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Good Morning Friends,
As you know I've been speaking about menu planning and trying to live more frugally and I ran across this book at our local Goodwill store last week. It's called "Make Your Own Groceries" by Daphne Metaxas Hartwig. It was published in 1979 but is chuck full of 256 pages of make it yourself ideas. Did you know you can make your own baking powder or your own vanilla extract? Now of course you do have to weigh time vs. money so I don't know that I'll be making those things, but I am interested in making my own salad dressings and seasoning mixes among many other things. One of the real benefits of doing this for me is with Emily and her fibromyalsia, along with medication we are eliminating some very specific things from her diet as well as ingredients in soap, shampoo, etc. to help decrease the pain. With making my own, the benefit is knowing exactly what is going into what we put into and on our bodies.
I've never tried making my own pasta, but that is on my list of things to try this week. I'll let you know how it goes. Remember Mike's birthday present HERE? We've been grinding our own hamburger from very lean chuck and it has been so easy. Now, it did make for rather dry hamburgers one evening, but when cooking up the ground chuck for casseroles and other dishes like burritos, it has been perfect and we've been pleased with the purchase of our grinder. It will soon have paid for itself.
Do you make your own groceries? I'd love to hear what you make from scratch.
Blessings,
Nancy
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14 comments:
That looks like a really neat book! Hope you enjoy your day Nancy:)
I have a fantastic oil and vinegar dressing recipe I'll dig up for you. And for the most wonderful handmade soaps in the world, head to goodiesunlimited.com Audrey makes fantastic soap. Leaves you feeling soft and comfortable in your skin. I can't speak highly enough of it. She'll let you know what's in it if you ask, so you'll know what you can use and can't. My favorite is her almond creme.
What a fun thrift store find. There are some things that definitely take more time than they're worth (for me anyhow), like making the vanilla, lol. But I love to make my own mixes, and such. I'm a from scratch cook, love your advice today! :)
Wow, should be full of great ideas. Every home sings when it can save some money!! May your home be blessed.
What a great book! I make my own laundry detergent & fabric softener. This doesn't really qualify I guess, but Hubby and I have also started roasting our own coffee beans (now IF we could just grow them here.. LOL!). Thanks for sharing this topic - one of my favorites :) -Tammy
Can you believe that I have this same book and I got it from Goodwill too? Isn't that funny!
I make some things from scratch but need to do more, so that I am mostly making things from scratch. That would save money.
I have made tortillas and bread, and make lasagna and other dishes from scratch. Also make some pasta dishes from scratch and buy some boxes for convenience.
Can't wait to hear how your pasta making goes. Are you going to take pictures and do a blog post?
Thanks for linking up today!
Wow, way to go! What a great idea!
Nancy, I do make my own laundry detergent. I love it and have never had a problem with it getting clothes clean - and I have DIRTY baseball pants! ~Ann
Each year I am doing more and more for myself and buying less and less that is packaged...I like the idea of knowing what I am eating...
What a great find. I'm looking forward to coming back to "visit" to see what you're working on.
Looks like a good book to peruse! I have made my own spaghetti sauce, Bisquick equivalent, Vanilla, soap, salad dressing, brownie mix, beef jerky and lots of other things. I often times make salad dressing. It is better than the bottles on the shelf. You can't beat fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar and herbs on crunchy greens.
I also use to render my fat for soap making in the winter months and use up everything. The tallow was used for the soap and the left over bits were mixed with peanut butter to make my own suet for the birds and nothing went to waste.
Keep us posted on what you make!
We make LOTS on our own: laundry soap, fabric softner, hair detangler, body wash, breads/rolls, Ranch dressing mix (dry) and Taco seasoning to name a few! :)
Feel free to come on over and check out the site: http://moneylessmomma.blogspot.com/
I read about your daughter having fibromalygia and I was wondering if you could e-mail me with the foods that you and she eliminated from her diet. I was diagnosed about 5 years ago now and I would love to be able to "cure" myself and get rid of some of this pain. My e-mail is tolmiec@yahoo.ca
Thanks Clare
That does look like a good book. I find that the more I cook from scratch, the shorter my shopping list is.
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