Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

Dallas News.com ^ | March 14th, 2008 | DEAN FOSDICK

[nw_arizona_granny]

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick

Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.

At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."

Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.

A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."

[snipped]

She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.

"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980706a.cfm

Homemade Household Wipes
by Kaylin Cherry

In keeping with the spirit of The Dollar Stretcher, I have some great money-saving recipes for you! These not only save money, but are time savers as well.

Homemade Anti-Bacterial Spray:

* 1 gallon tap water
* 2 tbsp. regular Clorox bleach

Mix water and bleach in a clean, milk jug and label clearly as to contents. Pour as needed into a spray bottle, and use to sanitize counter tops, tables, cutting boards, bathroom surfaces, etc., as needed. This will keep without losing effectiveness for two weeks. This formula has been recommended by the Health Department for use in kitchens and bathrooms.

Homemade Wipes (These are NOT all just for babies!)

Baby Wipes:

* Brawny or Bounty paper towels (1/2 regular roll)
* 2-1/4 cups water
* 2 Tblsp. liquid baby bath
* 2 tsp. baby oil

Tear off paper towels and lay in a square plastic container. They can be folded or cut in half. Mix water, baby bath & baby oil slowly in a large measuring cup, and slowly pour over stack of paper towels. They will ‘squish’ down after absorbing the liquid. Seal tightly.

Caution: Some square seals are not airtight and may leak if tipped.

Other variations are:

Face/Hand Wipes:

* 2 tbsp.liquid baby bath
* 2 C water

Bathroom Wipes:

* 1/2 C pine cleaner
* 2 C water

Window Wipes:

* 1C glass cleaner
* 1-1/2 C water

For more free recipes like these, as well as FREE Digital Postcards, please Real Food for Real People website at www.realfood4realpeople.com/. They even have a free recipe list for us frugal type folks!

[nw_arizona_granny]

Tips-n-Tricks For the Ladies

Here are several recipes for luxurious bath items, homemade cosmetics, hair care items, and gift recipes for ladies.

http://www.budget101.com/for_the_ladies.htm

A-Z Household Recipe Guide

Household Recipes, Cleaners & Detergents, Pest Removal Recipes & Ideas, Laundry Stain Removal and Much More.

http://www.budget101.com/household.htm

Tips-n-Tricks for Kids & Babies

Chances are, if your kids are still little, you’re doing everything you can to stay within a budget! Here are some recipes and craft ideas to keep you going, and to keep those little ones happy.

1. Recipes for Babies & Toddlers
2. Craft Recipes for Kids
3. Miscellaneous Make Your Own (MYO)

For Baby

1. Baby’s First Bath
2. Baby Fever Reducer
3. Diaper Rash Cure
4. Diaper Rash Formula
5. Frugal Diapering Tips
6. MYO: Anti-Fungal Baby Wipes
7. MYO Baby Wipes
8. MYO Diapers
9. MYO Formula
10. MYO Formula: Dr. Lee’s Formula
11. MYO Formula: Goat Milk Formula
12. MYO Formula: Goat Milk #2
13. MYO Formula: Hernandez Formula
14. MYO Formula: Kokkoh #3 (Macrobiotic Milk)
15. MYO Formula: Natural Healthy Infant Formula
16. MYO Formula: Wright-Loffler Formula
17. MYO Formula: Loffler-Wright Infant Formula #2
18. MYO Pedialyte
19. MYO: Teething Gel
20. Zwieback Teething Biscuits

