch. She always has. She is one of 6 girls in her family and her father, my grandfather, would mention how out of all 6 she was the only one who could make anything from scratch. That included cooking pumpkin. Did you know, you can do more with a pumpkin than carve a face in it? It is possible and several years back I wanted to learn that same thing, so I asked and have been cooking real pumpkin ever since. But, it takes time. Some things I will buy convenience as it isn't going to save me much money making from scratch because I don't eat it that often or the ingredients are just as cheap or expensive as the product itself. I will buy pasta and ketchup, mustard, and things of the like, but I will make my pies, crackers, bread, rice dishes and maybe baked beans.