This month I decided to combine the money and menu minute. I hope you don't mind...but I was so freaked-out excited the other week when I came home with a van-load of store bags which filled our needs for breakfasts for 7 days, lunches for 7 days and dinner meals for 9 days...diapers and wipes too...and my receipt brightly beamed "$59.00" (which was then followed by the resounding chorus of angels).

We were a little short on cash that week, and I knew I had to make things work despite our lack of funds. So, what made shopping for a family of 6 for only $59.00 possible? I questioned this myself...and battled between the thought of serving you up a dry grocery list or equipping you with foundational principles in grocery shopping allowing you to make this work for your family. A firm believer in the "teach a man to fish" philosophy, I sprung for the latter.

I figured out that it is not what I had done that week that made it possible...it is what I had done in the past that made it work:

• I bought in bulk. As you will find in my book, I am an advocate of bulk- buying. The items in bulk that I always have on hand are:

  50 pounds of flour ($6.00)

  25 pounds of sugar ($6.00)

  Huge bottle of vanilla ($2.50)

  2 pounds of yeast($3.00)

  Bulk spices (especially chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and garlic powder) (averages $3.25)

  25 pounds of rice ($6.00)

  10 pounds of popcorn ($3.00)

  5 dozen eggs ($2.94)

  Restaraunt-sized cans of tomato puree and diced tomatoes ($2.25 per can)

  With these items on hand, I can make a variety of meals by buying only a few choice items at the store, including tacos, pizzas, homemade breads, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, smoothies, snacks, muffins and french toast.




• I cooked in bulk.I have developed a habit of bulk cooking for spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce which I have found to be so helpful in not only bringing ease to my life, but ease to our budget. (You will find my bulk spaghetti sauce/pizza sauce recipes at www.raisingyourownchildren.com on the "cheap recipes" page.) By using the restaurant- sized tomato puree and diced tomatoes listed above and combining them with 3 1-pound rolls of ground turkey sausage ($1.00 per pound) and other ingredients, I can make and freeze about 5 gallons of spaghetti sauce, and enough pizza sauce to make 10 or more pizzas. The entire process takes about 2 hours and is only performed once every 2-3 months.




• I froze extra food. I like to make stews and soups on a regular basis. This is certainly one item which can be made in very large quantities and frozen in gallon-sized bags. Each time I make a soup, I'll end up with at least one "free meal" from it, which enables me to incorporate it into my menu for a skimping week.


• I used a neverending recipe. We have discussed the neverending chili recipe in past newsletters, and the $59.00 shopping week is a true testimony to how effective it can really be! I created three meals from the chili that week...although I could have easily created four...we opted out of the chili-mac.




• I cooked from scratch. Anything that you would normally buy pre-made in the grocery store can also be made from scratch...and for about 60% less in price. I created two very large homemade pizzas with cheese (bought in bulk, and pre-shredded for $5.79), pepperoni (a package with enough for 4 pizzas at $1.97), onions and black olive slices (.50 cents per can) made with the frozen homemade sauce discussed above for about $4.00, which is about $2.00 per pizza. Try eating at a pizza joint for a family of 6 for $4.00...impossible!




• I made homemade soaps. No it's not a typo...I meant "soaps," not "soups." Nothing can damage the budget more quickly than running out of expensive items like laundry soap...especially on a "poor week" like we had that week. I have tried to create less of a dependence for our family on stores by learning to create things from scratch in our home. I have found this eliminates trips to the store just to buy dishwasher liquid. You will find recipes for homemade laundry soap, and dishwasher soap on my "cheap recipes" web page. I make one 5 gallon batch of this soap about once every 3 months or so. It takes me about 30 minutes, and covers our need for laundry and dishwasher soap. I need only add a few teaspoons of chlorine bleach to the dishwasher soap. Depending on which brand of bar soap you use to make your batch, the cost per gallon is usually between 6-15 cents.

  
  

• I befriended tuna.When scanning your pantry to create your meal list for the week, don't forget your closest meat friend...tuna. At 60 cents a can, you can't do without this tasty little pal. By incorporating tuna into your menu, you can create tuna casseroles, tuna melts, tuna-filled pitas with lettuce, cold tuna pasta salad and much, much more!




• I lucked out and wasn't out of anything major that week!As we all know, when we are in need of expensive items or have a birthday or other function coming up, it can be a real budget cruncher. My $59.00 week was possible because the only real added cost to our food list was diapers ($6.00) and wipes (89 cents). The best advice I can give to keep these large buys from shockingly occuring is to plan one month in advance for these purchases. If you sit down to plan your shopping list and you find that you are out of vacuum bags, stove cleaner, toilet paper and planned to buy hair dye too...evaluate which items could possibly wait until the following week. Of course, TP would be the most needed item and would take priority. The hair dye, stove cleaner, and vacuum bags could probably be delayed a week or two. It may help to plan on buying one of the items each week on your shopping trips to even out costs.

"Dad: a son's first hero, a daughter's first love." ~Proverb

Contents:

• Who's your Daddy?
• A-t-t-e-n-t-i-o-n find out what it means to me!
• Hit the road, Mom!

For many, celebrating Father's Day includes celebrating our children's father, our husbands dad, your own dad (if you still have one, or maybe you have more than one), and don't forget your dad's dad and so on. We celebrate the men who planted the seeds of the next generation, the men who work hard to provide for the family, and hopefully, to disciple the family. Yes Mother, these men are a blessing and it is part of our responsibility to our children to see that they honor their fathers.

There is a reason our Creator likens Himself to a father. This is not to say that mom is unnecessary, of course she is. Characteristics of the Holy Spirit are very much like those of the mother. Mothers and fathers go hand in hand. But when God refers to Himself as our Father, he is telling us something important about this role given to men. A father is a guide and an encourager for children. Every child needs a male role model and whenever possible, who better than dad. Statistics will tell you of the confidence missing in children without fathers and the difficulty adolescents have in finding their identity without the leadership of a father. There is hope without a dad, but many of us who have lived without paternal support will speculate: a dad might have made all the difference.

So what can we do to foster the relationship between our children and their fathers? Encourage Dad and Grandpa by telling them how much our children value time with them. Regular dates are one way to ensure the maintenance of those relationships. Grandfathers may be very comfortable with little ones, but as the children grow they may need extra encouragement to continue building a relationship. If so, hand the kids a book and tell them to ask Grandpa to read it to them.

Humans in general and men specifically often have difficultly being good listeners. Encourage (not nag!) Dad to take the moments necessary to respond to their children and to take an interest in what goes on in those precious brains. When a child feels that what they think and say has value they gain confidence and build relationships!

Also Mom, another practical way you can serve to better your childrens relationship with their Dad is to go away once in awhile. Yes, it's actually healthy for everyone! Dads who are involved with the day-to- day activity of their family have deeper relationships with their children and more rewarding relationships with their wives. When mom gives up the reigns once in awhile it gives the little people in our lives a chance to see that Daddy can handle things too (even Daddy may be delightfully surprised)!

Tara lives in the Midwest, where she raises her children alongside her husband Bryan, who works in sales. Together they have a four-year-old daughter and an infant son. Tara is a playwright, theater director, and also a collage artist who creates unique greeting cards and framed art.