UP

Craft Recipes for Kids

1. Bath Paints
2. Chocolate FingerPaints
3. Colored Sand
4. Crayons- Make your own!
5. Dryer Lint Clay
6. Edible Playdough
7. Elmer’s Glue
8. Gak (Flubber)
9. Jello Bubbles
10. Juice Bags
11. Microwave Playdough in a Jar
12. MYO: Modeling Clay
13. Neon Sidewalk Chalk
14. No Tears Bubble Mix
15. MYO: Rock Candy
16. Puffy Paints
17. Salt Playdough Recipe #1
18. Salt Playdough Recipe #2
19. Scratch-n-Sniff Paints
20. Snow Cone Syrup
21. Snowman Repair Kit
22. Super Duper Bubble Recipe
23. MYO Stickers
24. “Suprise” Bubble Bath Gel
25. Tear Free Bubble Mix
26. Washable Tattoos for kids
27. Watercolor Paints
28. Waterless Hand Sanitizer

UP

Miscellaneous MYO

1. Bubble Bath
2. Juice Bags
3. Kool-Aid Sherbet
4. MYO Fruit Leathers
5. MYO Pedialyte
6. MYO: Rock Candy
7. MYO: Snow Cone Syrup
8. Waterless Hand Sanitizer

http://www.budget101.com/kids_&_babies.htm

Tips-n-Tricks
Our Tips-n-Tricks are recipes & advice on dealing with everyday things like kids, pets, household chores, Cleaners, detergents, Body care, vehicle care, and much more!

[and fish bait recipes]

http://www.budget101.com/new_page_3.htm

http://www.budget101.com/kids_&_babies.htm

[nw_arizona_granny]

Whole Wheat Spice Bread Mix in a Jar

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 tablespoons Dry Milk
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Raisins
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Ginger

Layer all ingredients in Jar Or vacuum seal bag. Add the following in a baggie on top of the mix ingredients:

2 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

Attach Tag:
Pour The following in the bottom of your bread machine pan:
1 1/4 cups Water — very warm
2 T Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

Add 1 Jar Mix & top with

yeast from baggie.

Set your bread maker:
Regular, Basic, or Wheat with light/medium setting as you prefer.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.livingonadime.com/recipes/chilipie.html

Chili pie

4 cups leftover chili
or leftover chili and enough vegetables to make 4 cups
cornbread batter
cheddar cheese (optional)

Pour 4 cups extra chili in a deep pie or casserole dish. (Add one can corn or other mixed vegetables if you have a little less than 4 cups.) Prepare 1 recipe cornbread batter according to directions. Drip batter over chili. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until the cornbread is done.

Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese if desired.

I would add a can of drained corn to this recipe...granny

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.livingonadime.com/recipes/pasties.html

Pasties

Filling
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 Tbsp. water
4 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2-1 lb. ground beef, turkey or chicken, cooked
salt and pepper (to taste)

Dough
Use leftover pie crust or use the following recipe:

1 cup shortening
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cups flour
6 Tbsp. water

In a saucepan, simmer the carrots in the water, butter, and chicken bouillon cubes. Add potatoes, onion, meat and salt and pepper. Divide into fourths. Mix dough ingredients and roll into four 10- inch circles. Put the meat mixture on one side of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over and seal with fingers or a fork. Bake 1 hour at 375°. Serves 4-6.

You can also add other vegetables. This is a good way to use those leftovers, so be creative!

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.livingonadime.com/recipes/strawleather.html

Strawberry Leather

3 cups fresh or frozen strawberries*
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Place strawberries in a blender and process until smooth. Measure 2 cups of strawberry puree. Stir in lemon juice and corn syrup. Line a 15x10 inch jellyroll pan with heavy-duty plastic wrap and tape plastic wrap to the pan at the corners. Pour strawberry mixture in prepared pan and spread thin, leaving 1 inch on all sides. You can adjust this to fit your dehydrator or another pan; be sure it is spread thin on the pan. Dry in an oven at 150° or a dehydrator for 7-8 hours or until surface is no longer sticky. Remove leather from pan while still warm and roll up jellyroll fashion. Cut into logs and wrap in plastic wrap. Make five 2 inch logs

*Any other fruit may be used in place of the strawberries.

[varina davis]

Granny, I know what you mean about the weather in Ariz. It varies so much in the state. I lived in Williams for about a year a long time ago when I worked for a little weekly newspaper in Flag. We went to the Canyon quite often — I miss that.

