This weeks shopping trip, did we make our $50 budget?

So did we make our $50 budget? Lets take a look.

3 dozen large eggs $5.97
1 Raw honey (2#) $7.99
Oatmeal (2#) $3.59
3lbs. onions $1.99
3lbs. salad mix $3.99
1lb. carrots $0.99
1 lb. tomatoes $1.89
4.84lbs. oranges (about 6 oranges) $3.78
2.75lbs. Bananas $2.17
10lbs. potatoes $1.88
Our total for this week; $34.24

So if you have to buy your meat you would have $15.76 to do it.
Going off of a flyer I would purchase: 8lbs. of chicken drumsticks or thighs being they are on sale for $1.19 a pound, 1 ham steak for $3.49, and a package of ground beef for the remaining $2.75.

So going off this list I would create our meal plan. Being it would be different if we had bought these meats.

I think we are doing very well in our journey of eating healthier, non-gmo food, and keeping to our budget. Thanks for reading.

My Day Simple and Plain

My normal day around the house usually starts at about five thirty in the morning getting the house warmed up before the kids get up, but sometimes I am just tired and sleep in another twenty minutes. The four kids get up at six and get themselves ready for school, about this time my husband returns home form work, I prepare breakfast, my husband says goodnight and wishes the kids a good day. All the children set down to eat breakfast at about six fifteen to six thirty. Then we finish getting everyone bundled up for the trip to the bus four miles away. We leave to meet the bus at seven. After returning home I feed all my critters, chickens & ducks, rabbits, and then the goats. This would also be the time I would milk the does, when they are freshened. Then I move onto my house work, with periodic stops to look at Facebook, I think my husband would like if it was never made. ;) Usually my house work only takes a few hours, with stops included. About ten I am ready to work in the garden. if its that time of year, other times like during hunting season I almost always skip the house work and I hunt till about ten or eleven in the morning. Most of my day is just planning and working on food preservation. Around two in the afternoon my husband awakens and we spend about an hour together before I start to prepare our dinner. We eat our dinner early and the days my husband works since he leaves for work at four thirty in the afternoon, the children return home from school about four and dinner is usually waiting on the table for them so we can as a family eat together before my husband leaves. He says his goodbyes and the five of us start to prepare for the night, homework is started, animals are given fresh water, firewood is split and carried indoors, animals are feed again, lunchboxes are emptied, dish are done, laundry is put away, rooms are straightened, and the next days lunches are prepared. Afternoons and evenings are busy times in our house since we race the sun and trying to get everything done before its dark. We all are usually done and able to relax about six to six thirty in the evening, we watch a short movie and then starts the bath times and preparing for bed, we must be sure to start this early enough the kids hair would be thoroughly dry before bed. The children's day ends at eight at night, but I am not so fortunate I still will be awake till around eleven thirty to midnight. I fold clothes that need to be folded or just relax in bed till my husband calls home on his lunch break to tell me goodnight, during the summer the calls are a bit longer then during winter and the cold. That ends my weekdays. Weekends are the times I get to sleep in till almost eight in the morning, the days are packed and busy with odds and ends nothing is the same except for hunting season we are gone most of the days and during the summer the weekends are spent fishing, firewood stocking, gardening, preserving, foraging, and getting the home prepare for winter. I think that's about it, all my time is summed up in a few words. Thanks for reading.

What we do with apples no one wants to eat.

Get your apples, I got these a couple weeks ago for 50 cents a pound and now they are going to become apples pieces for oatmeal or cookies. 

Wash the apples and core them, diced them up and dry them on parchment paper for about 10-12 hours if using the oven to dry them set it on the lowest setting. 

After about 10-12 hours they would be dry and store them in an airtight container after they have cooled. You can add these to your soaked oatmeal while it's cooking for extra favor and vitamins. 

Shopping list and Menu 1 Week December

So I was thinking none of my menus so far have shown how we could afford meat if we did not harvest our meat animals, so this one will tell you how.

7-Day Menu

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Beef barley soup and toast.

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Spilt pea soup in a bread bowl.

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Potato soup in a bread bowl.

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Beef, brown gravy over mashed potatoes.

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Chicken Pot Pie

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Shepard's Pie

Breakfast-Soaked oatmeal (3 cups oatmeal, 3cups water, 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar, mix and soak overnight, can be soaked in the pan and heated the next morning)
Lunch-Meatballs, soaked crackers, cottage cheese (homemade)
Dinner-Cheese pizza

Shopping List:
Oatmeal (5pound bag) $4.27
Ground Beef (5 pounds) $14.95 +/-
Barley (1 pound) $1.37
Split peas (1 pound) $1.67
Potatoes (15 pounds) $3.99
Cottage Cheese (1 pound) $3.99
Ground Chicken (1 pound) $1.99
Canned Corn (2) $1.98
Canned Peas (2) $1.98
Shredded Cheese (4 cups) $6.99
Butter (1 pound) $3.99
Crackers (1 box) $2.99
Tomato Sauce (6oz) $.75
Ham bone (2 bones) $3.99 (this does put us over by $2.91)
Left over carrots from last week $0

This menu does have other things that you would hopefully have in your kitchen already, flour, yeast, salt, garlic powder, dry milk or water, and gravy mix or make your own out of bouillon cubes.
I would make my own cottage cheese but I did include it for those who do not make it.
This is not our current menu but another option we have if we needed to buy our meat.