I love the Fall. Its a full season for us in our household but I love it. That chill in the air. The orange, red, and yellow colors everywhere. The decor is my all time favorite and the smells, oh the smells of pumpkin spice, sign me up!
Something else I love about this time of year is canning. I love canning. Growing my own food is just the ultimate in satisfaction for me. Canning is time consuming. Canning doesn't necessarily save you money but what it does provide is the knowledge you know where your food came from. All the chemicals and preservatives in food now is so damaging. I can my own spaghetti sauce, apple sauce, apple pie filling, green beans, and other random items. I freeze peaches from my tree. Nothing is better than the pop pop coming from the bottles as they seal. Crazy, I know and its the little things but I love it.
I typically will do laundry on days I am canning. Some steps of canning all it requires is stirring every half hour. Oh, how my house smells when I am simmering spaghetti sauce for hours, yummy!
I also had my visiting teachers come over so multi tasking for the win. I also soak in magnesium while my visiting teachers visit. I soak my feet silly not my whole body ha ha
Its the simplest things these days that provide me the greatest satisfaction. I opted in on a challenge to only spend $25 or less each week on groceries for the month of September and to feed my family from my pantry and freezer or fridge for the month of September. Oh this is right up my alley, I love this kind of stuff so so much it might be an unhealthy relationship but I jumped in with both feet, oh heck my whole body. The idea is to spend less so you can use the extra you save and put it on bills to help you get out of debt. Well, I don't have debt and I am comfortable with our savings but I was all about the challenge to feed my family healthy with items I have on hand. What ignites me with this process is knowing I am storing the items my family will use in an emergency situation. Do you want to know what makes me the happiest??? Do you really want to know? OK I will tell you. Preparing my menu for the week and only having to purchase one or two items to make those meals happen. Now, I am a very health conscious eater. Fresh and frozen vegetables and fruits and not processed foods are my staple. We eat very little dairy and eat mostly from scratch. Like scratch in, I make my own enchilada sauce and worchestershire sauce scratch. People say they don't have the time but I say you make the time or you'll spend the time on doctor bills and appointments. I feel a soap box coming on so I will stop now. When I get into my new house I will have the kitchen of my dreams. I plan to teach cooking classes and teach people how it isn't that much time and the benefits will out weigh any sacrifice you may make in the beginning. Watch for the announcement coming August or September of 2018.
Anyway, happy to report I was able to keep to the $25 a week goal and I literally did not change how I cooked for my family. I was able to get a good amount of food out of my freezer and utilize it before it was too old. Its the simple things that get to me I am telling you.
Take the challenge. Take a month and feed your family with what you have and get a snapshot if you would be ok if a natural disaster occurred and shopping couldn't happen. Helps you sleep deep and comfortable knowing your needs are met. Try me I dare ya......