I liked Williams, but nothing but volcanic ash for gardening, it seemed. I’m in Florida now and my sister is in Phoenix. She’s been in Ariz. since the ‘60s and wouldn’t live anywhere else. Hope to see Sedona again someday, too.

[varina davis]

Coffee from Okra:

What do you need?
a. matured or dried okra seeds
b. roasting pan
c. osterizer or grinder
d. turner
Procedures:
1. Select matured or dried seeds and separate them from pods.
2. Prepare the roasting pan and the turner
3. Put the roasting pan on a flame, let it become hot.
4. Put the okra seeds and roast it over the pan using the turner.
5. Turn the seeds until it become roasted, and turn black.
6. Put the roasted okra seeds into a container and let it cool.
7. Grind the okra seeds.
8. Presto! you have now aromatic coffee substitute which can also be used as expectorant.

[Uncle Ike]

****trail of breadcrumbs****

[LucyJo]

Yes, that’s what I had thought too. I have no doubt that many of our recipes are from Africa. Most people take any recipe and adjust it to their own taste. Recipes that were brought over from “the old country”, of whomever came to America, got “calibrated” and revised along the way to suit tastes according to background.

A friend and I got into a discussion about cooking greens...she hates them, and I love them. She was telling how her grandmother cooks them,which is similar to the way my m-i-l cooked hers. We were talking about the various meats and seasonings that we knew of some folks using to flavor collard greens, turnip greens, and mustard greens.

Popular methods used dry salt pork, hocks, or pork neck bones, to boil and flavor the water before adding the greens, then added other seasoning to taste.

The only greens that I liked using salt pork were mustard greens,or perhaps a mixture of mustard and turnip greens, and I didn’t like them unless much of the fat was removed from the broth before adding the greens. I was never a big salt pork fan.

Folks used to soak the dry salt pork that had a good marbling of lean in water to remove some of the salt and either fry it like bacon, or roll it in flour and fry it crisp (my husband still likes it cooked this way when he can talk me into doing it - lol). Some even dip it in a batter and fry it. Don’t think I could handle that one!

One of my grandmothers used to make a tomato soup with tomatoes, and onions and season it with bacon drippings. She served it with big fluffy biscuits. The other grandmother served cornbread with her soups, regardless of the type.

An elderly aunt used to cook tomatoes and onions in a skillet, with butter, salt, sugar, and pepper (similar to the okra and onions recipe). When they were tender and cooked down pretty good, she would add chunked left over biscuits, and stir the mixture together. Sounds awful, but tastes good.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080331/a_truckers31.art.htm

Truckers to protest fuel costs
Plan to call in sick today, drive rigs slowly in traffic

By Dwight Adams The Indianapolis Star

Facing mounting diesel fuel costs and shrinking profits, some truckers
nationwide are making plans to protest this week by parking their semis
or
clogging traffic by driving slowly.

continues.

[nw_arizona_granny]

You will find that Sedona has grown, from photos that I saw not that long ago.

Your sister is right, I came here in 1970 and could not imagine living in a town and not seeing the sky or having to turn down the radio for the neighbors, or worse yet, stay properly dressed for them.

There is no perfect place, that I know of.

It is chilly here again today, but the sun is bright and my one tree is ready to bud out, the catkins are falling now, it is the big male Mulberry and my world will be framed in its green leaves for the next 9 months, if I am on the south looking out.

[nw_arizona_granny]

At the price of coffee today, this is a good recipe to have.

I knew the pioneers cooked barley in a dry skillet, till brown and then ground it, in the beginning of its life, I think it was Postom [sp?] that was made from grains, may not be sold today, was a few years ago, one of the oldest products.

Dandelion roots and Chickory were also forms of coffee subs.

At the price of coffee today, we may look at the subs for it.

Are you noticing that the cans are not of standard taste or even color, within the same label?

