I don't buy...... Margarine

When I started this series I was thinking of writing on things I don't buy that causes me to save money. Today however when I was doing some reading I was reminded of something that I used to buy and I don't buy anymore but the not buying it does not save me money- in fact I spend more because of it but I think it is worth it.

  I used to buy margarine all of the time. It worked fine in baking and was much cheaper. I still bought butter for spreading on bread and such as I have never cared for the taste of margarine.

 Over the years I learned that margarine is really not good for you and quite some time ago now I switched to just buying butter and no more margarine. I have also used Coconut Oil or Palm Shortening at times in place of margarine.

  This evening I was reading through "Nourishing Traditions" and was reminded of why I don't buy margarine. Here is part of what she has to say about it:

"To produce them (margarine and shortening), manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils- soy, corn, cottonseed or canola, already rancid from the extraction process- and mix them with tiny metal particles- usually nickle oxide. The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high temperature reactor. Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam cleaned. This removes its unpleasant odor. Margarine's natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach. Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter. Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food." ~Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions.

Doesn't that sound yummy?! (note the sarcasm).

So even though I don't save money by not buying margarine- I think it is best for our family.

On another (but related) note....

 I am very excited because I found a source (somebody I actually already knew- some fellow homeschoolers) or raw cow's milk!! You may recall that I used to get raw milk regularly in the winter- while last winter the dairy that did that decided to stop selling any raw milk. It was quite disappointing.

 In the summer my parents generally give us a bunch of goat's milk (raw) which we really appreciate but in the winter they go dry and now they are starting to have their babies but there isn't much milk yet. I am pretty excited to get this raw milk.

  This milk is Jersey milk which I don't think I have ever had before. It is extremely creamy looking and it looks like in each gallon that we get their will be almost 1/3 of a gallon as cream. We are pretty excited thinking about all the things that we can make with cream!

 So do you use margarine or butter? Do you get raw milk? I always love to hear your thoughs!

Kids shopping for our supper

Enjoying the junk food supper that they bought.

   Last week I had some grocery shopping to do and before we went Megan was thinking about taking a dollar that she had along to buy something. That got me to thinking that it might be fun to give each of the kids one dollar and see if together they could buy stuff for our supper.

 The kids thought that sounded like fun so when we got to the store I gave them each a dollar and then as they went around with me while I bought the things we needed -they kept an eye out for what they could buy for supper.

   In the produce section Mara considered buying a cucumber and a can of Mandarin oranges but then Megan found a marked down produce bag with a pound of strawberries and a couple of potatoes in it for 99 cents that she decided to get. Mara decided that would take care of our veggie/fruit needs so she decided that she would keep looking.

  Aaron decided to get 2 Totinos pizzas which were 2/ $1 (with a coupon) and Jonathan was going to get two as well but then noticed Mac and Cheese which was also 2 /$1 and he got two boxes of that.

   Mara didn't find anything in that store (as she had decided she had better get dessert) but at Dollar Tree (which is next door) she found cookies.

  Once at home they had fun fixing the supper too. It was quite unhealthy but a fun experience for once in a great while. I wanted some of Megan's strawberries for something else so I "traded" some bananas for strawberries and some whipping cream for the potatoes. Mara whipped up the cream and Megan had fun cutting up the fruit to make a yummy salad.

  Next time we go shopping I think it would be fun to try this again but see if we can find healthy foods instead. This summer I think it would be fun to do something like this at the farmer's market though I think I may need to give them more than $1 each.

   Do you take your kids shopping and teach them about using money? This was a fun way to do that.

Knitting Socks

Socks for Aaron- he wears them all the time!

 I rather love knowing how to make things myself. Though sometimes I prefer to just buy things (or have someone else make it) I am a bit crazy about the idea of knowing how to do things myself - just in case!

 Socks were one of those things that I figured I would probably never make all that our family needed but I did want to know how to do it - just in case!



Jonathan's socks- he wears his a lot too.

  Over a year ago now I did knit some socks but they were tube socks and in my opinion I hadn't truly figured out what I needed to know by just knitting tube socks. I prefer socks with heels. So this past winter that was a goal- to make socks with heels. Though I still have a ton that I can learn I have successfully made socks with heels that my kids like to wear.

   I started the socks (Jonathan's were first) using a pattern that I had found online but the heel part really confused me so I ended up just looking at socks that I owned and copying the way that the heels were on them. I still want to perfect the pattern but it is pretty easy and the kids think they fit nicely.

I made some like this for my niece (as the first pair was too small for Megan) and Megan. The second pair fit but is also tight so they haven't been the best socks for her. I guess I need to try again! Little socks like this go pretty fast.

 My favorite socks are the ones I made for Mara. I like the Americana look that they have. She likes long socks and likes these too.

Mara's socks.

I am now working on a pair of socks for me using thinner yarn than I did for the others. I am also trying out a different pattern with a different sort of heel. I am struggling a little but will press on. If it doesn't work out I will go back to the type that does work for me.