I have used Folgers columbian coffee for years and I have gotten several cans in the last year that you could see the filler material, it is half the color of normal and takes almost twice as many grounds.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Peck, Peck, Peck said the bird as she gobbled up the breadcrumbs.

Look for the beacon light, and return safely.

Smile.

[nw_arizona_granny]

LOL, over 50 years ago, when my husbands ship would pull out to sea, I would rush home and start cooking for a party.

A pot of beans w/salt pork, cornbread, turnip greens, fried potatoes, using bacon grease, Ice tea and buttermilk. Chopped green onions.

When it was ready, 3 other wives who liked my kind of food, came to dinner...........and we ate till we couldn’t eat another bite.

If a person was not from the south, then they did not have the taste for my kind of home cooking.

I had not the faintest idea of how to cook a thick steak ‘rare’.

I only knew tough cows that had to be made into “Chicken Fried” steaks, by pounding them with a thick saucer edge.

There was a bacon grease saver...hld about 3 cups and had a lid, with a strainer in the top..

There is a product sold for many years, called Liquid Smoke, that can be used in several dishes, as in beans, chuck roast and tastes like smoke, you use it by the drop and it is in a 4 ounce approx. square brown bottle.

We ate stewed tomatoes over bread, add a pinch of sugar and they were good.

We had gravy with every meal, but I almost got expelled in the 7th grade, the teacher attempted to teach me how to make “White Sauce”, using a double boiler..........LOL, she would not listen to me, when I told her that was not the way to make gravy.

I never did master white sauce, to me it was paste.

A friend introduced me to the perfect mess of greens, he picks a few leaves from what ever he has growing, chops them to med. bite sized pieces and uses them for salads, sandwiches, or even steamed with butter.

The first time he gave me a mess of them, I was not sure I would use them, LOL, I did and started planting for the same purpose.

We pinch the leaves off, leaving the plant to grow more, turnip, mustard, lettuce, swiss chard, and all the oriental greens, even a few weeds, purslane and amaranth go in the mix, with a few leaves off the onion plants, talk about good.

I would make them a gallon at a time and in less than a week, they would be gone.

I had not tried fried potatoes with the biscuits added in, should be good, my first thought was to add cornbread.

We also ate cornbread in a bowl with milk on it.

A friend grew up eating popcorn in a bowl with milk and sugar on it, said that was the first dry cereal.

You are correct about ‘adjusting the old recipes’, that we do, some that I see today, have only the name of the original recipe left.

I always made my potato salad with mashed potatoes, one day my mother was at the house and asked me why I mashed them.

I told her that she did, when I was a kid.........when she got over her laughter, she said “yes, I did make it with mashed potatoes, if they were leftovers, not from scratch”.

LOL, I hate biting into a hunk of cold tater, still like mine mashed.

You can hide a lot in mashed potatoes, I mix in summer squash, with pots and onion, or cabbage.

Thanks for the ideas, LOL, you never know when they will float through my brain again.

People never understood, why I read cookbooks like a novel, but I knew that i wanted the info in my brain, even if I was not going to make the recipe as written.

[Free Vulcan]

Have you done any root cellaring? I’ve messed with it a bit but not mastered it.

I think in a survival situation getting nutrition along with calories will be crucial. Root cellaring and winter/indoor gardening will be as important as canning/freezing/drying and dry storage of grains etc. If you can avoid starvation and also be healthy enough to work you will come thru alot better than living off MRE’s and survival food.

I have come close to mastering growing greens in small hoop tunnels. I harvested some excellent greens on the above freezing days this winter.

I make the hoops out of common field fencing and leave the wires poking out both sides to stick in the ground. They are about 6ft long and hooped over about 3ft. high.

I take the plastic for the hoop tunnels and reinforce the areas where I’m going stake it down with pieces cut from plastic slipsheets I get at work. Then I drill holes in the center of the pieces where the stakes go through and reinforce those with tarp grommets.

I place them at intervals that match pre-drilled 1X4’s. I put the boards over the top of the plastic on the ground at each side of the hoop and stake them down and the ends. The greens withstand down to -20F and the hoop can stand up to 70MPH winds.

My great grandmother was Cherokee. Her maiden was Adcock and she was from south central Tennessee.

[varina davis]

Granny, I grew up on that sort of cooking. My Dad was Georgia born and a great Southern cook. So we always had the things you mentioned, plus some very good stuff from my Mom’s Pennsylvania Dutch side of the family, like pork and sauerkraut and dumplings — yum!

Dad would also make Southern fried pies sometimes, from fruit we picked. So tasty. I need to make some soon.

He browned pork neckbones and then added white rice and the right amount of water, salt, lots of pepper, and then simmered until the rice was done. Loved that dish and still make it. So simple, but so good.

[nw_arizona_granny]

No, never had a root cellar, kept the plans for years, but in Arizona, it becomes a rattlesnake haven...

The KOFA [King of Arizona mine, near Yuma], had a tunnel and the owner took me in it, once you get in a little ways, the temp stays the same the year around, about 60 degrees, as i recall.

Canning and dehydrated is all that I have worked with.

here we have a winter that goes down in the teens and a little snow, I have had good luck with the Brassia family in the winter and esp with the Oriental greens that say for winter growing, have even brushed the snow off them and pinched the leaves.

One does need fresh vegetables, this shipped green just does not have the food value.

Rodale was publishing in the 1950’s that growing food on depleted soil, was the cause of mental illness.

As I hear of more and more kids on Ritalin, and hear the number of “he is off his meds and dangerous to” himself or to me, the calls vary on the police scanner for San Diego, the more sure I am that it is our diets that is causing the troubles, and yes of course the meth and marijuana, etc.

I listen to 4 different towns on the internet, all the police scanners say the same thing, gangs, violence, and off their meds. LOL, sometimes they even have the crimes that we expect.

I like the lean to, solar greenhouses, they help the heating and cooling of the house, give you an area to play in the dirt, year round and grow more food than you would guess.

Post 588 here has the greenhouse book, that I consider the best that has been published, I have others but it is my ‘bible’ for all things greenhouse.

Have not heard the Adcock name connected to my family.

Have you noticed how often the Cherokee people ‘find” each other?

I have met people and say something about them being Cherokee, only to be told “Not me”, next time you see them, they have called mom or granny and discovered that they are.

I always meant to dig into the Cherokee history and got far enough to find Sally Roberts, an important leader of the Cherokee history, I forgot the details, she was in some history book..........LOL, and as my maiden name is Roberts, liked her at once.

http://www.google.com/search?q=King+of+Arizona+mine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[nw_arizona_granny]

Did you see the ‘pasties’ recipe in post 825?

I played with the recipe a couple times and found them to freeze well.

My mother also make fried pies, fruit and she also filled them with chocolate pudding.

I haven’t tried the neckbones and rice, sounds good. Isn’t it almost what they now call rice pilaf?

My mothers family was from Texas, my dad was born in Miss. and his mother in Virginia, but granny was not a cook, or did not choose to do so as she aged.

I tried to serve both deep south and California, but am almost back to deep south in my mind today.

After my daughter had been a wife for about 10 years, she came for a vacation and wanted to “show me how to cook, modern”, she had a sauce for everything, good sauces but all of them very rich.

When she left, I asked Bill what he wanted for dinner, his answer was “anything that does not have a sauce on it”.

He was an Iowa/Oregon farm boy.

Yes, she has a weight problem.

[varina davis]

It’s sure not easy to find pork neckbones in the supermarkets nowadays. Usually have to ask for them. Back when Dad was cooking, there was a market that carried lots of Southern style meats, veggies, etc. Salt pork, neckbones, pork hocks (fresh and smoked), all sorts of greens, etc.