  Though I still don't think that I will ever make all of our socks- it is fun to have made some of them and I hope to make more. It may seem like a silly skill in this age of being able to buy things like this so easily but I am still glad that I have learned it.

I am linking this up to the Homestead Barn Hop which is hosting by Amy at Homestead Revival, Jill at The Prairie Homestead and Kendra from New Life on a Homestead.

Hoping for the righteous to increase!

 Friday and yesterday Ken and I were at a political convention. We feel strongly about our country and we are involved in politics as we would like to see our country focused again on the principles that it was founded on. We are involved so that we can work hard towards that goal.

  Since we were recently involved in the process of endorsing candidates and such, when I was reading through Proverbs this verse caught my eye:

  "When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

 To me this is a reminder to strive towards righteousness myself and then to elect (and nominate and encourage) people that are righteous for office.

 Is this something that you have thought about?

The last hurrah for old jeans!

 I had mentioned at the beginning of this year that I planned on tackleing the repurposing of various items each month. I have many things on hand such as old jeans, wool clothes, toilet paper tubes and other various saved cardboard, scrap papers and more and I thought it would be fun to have a different them each month.

  I do still like the idea of focusing on one item for a while and I choose denim for January but I soon discoverd that January wasn't a long enough time to get all my denim items done- so it dragged on into February and even March. Though I still don't have all the projects done that I had thought of and though I still have some old jeans on hand I am ready to focus on something else for a while. So in April (which starts in less than two hours- do you have any pranks planned for the day? I don't but my mom warned me to be watchful as she over heard my sons talking) I plan on announcing a new theme!

  Meanwhile- one last denim project (for now!). The picture at the top is of a denim decorated container that I had fun making.The container originally held a hot chocolate mix that I had been given.  I made it a while back but hadn't managed to get it in here. I was inspired to make it after seeing pictures of Melissa's (who blogs at Those Northern Skies) decorated boxes and containers. Mine doesn't begin to compary with her artistic creations but I had fun making it and I do like it.

I think it would be fill with cookies or something like that and give to someone. I think decorating containers is rather fun now- I think I shall do it again!

Meanwhile I thought it would be fun to share some links to various ways that I have reused denim in the past. Here we go.....

~Patching jeans. This is the first thing I generally do, and then I reuse them again later.

~Pinwheel hotpads.

~Overall Apron.

~Re-made overalls.

~Jeans used for the top of a skirt.

~Crocheted denim rug.

~Denim tote bag and bookmark.

~A tote bag using denim.

~A denim skirt re-done.

~A simple quilt with denim.

~Bible case.

~Ruffled denim bag.

~Another simple quilt made with denim.

~Denim trimmed apron.

~Denim and flannel frayed edge quilt.

~Organizing boxes decorated with denim.

~Patriotic denim bunting.

~Use denim to make some "armor".

~A denim skirt.

~Denim baskets.

~A denim vase.

~A magnetic note holding pocket.

~Fluffy denim rag rug.

 Denim is certianly a versitile and fun material to work with. I love the way it looks as well. Do you like making things from denim? I would love to hear your ideas for re-using old jeans!

I don't buy.... Frozen Pizzas

Store bought frozen pizza used to be something that I would keep in our freezer pretty regularly. Our family all liked it and it certainly was a quick and easy meal when time got tight. However as I have worked on making our meals both more economical and healthier - frozen pizzas were something that needed to go. (Though I have a quick confession- we actually bought and ate frozen pizzas just this week- but the circumstances were special and I will try to blog about that later.) As a general rule I have not purchased frozen pizzas for a few years now.

 We do still like pizza however and I still like the convenience of having one in the freezer. We still can do that- it is just homemade instead of store bought.

 What I do is whenever I make pizza I simply make two (and it wouldn't hurt if I would start making even bigger batches!) and I freeze one. Here is my recipe and how I do it:

Pizza~.

I like this crust recipe:

~6 cups flour ( I make around 1/2 of the flour whole wheat.)

~2 teaspoons salt

~ 3 teaspoons sugar

~2 Tablespoons yeast

~1/4 cup oil

~2 cups hot water

~1 egg

Mix dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients and mix well. Let sit 8-10 minutes. Spread out on a greased cookie sheets. This recipe makes two 10 X 15 inch crusts.

For eating right away: Put on toppings (I like to use spaghetti sauce, browned hamburger, sausage or ham, sliced olives, mushrooms and cheese) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

For freezing: Bake crust at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool and then put on toppings (usually the crust cools while we are eating the other pizza for supper), cover with aluminum foil or I have a big old plastic rice bag that I use and I also put it in a plastic grocery bag and put in the freezer. To get ready for eating I stick it from the freezer into the oven while it is preheating to 350 degrees and cook it until the cheese is all melted.

This method works great and helps a lot with saving money too!

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Money Saving MOM.